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The Red Flag
- A History of Communism
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 28 hrs and 50 mins
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Publisher's summary
Communism was one of the most powerful political and intellectual movements the world has ever seen. At the height of their influence, Communists controlled more than a third of the Earth's surface. But perhaps more astonishing than its rapid rise and extraordinary reach was Communism's sudden, devastating collapse in November of 1989.
In The Red Flag, Oxford professor David Priestland tells the epic story of a movement that has taken root in dozens of countries across 200 years, from its birth after the French Revolution to its ideological maturity in 19th-century Germany to its rise to dominance (and subsequent fall) in the 20th century.
Beginning with the first modern Communists in the age of Robespierre, Priestland examines the motives of thinkers and leaders including Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Castro, Che Guevara, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Gorbachev, and many others. He also asks what it was about Communism that inspired its rank and file - whether the militants of 1920s Russia, the guerrilla fighters of China, or the students of Ethiopia - and explores the experience of what it meant to live under Communism for its millions of subjects. He shows how Communism, in all its varieties, appealed to different societies for different reasons, in some as a response to inequalities and in others more out of a desire to catch up with the West. But paradoxically, while destroying one web of inequality, Communist leaders were simultaneously weaving another. It was this dynamic, together with widespread economic failure and an escalating loss of faith in the system, that ultimately destroyed Soviet Communism itself.
At a time when global capitalism is in crisis and powerful new political forces have arisen to confront Western democracy, The Red Flag is essential listening if we are to apply the lessons of the past to navigating the future.
Cover photo of Che Guevara copyright 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
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To an extraordinary extent we continue to live in the shadow of the classical world. At every level, from languages to calendars to political systems, we are the descendants of a “classical Europe,” using frames of reference created by ancient Mediterranean cultures. As this consistently fresh and surprising new audio book makes clear, however, this was no less true for the inhabitants of those classical civilizations themselves, whose myths, history, and buildings were an elaborate engagement with an already old and revered past - one filled with great leaders and writers....
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Excellent overview of the Classical World
- By David I. Williams on 01-12-14
By: Simon Price, and others
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Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World
- A Concise History: Asia-Pacific: Culture, Politics, and Society
- By: Rebecca E. Karl
- Narrated by: Bobby Brill
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Throughout this lively and concise historical account of Mao Zedong's life and thought, Rebecca E. Karl places the revolutionary leader's personal experiences, social visions and theory, military strategies, and developmental and foreign policies in a dynamic narrative of the Chinese revolution. She situates Mao and the revolution in a global setting informed by imperialism, decolonization, and third worldism, and discusses worldwide trends in politics, the economy, military power, and territorial sovereignty.
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A balanced view of Mao's life and legacy
- By Douglas A. Greenberg on 06-18-20
By: Rebecca E. Karl
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From the Ruins of Empire
- The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia
- By: Pankaj Mishra
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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A little more than a century ago, as the Japanese navy annihilated the giant Russian one at the Battle of Tsushima, original thinkers across Asia, working independently, sought to frame a distinctly Asian intellectual tradition that would inform and inspire the continent's anticipated rise to dominance.
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Breathtaking Scale, Cohesion and Vision of Asian History
- By Oscar C. Huerta on 03-18-19
By: Pankaj Mishra
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The Story of Russia
- By: Orlando Figes
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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The Story of Russia is about how the Russians defined themselves―and repeatedly reinvented such definitions along the way. Moving from Russia’s agrarian beginnings in the first millennium to subsequent periods of monarchy, totalitarianism, and perestroika, all the way up to Vladimir Putin and his use of myths of Russian history to bolster his regime, celebrated historian Orlando Figes examines the ideas that have guided the country’s actions.
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Almost perfect…
- By Samantha Dispenzieri on 02-21-23
By: Orlando Figes
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A People’s History of the World
- From the Stone Age to the New Millennium
- By: Chris Harman
- Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan
- Length: 29 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Chris Harman describes the shape and course of human history as a narrative of ordinary people forming and re-forming complex societies in pursuit of common human goals. Interacting with the forces of technological change as well as the impact of powerful individuals and revolutionary ideas, these societies have engendered events familiar to every schoolchild-from the empires of antiquity to the world wars of the 20th century. In a bravura conclusion, Chris Harman exposes the reductive complacency of contemporary capitalism.
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Oh God avoid
- By Robert on 03-28-18
By: Chris Harman
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A History of Fascism, 1914-1945
- By: Stanley G. Payne
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 20 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Focusing mostly on Italy and Germany but also considering Spain, Romania, Japan, and movements in other countries, Payne describes fascism as revolutionary ultranationalism based on national rebirth, extreme elitism, mass mobilization, and the promotion of violence and military virtues. He also suggests that the early Russian communists borrowed many techniques from fascism, and that though we are fairly well-inoculated against fascism itself, the values it represents could still emerge in new forms.
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Dated lit review, ill-suited for audiobook
- By Keith on 11-24-19
By: Stanley G. Payne
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The Third Reich in History and Memory
- By: Richard J. Evans
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In the 70 years since the demise of the Third Reich, there has been a significant transformation in the ways in which the modern world understands Nazism. In this brilliant and eye-opening collection, Richard J. Evans offers a critical commentary on that transformation, exploring how major changes in perspective have informed research and writing on the Third Reich in recent years. Drawing on his most notable writings, Evans reveals the shifting perspectives on Nazism's rise to political power, its economic intricacies, and its subterranean extension into postwar Germany.
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each book is better than the first. your writing is genius
- By Anonymous User on 05-10-24
By: Richard J. Evans
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Vietnam
- A New History
- By: Christopher Goscha
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 23 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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In Vietnam, Christopher Goscha tells the full history of Vietnam, from antiquity to the present day. Generations of emperors, rebels, priests, and colonizers left complicated legacies in this remarkable country. Periods of Chinese, French, and Japanese rule reshaped and modernized Vietnam, but so too did the colonial enterprises of the Vietnamese themselves as they extended their influence southward from the Red River Delta.
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Not bad, but not great.
- By Kp on 08-06-18
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The English and Their History
- By: Robert Tombs
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 43 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Robert Tombs' momentous The English and Their History is both a startlingly fresh and a uniquely inclusive account of the people who have a claim to be the oldest nation in the world. The English first came into existence as an idea, before they had a common ruler and before the country they lived in even had a name. They have lasted as a recognizable entity ever since, and their defining national institutions can be traced back to the earliest years of their history.
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Should be called, The English and their politics
- By Mary Elizabeth Reynolds on 08-24-16
By: Robert Tombs
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The Darker Nations
- A People's History of the Third World
- By: Vijay Prashad, Howard Zinn - editor
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Here, from a brilliant young writer, is a paradigm-shifting history of both a utopian concept and global movement - the idea of the Third World. The Darker Nations traces the intellectual origins and the political history of the 20th century attempt to knit together the world's impoverished countries in opposition to the United States and Soviet spheres of influence in the decades following World War II.
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So informative!
- By krishna chaitanya on 01-03-22
By: Vijay Prashad, and others
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"Fascists", "Brownshirts", "jackbooted stormtroopers" - such are the insults typically hurled at conservatives by their liberal opponents. Calling someone a fascist is the fastest way to shut them up, defining their views as beyond the political pale. But who are the real fascists in our midst?
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The Rise of Communism: From Marx to Lenin
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Disappointing, simplistic, biased
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In a seamless meshing of exhaustive research, brilliant synthesis and narrative élan, Simon Sebag Montefiore chronicles the life and lives of Stalin’s court from the time of his acclamation as “leader” in 1929, five years after Lenin’s death, until his own death in 1953 at the age of 73. Through the lens of personality - Stalin’s as well as those of his most notorious henchmen, Molotov, Beria and Yezhov among them - the author sheds new light on the oligarchy that attempted to create a new world by exterminating the old.
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What listeners say about The Red Flag
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jan Nilsson
- 11-30-16
Epic on communism in the world.
If you want to understand why the world looks like it is, lusten to this book.
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- Howard
- 09-07-16
Solid but left leaning history
Solid history by a clearly left wing socialist who asks silly questions like "should we try to understand Stalin" in the context of acknowledging Stalin's "good intention". Whilst failing to maintain a neutral view of the story of Communism the author does a good job of providing a sweeping historical overview of Communism. He fails utterly in explaining the horrors of Pol Pot and Stalin and comes very close to excusing them.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Andrew D. Brown
- 07-09-15
Outstanding
A great overview of communism. I think right side won but much to think about. Challenged many of my assumptions. Easy to ingest but still substantial. Great.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Mark R. McDowell
- 01-14-19
educational but boring.
narrator sounded like an AI but info was great. I learned a lot during many long hours
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- Larry
- 10-30-17
An excellent overview of historic communism
The book is written with deep insight into the perspective of many Communist leaders from the French Revolution to the late 2000's. It is a honest portrayal of their dreams and goals, but also of the seemingly inevitable failure of their various attempts to achieve them.
I found that it opened my eyes to many aspects of history that had previously been either unknown to me or disconnected, and it laid an excellent foundation for understanding today's world and it's many areas of conflict. Paradoxically, it also increased my empathy for those whose political ends and means differ sharply from my own, while at the same time strengthened my desire to distill their errors and communicate them to those willing to view consequences from the perspective of historical reality.
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3 people found this helpful
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- james
- 05-06-16
The story of the Great boogeyman of Capitalism
we have all heard the Great economic battle of the Late 20th century: Capitalism vs Communism, but what is offered here is the story of that war through the eyes of the "evil" side. a great listen to show just how fragile peace was in a time of what could amount to an apocalyptic staredown, the Red Flag is a must for any person who is interested in the timeframe as well as the politics of the era.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Joseph P.
- 10-13-15
Soviettes?
Would you be willing to try another one of Paul Boehmer’s performances?
Ugh. I'm sure they're wonderful, but I can't get past his pronunciation of "Soviet" in this book. Right or wrong, his pronunciation sounds more like "Soviette", and I'm often distracted by strange visions of Marx, Lenin, Stalin, et al in a long kick line. It made it difficult to get through the book, as the Soviets tend to have a large part in it...
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1 person found this helpful
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- Marina
- 05-14-16
Another robotic, anxious narrator
Excellent book rendered unlistenable by a dreadful narrator. Most grating is his habit of pausing in trepidation before each non-English word, which is then pronounced in an odd, stilted accent, whatever the language.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Cathy
- 11-30-22
Enjoyable
Very interesting topic to me. Author presented events not favoring any side. I like the narrator too.
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- Christopher
- 10-28-15
Time well spent for history buffs
Provides a wide and deep perspective on world events in the last century. The reader is EXTRAORDINARY in his pronunciation of names and places in many languages. Not the most exciting book, but fills in a lot of detail on a subject that is oversimplified in every other place we encounter it.
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13 people found this helpful