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To Build a Better World
- Choices to End the Cold War and Create a Global Commonwealth
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
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Publisher's summary
A deeply researched international history and "exemplary study" (New York Times Book Review) of how a divided world ended and our present world was fashioned, as the world drifts toward another great time of choosing.
Two of America's leading scholar-diplomats, Philip Zelikow and Condoleezza Rice, have combed sources in several languages, interviewed leading figures, and drawn on their own firsthand experience to bring to life the choices that molded the contemporary world. Zeroing in on the key moments of decision, the might-have-beens, and the human beings working through them, they explore both what happened and what could have happened, to show how one world ended and another took form. Beginning in the late 1970s and carrying into the present, they focus on the momentous period between 1988 and 1992, when an entire world system changed, states broke apart, and societies were transformed. Such periods have always been accompanied by terrible wars - but not this time.
This is also a story of individuals coping with uncertainty. They voice their hopes and fears. They try out desperate improvisations and careful designs. These were leaders who grew up in a "postwar" world, who tried to fashion something better, more peaceful, more prosperous, than the damaged, divided world in which they had come of age. New problems are putting their choices, and the world they made, back on the operating table. It is time to recall not only why they made their choices, but also just how great nations can step up to great challenges.
Timed for the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, To Build a Better World is an authoritative depiction of contemporary statecraft. It lets listeners in on the strategies and negotiations, nerve-racking risks, last-minute decisions, and deep deliberations behind the dramas that changed the face of Europe - and the world - forever.
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Critic reviews
"For the first time, the inside story - what the policymakers thought and did behind the scenes - is recounted by two participants, using interviews and secret documents...[The book] conveys the sweeping changes devised by a handful of leaders and their aides as they sought to capitalize on a rare, momentary acceleration of history. It also captures the candid exchanges among leaders about long-range fundamentals in Europe." (International Herald Tribune)
"Zelikow and Rice have drawn on thousands of still-classified documents in the American archives. But their industry has not stopped there: to tell the Soviet and German sides of the story, they consulted the East German and Russian archives and interviewed a host of European leaders. The quality of their writing and the depth of their research ensure that their exemplary study will serve as the starting point for all future work on German foreign policy after the Cold War." (New York Times Book Review)
"An important behind-the-scenes account of how East Germany was folded into West Germany at breakneck speed - an event that precipitated the demise of the Soviet Union." (The New Yorker)
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Story
In this rich, fascinating history, John Ghazvinian traces the complex story of the relations between these two nations back to the Persian Empire of the 18th century - the subject of great admiration by Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams - and an America seen by Iranians as an ideal to emulate for their own government.
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Distortions Galore
- By Chuck S. on 03-15-21
By: John Ghazvinian
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Putin's World
- Russia Against the West and with the Rest
- By: Angela Stent
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Putin's World examines the country's turbulent past, how it has influenced Putin, the Russians' understanding of their position on the global stage and their future ambitions—and their conviction that the West has tried to deny them a seat at the table of great powers since the USSR collapsed.
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More like The West against the world
- By Felis N on 01-18-20
By: Angela Stent
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The Marshall Plan
- Dawn of the Cold War
- By: Benn Steil
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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The award-winning author of The Battle of Bretton Woods reveals the gripping history behind the Marshall Plan—told with verve, insight, and resonance for today.
In the wake of World War II, with Britain’s empire collapsing and Stalin's on the rise, US officials under new secretary of state George C. Marshall set out to reconstruct western Europe as a bulwark against communist authoritarianism. Their massive, costly, and ambitious undertaking would confront Europeans and Americans alike with a vision at odds with their history and self-conceptions. In the process, they would drive the creation of NATO, the European Union, and a Western identity that continues to shape world events.
Focusing on the critical years 1947 to 1949, Benn Steil’s thrilling account brings to life the seminal episodes marking the collapse of postwar US-Soviet relations—the Prague coup, the Berlin blockade, and the division of Germany. In each case, we see and understand like never before Stalin’s determination to crush the Marshall Plan and undermine American power in Europe.
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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A Deeply Researched Narrative
- By Jean on 10-18-18
By: Benn Steil
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America in Retreat
- The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder
- By: Bret Stephens
- Narrated by: Bret Stephens, Sean Pratt
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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America in Retreat identifies a profound crisis on the global horizon. As Americans seek to withdraw from the world to tend to domestic problems, America’s adversaries spy opportunity. Vladimir Putin's ambitions to restore the glory of the czarist empire go effectively unchecked, as do China's attempts to expand its maritime claims in the South China Sea, as do Iran's efforts to develop nuclear capabilities.
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The Burden of American Exceptionalism
- By Harry Paget on 08-15-15
By: Bret Stephens
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Democracy
- Stories from the Long Road to Freedom
- By: Condoleezza Rice
- Narrated by: Grace Angela Henry
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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From the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union to the ongoing struggle for human rights in the Middle East, Condoleezza Rice has served on the front lines of history. As a child, she was an eyewitness to a third awakening of freedom, when her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, became the epicenter of the civil rights movement for black Americans. In this book, Rice explains what these epochal events teach us about democracy.
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A Case for Democracy
- By Jean on 05-18-17
By: Condoleezza Rice
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Diplomacy
- By: Henry Kissinger
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 37 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Moving from a sweeping overview of history to blow-by-blow accounts of his negotiations with world leaders, Henry Kissinger describes how the art of diplomacy has created the world in which we live, and how America's approach to foreign affairs has always differed vastly from that of other nations. Brilliant, controversial, and profoundly incisive, Diplomacy stands as the culmination of a lifetime of diplomatic service and scholarship. It is a must-listen for anyone concerned with the forces that have shaped our world today and will impact upon it tomorrow.
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Great foreign policy overview!
- By Mikhail on 02-02-20
By: Henry Kissinger
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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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For the Record
- By: David Cameron
- Narrated by: David Cameron
- Length: 29 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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David Cameron was elected Conservative leader in 2005, promising to modernize the party following its three successive electoral defeats. He became Prime Minister in 2010, forming Britain’s first coalition government in 70 years, at a moment of economic crisis, and went on to win the first outright Conservative majority for 23 years at the 2015 general election.
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Wish i did not read it first
- By Amazon Customer on 10-01-19
By: David Cameron
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The Russia Trap
- How Our Shadow War with Russia Could Spiral into Nuclear Catastrophe
- By: George Beebe
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Every American president since the end of the Cold War has called for better relations with Russia. But each has seen relations get worse by the time he left office. Now, the two countries are facing off in a virtual war being fought without clear goals or boundaries. Why? George Beebe argues that new game-changing technologies, disappearing rules of the game, and distorted perceptions on both sides are combining to lock Washington and Moscow into an escalatory spiral that they do not recognize.
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Too soft on Russia
- By Jim Flynn on 06-28-20
By: George Beebe
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The China Challenge
- Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power
- By: Thomas Christensen
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Many see China's rise as a threat to US leadership in Asia and beyond. Thomas J. Christensen argues instead that the real challenge lies in dissuading China from regional aggression while eliciting its global cooperation. Drawing on decades of scholarship and experience as a senior diplomat, Christensen offers a deep perspective on China's military and economic capacity. Assessing China's political outlook and strategic goals, Christensen shows how nationalism and the threat of domestic instability influence the party's decisions about regional and global affairs.
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UNDERSTANDING CHINA
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 03-03-23
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The Avoidable War
- The Dangers of a Catastrophic Conflict between the US and Xi Jinping's China
- By: Kevin Rudd
- Narrated by: Kevin Rudd, Rafe Beckley
- Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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The relationship between the US and China, the world’s two superpowers, is peculiarly volatile. Their militaries play a dangerous game of chicken, corporations steal intellectual property, intelligence satellites peer, and AI technicians plot. The capacity for either country to cross a fatal line grows daily. Kevin Rudd, a former Australian prime minister who has studied, lived in, and worked with China for more than forty years, is one of the very few people who can offer real insight into the mindsets of the leadership whose judgment will determine if a war will be fought.
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Xi and the CCP Approve this Message
- By Andrizomai on 12-04-22
By: Kevin Rudd
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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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Making the Future
- Occupations, Interventions, Empire and Resistance
- By: Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: Peter Johnson
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Making the Future presents more than 50 concise and persuasively argued commentaries on U.S. politics and policies, written between 2007 and 2011. Taken together, Chomsky's essays present a powerful counter-narrative to official accounts of the major political events of the past four years: the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; the U.S. presidential race; the ascendancy of China; Latin America's leftward turn; the threat of nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea; Israel's invasion of Gaza and more.
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Fifty-Two Reasons to Listen to Chomsky
- By Susie on 01-04-13
By: Noam Chomsky
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Armageddon Averted
- The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000
- By: Stephen Kotkin
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Combining historical and geopolitical analysis with an absorbing narrative, Kotkin draws upon extensive research, including memoirs by dozens of insiders and senior figures, to illuminate the factors that led to the demise of Communism and the USSR. The new edition puts the collapse in the context of the global economic and political changes from the 1970s to the present day. Kotkin creates a compelling profile of post-Soviet Russia.
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insightful
- By Anonymous User on 01-28-20
By: Stephen Kotkin
What listeners say about To Build a Better World
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- Jane G. Malkin
- 04-07-22
Valuable historical narrative
The books reads like a thriller. I stayed all night to finish reading it. It's hard to imagine how the events unfolded so unexpectedly thus fashioning a different world for generations.
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