The Unraveling
High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq
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Narrated by:
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Henrietta Meire
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By:
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Emma Sky
About this listen
When Emma Sky, an intrepid young British woman, volunteered to help rebuild Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, she had little idea what she was letting herself in for: a tour that would last over a decade, longer than that of any senior military or political official. As the only adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Kirkuk and the closest confidante to US General Odierno, Sky was valued for her controversial voice and outsider's point of view - during the most painful stages of the war, she was one of the few to develop friendships and relationships with both Iraqis and Americans alike.
In the West, violence in Iraq is typically explained away as the symptom of psychopathic terrorists, blurring and arbitrary colonial borders, and ancient hatreds between Sunni and Shia. But the violence stems from weak governance and corrupt elites, empowered by the US-led coalition, who use sectarianism to mobilize support and fail to deliver service to the meet the needs of the country's citizens. Women and men, Iraqis and Americans, soldiers and civilians, the ordinary and yet extraordinary, Western cultures and Eastern all collide in Iraq.
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The Good Spy is Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Kai Bird’s compelling portrait of the remarkable life and death of one of the most important operatives in CIA history - a man who, had he lived, might have helped heal the rift between Arabs and the West. On April 18, 1983, a bomb exploded outside the American Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people. The attack was a geopolitical turning point. It marked the beginning of Hezbollah as a political force, but even more important, it eliminated America’s most influential and effective intelligence officer in the Middle East - CIA operative Robert Ames.
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Biased but interesting
- By Peggy on 05-09-18
By: Kai Bird
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Black Flags
- The Rise of ISIS
- By: Joby Warrick
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In a thrilling dramatic narrative, awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, Joby Warrick traces how the strain of militant Islam behind ISIS first arose in a remote Jordanian prison and spread with the unwitting aid of two American presidents.
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So much learned
- By mike flavin on 02-11-16
By: Joby Warrick
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The Fourth Star
- Four Generals and the Epic Struggle for the Future of the United States Army
- By: David Cloud, Greg Jaffe
- Narrated by: Richard McGonagle
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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They were four exceptional soldiers, a new generation asked to save an army that had been hollowed out after Vietnam. They survived the military's brutal winnowing to reach its top echelon. They became the Army's most influential generals in the crucible of Iraq. Collectively, their lives tell the story of the Army over the last four decades and illuminate the path it must travel to protect the nation over the next century.
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Learning from the Military
- By Joshua Kim on 06-10-12
By: David Cloud, and others
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My American Journey
- An Autobiography
- By: Colin Powell
- Narrated by: Colin Powell
- Length: 3 hrs and 41 mins
- Abridged
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Colin Powell is the embodiment of the American dream. He was born in Harlem to immigrant parents from Jamaica. He knew the rough life of the streets. He overcame a barely average start at school. Then he joined the Army. The rest is history - including Vietnam, the Pentagon, Panama, and Desert Storm - but a history that until now has been known only on the surface.
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Audio book is abridged!
- By Lydia on 02-11-21
By: Colin Powell
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Thirteen Days in September
- Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David
- By: Lawrence Wright
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall, Lawrence Wright
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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A gripping day-by-day account of the 1978 Camp David conference, when President Jimmy Carter persuaded Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat to sign the first peace treaty in the modern Middle East, one which endures to this day.
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Lessons in Negotiation
- By David on 06-18-15
By: Lawrence Wright
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The General's Son
- Journey of an Israeli in Palestine
- By: Miko Peled
- Narrated by: Miko Peled
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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The journey that Peled traces in this groundbreaking memoir echoed the trajectory taken 40 years earlier by his father, renowned Israeli general Matti Peled. In The General's Son, Miko Peled tells us about growing up in Jerusalem in the heart of the group that ruled the then-young country, Israel. He takes us with him through his service in the country's military and his subsequent global travels...and then, after his niece's killing, back into the heart of Israel's conflict with the Palestinians.
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Thought Provoking and Powerful
- By FatherRobC on 05-10-16
By: Miko Peled
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The Last Refuge
- Yemen, al-Qaeda, and America's War in Arabia
- By: Gregory Johnsen
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Far from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States and al-Qaeda are fighting a clandestine war of drones and suicide bombers in an unforgiving corner of Arabia. The Last Refuge charts the rise, fall, and resurrection of al-Qaeda in Yemen over the last 30 years, detailing how a group that the United States once defeated has now become one of the world’s most dangerous threats. An expert on Yemen who has spent years on the ground there, Gregory D. Johnsen uses al-Qaeda’s Arabic battle notes to reconstruct their world as they take aim at the United States and its allies.
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bin laden.
- By Rhea on 07-15-13
By: Gregory Johnsen
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A Thousand Hills
- Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Paul Kagame grew up as a wretched refugee. He and a group of comrades, determined to force their way back home after a generation of exile, designed one of the most audacious covert operations in the history of clandestine war. Then, after taking power, they amazed the world by stabilizing and reviving their devastated country.
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Best Most Comprehensive Work on Rwanda
- By Greg on 07-30-10
By: Stephen Kinzer
What listeners say about The Unraveling
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-17-16
Inspiring memoir; irritating narration
The pronunciation of Arabic words and names is poor in most audible.com books about the Middle East. This is understandable, and mostly forgivable given the inaccessibility of the language. But narrator Henrietta Meire belongs in a class of her own. She can pronounce "Iraq" and "Saddam Hussein," but for everything else, she's just winging it. She mangles even commonly known terms like Sunni, which she pronounces to rhyme with bunny -- and since this word occurs hundreds of times in the book, it is quite distracting. She has notable lapses in English as well, to include pronouncing Rumsfeld as Rumsfield, and corps (as in an Army Corps) to sound like corpse.
With that caveat made, this is a great book about the Iraq War. Sky was against the war, but spent nearly a decade there working closely with the US Army to make the aftermath succeed. Which it did, very briefly, following the surge, before collapsing again. Sky's story humanizes everyone involved, whether Iraqi, American, British, civilian or military. Worth a listen, despite the narration.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Review Pro
- 09-07-16
In-depth review of failures and success in Iraq
Strong story telling by the author. The story behind the success and failures of US and Coalition decisions. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
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- ADAM
- 08-22-16
Unique insight and remarkable story
Emma Sky helps regular folks understand the coalition in the Iraq War & some of the key Iraqi leaders and citizens working for an Iraqi future. Ultimately it is a sad story of tremendous effort, and near victory, unraveling to violence and chaos. Screen writers should craft a version for the movies, as it could help explain a tragic period in Iraq & the west to a larger audience.
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- Kindle Customer
- 06-12-18
Riveting and Enlightening Read!
I bought this after picking up the actual book at the library and becoming enthralled, and the audiobook performance really helped keep me coming back. A must-read for anyone who wants to know how the War in Iraq went wrong, what went right, and what may come of it all.
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- Yaleblue22
- 10-06-20
Excellent insight into the Iraq War
I'm currently taking a class taught by Prof. Sky and this was a required reading, but I'm so glad it was. The story was captivating and made me want to keep listening, and learning. It was especially interesting for me as I am going into military service and could learn, from an outsider inside military operations, about military life on deployment. A perspective not often told.
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- Sienna
- 07-04-16
A phenomenal story with a perfect narrator
What did you love best about The Unraveling?
It was a story I didn't know. I was against the Iraq war, then listened to this and learned so much. It changed my thoughts and knowledge of the Iraq war.
What did you like best about this story?
The raw emotion that comes through from the unraveling of this amazing story.
Which scene was your favorite?
The end was intense and so heartfelt.
What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?
All of it. The true story of one woman's journey. How a democratic society was created.
Any additional comments?
This isn't brilliantly put together, but you will learn a lot. It was great to learn so much about Iraq and what was done to help the people and create a democracy. Everyone should read/listen to this book - you will learn so much.The narrator for the book is utterly wonderful. She's clear, concise and factual, letting emotion creep in when needed. Towards the end you can hear hints of devastation in her voice whilst still being factual and concise.So glad I bought this book. Highly recommend it.
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- Matthew Pokorny
- 09-15-16
Good not great
Someone desperately needed to tell the narrator how to pronounce not only iraqi names but also words such as "baton" and "reneged." Makes it rather difficult to listen to
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1 person found this helpful
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- Judith A
- 06-12-16
wonderful book, but terrible narrator
I heard Emma Sky at the Auckland Writes Festival and she was extraordinary. Why was a narrator selected who mispronounces so many places and names that listening becomes unbearable. Please reissue this important work with a competent narrator.
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