Choosing the Hero
My Improbable Journey and the Rise of Africa’s First Woman President
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Choosing the Hero
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Narrated by:
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K. Riva Levinson
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By:
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K. Riva Levinson
About this listen
The rise of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to become the president of Liberia and the first woman elected to lead an African nation is one of the most inspiring stories of our time. But Sirleaf could not have done it alone. Among the people who worked tirelessly to help her achieve her victory was Washington, DC - based international consultant and lobbyist K. Riva Levinson. Choosing the Hero is Levinson’s compelling account of her life and career, and how she joined forces with Sirleaf to fight for a cause bigger than either of them.
With gripping anecdotes, Levinson describes her adventures working in some of the most dangerous places on earth, from Somalia to Iraq. But it is her efforts on behalf of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf that form the heart of Choosing the Hero. Levinson chronicles her behind-the-scenes lobbying for the exiled Sirleaf in Washington, DC, as well as her on-the-ground work in Liberia. It took three tries for Sirleaf to finally win the presidency in 2005. President Sirleaf won the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, and in 2018 she oversaw the first peaceful, democratic transition of presidential power in Liberia in seventy-five years.
Choosing the Hero is an exciting narrative about Sirleaf’s struggle to create a future for Liberia. It’s a bird’s-eye view of the inner-workings of the lobbying and public relations business in Washington, DC, and the making of US foreign policy. But most of all, it is Riva Levinson’s personal story of how she found a hero, fought for a worthy cause, and discovered her soul in the process.
©2016 K. Riva Levinson (P)2019 Blackstone PublishingListeners also enjoyed...
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2 out of 5 stars
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Never got to the heart...
- By Mel on 04-17-13
By: Kim Ghattas
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Promise Me, Dad
- A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose
- By: Joe Biden
- Narrated by: Joe Biden
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,265
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,576
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,549
In November 2014, 13 members of the Biden family gathered on Nantucket for Thanksgiving, a tradition they had been celebrating for the past 40 years; it was the one constant in what had become a hectic, scrutinized, and overscheduled life. The Thanksgiving holiday was a much-needed respite, a time to connect, a time to reflect on what the year had brought, and what the future might hold. But this year felt different from all those that had come before.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Sad Memoir
- By Jean on 12-02-17
By: Joe Biden
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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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Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,220
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,096
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1,081
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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5 out of 5 stars
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Heroic patriot's amazing story
- By Victoria Eriksson on 03-19-22
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A Promised Land
- By: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 29 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 54,966
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 47,480
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Story5 out of 5 stars 47,129
In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency - a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Color me grateful.
- By Angela on 11-19-20
By: Barack Obama
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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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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,466
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,265
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,260
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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3 out of 5 stars
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Senior Stateswoman in need of Editor
- By Cynthia on 07-20-14
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Three Days in Moscow
- Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire
- By: Bret Baier, Catherine Whitney
- Narrated by: Bret Baier
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 846
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 773
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Story5 out of 5 stars 769
In Three Days in Moscow, Baier explores the dramatic endgame of America’s long struggle with the Soviet Union and President Ronald Reagan’s central role in shaping the world we live in today. On May 31, 1988, Reagan stood on Russian soil and addressed a packed audience at Moscow State University, delivering a remarkable - yet now largely forgotten - speech that capped his first visit to the Soviet capital.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing!
- By Brian W. Barton on 05-20-18
By: Bret Baier, and others
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Outpost
- Life on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy: A Memoir
- By: Christopher R. Hill
- Narrated by: Stephen Bowlby
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 118
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 103
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 104
An "inside the room" memoir from one of our most distinguished ambassadors who - in a career of service to the country - was sent to some of the most dangerous outposts of American diplomacy. From the wars in the Balkans to the brutality of North Korea to the endless war in Iraq, this is the real life of an American diplomat. Hill was on the front lines in the Balkans at the breakup of Yugoslavia.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating
- By David on 01-26-15
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Believer
- My Forty Years in Politics
- By: David Axelrod
- Narrated by: David Axelrod
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 637
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 552
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 553
The man behind some of the greatest political changes of the last decade, David Axelrod has devoted a lifetime to questioning political certainties and daring to bring fresh thinking into the political landscape. Whether as a child hearing John F. Kennedy stump in New York or as a strategist guiding the first African American to the White House, Axelrod shows in Believer how his own life stands at the center of the tumultuous American century.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Love letter to Obama
- By DaWoolf on 03-15-15
By: David Axelrod
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Reagan at Reykjavik
- Forty-Eight Hours That Ended the Cold War
- By: Ken Adelman
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 46
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
A dramatic account of the historic 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Iceland - the turning point in the Cold War - by Ken Adelman, Reagan's arms control director and a key player in that weekend's world-changing events. In October 1986, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met for a forty-eight-hour summit in Reykjavik, Iceland. Planned as a short gathering to outline future talks, the meeting quickly turned to major international issues, including SDI ("Star Wars") and the possibility of eliminating all nuclear weapons.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding Tribute
- By MOV on 11-17-23
By: Ken Adelman
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This Child Will Be Great
- Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President
- By: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 37
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
The first elected woman president of an African country, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was also listed as one of the world’s 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes. This evocative memoir recounts Sirleaf ’s childhood upbringing and rise to political power in Liberia. More than a simple biography, Sirleaf ’s account details how she stood firm in the face of physical abuse early in life and carried that strength over into her career as a young economist in Samuel Doe’s regime.
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5 out of 5 stars
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What a powerfully strong woman!
- By Gary on 10-18-11
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Living History
- By: Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Narrated by: Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,073
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 471
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 465
You've probably heard clips from Senator Clinton's interview with Barbara Walters. But now you can listen to her full account of her years in the White House. Hillary Clinton vividly describes her pain over her husband's betrayal with Monica Lewinky saying that former President Bill Clinton lied to her about the relationship until the weekend before he admitted the nature of it to a grand jury.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Dare To Read - She Will Dare To Compete in 2008
- By Michael on 06-17-03
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Unhinged
- An Insider's Account of the Trump White House
- By: Omarosa Manigault Newman
- Narrated by: Omarosa Manigault Newman
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,432
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 2,129
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Story4 out of 5 stars 2,124
Few have been a member of Donald Trump’s inner orbit longer than Omarosa Manigault Newman. Their relationship has spanned 15 years - through four television shows, a presidential campaign, and a year by his side in the most chaotic, outrageous White House in history. But that relationship has come to a decisive and definitive end, and Omarosa is finally ready to share her side of the story in this explosive, jaw-dropping account.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Take if for what it's worth...
- By Clay on 08-14-18
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Shortest Way Home
- One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future
- By: Pete Buttigieg
- Narrated by: Pete Buttigieg
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 5,118
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,597
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,574
Once described by The Washington Post as "the most interesting mayor you've never heard of", Pete Buttigieg, the 36-year-old Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has improbably emerged as one of the nation's most visionary politicians. First elected in 2011, Buttigieg left a successful business career to move back to his hometown, previously tagged by Newsweek as a "dying city", and transformed it into a shining model of urban reinvention.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Reveals a Person Wise & Experienced & Literate
- By dbbks3 on 03-17-19
By: Pete Buttigieg
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The Assassins' Gate
- America in Iraq
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 19 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 208
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 100
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 102
The Assassins' Gate, so dubbed by American soldiers, is the entrance to the American zone in the city of Baghdad. In 2003, the United States blazed into Iraq to depose dictator Saddam Hussein. But after three years and unknown thousands killed, that country faces an escalating civil war and an uncertain fate. How did it get to this point?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Highly Recommended
- By Drapeau on 02-01-07
By: George Packer
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No Room for Small Dreams
- Courage, Imagination, and the Making of Modern Israel
- By: Shimon Peres
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 225
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 202
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Story5 out of 5 stars 201
In this, his final work, finished only weeks before his passing, Peres offers a long-awaited examination of the crucial turning points in Israeli history through the prism of having been a decision maker and eyewitness. Told with the frankness of someone aware this would likely be his final statement, No Room for Small Dreams spans decades and events, but as much as it is about what happened, it is about why it happened.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great insights
- By Mergen on 05-29-22
By: Shimon Peres
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Camelot's End
- Kennedy vs. Carter and the Fight That Broke the Democratic Party
- By: Jon Ward
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 205
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 188
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 189
The Carter presidency was on life support. The Democrats, desperate to keep power and yearning to resurrect former glory, turned to Ted Kennedy. Camelot's End details the incredible drama of Kennedy's challenge - what led to it, how it unfolded, and its lasting effects - with cinematic sweep. It is a story about what happened to the Democratic Party when the country's long string of successes, luck, and global dominance following World War II ran its course, and how, on a quest to recapture the magic of JFK, Democrats plunged themselves into an intra-party civil war.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Does character count in political office?
- By marwalk on 07-29-19
By: Jon Ward
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The Last Republicans
- Inside the Extraordinary Relationship Between George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush
- By: Mark K. Updegrove
- Narrated by: Milton Jeffers
- Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 183
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 164
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Story5 out of 5 stars 163
In this balanced, illuminating audiobook, Updegrove tells the story of the Bushes' relationship from the birth of George W. through their postpresidential years and Jeb Bush's failed candidacy. Drawing on exclusive access and interviews with both presidents and the key people in their lives, Updegrove reveals the Bushes' views on the current state of the nation and the GOP and how the party they both led and helped build is undergoing a radical transformation.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Father and Son Presidents
- By Jean on 02-14-18
What listeners say about Choosing the Hero
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Coren Allen
- 11-25-19
Riveting personal journey of courage and heroism
With a captivating forward narrated by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 24th President of Liberia, Africa's first female Head of State and a 2011 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Choosing the Hero starts off strong and doesn't slow down.
Most will never touch the close encounters with the soul of humanity in so many disparate pockets of the planet in such a personal way and witness history up front and in person as does Ms. Levinson. Riva not only has taken (by her own choice) a front seat to many critical events in recent world history throughout the Middle East and Africa, she played a strategic and influential role in some of the most important and progressive moments in the 21st century.
Choosing the Hero is a very personal journey filled with candid honesty, hope and inspiration for what the best in humanity can accomplish to overcome the worst.
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