
Worthy Fights
A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace
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
3 months free
Buy for $22.50
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Leon Panetta
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.
©2014 Leon Panetta and Jim Newton (P)2014 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"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)
People who viewed this also viewed...

Panetta for President
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Leon is my new hero. Thank you Leon for giving us your life.
You are there
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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.
Excellent
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A Worthy Read ...
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The performance was solid by Panetta's reading. It makes a big difference when the author reads it.
Wonderful
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Educacional and earthy in a very good eay
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
very insightful
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Modern Day History
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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.I should have read the reviews more carefuly
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Interesting Read
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.