
The Folly of Realism
How the West Deceived Itself About Russia and Betrayed Ukraine
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Narrated by:
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Jacques Roy
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Alexander Vindman
About this listen
A bestselling national security expert delivers a chilling analysis of how Western indecision and apathy made possible the return of brutal Russian expansionism—with catastrophic consequences.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, six US presidential administrations of both parties pursued policies for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia that emboldened Russia, playing into its imperialist, centuries-long mythos of regional hegemony. The result: military aggression and full-scale invasion. It was all too foreseeable.
In The Folly of Realism, leading national security expert and bestselling author Alexander Vindman argues that America’s mistakes in Eastern Europe result from policymakers’ fixation on immediate, short-term problem-solving and misplaced hopes and fears. He proposes a new long-term, values-based approach that insists on the fundamentals of liberal democracy and a rules-based world order.
Enlivened by firsthand accounts and behind-the-scenes interviews with leading Washington and international policymakers and culminating in the shocking brutality of Putin’s invasions of Ukraine, the book exposes the follies of western foreign policymaking, sources of the dangerous return of Russian imperialism, and proscribes how it can be contained.
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David Enrich, the New York Times Business Investigations Editor and the #1 bestselling author of Dark Towers, produces his most consequential and far-reaching investigation yet: an in-depth exposé of the broad campaign—orchestrated by elite Americans—to silence dissent and protect the powerful.
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The current threat against journalists
- By Kirk Writes on 04-04-25
By: David Enrich
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Chokepoints
- American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare
- By: Edward Fishman
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 17 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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It used to be that ravaging another country’s economy required blockading its ports and laying siege to its cities. Now all it takes is a statement posted online by the U.S. government. In Chokepoints, Edward Fishman, a former top State Department sanctions official, takes us deep into the back rooms of power to reveal the untold history of the last two decades of U.S. foreign policy, in which America renounced the gospel of globalization and waged a new kind of economic war.
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An economics textbook disguised as a thriller
- By Jesse Spevack on 03-26-25
By: Edward Fishman
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The War Came to Us
- Life and Death in Ukraine
- By: Christopher Miller
- Narrated by: Christopher Miller
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the definitive, inside story of Ukraine's long fight for freedom. Told through Miller’s personal experiences, vivid front-line dispatches and illuminating interviews with unforgettable characters, The War Came To Us takes listeners on a riveting journey through the key locales and pivotal events of Ukraine’s modern history.
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American Kompromat
- How the KGB Cultivated Donald Trump, and Related Tales of Sex, Greed, Power, and Treachery
- By: Craig Unger
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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This is a story about the dirty secrets of the most powerful people in the world—including Donald Trump. It is based on exclusive interviews with dozens of high-level sources—intelligence officers in the CIA, FBI, and the KGB, thousands of pages of FBI investigations, police investigations, and news articles in English, Russian, and Ukrainian. American Kompromat shows that from Trump to Jeffrey Epstein, kompromat was used in operations far more sinister than the public could ever imagine.
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10 star book
- By Victoria Eriksson on 01-31-21
By: Craig Unger
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Autocracy, Inc.
- The Dictators Who Want to Run the World
- By: Anne Applebaum
- Narrated by: Anne Applebaum
- Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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We think we know what an autocratic state looks like: There is an all-powerful leader at the top. He controls the police. The police threaten the people with violence. There are evil collaborators, and maybe some brave dissidents. But in the 21st century, that bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, autocracies are underpinned not by one dictator, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, surveillance technologies, and professional propagandists, all of which operate across multiple regimes, from China to Russia to Iran.
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A Triumphant Work -Puts It All Together With Laser Clarity
- By Sjhoffman on 09-19-24
By: Anne Applebaum
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House of Trump, House of Putin
- The Untold Story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia
- By: Craig Unger
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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It is a chilling story that begins in the 1970s, when Trump made his first splash in the booming, money-drenched world of New York real estate, and ends with Trump’s inauguration as president of the US. That moment was the culmination of Vladimir Putin’s long mission to undermine Western democracy, a mission that he and his hand-selected group of oligarchs and Mafia kingpins had ensnared Trump in, starting more than 20 years ago with the massive bailout of a string of Trump hotel and casino failures. This book confirms the most incredible American paranoias about Russian malevolence.
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Understanding Trump through his shady roots
- By Caty kindle 4 on 08-20-18
By: Craig Unger
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The Eurasian Century
- Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern Century
- By: Hal Brands
- Narrated by: Tim Fannon
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Hal Brands argues that a better understanding of Eurasia's strategic geography can illuminate the contours of rivalry and conflict in today's world. The Eurasian Century explains how revolutions in technology and warfare, and the rise of toxic ideologies of conquest, made Eurasia the center of twentieth-century geopolitics—with pressing implications for the struggles that will define the twenty-first.
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Worth the read.
- By Chip Eckert on 02-24-25
By: Hal Brands
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The Plot to Hack America
- How Putin's Cyberspies and WikiLeaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election
- By: Malcolm Nance
- Narrated by: Gregory Itzin
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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In April 2016, computer technicians at the Democratic National Committee discovered that someone had accessed the organization's computer servers and conducted a theft that is best described as Watergate 2.0. In the weeks that followed, the nation's top computer security experts discovered that the cyber thieves had helped themselves to everything: sensitive documents, emails, donor information, even voice mails.
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Short and Terrifying
- By Teadrinker on 03-19-17
By: Malcolm Nance
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The Sirens' Call
- How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource
- By: Chris Hayes
- Narrated by: Chris Hayes
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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We all feel it—the distraction, the loss of focus, the addictive focus on the wrong things for too long. We bump into the zombies on their phones in the street, and sometimes they’re us. We stare in pity at the four people at the table in the restaurant, all on their phones, and then we feel the buzz in our pocket. Something has changed utterly: for most of human history, the boundary between public and private has been clear, at least in theory. Now, as Chris Hayes writes, “With the help of a few tech firms, we basically tore it down in about a decade.”
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Thoughtful and captivating
- By Nancy on 02-02-25
By: Chris Hayes
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The Longest Con
- How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism
- By: Joe Conason
- Narrated by: Steve Marvel
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The Longest Con tells the fascinating story of the partisan con artists who have corrupted conservative politics in our time, creating a toxic phenomenon that culminated in the election of Donald Trump, a bumptious fraud whose checkered career and tawdry retinue, including his presidential cabinet, have featured almost every variety of scam. But long before he appeared, Trump's path to power was blazed by the motley horde of swindlers and quacks who preceded him.
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America Needs to Know the Truth and Dangers of Trump
- By Tiberius on 12-01-24
By: Joe Conason
What listeners say about The Folly of Realism
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Trace
- 03-15-25
Excelent insights
I like the insights, the clear writing of complex ideas, the factual detail. A must read.
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- Dahlias
- 03-15-25
Good book, unlistenable narration
A well-written and important book rendered completely unlistenable by terrible narration. How did this happen?
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- MaxineMoore
- 03-12-25
listen
I did not enjoy a good book being read by a bad voice. I almost gave up on it and returned the book.
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-13-25
Defining Realism in the Context of American Modern History
I'm very appreciative of the writers personal experience and expertise with this book. Not only does this give context to current events, it gives the reader many insights to an otherwise mysterious processes.
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- Yelena Sirbiladze
- 03-12-25
Recommend for everyone!
Fair and balanced view of a person who knows the subject personally, and wants to improve peace all over the world.
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- Erin Phillips
- 03-29-25
Good work with solid background.
I liked his non partisan look at the situation. I don’t like that America needs to relearn its lessons over and over again.
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- Anonymous User
- 03-09-25
The book is well written by an author who is very qualified to give an analysis on this subject.
I loved the book and the content! Very well written…
The narrator uses a repetitive voice pattern that makes it difficult to listen to. It is a voice pattern suited for a short news story or documentary, but not for a book.
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- Michelle R.
- 04-18-25
Thought-provoking
I learned so much from this audiobook! I’m downloading the author’s other book right now. I applaud his courage.
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- Nola
- 03-25-25
Great story
Reader sounded like he was pinching his nose during the whole read. the story was very interesting, but the reader was very distracting.
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