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The Ambassadors
- America's Diplomats on the Front Lines
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
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Publisher's summary
Veteran diplomatic correspondent Paul Richter goes behind the battles and the headlines to show how American ambassadors are the unconventional warriors in the Muslim world - running local government, directing drone strikes, building nations, and risking their lives on the front lines.
The tale’s heroes are a small circle of top career diplomats who have been an unheralded but crucial line of national defense in the past two decades of wars in the greater Middle East. In The Ambassadors, Paul Richter shares the astonishing, true-life stories of four expeditionary diplomats who “do the hardest things in the hardest places”. The book describes how Ryan Crocker helped rebuild a shattered Afghan government after the fall of the Taliban and secretly negotiated with the shadowy Iranian mastermind General Qassim Suleimani to wage war in Afghanistan and choose new leaders for post-invasion Iraq. Robert Ford, assigned to be a one-man occupation government for an Iraqi province, struggled to restart a collapsed economy and to deal with spiraling sectarian violence - and was taken hostage by a militia. In Syria at the eruption of the civil war, he is chased by government thugs for defying the country’s ruler. J. Christopher Stevens is smuggled into Libya as US Envoy to the rebels during its bloody civil war, then returns as ambassador only to be killed during a terror attach in Benghazi. War-zone veteran Anne Patterson is sent to Pakistan, considered the world’s most dangerous country, to broker deals that prevent a government collapse and to help guide the secret war on jihadists.
“An important and illuminating read” (The Washington Post) and the winner of the prestigious Douglas Dillon Book Award from the American Academy of Diplomacy, The Ambassadors is a candid examination of the career diplomatic corps, America’s first point of contact with the outside world, and a critical piece of modern-day history.
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Does't deliver
- By Matthew on 02-10-09
By: Patrick Tyler
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Ghost Wars
- The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
- By: Steve Coll
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 26 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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The explosive first-hand account of America's secret history in Afghanistan. With the publication of Ghost Wars, Steve Coll became not only a Pulitzer Prize winner, but also the expert on the rise of the Taliban, the emergence of Bin Laden, and the secret efforts by CIA officers and their agents to capture or kill Bin Laden in Afghanistan after 1998.
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An Exceptional Accomplishment
- By Joe on 11-08-13
By: Steve Coll
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From Warsaw with Love
- Polish Spies, the CIA, and the Forging of an Unlikely Alliance
- By: John Pomfret
- Narrated by: Donald Corren
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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From the award-winning and acclaimed author of The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom, From Warsaw with Love tells the epic story of how Polish intelligence officers forged an alliance with the CIA in the twilight of the Cold War. In 1990, soon after the Polish people voted in their first democratic election since the 1930s, the young Polish government sent a veteran spy, who’d battled the West for decades, to rescue six American officers trapped in Baghdad.
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Fascinating and well researched
- By wacek szymkowiak on 07-23-24
By: John Pomfret
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The Iran Wars
- Spy Games, Bank Battles, and the Secret Deals That Reshaped the Middle East
- By: Jay Solomon
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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The Iran Wars is an absorbing account of a battle waged on many levels - military, financial, and covert. Jay Solomon’s book is the product of extensive in-depth reporting and interviews with all the key players in the conflict - from high-ranking Iranian officials to Secretary of State John Kerry and his negotiating team. With a reporter’s masterly investigative eye and the narrative dexterity of a great historian, Solomon shows how Iran’s nuclear development went unnoticed for years by the international community only to become its top security concern.
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Titled Towards Confrontation
- By Jim on 03-19-17
By: Jay Solomon
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The Endgame
- The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from George W. Bush to Barack Obama
- By: Michael R. Gordon, Bernard E. Trainor
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 32 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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The Endgame is Michael R. Gordon and General Bernard E. Trainor's most ambitious and news-breaking book to date. A peerless work of investigative journalism and historical recreation ranging from 2003 to 2012, it gives us the first comprehensive, inside account of arguably the most widely reported yet least understood war in American history - from the occupation of Iraq to the withdrawal of American troops.
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Interesting Perspective, but One-Sided
- By Benjamin on 02-09-14
By: Michael R. Gordon, and others
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Known and Unknown
- A Memoir
- By: Donald Rumsfeld
- Narrated by: Donald Rumsfeld
- Length: 30 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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A powerful memoir from the late former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. With the same directness that defined his career in public service, Rumsfeld's memoir is filled with previously undisclosed details and insights about the Bush administration, 9/11, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It also features Rumsfeld's unique and often surprising observations on eight decades of history. Both a fascinating narrative and an unprecedented glimpse into history, Known and Unknown captures the legacy of one of the most influential men in public service.
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Inside view of five decades in politics
- By Brooks on 02-19-11
By: Donald Rumsfeld
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Pakistan on the Brink
- The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan
- By: Ahmed Rashid
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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What are the possibilities—and hazards—facing America as it withdraws from Afghanistan and reviews its long engagement in Pakistan? Where is the Taliban now in both of these countries? What does the immediate future hold, and what are America’s choices going forward? These are some of the crucial questions that Ahmed Rashid—Pakistan’s preeminent journalist—takes on in this follow-up to his acclaimed Descent into Chaos.
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A Very Long NPR-like Interview and History Lesson
- By Harry Zimmer on 04-23-12
By: Ahmed Rashid
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War on Peace
- The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence
- By: Ronan Farrow
- Narrated by: Ronan Farrow
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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American diplomacy is under siege. Offices across the State Department sit empty while abroad, the military-industrial complex has assumed the work once undertaken by peacemakers. We're becoming a nation that shoots first and asks questions later. In an astonishing account ranging from Washington, DC, to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and North Korea in the years since 9/11, acclaimed journalist and former diplomat Ronan Farrow illuminates one of the most consequential and poorly understood changes in American history.
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Well Timed and Authoritative:
- By JC on 04-24-18
By: Ronan Farrow
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Bibi
- By: Anshel Pfeffer
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 18 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Benjamin Netanyahu is embroiled in numerous scandals, all of his own making, and may soon be ousted from the office he has held longer than any prior Israeli prime minister outside of David Ben Gurion. But Bibi, as he is known by friend and foe alike, is no stranger to controversy. For many in Israel and elsewhere, he is an embarrassment, a threat to democracy, even a precursor to Donald Trump. He nevertheless continues to dominate Israeli public life - and he may yet survive his current crises, the most challenging of his career.
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Very biased.
- By Anonymous User on 10-14-22
By: Anshel Pfeffer
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Legacy of Ashes
- The History of the CIA
- By: Tim Weiner
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 21 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the book the CIA does not want you to read. For the last 60 years, the CIA has maintained a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, never disclosing its blunders to the American public. It spun its own truth to the nation while reality lay buried in classified archives. Now, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Tim Weiner offers a stunning indictment of the CIA, a deeply flawed organization that has never deserved America's confidence.
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Flawed but Important
- By Michael on 07-18-08
By: Tim Weiner
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Duty
- Memoirs of a Secretary at War
- By: Robert M. Gates
- Narrated by: George Newbern, Robert M. Gates
- Length: 25 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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From the former secretary of defense, a strikingly candid, vivid account of serving Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. When Robert M. Gates received a call from the White House, he thought he'd long left Washington politics behind: After working for six presidents in both the CIA and the National Security Council, he was happily serving as president of Texas A&M University. But when he was asked to help a nation mired in two wars and to aid the troops doing the fighting, he answered what he felt was the call of duty.
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The Fighting Season
- By Cynthia on 01-28-14
By: Robert M. Gates
What listeners say about The Ambassadors
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- DJH
- 02-10-20
A Must Read about America's Best Diplomats
This book is a superb summary of what the best American diplomats do in the toughest of places. Often unsung heroes, each of the four Ambassadors profiled have made their share of headlines over the years both in the countries in which they served and here at home. Diplomacy is a tough job and, after hearing how well we have been served by Ryan Crocker, Anne Patterson, Robert Ford and Chris Stevens, I more deeply appreciate the sacrifice and grit of these and other public servants. Impressive and patriotic Americans all.
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