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The End of the Cold War 1985-1991
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 21 hrs and 58 mins
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Publisher's summary
The Cold War had seemed like a permanent fixture in global politics, and until its denouement no Western or Soviet politician had foreseen that an epoch defined by games of irreconcilable one-upmanship between the world's most heavily armed superpowers would end in their lifetimes. Under the long, forbidding shadow of the Cold War, even the smallest miscalculation from either side could result in catastrophe.
Everything changed in March 1985, when Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union. Just four years later, the Cold War and the arms competition was over. The USSR and the US had peacefully and abruptly achieved an astonishing political settlement. But it was not preordained that a global crisis of unprecedented scale could and would be averted peaceably.
Drawing on new archival research, Robert Service's gripping new investigation of the final years of the Cold War - the first to give equal attention to the internal deliberations from both sides of the Iron Curtain - opens a window onto the dramatic years that would irrevocably alter the world's geopolitical landscape and the men at their fore.
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- By: Trita Parsi
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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This timely book focuses on President Obama's deeply considered strategy toward Iran's nuclear program and reveals how the historic agreement of 2015 broke the persistent stalemate in negotiations that had blocked earlier efforts. Drawing from more than 75 in-depth interviews with key decision-makers, including Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry, this is the first authoritative account of President Obama's signature foreign policy achievement.
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required reading
- By Seth K on 07-18-19
By: Trita Parsi
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Japan 1941
- Countdown to Infamy
- By: Eri Hotta
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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When Japan attacked the United States in 1941, argues Eri Hotta, its leaders, in large part, understood they were entering a conflict they were bound to lose. Availing herself of rarely consulted material, Hotta poses essential questions overlooked by historians in the seventy years since: Why did these men - military men, civilian politicians, diplomats, the emperor - put their country and its citizens in harm's way? Why did they make a decision that was doomed from the start?
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Japanese viewpoint
- By Jean on 01-01-14
By: Eri Hotta
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A Failed Empire
- The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev
- By: Vladimir Zubok
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 20 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Western interpretations of the Cold War--both realist and neoconservative--have erred by exaggerating either the Kremlin's pragmatism or its aggressiveness, argues Vladislav Zubok. Explaining the interests, aspirations, illusions, fears, and misperceptions of the Kremlin leaders and Soviet elites, Zubok offers a Soviet perspective on the greatest standoff of the 20th century.
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Focus on the Top Leadership
- By Augustus T. White on 08-13-10
By: Vladimir Zubok
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When the World Seemed New
- George H. W. Bush and the End of the Cold War
- By: Jeffrey A. Engel
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 20 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The end of the Cold War was the greatest shock to international affairs since World War II. In that perilous moment, Saddam Hussein chose to invade Kuwait, China cracked down on its own pro-democracy protesters, and regimes throughout Eastern Europe teetered between democratic change and new authoritarians. Not since FDR in 1945 had a US president faced such opportunities and challenges. As the presidential historian Jeffrey Engel reveals in this hard-to-pause history, behind closed doors, George H. W. Bush rose to the occasion brilliantly.
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The Right Man at the Right Time in the Right Job
- By A. M. on 09-12-18
By: Jeffrey A. Engel
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Collapse
- The Fall of the Soviet Union
- By: Vladislav M. Zubok
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1945, the Soviet Union controlled half of Europe and was a founding member of the United Nations. By 1991, it had an army four million strong, 5,000 nuclear-tipped missiles, and was the second biggest producer of oil in the world. But soon afterward, the union sank into an economic crisis and was torn apart by nationalist separatism. Its collapse was one of the seismic shifts of the 20th century.
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Hopefully Not Prescient
- By Joshua on 01-29-22
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Kissinger: Volume I
- 1923-1968: The Idealist
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 34 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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No American statesman has been as revered and as reviled as Henry Kissinger. Once hailed as "Super-K" - the "indispensable man" whose advice has been sought by every president from Kennedy to Obama - he has also been hounded by conspiracy theorists, scouring his every "telcon" for evidence of Machiavellian malfeasance. Yet as Niall Ferguson shows in this magisterial biography, the idea of Kissinger as the ruthless arch-realist is based on a profound misunderstanding.
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Riveting
- By Jean on 11-10-15
By: Niall Ferguson
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Yalta
- The Price of Peace
- By: S. M. Plokhy
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 22 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Award-winning Harvard historian S.M. Plokhy delivers a “convincing revisionist analysis” ( Publishers Weekly) of the February 1945 Yalta conference. Bolstered by Soviet wiretaps, Plokhy’s engrossing narrative of Stalin, Churchill, and FDR’s negotiations reveals the West did better than previously thought.
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The depth and breadth of understanding
- By Robin LaCorte on 06-27-19
By: S. M. Plokhy
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Potsdam
- The End of World War II and the Remaking of Europe
- By: Michael Neiberg
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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After Germany's defeat in World War II, Europe lay in tatters. Millions of refugees were dispersed across the continent. Food and fuel were scarce. Britain was bankrupt while Germany had been reduced to rubble. In July 1945, Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin gathered in a quiet suburb of Berlin to negotiate a lasting peace - a peace that would finally put an end to the conflagration that had started in 1914, a peace under which Europe could be rebuilt.
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Richly told and entertaining.
- By John Kaiser on 06-20-15
By: Michael Neiberg
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How Wars End
- Why We Always Fight the Last Battle
- By: Gideon Rose
- Narrated by: Gideon Rose
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1991, the United States Army trounced the Iraqi army in battle only to stumble blindly into postwar turmoil. Then in 2003 the United States did it again. How could this happen? How could the strongest power in modern history fight two wars against the same opponent in just over a decade, win lightning victories both times, and yet still be woefully unprepared for the aftermath? Because Americans always forget the political aspects of war.
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Excellent book
- By Luis on 11-04-10
By: Gideon Rose
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The Sleepwalkers
- How Europe Went to War in 1914
- By: Christopher Clark
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 24 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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The Sleepwalkers is historian Christopher Clark's riveting account of the explosive beginnings of World War I. Drawing on new scholarship, Clark offers a fresh look at World War I, focusing not on the battles and atrocities of the war itself but on the complex events and relationships that led a group of well-meaning leaders into brutal conflict.
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Very interesting take on a complex problem
- By Steve on 01-24-15
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Reagan's Secret War
- The Untold Story of His Fight to Save the World from Nuclear Disaster
- By: Martin Anderson, Annelise Anderson
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Martin and Annelise Anderson drew upon their access to more than eight million classified documents housed within the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. What emerges from this treasure trove of material is evidence that Reagan intended from his first days in office to bring down the Soviet Union, that he considered eliminating nuclear weapons his paramount objective, and that he was the principal architect of the policies that brought the Soviets to the nuclear-arms negotiating table.
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IMPORTANT HISTORICAL INFORMATION
- By Byron on 06-19-12
By: Martin Anderson, and others
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Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China
- By: Ezra F. Vogel
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 33 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Once described by Mao Zedong as a "needle inside a ball of cotton", Deng was the pragmatic yet disciplined driving force behind China's radical transformation in the late 20th century. He confronted the damage wrought by the Cultural Revolution, dissolved Mao's cult of personality, and loosened the policies that had stunted China's growth. Obsessed with modernization, Deng opened trade relations with the West, which lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty. Yet he also answered to his authoritarian roots, most notably when he ordered the crackdown in 1989 at Tiananmen Square.
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Another butcher of the Chinese language
- By Jack Hanson on 09-19-21
By: Ezra F. Vogel
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Full of Holes; Horrid Narrator
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Given current echoes of the Cold War, as Putin’s Russia rattles the world order, the tenuous balance of power and uncertain order of the late 1940s is as relevant as ever. The Marshall Plan provides critical context into understanding today’s international landscape. Bringing to bear fascinating new material from American, Russian, German, and other European archives, Steil’s account will forever change how we see the Marshall Plan and the birth of the Cold War. A polished and masterly work of historical narrative, this is an instant classic of Cold War literature.
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Lenin totally took an extra piece of that cake.
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From Russia With Love
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In Twelve Days: The Story of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising, Victor Sebestyen vividly recreates not only the days of the uprising but the events, meetings and days that led up to it. He goes back to give us snapshots of seminal moments in history that would decide Hungary's fate, such as the October 9, 1944, meeting in the Kremlin with Churchill or October 15, 1949, a day that marked the execution of Laszlo Rajk, a fierce Stalinist and one of the chief architect's of Hungary's police state and the beginning of the Bolsheviks starting "to devour [their] own children".
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Frustrating
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The Hawk and the Dove
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Only two Americans held positions of great influence throughout the Cold War; ironically, they were the chief advocates for the opposing strategies for winning---and surviving---that harrowing conflict. Both men came to power during World War II, reached their professional peaks during the Cold War's most frightening moments, and fought epic political battles that spanned decades.
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Two outstanding people in the US Government
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Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler
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In Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler, acclaimed historian Robert Gellately focuses on the dominant powers of the time, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, but also analyzes the catastrophe of those years in an effort to uncover its political and ideological nature.
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Incredible research as important now as then
- By Jason on 12-30-21
By: Robert Gellately
What listeners say about The End of the Cold War 1985-1991
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- Matrix Elias
- 02-01-19
Well written and performed.
For an era I grew up in, this was a fascinating telling of the history of the Cold War’s closing. Mr. Lister did a great job as well, though certain repeated mispronunciations grated on me. I would welcome another offering by the author.
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- Mike From Mesa
- 09-20-16
Behind the scenes look at a pivotal period of time
The End of the Cold War is a detailed look at the events leading to the historic agreements between The United States and the Soviet Union and how the building trust between the two governments led to a reduction in tensions and then and end to the cold war. The book describes the background details in both the American and the Soviet governments as these agreements were hammered out. We see the heated discussions not only on the American side between Secretary of State George Schultz and Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger but also the equivalent infighting between their equivalents on the Soviet side and the coverage of those discussions is very detailed with specifics as to who thought what, why they felt that way and how the discussions were resolved. It is not unusual to see information like this about US discussions since American politicians often write memoirs concerning their time in office but it is very unusual to read the equivalent information about Soviet discussions.
The book also details the contributions of the US European allies, Margaret Thatcher of Great Britain, François Mitterrand of France and Giulio Andreotti of Italy, to the final process. The book describes in some detail the concerns that the American allies had with the concept of the elimination of all nuclear weapons, a cherished goal of Ronald Reagan, and how George Bush, the President following Ronald Reagan, first opposed and then modified the American negotiating process. Since the US Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) was so central to the entire period its impact is covered in considerable detail, but there are no details about the US project itself other than a brief mention of how it was progressing.
While the book covers the discussions between the various governments in considerable detail it is also important to mention what this book is not. It is not a history of the period from 1985 through 1991 and a great deal of what happened in that period is either skipped completely or covered only lightly. 1989 was the year that the Communist governments in Eastern Europe were overthrown by their own citizens through peaceful or violent means and, while these events are mentioned, they are not covered in any detail unless the events had a direct bearing on the American or Soviet negotiating positions. Anyone interested in the events leading up to and through the revolution in Eastern Europe should look to other books for that information. This book is also not a history of the Reagan administration, the Bush administration or the Gorbachev tenure as General Secretary of the Soviet Union. However it brilliantly describes the hurdles all three had to go through in trying to end the cold war. It is also not a description of the collapse of the Soviet Union, although some general information concerning the struggle between Gorbachev and Yeltsin is covered.
The fighting between the US State Department and Defense Department over what was to be negotiated and how the negotiations were to be handled is discussed in detail as are the fighting between the Soviet counterparts and thus we find out as much about the Soviet Army’s opposition to the arms deals as we do about the American Defense Departments opposition to the same deals. And while the book is very good at covering the high points of the discussions there are also many items that are alluded to but not described in any detail and the reader is expected to either know or research on their own about the items on discussion. Thus there is much coverage of the American complaints about the Soviet radar station at Krasnoyarsk and their claim that it violated the 1972 ABM treaty, but nothing in the book describes the basis of the American complaints. Similarly actions by both the US and Soviet sides that the other thought were problems are mentioned, although there is rarely information as to why any particular action actually was a problem for the other side. One thing the book does make clear is that Gorbachev, although stating that the US SDI effort was a major stumbling block to an agreement and arguing that such an effort was doomed to failure nonetheless instituted a Soviet version of the same program.
One of the issues that Mr Service mentions as being uncertain up to the publication of this book is whether Mikhail Gorbachev was a willing participant in the nuclear reduction talks or whether he was forced into that position by the economic situation in the Soviet Union. In Mr Service's own words, whether Gorbachev “jumped” or was "pushed” into the process. The book, and the discussion of the economic plight of the Soviet Union are discussed in considerable detail and, although Mr Service himself makes no specific statement, readers are led to an obvious conclusion about how and why the cold war itself ended. This is an extremely valuable book for anyone interested in this period of time and I highly recommend it, although I also wish it covered a bit more of the secondary details that are glossed over. The actions and motives of the main participants in these events, Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, George Schultz and Eduard Shevardnadze are covered in great detail and it is clear that Mr Service, who is British, has a great deal of respect for all of them. His comments on Ronald Reagan, in particular, were surprising to me as President Reagan has often been derided as a bumbling and ignorant figure by many in Europe. Mr Service’s views are quite different.
The book is very well narrated by Ralph Lister.
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9 people found this helpful
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- A. M.
- 05-19-16
Reagan's full court press ended the Cold War
Any additional comments?
I think some things were left out of this picture, i.e., the book Red Horizons that changed Reagan's policy, Solidarity, Pope, etc. That said, the gist of it is here, the two icebergs breaking loose to float away. The momentum set in motion and then kept in motion ended the Cold War, and for that we should thank Reagan!
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4 people found this helpful
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- KTF
- 06-01-17
Lots of details; not very captivating
I bought this book hoping to learn more about the Cold War, Russian context, and fall of Russia. The book seems solid as far as a historical account- but it is ENTIRELY too focused on basically the top few politicians on the Russian and American side. There's no analysis. The fall of the Soviet Union is essentially not covered other than the fact it fell and it's the last 10 min of the book. If you want a historical account without analysis of communications and events between Gorbachev and Reagan/Bush and their aides- this is your book. If you're looking for an interesting analysis and broader coverage of events and context to the Cold War and the fall of Soviet Union, skip this.
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- Anonymous User
- 05-13-20
pretty basic
this books is quite boring. would not recommend. nothing too new or insightful. stay away
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-06-22
Very limited in understanding
This book is basically George Schultz hagiography. Not very factual, more of a memoir. Many better books on topic do not recommend
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