West of Kabul, East of New York
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $13.22
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Tamim Ansary
-
By:
-
Tamim Ansary
About this listen
Born to an Afghan father and American mother, Ansary grew up in the intimate world of Afghan family life but emigrated to San Francisco thinking he'd left Afghan culture behind forever. At the height of the Iranian Revolution, however, he took a harrowing journey through the Islamic world, and in the years that followed, he struggled to unite his divided self and to find a place in his imagination where his Afghan and American identities might meet. Here, in his own words, is one man's passionate personal journey through two cultures in conflict.
©2002 Tamim Ansary (P)2006 Blackstone Audio Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Destiny Disrupted
- A History of the World through Islamic Eyes
- By: Tamim Ansary
- Narrated by: Tamim Ansary
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Until about 1800, the West and the Islamic realm were like two adjacent, parallel universes, each assuming itself to be the center of the world while ignoring the other. As Europeans colonized the globe, the two world histories intersected and the Western narrative drove the other one under. The West hardly noticed, but the Islamic world found the encounter profoundly disrupting.
-
-
A history of the world before the West mattered
- By David on 05-05-14
By: Tamim Ansary
-
The Invention of Yesterday
- A 50,000-Year History of Human Culture, Conflict, and Connection
- By: Tamim Ansary
- Narrated by: Tamim Ansary
- Length: 17 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Traveling across millennia, weaving the experiences and world views of cultures both extinct and extant, The Invention of Yesterday shows that the engine of history is not so much heroic (battles won), geographic (farmers thrive), or anthropogenic (humans change the planet) as it is narrative. Many thousands of years ago, when we existed only as countless small autonomous bands of hunter-gatherers widely distributed through the wilderness, we began inventing stories - to organize for survival, to find purpose and meaning, to explain the unfathomable.
-
-
Relaxed but packed with insight
- By Tad Davis on 02-14-20
By: Tamim Ansary
-
Games Without Rules
- The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan
- By: Tamim Ansary
- Narrated by: Tamim Ansary
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today, most Westerners still see the war in Afghanistan as a contest between democracy and Islamist fanaticism. That war is real, but it sits atop an older struggle between Kabul and the countryside, between order and chaos, between a modernist impulse to join the world and the pull of an older Afghanistan - a tribal universe of village republics permeated by Islam. Now, Tamim Ansary draws on his Afghan background, Muslim roots, and Western and Afghan sources to explain history from the inside out and to illuminate the long, internal struggle that the outside world has never fully understood.
-
-
Very enlightening read
- By Massoud on 05-31-17
By: Tamim Ansary
-
The Story of My Life
- An Afghan Girl on the Other Side of the Sky
- By: Farah Ahmedi, Tamim Ansary
- Narrated by: Masuda Sultan
- Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When ABC News' Good Morning America asked its viewers to write essays describing true-life experiences, the network never imagined receiving more than 20,000 pages of inspiring stories. After a panel of best-selling authors and editors chose three finalists, America was given the opportunity to vote on which aspiring author's story would be published. This audiobook is the result of the most ambitious search ever conducted to publish an extraordinary life story.
-
-
Outstanding
- By Tony on 05-22-05
By: Farah Ahmedi, and others
-
The Whole Five Feet
- What the Great Books Taught Me About Life, Death, and Pretty Much Everything Else
- By: Christopher R. Beha
- Narrated by: Jay Aaseng
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Whole Five Feet, Christopher Beha turns to the great books for answers after undergoing a series of personal and family crises and learning that his grandmother had used the Harvard Classics to educate herself during the Great Depression. The result is a smart, big-hearted, and inspirational mix of memoir and intellectual excursion that "deftly illustrates how books can save one's life" (Helen Schulman).
-
-
Mispronunciations by the reader are many...
- By mr on 02-02-20
-
Coconut
- A Black Girl Fostered by a White Family in the 1960s and Her Search for Belonging and Identity
- By: Florence Ọlájídé
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1963, North London. Nan fosters one-year-old Florence Olajide and calls her "Ann". Florence adores her foster mother more than anything but Nan, and the children around her, all have white skin, and she can’t help but feel different. Then, four years later, after a weekend visit to her birth parents, Florence never returns to Nan. Two months after, sandwiched between her mother and father plus her three siblings, six-year-old Florence steps off a ship in Lagos to the fierce heat of the African sun.
-
-
Entertaining and compelling autobiography
- By Tina on 03-15-23
-
Destiny Disrupted
- A History of the World through Islamic Eyes
- By: Tamim Ansary
- Narrated by: Tamim Ansary
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Until about 1800, the West and the Islamic realm were like two adjacent, parallel universes, each assuming itself to be the center of the world while ignoring the other. As Europeans colonized the globe, the two world histories intersected and the Western narrative drove the other one under. The West hardly noticed, but the Islamic world found the encounter profoundly disrupting.
-
-
A history of the world before the West mattered
- By David on 05-05-14
By: Tamim Ansary
-
The Invention of Yesterday
- A 50,000-Year History of Human Culture, Conflict, and Connection
- By: Tamim Ansary
- Narrated by: Tamim Ansary
- Length: 17 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Traveling across millennia, weaving the experiences and world views of cultures both extinct and extant, The Invention of Yesterday shows that the engine of history is not so much heroic (battles won), geographic (farmers thrive), or anthropogenic (humans change the planet) as it is narrative. Many thousands of years ago, when we existed only as countless small autonomous bands of hunter-gatherers widely distributed through the wilderness, we began inventing stories - to organize for survival, to find purpose and meaning, to explain the unfathomable.
-
-
Relaxed but packed with insight
- By Tad Davis on 02-14-20
By: Tamim Ansary
-
Games Without Rules
- The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan
- By: Tamim Ansary
- Narrated by: Tamim Ansary
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today, most Westerners still see the war in Afghanistan as a contest between democracy and Islamist fanaticism. That war is real, but it sits atop an older struggle between Kabul and the countryside, between order and chaos, between a modernist impulse to join the world and the pull of an older Afghanistan - a tribal universe of village republics permeated by Islam. Now, Tamim Ansary draws on his Afghan background, Muslim roots, and Western and Afghan sources to explain history from the inside out and to illuminate the long, internal struggle that the outside world has never fully understood.
-
-
Very enlightening read
- By Massoud on 05-31-17
By: Tamim Ansary
-
The Story of My Life
- An Afghan Girl on the Other Side of the Sky
- By: Farah Ahmedi, Tamim Ansary
- Narrated by: Masuda Sultan
- Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When ABC News' Good Morning America asked its viewers to write essays describing true-life experiences, the network never imagined receiving more than 20,000 pages of inspiring stories. After a panel of best-selling authors and editors chose three finalists, America was given the opportunity to vote on which aspiring author's story would be published. This audiobook is the result of the most ambitious search ever conducted to publish an extraordinary life story.
-
-
Outstanding
- By Tony on 05-22-05
By: Farah Ahmedi, and others
-
The Whole Five Feet
- What the Great Books Taught Me About Life, Death, and Pretty Much Everything Else
- By: Christopher R. Beha
- Narrated by: Jay Aaseng
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Whole Five Feet, Christopher Beha turns to the great books for answers after undergoing a series of personal and family crises and learning that his grandmother had used the Harvard Classics to educate herself during the Great Depression. The result is a smart, big-hearted, and inspirational mix of memoir and intellectual excursion that "deftly illustrates how books can save one's life" (Helen Schulman).
-
-
Mispronunciations by the reader are many...
- By mr on 02-02-20
-
Coconut
- A Black Girl Fostered by a White Family in the 1960s and Her Search for Belonging and Identity
- By: Florence Ọlájídé
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1963, North London. Nan fosters one-year-old Florence Olajide and calls her "Ann". Florence adores her foster mother more than anything but Nan, and the children around her, all have white skin, and she can’t help but feel different. Then, four years later, after a weekend visit to her birth parents, Florence never returns to Nan. Two months after, sandwiched between her mother and father plus her three siblings, six-year-old Florence steps off a ship in Lagos to the fierce heat of the African sun.
-
-
Entertaining and compelling autobiography
- By Tina on 03-15-23
-
The Dead Are Arising
- The Life of Malcolm X
- By: Les Payne, Tamara Payne
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An epic biography of Malcolm X finally emerges, drawing on hundreds of hours of the author's interviews, rewriting much of the known narrative.
-
-
Much more depth than the Haley book.
- By CapitalHeel on 11-03-20
By: Les Payne, and others
-
Born a Crime
- Stories from a South African Childhood
- By: Trevor Noah
- Narrated by: Trevor Noah
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this award-winning Audible Studios production, Trevor Noah tells his wild coming-of-age tale during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa. It’s a story that begins with his mother throwing him from a moving van to save him from a potentially fatal dispute with gangsters, then follows the budding comedian’s path to self-discovery through episodes both poignant and comical.
-
-
Great book and perfect narration
- By MarilynArms on 12-15-16
By: Trevor Noah
-
Stars Between the Sun and Moon
- One Woman's Life in North Korea and Escape to Freedom
- By: Lucia Jang, Susan McClelland
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in 1970s North Korea, Lucia Jang grew up in a typical household - her parents worked in the factories, and the family scraped by on rations. Nightly she bowed to her photo of Kim Il-Sung. It was the beginning of a chaotic period with a decade-long famine. Jang married an abusive man who sold their baby. She left him and went home to help her family by illegally crossing the river to China to trade goods. She was caught and imprisoned twice.
-
-
Fantastic story. Well read.
- By Jfm on 02-20-16
By: Lucia Jang, and others
-
Wave
- A Memoir
- By: Sonali Deraniyagala
- Narrated by: Hannah Curtis
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the morning of December 26, 2004, on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, Sonali Deraniyagala lost her parents, her husband, and her two young sons in the tsunami she miraculously survived. In this brave and searingly frank memoir, she describes those first horrifying moments and her long journey since. She has written an engrossing, unsentimental, beautifully poised account: as she struggles through the first months following the tragedy, furiously clenched against a reality that she cannot face and cannot deny....
-
-
Tragic. Raw. Heart-Ripping!
- By CBlox on 03-19-13
-
Home in the World
- A Memoir
- By: Amartya Sen
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Amartya Sen, “home” has been many places, including Dhaka, in modern Bangladesh, where he grew up; Calcutta, where he studied economics; and Cambridge, where he engaged with the greatest minds of the 20th century. In Home in the World, these “homes” collectively form an unparalleled and truthful vision of 20th- and 21st-century life.
By: Amartya Sen
-
After the Roundup
- Escape and Survival in Hitler’s France
- By: Joseph Weismann
- Narrated by: J. Clark Allison
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the nights of July 16 and 17, 1942, French police rounded up 11-year-old Joseph Weismann, his family, and 13,000 other Jews. After being held for five days in appalling conditions in the Vélodrome d'Hiver stadium, Joseph and his family were transported by cattle car to the Beaune-la-Rolande internment camp and brutally separated. A thousand children were left behind to wait for a later train. The French guards told the children that they would soon be reunited with their parents, but Joseph and his new friend, Joe Kogan, chose to risk everything in a daring escape attempt.
-
-
A “must-listen” book
- By Jonathan R Scupin on 09-25-18
By: Joseph Weismann
-
The Book of Lost Friends
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Wingate
- Narrated by: Sophie Amoss, Sullivan Jones, Robin Miles, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of Before We Were Yours comes a dramatic historical novel of three young women searching for family amid the destruction of the post-Civil War South, and of a modern-day teacher who learns of their story and its vital connection to her students’ lives.
-
-
I want more!!!
- By Mrstlg on 04-11-20
By: Lisa Wingate
-
For Joshua
- An Ojibway Father Teaches His Son
- By: Richard Wagamese
- Narrated by: Craig Lauzon
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Staring the modern world in the eye, Richard Wagamese confronts its snares and perils. He sees people coveting without knowing why, looking for roots without understanding what constitutes home, searching for acceptance without extending reciprocal respect, and longing for love without knowing how to offer it. He sees this because he lived it. For Joshua is Wagamese's love letter to his estranged son. Ojibway tradition calls for fathers to walk their children through the world and teach them their place in it. To teach them they belong.
-
-
amazing and heartbreaking story
- By Anne on 10-24-22
By: Richard Wagamese
-
Einstein on the Run
- How Britain Saved the World’s Greatest Scientist
- By: Andrew Robinson
- Narrated by: Antony Ferguson
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In autumn 1933, Albert Einstein found himself living alone in an isolated holiday hut in rural England. There, he toiled peacefully at mathematics while occasionally stepping out for walks or to play his violin. But how had Einstein come to abandon his Berlin home and go "on the run"? In this lively account, Andrew Robinson tells the story of the world’s greatest scientist and Britain for the first time, showing why Britain was the perfect refuge for Einstein from rumored assassination by Nazi agents.
By: Andrew Robinson
-
How to Sell a Poison
- The Rise, Fall, and Toxic Return of DDT
- By: Elena Conis
- Narrated by: Casey Turner
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The chemical compound DDT first earned fame during World War II by wiping out insects that caused disease and boosting Allied forces to victory. Americans granted it a hero’s homecoming, spraying it on everything from crops and livestock to cupboards and curtains. Then, in 1972, it was banned in the US. But decades after that, a cry arose to demand its return.
-
-
This book goes off like a bomb
- By Kent on 07-28-23
By: Elena Conis
-
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
- A Novel
- By: Kim Michele Richardson
- Narrated by: Katie Schorr
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The hardscrabble folks of Troublesome Creek have to scrap for everything - everything except books, that is. Thanks to Roosevelt's Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, Troublesome's got its very own traveling librarian, Cussy Mary Carter. Cussy's not only a book woman, however, she's also the last of her kind, her skin a shade of blue unlike most anyone else. Not everyone is keen on Cussy's family or the Library Project, and a Blue is often blamed for any whiff of trouble.
-
-
A LOVELY, SAD AND PROFOUND BOOK!
- By Janna Wong Healy on 08-17-19
-
The Girl with Seven Names
- A North Korean Defector’s Story
- By: Hyeonseo Lee, David John
- Narrated by: Josie Dunn
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a child growing up in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee was one of millions trapped by a secretive and brutal communist regime. Her home on the border with China gave her some exposure to the world beyond the confines of the Hermit Kingdom and, as the famine of the 1990s struck, she began to wonder, question and realise that she had been brainwashed her entire life. Given the repression, poverty and starvation she witnessed surely her country could not be, as she had been told, 'the best on the planet'?
-
-
Did not like narrator
- By Linda H. Andreae on 10-09-19
By: Hyeonseo Lee, and others
Critic reviews
"Urbane, accessible, compulsively readable." (Los Angeles Times)
"Stirring....A raw and poignant book...moving." (Santa Fe Mexican)
"The author's profound, complicated homesickness burns across every page." (Esquire)
Related to this topic
-
Infidel
- By: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- Narrated by: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This New York Times best-seller is the astonishing life story of award-winning humanitarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali. A deeply respected advocate for free speech and women's rights, Hirsi Ali also lives under armed protection because of her outspoken criticism of the Islamic faith in which she was raised.
-
-
Tough, Candid Assessment
- By Paul Mullen on 02-18-08
By: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
-
Dreams from My Father
- A Story of Race and Inheritance
- By: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a Black African father and a White American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a Black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father - a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man - has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey - first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family.
-
-
Powerful
- By Gene R. on 10-26-21
By: Barack Obama
-
Street of Eternal Happiness
- Big City Dreams Along a Shanghai Road
- By: Rob Schmitz
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Modern Shanghai: a global city in the midst of a renaissance, where dreamers arrive each day to partake in a mad torrent of capital, ideas, and opportunity. Marketplace's Rob Schmitz is one of them. He immerses himself in his neighborhood, forging deep relationships with ordinary people who see in the city's sleek skyline a brighter future, and a chance to rewrite their destinies.
-
-
Deserving of better audio
- By Rachael on 02-19-18
By: Rob Schmitz
-
Strength in What Remains
- A Journey of Remembrance and Forgetting
- By: Tracy Kidder
- Narrated by: Tracy Kidder
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this new book, Kidder gives us the superb story of a hero for our time. Strength in What Remains is a wonderfully written, inspiring account of one man’s remarkable American journey and of the ordinary people who helped him–a brilliant testament to the power of will and of second chances.
-
-
My Favorite of Kidder's Books
- By Roy on 08-31-09
By: Tracy Kidder
-
Tea with Hezbollah
- Sitting at the Enemies' Table - Our Journey Through the Middle East
- By: Ted Dekker, Carl Medearis
- Narrated by: George K. Wilson
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Is it really possible to love one's enemies? That's the question that sparked a fascinating and, at times, terrifying journey into the heart of the Middle East during the summer of 2008. It was a trip that began in Egypt, passed beneath the steel-and-glass high-rises of Saudi Arabia, then wound through the bullet-pocked alleyways of Beirut and dusty streets of Damascus, before ending at the cradle of the world's three major religions: Jerusalem.
-
-
Over the top great book
- By Robert on 07-22-10
By: Ted Dekker, and others
-
They Said They Wanted Revolution
- A Memoir of My Parents
- By: Neda Toloui-Semnani
- Narrated by: Neda Toloui-Semnani
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1979, Neda Toloui-Semnani’s parents left the United States for Iran to join the revolution. But the promise of those early heady days in Tehran was warped by the rise of the Islamic Republic. With the new regime came international isolation, cultural devastation, and profound personal loss for Neda. Her father was arrested and her mother was forced to make a desperate escape, pregnant and with Neda in tow.
-
-
I learned so much. Great pacing, felt like I time-traveled
- By Jess Fuchs on 02-07-22
-
Infidel
- By: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- Narrated by: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This New York Times best-seller is the astonishing life story of award-winning humanitarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali. A deeply respected advocate for free speech and women's rights, Hirsi Ali also lives under armed protection because of her outspoken criticism of the Islamic faith in which she was raised.
-
-
Tough, Candid Assessment
- By Paul Mullen on 02-18-08
By: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
-
Dreams from My Father
- A Story of Race and Inheritance
- By: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a Black African father and a White American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a Black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father - a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man - has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey - first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family.
-
-
Powerful
- By Gene R. on 10-26-21
By: Barack Obama
-
Street of Eternal Happiness
- Big City Dreams Along a Shanghai Road
- By: Rob Schmitz
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Modern Shanghai: a global city in the midst of a renaissance, where dreamers arrive each day to partake in a mad torrent of capital, ideas, and opportunity. Marketplace's Rob Schmitz is one of them. He immerses himself in his neighborhood, forging deep relationships with ordinary people who see in the city's sleek skyline a brighter future, and a chance to rewrite their destinies.
-
-
Deserving of better audio
- By Rachael on 02-19-18
By: Rob Schmitz
-
Strength in What Remains
- A Journey of Remembrance and Forgetting
- By: Tracy Kidder
- Narrated by: Tracy Kidder
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this new book, Kidder gives us the superb story of a hero for our time. Strength in What Remains is a wonderfully written, inspiring account of one man’s remarkable American journey and of the ordinary people who helped him–a brilliant testament to the power of will and of second chances.
-
-
My Favorite of Kidder's Books
- By Roy on 08-31-09
By: Tracy Kidder
-
Tea with Hezbollah
- Sitting at the Enemies' Table - Our Journey Through the Middle East
- By: Ted Dekker, Carl Medearis
- Narrated by: George K. Wilson
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Is it really possible to love one's enemies? That's the question that sparked a fascinating and, at times, terrifying journey into the heart of the Middle East during the summer of 2008. It was a trip that began in Egypt, passed beneath the steel-and-glass high-rises of Saudi Arabia, then wound through the bullet-pocked alleyways of Beirut and dusty streets of Damascus, before ending at the cradle of the world's three major religions: Jerusalem.
-
-
Over the top great book
- By Robert on 07-22-10
By: Ted Dekker, and others
-
They Said They Wanted Revolution
- A Memoir of My Parents
- By: Neda Toloui-Semnani
- Narrated by: Neda Toloui-Semnani
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1979, Neda Toloui-Semnani’s parents left the United States for Iran to join the revolution. But the promise of those early heady days in Tehran was warped by the rise of the Islamic Republic. With the new regime came international isolation, cultural devastation, and profound personal loss for Neda. Her father was arrested and her mother was forced to make a desperate escape, pregnant and with Neda in tow.
-
-
I learned so much. Great pacing, felt like I time-traveled
- By Jess Fuchs on 02-07-22
-
Brothers of the Gun
- A Memoir of the Syrian War
- By: Marwan Hisham, Molly Crabapple
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2011, Marwan Hisham and his two friends - fellow working-class college students Nael and Tareq - joined the first protests of the Arab Spring in Syria, in response to a recent massacre. Arm in arm they marched, poured Coca-Cola into one another’s eyes to blunt the effects of tear gas, ran from the security forces, and cursed the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad. It was ecstasy. A long-bottled revolution was finally erupting, and freedom from a brutal dictator seemed, at last, imminent.
-
-
Perfect with Peter Ganim
- By Anonymous User on 06-14-24
By: Marwan Hisham, and others
-
River Town
- Two Years on the Yangtze
- By: Peter Hessler
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the heart of China's Sichuan province, amid the terraced hills of the Yangtze River valley, lies the remote town of Fuling. Like many other small cities in this ever-evolving country, Fuling is heading down a new path of change and growth, which came into remarkably sharp focus when Peter Hessler arrived as a Peace Corps volunteer, marking the first time in more than half a century that the city had an American resident.
-
-
Peter Berkrot Again?
- By Abstraction on 07-10-11
By: Peter Hessler
-
Nothing to Envy
- Ordinary Lives in North Korea
- By: Barbara Demick
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years - a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung and the unchallenged rise to power of his son, Kim Jong-il, and the devastation of a far-ranging famine that killed one-fifth of the population. Taking us into a landscape never before seen, Demick brings to life what it means to be an average Korean citizen, living under the most repressive totalitarian regime today.
-
-
The man who wants to be GOD
- By Gohar on 05-08-10
By: Barbara Demick
-
The Darling
- By: Russell Banks
- Narrated by: Mary Beth Hurt
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Darling is Hannah Musgrave's story, told emotionally and convincingly years later by Hannah herself. A political radical and member of the Weather Underground, Hannah has fled America to West Africa, where she and her Liberian husband become friends and colleagues of Charles Taylor, the notorious warlord and now ex-president of Liberia. When Taylor leaves for the United States in an effort to escape embezzlement charges, he's immediately placed in prison.
-
-
Complex and compelling
- By Ellen H. Anderson on 02-05-05
By: Russell Banks
-
Fast Times in Palestine
- A Love Affair with a Homeless Homeland
- By: Pamela J. Olson
- Narrated by: Julia Farhat
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pamela Olson, a small town girl from eastern Oklahoma, had what she always wanted: a physics degree from Stanford University. But instead of feeling excited for what came next, she felt consumed by dread and confusion. This irresistible memoir chronicles her journey from aimless ex-bartender to Ramallah-based journalist and foreign press coordinator for a Palestinian presidential candidate.
-
-
Palestine from the Inside—and Out
- By Susie on 11-04-13
By: Pamela J. Olson
-
Under Red Skies
- Three Generations of Life, Loss, and Hope in China
- By: Karoline Kan
- Narrated by: Allison Hiroto
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A deeply personal and shocking look at how China is coming to terms with its conflicted past as it emerges into a modern, cutting-edge superpower.
-
-
An intimate view of real life in China
- By Lonnie G. Hardy, Jr. on 08-15-19
By: Karoline Kan
-
The Naked Don't Fear the Water
- An Underground Journey with Afghan Refugees
- By: Matthieu Aikins
- Narrated by: Nick Nikon
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this extraordinary book, an acclaimed young war reporter chronicles a dangerous journey on the smuggler’s road to Europe, accompanying his friend, an Afghan refugee, in search of a better future.
-
-
Great story, horrible narration
- By AB on 02-25-22
By: Matthieu Aikins
-
In an Antique Land
- History in the Guise of a Traveler's Tale
- By: Amitav Ghosh
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Once upon a time an Indian writer name Amitav Ghosh set out to find an Indian slave, name unknown, who some 700 years before had traveled to the Middle East. The journey took him to a small village in Egypt, where medieval customs coexist with 20th-century desires and discontents. But even as Ghosh sought to re-create the life of his Indian predecessor, he found himself immersed in those of his modern Egyptian neighbors.
-
-
Mixed Worlds
- By Roger on 10-26-10
By: Amitav Ghosh
-
Something Fierce
- Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter
- By: Carmen Aguirre
- Narrated by: Carmen Aguirre
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Carmen Aguirre was six-year-old when she and her family fled to Canada following General Augusto Pinochet’s violent 1973 coup in Chile. She was only eleven-years-old when her mother and stepfather joined the resistance movement and returned to South America, taking Carmen and her sister went with them. As their mother and stepfather set up a safe house for resistance members in La Paz, Bolivia, the girls' own double lives began. At 18, Carmen became a militant herself, plunging further into a world of terror, paranoia and euphoria.
-
-
revolutionary read
- By David Brown on 04-05-18
By: Carmen Aguirre
-
Factory Girls
- From Village to City in a Changing China
- By: Leslie T. Chang
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A book of global significance that provides new insight into China, Factory Girls demonstrates how the mass movement from rural villages to cities is remaking individual lives and transforming Chinese society, much as immigration to America's shores remade our own country a century ago.
-
-
Living in Shenzhen - and What A Disappointment
- By Abstraction on 03-01-10
By: Leslie T. Chang
-
The Home That Was Our Country
- By: Alia Malek
- Narrated by: Alia Malek
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the Arab Spring's hopeful start, Alia Malek returned to Damascus to reclaim her grandmother's apartment, which had been lost to her family since Hafez al-Assad came to power in 1970. Its loss was central to her parents' decision to make their lives in America. In chronicling the people who lived in the Tahaan building, past and present, Alia portrays the Syrians—the Muslims, Christians, Jews, Armenians, and Kurds—who worked, loved, and suffered in close quarters, mirroring the political shifts in their country
-
-
Syria as never read before
- By rami hachwi on 09-17-18
By: Alia Malek
-
Between Two Worlds
- Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam
- By: Zainab Salbi, Laurie Becklund
- Narrated by: Josephine Bailey
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Zainab Salbi was 11-years-old when her father was chosen to serve as Saddam Hussein's personal pilot, her family often forced to spend weekends with Saddam where he watched their every move. As a palace insider, Zainab offers a singular glimpse of what it is like to come of age under a dictator and provides an intimate portrait of the man she was taught to call "uncle". She watched as Saddam pitted friends, spouses, and even children against each other to compete for his approval.
-
-
An excellent history lesson
- By Ella on 12-01-09
By: Zainab Salbi, and others
What listeners say about West of Kabul, East of New York
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lynn
- 11-26-19
I wish everyone would read this.
Ansary vividly describes the traditional Afghanistan before complex events destroyed it, as well as contemporary history. I was moved in many ways. The chapter in which he talks about the ways that our memories keep a person “alive” and how we may come to know someone even more deeply after their death moved me to buy a copy of the book so I can share that.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Leo
- 02-03-24
A must listen
Well written, extremely insightful commentary woven throughout a compelling story. Will be recommending this book to many friends.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- S.J
- 09-15-20
Incredibly nuanced and moving
This book is a must read. The incredible soul of this wonderful author comes straight through. It is a lesson in history. A lesson in family. The tragedy of time passing and choices made. Destiny Disrupted from the author is also another masterpiece. What a genuine, profound, honest and sensitive writing. And thinking. Beautiful beautiful beautiful!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tricolor
- 09-14-21
Still timely with important insights.
I always prefer a book when it is narrated by the author - I spent two years in Kabul at the end of the 50s as a small child. Ansary paints a picture that fills in the gaps of my memory, and I am grateful to him. He also explains simply and clearly the realities of Afghan history and the roots of its troubled history. One thing Americans don’t seem able to grasp is that democracy doesn’t work everywhere.
We shall see what happens now. I tremble for the women and children of that amazing land.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jo
- 01-09-21
So good
Being in the military it was nice to hear of this man’s love of Afg. One foot in each world. Fascinating really.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- all our stories
- 09-21-20
It is very important to me to learn about other cultures
In reading this book I learned about the writer’s Afghan family and the conflict between Islam and the West. I learned too that we are more alike than different. As a Christian I agree with many of the teachings of the true Koran, those that teach love and respect for all. In this book I learned also that the Koran teaches that there is not much difference between capitalism and socialism. I agree and look forward to a time when we will not be decided.
My thanks to this writer.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ruth
- 09-04-21
Fabulous book and great listen
I listened to this book in one day… well stayed up till 3:00am to finish listening. Could not stop listening. Recommend highly!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lauren
- 01-24-24
I can't describe it!
I felt drawn into Tamim's story. I felt like he was my friend, and as if I was sitting across from him while he was telling me his stories. The people he described in his life felt so real that I felt like I knew them, too. Not only is Mr. Tamim an incredible prolific storyteller with a way with words, he captures perfectly the nuances and challenges of straddling two cultures as an Afghan American. His understanding and explanation of the different ideologies and beliefs that touched his life story, including Islam, Sufism, fundamentalism, agnostism and atheism, was so pleasing and written about with such understanding, empathy, and clarity. I can't believe I haven't read this book before now! Thank you, Tamim Ansary
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Steve Adams
- 03-13-21
A very profound Memoir
This is a fantastic book where the author does a top notch job of narrative of his unique background, upbringing and education. I think this book would be a good primer as a education tool for a lot of Americans to learn about Afghanistan, it’s people, and it’s tragic history.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jay shor
- 09-03-21
Awesome.
This book was such a good read and I'm so glad I got to listen to it. I wish I could personally thank the author.
The facts, the life experiences, and for getting it all onto paper.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!