Worthy Fights
A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace
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Narrated by:
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Leon Panetta
About this listen
It could be said that Leon Panetta has had two of the most consequential careers of any American public servant in the past 50 years. His first career, beginning as an army intelligence officer and including a distinguished run as one of Congress' most powerful and respected members, lasted 35 years and culminated in his transformational role as Clinton's budget czar and White House chief of staff. He then "retired" to establish the Panetta Institute with his wife of 50 years, Sylvia; to serve on the Iraq Study Group; and to protect his beloved California coastline. But in 2009, he accepted what many said was a thankless task: returning to public office as the director of the CIA, taking it from a state of turmoil after the Bush-era torture debates and moving it back to the vital center of America's war against Al Qaeda, including the campaign that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden. And then, in the wake of bin Laden's death, Panetta became the U.S. secretary of defense, inheriting two troubled wars in a time of austerity and painful choices.
Like his career, Worthy Fights is a reflection of Panetta's values. It is imbued with the frank, grounded, and often quite funny spirit of a man who never lost touch with where he came from: his family's walnut farm in beautiful Carmel Valley, California. It is also a testament to a lost kind of political leadership, which favors progress and duty to country over partisanship. Panetta is a Democrat who pushed for balanced budgets while also expanding care for the elderly and sick; a devout Catholic who opposes the death penalty but had to weigh every drone strike from 2009 through 2011. Throughout his career, Panetta's polestar has been his belief that a public servant's real choice is between leadership or crisis. Troubles always come about through no fault of one's own, but most can be prevented with courage and foresight.
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"Worthy Fights is Panetta’s addition to the Cabinet bookshelf, and it’s very readable, with the frank descriptions of personalities and events that distinguish this genre at its best." (The Washington Post)
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A true patriot
- By Diane Peresie on 05-29-18
By: John McCain, and others
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Lessons from the Edge
- A Memoir
- By: Marie Yovanovitch
- Narrated by: Marie Yovanovitch
- Length: 17 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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By the time she became US Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch had seen her share of corruption, instability, and tragedy in developing countries. But it came as a shock when, in early 2019, she was recalled from her post after a smear campaign by President Trump’s personal attorney and his associates—men operating outside of normal governmental channels, and apparently motivated by personal gain. Her courageous participation in the subsequent impeachment inquiry earned Yovanovitch the nation’s respect, and her dignified response to the president’s attacks won our hearts.
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Heroic patriot's amazing story
- By Victoria Eriksson on 03-19-22
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Hard Choices
- By: Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Narrated by: Kathleen Chalfant, Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Length: 26 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Hillary Rodham Clinton's inside account of the crises, choices, and challenges she faced during her four years as America's 67th Secretary of State, and how those experiences drive her view of the future. In the aftermath of her 2008 presidential run, she expected to return to representing New York in the United States Senate. To her surprise, her former rival for the Democratic Party nomination, newly elected President Barack Obama, asked her to serve in his administration as Secretary of State. This memoir is the story of the four extraordinary and historic years that followed.
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Senior Stateswoman in need of Editor
- By Cynthia on 07-20-14
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The Quiet Man
- The Indispensable Presidency of George H.W. Bush
- By: John H. Sununu
- Narrated by: Qarie Marshall
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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In this unique insider account, John H. Sununu pays tribute to his former boss - an intelligent, thoughtful, modest leader - and his overlooked accomplishments. Though George H. W. Bush is remembered for orchestrating one of the largest and most successful military campaigns in history - the Gulf War - Sununu argues that conventional wisdom misses many of Bush's other great achievements.
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Outstanding Biograpy
- By Warren Brookes on 07-25-15
By: John H. Sununu
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State of Denial
- Bush at War, Part III
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Boyd Gaines
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
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Bob Woodward examines how the Bush administration avoided telling the truth about Iraq to the public, to the Congress, and often to themselves in State of Denial. Woodward's third book on President Bush is a sweeping narrative from the first days George W. Bush thought seriously about running for president, through the recruitment of his national security team, the war in Afghanistan, the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and the struggle for political survival in the second term.
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Concerning and hard to put down
- By Chris on 12-10-06
By: Bob Woodward
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The War Within
- A Secret White House History 2006-2008
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Boyd Gaines
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Abridged
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As violence in Iraq reaches unnerving levels in 2006, a second front in the war rages at the highest levels of the Bush administration. With unparalleled intimacy and detail, Bob Woodward takes listeners deep inside the tensions, secret debates, unofficial back channels, distrust, and determination within the White House, Pentagon, State Department, intelligence agencies, and U.S. military headquarters in Iraq.
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Too short the story...
- By Mr. Miint on 10-21-08
By: Bob Woodward
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Confront and Conceal
- Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power
- By: David E. Sanger
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Three and a half years ago, David Sanger’s book The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power described how a new American president came to office with the world on fire. Now, just as the 2012 presidential election battle begins, Sanger follows up with an eye-opening, news-packed account of how Obama has dealt with those challenges, relying on innovative weapons and reconfigured tools of American power to try to manage a series of new threats.
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Sobering reminder on what the presidency requires
- By Marilyn on 09-03-12
By: David E. Sanger
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The Presidents Club
- Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity
- By: Nancy Gibbs, Michael Duffy
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
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The Presidents Club was born at Eisenhower’s inauguration when Harry Truman and Herbert Hoover first conceived the idea. Over the years that followed - and to this day - the presidents relied on, misunderstood, sabotaged, and formed alliances with one another that changed history. The world’s most exclusive fraternity is a complicated place: its members are bound forever because they sat in the Oval Office and know its secrets, yet they are immortal rivals for history’s favor.
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Engaging subject, but fact-checking needed
- By loix on 04-25-12
By: Nancy Gibbs, and others
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Eisenhower
- The White House Years
- By: Jim Newton
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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If you think of our 34th president as little more than the babysitter-in-chief during the prosperous fifties, think again. Dwight Eisenhower was bequeathed an atomic bomb and was the first American president not to use it. He ground down Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism until both became, as he said, "McCarthywasm".
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A simpler time?
- By Ray on 11-12-11
By: Jim Newton
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The Netanyahu Years
- Translated by Ora Cummings
- By: Ben Caspit
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 17 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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A portrait of the current Israeli prime minister, one of Israel's more noticeable leaders in recent decades. Benjamin Netanyahu is currently serving his fourth term in office as prime minister of Israel, the longest serving prime minister in the country's history. Now Israeli journalist Ben Caspit puts Netanyahu's life under a magnifying glass, focusing on his last two terms in office.
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weak
- By kay on 06-11-18
By: Ben Caspit
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Kissinger
- A Biography
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 34 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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By the time Henry Kissinger was made secretary of state in 1973, he had become, according to a Gallup poll, the most admired person in America and one of the most unlikely celebrities ever to capture the world’s imagination. Yet Kissinger was also reviled by large segments of the American public, ranging from liberal intellectuals to conservative activists. Kissinger explores the relationship between this complex man's personality and the foreign policy he pursued.
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A dissapointment
- By Mike From Mesa on 12-16-13
By: Walter Isaacson
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At the Center of the Storm
- My Years at the CIA
- By: George Tenet
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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In the whirlwind of accusations and recriminations that has attended the post 9/11 world, one man's vital testimony has been conspicuously absent. Candid and compelling, At the Center of the Storm is George Tenet's memoir of his life at the CIA - a revelatory look at the inner workings of America's top intelligence agency and its dealings with national leaders at home and abroad.
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Brilliant!
- By Karen on 05-05-07
By: George Tenet
What listeners say about Worthy Fights
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Mario Ruiz
- 01-26-16
Panetta for President
Really enjoyed this book. Found it so interesting about decision making and one man's life long dedication to public service. To hear it in Mr. Penetta's voice allowed his personal warmth and character to shine. I wonder why he didn't pursue higher office. I would have supported him.
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- N Don Brown
- 08-06-15
You are there
Sadly this is a guy who could lead this country from the front not the back but happily he is not going to subject himself, and his family, to the idiocy of campaigning. He tells the story that the internet and crazies from both sides want to cloud in obfuscation and outright lies and distortions.
Leon is my new hero. Thank you Leon for giving us your life.
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- DP SINGHA
- 02-17-21
Excellent
Very Honest and Insightful.
it gives the readers a very informative
review of What goes on in the National Security
mechanism and How Decisions are taken at the
Highest Level of US Federal Government.
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- Ann O'Toole
- 12-07-19
A Worthy Read ...
I remember seeing Leon Panetta on TV, CSpan, and trusting the man. I watched as he rose in the ranks and fought some of the fights he waged. I liked the man. He wasn't from Texas, where I live, but I would have voted for him had he been on a national ticket. And...then I heard His memories of CIA, it confirmed much of my impressions from afar about the times, the front-seat view and backstage entre provided and ... my Final Decision IS ... Again ... I Trust Him. I Am Grateful HE Choose Public Service and I will See-To-IT ~ His work is passed On to the Future Generations of My Family with copies of this Audio Book! They Need to Know This Stuff. And, Leon Panetta, is a Role Model. Thank You, Sir, for Everything and this Christmas Gift, too!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Brooks Hamilton
- 02-01-15
Wonderful
Fantastic insight into Congress, two White House administrations, the CIA and Defense Department.
The performance was solid by Panetta's reading. It makes a big difference when the author reads it.
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- Olha
- 02-21-21
Educacional and earthy in a very good eay
Loved the book, even if the performance isn't professional. But to me it was a plus, because the author read with actual understanding of the situations and feelings. The first memoir of White House person who wasn't trying to "sell" some idea, or justify himself. At least I never got this feeling in this book
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- M. Miller
- 05-22-15
very insightful
Full of the insider versions of stories familiar from the news. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Capitol Hill, CIA, or Pentagon operations and strategy.
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- Ruben Garza Jr.
- 05-05-15
Modern Day History
Mr. Pancetta is a true American success. His life is full of inspiration to anyone who dreams the American dream. His contributions should never go unnoticed. He provides great insight into recent major historical events.
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- Ken
- 11-24-14
I should have read the reviews more carefuly
Any additional comments?
Mr. Panetta is a great American whose contributions in Congress and the executive branch were profound. Mr. Panetta is NOT, however, a great narrator, and this contribution to this book was to drag it down into sheer boredom. This is not an action story to begin with so a little drama in the performance might have held my interest. It was as if Mr. Panetta was testifying before Congress rather than trying to entertain and inform his readers.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Derek D Price
- 04-13-15
Interesting Read
Good insight into many of the decisions that shaped intelligence and military policy over the last 10 years. It would be better without all the political bias towards the left, but that is rare these days. Overall a good read.
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1 person found this helpful