The Prime Ministers
An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership
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Narrated by:
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Derek Perkins
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By:
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Yehuda Avner
About this listen
The Prime Ministers is the first and only insider account of Israeli politics from the founding of the Jewish State to the near-present day. It reveals stunning details of life-and-death decision-making, top-secret military operations and high level peace negotiations. The Prime Ministers brings listeners into the orbits of world figures, including Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Henry Kissinger, Yasser Arafat, Margaret Thatcher, Princess Diana and the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
Written in a captivating literary style by a political adviser, speechwriter and diplomat, The Prime Ministers is an enthralling political memoir, and a precisely crafted prism through which to view current Middle East affairs. The Prime Ministers presents first-hand accounts of major historical events, including:
- Menachem Begin's decision to bomb Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor
- Yitzhak Rabin's handling of the Entebbe rescue mission
- The Egypt-Israel peace process
- The shelling of the Irgun arms ship, the Altalena Deir Yessin
It offers keen observations of key personalities, and unforgettable descriptions of political rivalries, diplomatic blunders, White House and Buckingham Palace banquets and more, to bring Israel's history to life in a way no book has done before.
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Editorial reviews
Yehuda Avner brings a fly-on-the-wall perspective to six decades of Israeli history. Part memoir, part multi-faceted biography, and part novelistic narrative, Avner takes listeners deep into the innermost worlds of four prime ministers, as only a former advisor can.
Derek Perkins, whose narrator rating on Audible is consistently near perfect, hails from the UK. His voice is both intimate and intellectual, immediate and poetically lofty. In short, attending his performance is a pleasure.
The audiobook opens with a helpful glossary, introducing the listener to the international cast of characters that will populate the dynamic history. If fans of The Prime Ministers still hunger for more at the end of this recording, they can check out the full-length documentary film inspired by the memoir.
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Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! President Ronald Reagan's famous exhortation when visiting Berlin in 1987 has long been widely cited as the clarion call that brought the Cold War to an end. The United States won, so this version of history goes, because Ronald Reagan stood firm against the USSR; American resoluteness brought the evil empire to its knees. Michael Meyer, who was there at the time as a Newsweek bureau chief, begs to differ.
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Great book about a great year for democracy.
- By Susan on 11-24-09
By: Michael Meyer
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Six Months in 1945
- FDR, Stalin, Churchill, and Truman--from World War to Cold War
- By: Michael Dobbs
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 16 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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When Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill met in Yalta in February 1945, Hitler's armies were on the run and victory was imminent. The Big Three wanted to draft a blueprint for a lasting peace - but instead set the stage for a 44-year division of Europe into Soviet and western spheres of influence. After fighting side by side for nearly four years, their political alliance was rapidly fracturing. By the time the leaders met again in Potsdam in July 1945, Russians and Americans were squabbling over the future of Germany and Churchill was warning about an "iron curtain" being drawn down over the Continent.
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Totally Outstanding. Bravo !
- By Alan on 10-25-12
By: Michael Dobbs
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Dutch
- A Memoir of Ronald Reagan
- By: Edmund Morris
- Narrated by: Edmund Morris
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Abridged
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This book, the only biography ever authorized by a sitting President - yet written with complete interpretive freedom - is as revolutionary in method as it is formidable in scholarship. When Ronald Reagan moved into the White House in 1981, one of his first literary guests was Edmund Morris, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of Theodore Roosevelt. Morris developed a fascination for the genial yet inscrutable President and, after Reagan's landslide reelection in 1984, put aside the second volume of his life of Roosevelt to become an observing eye and ear at the White House.
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Painful
- By john on 02-06-13
By: Edmund Morris
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With Hitler to the End
- The Memoirs of Hitler's Valet
- By: Heinz Linge
- Narrated by: Jim Frangione
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
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Heinz Linge worked with Adolf Hitler for a 10 year period from 1935 until the Fuhrer's death in the Berlin bunker in May 1945. He was one of the last to leave the bunker and was responsible for guarding the door while Hitler killed himself. During his years of service, Linge was responsible for all aspects of Hitler's household and was constantly by his side. He claims that only Eva Braun stood closer to Hitler over these years. Through a host of anecdotes and observations, Linge recounts the daily routine in Hitler's household; his eating habits, his foibles, his preferences, his sense of humour, and his private life with Eva Braun.
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Insight into One of Hitler's Unrepentant Dullards
- By Erik on 12-19-14
By: Heinz Linge
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Three Days in Moscow
- Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire
- By: Bret Baier, Catherine Whitney
- Narrated by: Bret Baier
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In Three Days in Moscow, Baier explores the dramatic endgame of America’s long struggle with the Soviet Union and President Ronald Reagan’s central role in shaping the world we live in today. On May 31, 1988, Reagan stood on Russian soil and addressed a packed audience at Moscow State University, delivering a remarkable - yet now largely forgotten - speech that capped his first visit to the Soviet capital.
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Amazing!
- By Brian W. Barton on 05-20-18
By: Bret Baier, and others
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The Maisky Diaries
- Red Ambassador to the Court of St James's, 1932-1943
- By: Gabriel Gorodetsky
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 24 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The terror and purges of Stalin's Russia in the 1930s discouraged Soviet officials from leaving documentary records, let alone keeping personal diaries. A remarkable exception is the unique diary assiduously kept by Ivan Maisky, the Soviet ambassador to London between 1932 and 1943. This selection from Maisky's diary grippingly documents Britain's drift to war during the 1930s, appeasement in the Munich era, negotiations leading to the signature of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact....
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Informative look at the Soviet perspective
- By Mike From Mesa on 03-17-16
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In the Garden of Beasts
- Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
- By: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
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The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the “New Germany,” she has one affair after another....
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I loved it ... and hated it ... simultaneously
- By History on 11-21-11
By: Erik Larson
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Candy Bombers
- By: Andrei Cherny
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 24 hrs and 16 mins
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Acclaimed author Andrei Cherny tells the gripping saga of a rag-tag band of Americans - with limited resources and little hope for success - keeping West Berliners alive in the face of Soviet tyranny, winning the hearts and minds of former enemies, and giving the world a shining example of fundamental goodness.
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Wonderful Story, Well-Read
- By Alex on 10-07-09
By: Andrei Cherny
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Lioness
- Golda Meir and the Nation of Israel
- By: Francine Klagsbrun
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 32 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Golda Meir was a world figure unlike any other. Born in tsarist Russia in 1898, she immigrated to America in 1906 and grew up in Milwaukee, where from her earliest years she displayed the political consciousness and organizational skills that would eventually catapult her into the inner circles of Israel's founding generation. Moving to mandatory Palestine in 1921 with her husband, the passionate socialist joined a kibbutz but soon left and was hired at a public works office by the man who would become the great love of her life.
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The persistent mispronunciations of Hebrew and Yiddish words ruined this performance
- By YH-O on 12-30-18
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Invictus
- Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation
- By: John Carlin
- Narrated by: Gideon Emery
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
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After being released from prison and winning South Africa’s first free election, Nelson Mandela presided over a country still deeply divided by 50 years of apartheid. His plan was ambitious if not far-fetched: use the national rugby team, the Springboks—long an embodiment of white-supremacist rule—to embody and engage a new South Africa as they prepared to host the 1995 World Cup.
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More detail than the film
- By Neale on 03-04-13
By: John Carlin
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No Ordinary Time
- Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II
- By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 39 hrs and 14 mins
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No Ordinary Time describes how the isolationist and divided United States of 1940 was unified under the extraordinary leadership of Franklin Roosevelt to become the preeminent economic and military power in the world.
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Great at 1.5 speed
- By Brett on 01-04-13
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What listeners say about The Prime Ministers
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Menachem Minkowitz
- 02-19-15
Breathtaking
An absolutely fascinating narrative from the first to the last page. Free of embellishments which so often tarnish historical chronicles. A behind-the-scenes look at moments that defined contemporary history for thr whole of humanity and for the Jewish people in particular.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Tommy
- 07-15-15
Prime Praise for The Prime Ministers
Yehuda Avner indeed provides an intimate and fascinating narrative of Israeli leadership. He reveals the complexities of leadership, the wonder of Providence (Yossel Kolowitz), the fruit of boldness (Entebbe rescue mission), the importance of principle (Sabbath), the truth that "people are people" (Begin/Sadat relationship), and the history, heritage, beauty, tenacity, and importance of Israel and the Jewish people. Thank you, Ambassador Avner.
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1 person found this helpful
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- sm6jesse
- 04-13-16
Very informative, insiders look at the early leaders of Israel
Enjoyed, lots of info but a compelling read. Not boring! Hats off to M. Begin
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- Netanya
- 04-23-17
Gripping
Only criticism is that the pronunciations of the Hebrew were often butchered. That could have and should have be caught and fixed.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Marc
- 04-06-15
Colourful storytelling - far from dull
At first I was hesitant to read this book, as a European who is from a newer era than these prime minsters, I thought it would be dull. I imagined a lot of biographical facts stacked on top of each other.
I couldn't have been more wrong. First of all, the narrator is simply the best narrator I have heard on an audio book. The book features countless dialogues, and he has a way of pulling you in to conversations by impersonating each person with great precision. He has a way of getting small character traits right, like Margret Thatcher's stubbornness, Ronald Reagan's smoothness and Menachem Begin's forceful delivery, without sounding like a parody of the person. I see some people complaining that he doesn't get the Hebrew and Yiddish right, but as someone who speaks neither of these languages it doesn't bother me.
As far as the content, it is more of a personal recollection than a regular biography. This style offers, because of Avner's position as ambassador to Great Britan and more, recountings of many memorable situations, such as a conversation between the authour, Margret Thatcher, princess Diana and either prime minister Begin or Rabin about the Jewish people (I forgot some of the details).
The only downside I can see is that mr. Avner was part of the Israeli leadership and that made him clearly biased. From my perspective, he had opinions that ranged from annoying (calling Jerusalem Israel's "eternal, undivided" capital) to downright disgusting (claiming that the Deir Yassin massacre is "misrepresented" and insinuating that the Arabs complain about it too much and claiming that Israel had no responsibility for the Sabra and Shatila massacre and that the casualties were in the hundreds when they were most likely in the thousands). Some of his opinions and lack of consideration for the Palestines made my blood boil slightly, but overall he is fairly balanced. Also, he could have written more about Rabin and Meir, but then again he did not work with them for as long as with Begin.
Overall I could not recommend this book more.
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- Anonymous User
- 12-29-20
Excellent, insightful and impartial
Well written and well read. Gives a great opportunity to learn more about the personal dimension of historic figures, whether they were pedantic about semantics or not.
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- Soheil
- 02-18-17
Amazing book on Israel from birth to recent history
If one wants to learn about Israel, it's leaders and the thoughts and beliefs in their decision making and getting to know the leaders intimately, this is the book to read
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- Larry L. Booker
- 05-04-21
Insightful, Informing and Enveloping
Fascinating first hand insights into some of the 20th Century's most important and interesting world changers...and all from a tiny land called Israel.
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- clight1
- 07-10-15
Superb
Wonderful "fly on the wall" selections from Israel's modern history. Even if you are well versed in the history, the inside accounts are priceless. Irritating pronunciation of Hebrew words, but otherwise the reader was very engaging
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3 people found this helpful
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- Jason
- 10-31-18
Wonderful History!
Very well written. It captivated my attention the way through. A book all Americans should read. The Jewish people are a treasure to this Earth.
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