-
Evil Geniuses
- The Unmaking of America: A Recent History
- Narrated by: Kurt Andersen
- Length: 16 hrs and 24 mins
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 $22.50
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
New York Times best seller
When did America give up on fairness? The author of Fantasyland tells the epic history of how America decided that big business gets whatever it wants, only the rich get richer, and nothing should ever change - and charts a way back to the future.
“Essential, absorbing...a graceful, authoritative guide...a radicalized moderate’s moderate case for radical change.” (The New York Times Book Review)
During the 20th century, America managed to make its economic and social systems both more and more fair and more and more prosperous. A huge, secure, and contented middle class emerged. All boats rose together. But then the New Deal gave way to the Raw Deal. Beginning in the early 1970s, by means of a long war conceived of and executed by a confederacy of big business CEOs, the superrich, and right-wing zealots, the rules and norms that made the American middle class possible were undermined and dismantled. The clock was turned back on a century of economic progress, making greed good, workers powerless, and the market all-powerful while weaponizing nostalgia, lifting up an oligarchy that served only its own interests, and leaving the huge majority of Americans with dwindling economic prospects and hope.
Why and how did America take such a wrong turn? In this deeply researched and brilliantly woven cultural, economic, and political chronicle, Kurt Andersen offers a fresh, provocative, and eye-opening history of America's undoing, naming names, showing receipts, and unsparingly assigning blame - to the radical right in economics and the law, the high priests of high finance, a complacent and complicit Establishment, and liberal "useful idiots", among whom he includes himself.
Only a writer with Andersen's crackling energy, deep insight, and ability to connect disparate dots and see complex systems with clarity could make such a book both intellectually formidable and vastly entertaining. And only a writer of Andersen’s vision could reckon with our current high-stakes inflection point and show the way out of this man-made disaster.
Critic reviews
“This is the one book everyone must read as we figure out how to rebuild our country. With lucid writing and head-snapping insights, Kurt Andersen explores how a confederacy of the right and big business, with unabashed greed, deliberately reengineered our economy. To fix that will require understanding the roots of the problem. A triumph.”—Walter Isaacson, author of The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
“Nostalgia is the antithesis of history. Andersen brilliantly exposes how nostalgia—the strategic oversimplification of our past—has erased complexity and friction from our country’s narrative to serve a single goal: to preserve the status quo for the benefit of those in power. Evil Geniuses documents how history and nostalgia are engaged in hand-to-hand combat that may determine our future.”—Ken Burns, director of The Civil War and The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
“How did the United States turn from its longstanding egalitarian ideals to its present course of socially and morally catastrophic inequality? Kurt Andersen interrogates the past half century with characteristic intellectual ambition and literary bravado to find out. At once cultural history, memoir, and riff, Evil Geniuses explains how our country found its way into this predicament, and how we might yet get out of it.”—Jacob Weisberg, author of The Bush Tragedy and Ronald Reagan
Related to this topic
-
The Conscience of a Liberal
- By: Paul Krugman
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America emerged from Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal with strong democratic values and broadly shared prosperity. But for the past 30 years, American politics has been dominated by a conservative movement determined to undermine the New Deal's achievements. Now, the tide may be turning, and in The Conscience of a Liberal Paul Krugman, the world's most widely read economist and one of its most influential political commentators, charts the way to reform.
-
-
Great Book!!!
- By carl801 on 12-04-07
By: Paul Krugman
-
Goliath
- The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy
- By: Matt Stoller
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 20 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A startling look at how concentrated financial power and consumerism transformed American politics, resulting in the emergence of populism and authoritarianism, the fall of the Democratic Party - while also providing the steps needed to create a new democracy.
-
-
The Fall of American Populist Economics
- By Charlie Morton on 02-26-20
By: Matt Stoller
-
The Liberal Invasion of Red State America
- By: Kristin B. Tate
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Progressive upper-middle-class urbanites are deserting expensive liberal meccas like New York and San Francisco and flocking to traditionally red states like Colorado, New Hampshire, Virginia, and Texas. The result is a sudden, confusing purpling of small-town America. School boards and local governments are being reorganized around the progressive agendas of pushy transplants. Neighborhoods are becoming unrecognizable. And the implications for future Congressional and presidential elections are staggering.
-
-
Interesting and back up with facts
- By Jason on 01-23-20
By: Kristin B. Tate
-
The Trump Century
- How Our President Changed the Course of History Forever
- By: Lou Dobbs
- Narrated by: Lou Dobbs
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Trump Century, the indomitable Lou Dobbs explains how Trump has steered the debate every day he has been in politics, greatly expanding what Washington thinks is possible. By 2016, the globalist elites demanded no one speak about limiting illegal immigration or securing our borders. The elites told you communist China would soon be like us, and the PC orthodoxy told you what you could or could not say. You were told America’s Middle Class could never grow again and wages would be stagnant into perpetuity. Trump reversed all of that.
-
-
A dose of honest reality in the era of fake news.
- By Bobby K. Daugherty on 09-23-20
By: Lou Dobbs
-
The Battle
- How the Fight Between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America's Future
- By: Arthur C. Brooks
- Narrated by: Arthur C. Brooks
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America faces a new culture war. It is not a war about guns, abortions, or gays; rather it is a war against the creeping changes to our entrepreneurial culture, the true bedrock of who we are as a people. The new culture war is a battle between free enterprise and social democracy. Many Americans have forgotten the evils of socialism and the predations of the American Great Society's welfare-state programs.
-
-
Right wing
- By John on 12-22-10
By: Arthur C. Brooks
-
The Fourth Revolution
- The Global Race to Reinvent the State
- By: John Micklethwait, Adrian Wooldridge
- Narrated by: Chris Sorensen
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling authors of The Right Nation, a visionary argument that our current crisis in government is nothing less than the fourth radical transition in the history of the nation-state. Dysfunctional government: It' s become a cliché, and most of us are resigned to the fact that nothing is ever going to change. As John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge show us, that is a seriously limited view of things. In fact, there have been three great revolutions in government in the history of the modern world.
-
-
A must read for everyone wondering whats going?
- By Truth-be-told on 03-30-15
By: John Micklethwait, and others
-
The Conscience of a Liberal
- By: Paul Krugman
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America emerged from Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal with strong democratic values and broadly shared prosperity. But for the past 30 years, American politics has been dominated by a conservative movement determined to undermine the New Deal's achievements. Now, the tide may be turning, and in The Conscience of a Liberal Paul Krugman, the world's most widely read economist and one of its most influential political commentators, charts the way to reform.
-
-
Great Book!!!
- By carl801 on 12-04-07
By: Paul Krugman
-
Goliath
- The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy
- By: Matt Stoller
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 20 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A startling look at how concentrated financial power and consumerism transformed American politics, resulting in the emergence of populism and authoritarianism, the fall of the Democratic Party - while also providing the steps needed to create a new democracy.
-
-
The Fall of American Populist Economics
- By Charlie Morton on 02-26-20
By: Matt Stoller
-
The Liberal Invasion of Red State America
- By: Kristin B. Tate
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Progressive upper-middle-class urbanites are deserting expensive liberal meccas like New York and San Francisco and flocking to traditionally red states like Colorado, New Hampshire, Virginia, and Texas. The result is a sudden, confusing purpling of small-town America. School boards and local governments are being reorganized around the progressive agendas of pushy transplants. Neighborhoods are becoming unrecognizable. And the implications for future Congressional and presidential elections are staggering.
-
-
Interesting and back up with facts
- By Jason on 01-23-20
By: Kristin B. Tate
-
The Trump Century
- How Our President Changed the Course of History Forever
- By: Lou Dobbs
- Narrated by: Lou Dobbs
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Trump Century, the indomitable Lou Dobbs explains how Trump has steered the debate every day he has been in politics, greatly expanding what Washington thinks is possible. By 2016, the globalist elites demanded no one speak about limiting illegal immigration or securing our borders. The elites told you communist China would soon be like us, and the PC orthodoxy told you what you could or could not say. You were told America’s Middle Class could never grow again and wages would be stagnant into perpetuity. Trump reversed all of that.
-
-
A dose of honest reality in the era of fake news.
- By Bobby K. Daugherty on 09-23-20
By: Lou Dobbs
-
The Battle
- How the Fight Between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America's Future
- By: Arthur C. Brooks
- Narrated by: Arthur C. Brooks
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America faces a new culture war. It is not a war about guns, abortions, or gays; rather it is a war against the creeping changes to our entrepreneurial culture, the true bedrock of who we are as a people. The new culture war is a battle between free enterprise and social democracy. Many Americans have forgotten the evils of socialism and the predations of the American Great Society's welfare-state programs.
-
-
Right wing
- By John on 12-22-10
By: Arthur C. Brooks
-
The Fourth Revolution
- The Global Race to Reinvent the State
- By: John Micklethwait, Adrian Wooldridge
- Narrated by: Chris Sorensen
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling authors of The Right Nation, a visionary argument that our current crisis in government is nothing less than the fourth radical transition in the history of the nation-state. Dysfunctional government: It' s become a cliché, and most of us are resigned to the fact that nothing is ever going to change. As John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge show us, that is a seriously limited view of things. In fact, there have been three great revolutions in government in the history of the modern world.
-
-
A must read for everyone wondering whats going?
- By Truth-be-told on 03-30-15
By: John Micklethwait, and others
-
Arguing with Socialists
- By: Glenn Beck
- Narrated by: Glenn Beck, Jeremy Lowell
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Arguing with Socialists, New York Times best-selling author Glenn Beck arms listeners to the teeth with information necessary to debunk the socialist arguments that have once again become popular, and proves that the free market is the only way to go. With his trademark humor, Beck lampoons the resurgence of this bankrupt leftist philosophy with thousands of stories, facts, and arguments for anyone who is willing to ask the hard questions.
-
-
Its great...whatever
- By Jon on 04-08-20
By: Glenn Beck
-
How Are You Going to Pay for That?
- Smart Answers to the Dumbest Question in Politics
- By: Ryan Cooper
- Narrated by: Ryan Cooper
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How Are You Going to Pay for That? is filled with engaging discussions and detailed strategies that policymakers and citizens alike can use to assail even the most entrenched lines of neoliberal logic and start to undo these long-held misconceptions. Equal parts economic theory, history, and political polemic, this is an essential roadmap for winning the key battles to come.
-
-
Yay, Taxes!!!
- By Luvelway on 02-19-24
By: Ryan Cooper
-
Plutocrats
- The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else
- By: Chrystia Freeland
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There has always been some gap between rich and poor in this country, but in the last few decades what it means to be rich has changed dramatically. Alarmingly, the greatest income gap is not between the 1 percent and the 99 percent, but within the wealthiest 1 percent of our nation-as the merely wealthy are left behind by the rapidly expanding fortunes of the new global super-rich. Forget the 1 percent; Plutocrats proves that it is the wealthiest 0.1 percent who are outpacing the rest of us at break-neck speed.
-
-
Good Storytelling but ... analysis is "eh'
- By Susan on 11-04-12
-
Hostile Takeover
- Resisting Centralized Government's Stranglehold on America
- By: Matt Kibbe
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hostile Takeover is a rebellious challenge to the "upper management" of government, who are choking American prosperity and liberty. Matt Kibbe exposes the privileged collusion of Washington insiders - and maps out a proven plan for how to return power from the self-appointed "experts" back to the people. Dubbed "one of the Tea Party's masterminds" by Newsweek, Kibbe reveals how grassroots citizens can and will check the federal behemoth and restore the American enterprise.
-
-
An amazing book from an interesting perspective
- By Aaron on 12-28-12
By: Matt Kibbe
-
Adrift
- America in 100 Charts
- By: Scott Galloway
- Narrated by: Scott Galloway
- Length: 3 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are only just beginning to reckon with our post-pandemic future. As political extremism intensifies, the great resignation affects businesses everywhere, and supply chain issues crush bottom lines, we’re faced with daunting questions—is our democracy under threat? How will Big Tech change our lives? What does job security look like for me? America is on the brink of massive change—change that will disrupt the workings of our economy and drastically impact the financial backbone of our nation: the middle class.
-
-
Quick & Informative
- By W. Carillion on 10-06-22
By: Scott Galloway
-
Beyond Outrage
- What Has Gone Wrong with Our Economy and Our Democracy, and How to Fix Them
- By: Robert B. Reich
- Narrated by: Robert B. Reich
- Length: 3 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Robert B. Reich urges Americans to get beyond mere outrage about the nation’s increasingly concentrated wealth and corrupt politics in order to mobilize and to take back our economy and democracy. Americans can’t rely only on getting good people elected, Reich argues, because nothing positive happens in Washington unless good people outside Washington are organized to help make those things happen after the election. But in order to be effectively mobilized, we need to see the big picture.
-
-
Falls short
- By J. Klinghoffer on 11-04-13
By: Robert B. Reich
-
A Crisis Wasted
- Barack Obama's Defining Decisions
- By: Reed Hundt
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book is the compelling story of President Obama’s domestic policy decisions made between September 2008 and his inauguration on January 20, 2009. Unlike all other presidents except Abraham Lincoln - who decided not to allow slavery to expand westward before he was sworn in - Barack Obama determined the fate of his presidency before he took office. The results of these fateful decisions led to Donald Trump taking his place eight years later. This book describes how and why these decisions were made, and discusses whether the outcomes could have been different.
-
-
Somewhat complicated, not audiobook material
- By Mariana Nolasco on 09-20-20
By: Reed Hundt
-
Aftershock
- The Next Economy and America’s Future
- By: Robert B. Reich
- Narrated by: Robert Reich
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author of 12 acclaimed books, Robert B. Reich is a Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and has served in three national administrations. While many blamed Wall Street for the financial meltdown, Aftershock points a finger at a national economy in which wealth is increasingly concentrated at the top - and where a grasping middle class simply does not have the resources to remain viable.
-
-
Very plausible assessment of our economy
- By CAR TOP CAMPER on 10-06-10
By: Robert B. Reich
-
That Used to Be Us
- How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back
- By: Thomas L. Friedman, Michael Mandelbaum
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America has a huge problem. It faces four major challenges, on which its future depends, and it is failing to meet them. In That Used to Be Us, Thomas L. Friedman, one of our most influential columnists, and Michael Mandelbaum, one of our leading foreign policy thinkers, analyze those challenges - globalization, the revolution in information technology, the nation's chronic deficits, and its pattern of energy consumption - and spell out what we need to do now to rediscover America and rise to this moment.
-
-
We have met the enemy and it is us.... Pogo
- By Soudant on 09-16-11
By: Thomas L. Friedman, and others
-
Yellen
- The Trailblazing Economist Who Navigated an Era of Upheaval
- By: Jon Hilsenrath
- Narrated by: Jon Hilsenrath, Seth Podowitz
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An engrossing and deeply human chronicle of the past fifty years of American economic and social upheaval, viewed through the consequential life of the most powerful woman in American economic history, Janet Yellen, and her unconventional partnership in marriage and work with Nobel Laureate George Akerlof.
-
-
Must read
- By Ali on 03-26-24
By: Jon Hilsenrath
-
Broke
- The Plan to Restore Our Trust, Truth and Treasure
- By: Glenn Beck, Kevin Balfe
- Narrated by: Glenn Beck, Brian Sack
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the words of Harvard economist Niall Ferguson, the United States is “an empire on the edge of chaos.” Why? Glenn Beck thinks the answer is pretty simple: Because we’ve turned our backs on the Constitution. Yes, our country is financially broke, but that’s just a side effect of our broken spirit, our broken faith in government, the broken promises by our leaders, and a broken political system that has centralized power at the expense of individual rights.
-
-
Finally book that has done the reasearch...
- By dah551 on 10-31-10
By: Glenn Beck, and others
-
On Corruption in America
- And What Is at Stake
- By: Sarah Chayes
- Narrated by: Sarah Chayes
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this unflinching exploration of corruption in America, Chayes exposes how corruption has thrived within our borders - from the titans of America's Gilded Age (Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, et al.) to the collapse of the stock market in 1929, the Great Depression, and FDR's New Deal; from Joe Kennedy's years of banking, bootlegging, machine politics, and pursuit of infinite wealth to the deregulation of the Reagan Revolution - undermining this nation's proud middle class and union members.
-
-
Profoundly ambitious and genuine yet...
- By Jerry A. Boriskin on 08-16-20
By: Sarah Chayes
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Empire of Pain
- The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The prize-winning and best-selling author of Say Nothing presents a grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin. Empire of Pain is a masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, exhaustively documented and ferociously compelling.
-
-
Full Account of the Sackler Conspiracy
- By Edward Bisch on 04-13-21
-
Click Here to Kill Everybody
- Security and Survival in a Hyper-connected World
- By: Bruce Schneier
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everything is a computer. Ovens are computers that make things hot; refrigerators are computers that keep things cold. These computers - from home thermostats to chemical plants - are all online. All computers can be hacked. And Internet-connected computers are the most vulnerable. Forget data theft: Cutting-edge digital attackers can now crash your car, your pacemaker, and the nation’s power grid. In Click Here to Kill Everybody, renowned expert and best-selling author Bruce Schneier examines the hidden risks of this new reality.
-
-
Same old Bruce
- By Fausto Cepeda on 04-03-19
By: Bruce Schneier
-
The Captive Mind
- By: Czeslaw Milosz, Jane Zielonko - translator, Claire Bloom - director
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best-known prose work by the winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize for Literature examines the moral and intellectual conflicts faced by men and women living under totalitarianism of the left or right. Written in the early 1950s, when Eastern Europe was in the grip of Stalinism and many Western intellectuals placed their hopes in the new order of the East, this classic work reveals in fascinating detail the often beguiling allure of totalitarian rule to people of all political beliefs and its frightening effects on the minds of those who embrace it.
-
-
Every U.S. citizen should read this.
- By Tim Christenson on 09-27-20
By: Czeslaw Milosz, and others
-
Fire and Brimstone
- The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917
- By: Michael Punke
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The worst hard-rock mining disaster in American history began a half hour before midnight on June 8, 1917, when fire broke out in the North Butte Mining Company's Granite Mountain shaft. Sparked more than 2,000 feet below ground, the fire spewed flames, smoke, and poisonous gas through a labyrinth of underground tunnels. Within an hour more than 400 men would be locked in a battle to survive. Within three days 164 of them would be dead.
-
-
Fairly Solid Book With Good History
- By Matthew on 08-18-16
By: Michael Punke
-
Against the Grain
- A Deep History of the Earliest States
- By: James C. Scott
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why did humans abandon hunting and gathering for sedentary communities dependent on livestock and cereal grains and governed by precursors of today's states? Most people believe that plant and animal domestication allowed humans, finally, to settle down and form agricultural villages, towns, and states, which made possible civilization, law, public order, and a presumably secure way of living. But archaeological and historical evidence challenges this narrative.
-
-
World without Women
- By Paul Richards on 04-28-18
By: James C. Scott
-
The General vs. the President
- MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From master storyteller and historian H. W. Brands comes the riveting story of how President Harry Truman and General Douglas MacArthur squared off to decide America's future in the aftermath of World War II.
-
-
A Vivid Dramatic Accounting
- By Jean on 11-11-16
By: H. W. Brands
-
Empire of Pain
- The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The prize-winning and best-selling author of Say Nothing presents a grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin. Empire of Pain is a masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, exhaustively documented and ferociously compelling.
-
-
Full Account of the Sackler Conspiracy
- By Edward Bisch on 04-13-21
-
Click Here to Kill Everybody
- Security and Survival in a Hyper-connected World
- By: Bruce Schneier
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everything is a computer. Ovens are computers that make things hot; refrigerators are computers that keep things cold. These computers - from home thermostats to chemical plants - are all online. All computers can be hacked. And Internet-connected computers are the most vulnerable. Forget data theft: Cutting-edge digital attackers can now crash your car, your pacemaker, and the nation’s power grid. In Click Here to Kill Everybody, renowned expert and best-selling author Bruce Schneier examines the hidden risks of this new reality.
-
-
Same old Bruce
- By Fausto Cepeda on 04-03-19
By: Bruce Schneier
-
The Captive Mind
- By: Czeslaw Milosz, Jane Zielonko - translator, Claire Bloom - director
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best-known prose work by the winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize for Literature examines the moral and intellectual conflicts faced by men and women living under totalitarianism of the left or right. Written in the early 1950s, when Eastern Europe was in the grip of Stalinism and many Western intellectuals placed their hopes in the new order of the East, this classic work reveals in fascinating detail the often beguiling allure of totalitarian rule to people of all political beliefs and its frightening effects on the minds of those who embrace it.
-
-
Every U.S. citizen should read this.
- By Tim Christenson on 09-27-20
By: Czeslaw Milosz, and others
-
Fire and Brimstone
- The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917
- By: Michael Punke
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The worst hard-rock mining disaster in American history began a half hour before midnight on June 8, 1917, when fire broke out in the North Butte Mining Company's Granite Mountain shaft. Sparked more than 2,000 feet below ground, the fire spewed flames, smoke, and poisonous gas through a labyrinth of underground tunnels. Within an hour more than 400 men would be locked in a battle to survive. Within three days 164 of them would be dead.
-
-
Fairly Solid Book With Good History
- By Matthew on 08-18-16
By: Michael Punke
-
Against the Grain
- A Deep History of the Earliest States
- By: James C. Scott
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why did humans abandon hunting and gathering for sedentary communities dependent on livestock and cereal grains and governed by precursors of today's states? Most people believe that plant and animal domestication allowed humans, finally, to settle down and form agricultural villages, towns, and states, which made possible civilization, law, public order, and a presumably secure way of living. But archaeological and historical evidence challenges this narrative.
-
-
World without Women
- By Paul Richards on 04-28-18
By: James C. Scott
-
The General vs. the President
- MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From master storyteller and historian H. W. Brands comes the riveting story of how President Harry Truman and General Douglas MacArthur squared off to decide America's future in the aftermath of World War II.
-
-
A Vivid Dramatic Accounting
- By Jean on 11-11-16
By: H. W. Brands
-
The Mosquito
- A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator
- By: Timothy C. Winegard
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 19 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why was gin and tonic the cocktail of choice for British colonists in India and Africa? What does Starbucks have to thank for its global domination? What has protected the lives of popes for millennia? Why did Scotland surrender its sovereignty to England? What was George Washington's secret weapon during the American Revolution? The answer to all these questions, and many more, is the mosquito. Driven by surprising insights and fast-paced storytelling, The Mosquito is the extraordinary untold story of the mosquito’s reign through human history.
-
-
Major Disappointment
- By Amazon Customer on 09-02-19
-
How to Survive a Plague
- The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS
- By: David France
- Narrated by: Rory O'Malley
- Length: 24 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A riveting, powerful telling of the story of the grassroots movement of activists, many of them in a life-or-death struggle, who seized upon scientific research to help develop the drugs that turned HIV from a mostly fatal infection to a manageable disease. Ignored by public officials, religious leaders, and the nation at large, and confronted with shame and hatred, this small group of men and women chose to fight for their right to live by educating themselves and demanding to become full partners in the race for effective treatments.
-
-
Read This Book!
- By Kay M Hawklee on 05-30-17
By: David France
-
Our Oriental Heritage
- The Story of Civilization, Volume 1
- By: Will Durant
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 50 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first volume of Will Durant's Pulitzer Prize-winning series, Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization, Volume I chronicles the early history of Egypt, the Middle East, and Asia.
-
-
Wonderful
- By Michael on 11-30-13
By: Will Durant
-
Apostle
- Travels Among the Tombs of the Twelve
- By: Tom Bissell
- Narrated by: Tom Bissell
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A profound and moving journey into the heart of Christianity that explores the mysterious and often paradoxical lives and legacies of the Twelve Apostles—a book both for those of the faith and for others who seek to understand Christianity from the outside in.
-
-
Not What It Appears To Be
- By M. hooper on 09-18-18
By: Tom Bissell
-
American Heiress
- The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst
- By: Jeffrey Toobin
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On February 4, 1974, Patty Hearst, a sophomore in college and heiress to the Hearst family fortune, was kidnapped by a ragtag group of self-styled revolutionaries calling itself the Symbionese Liberation Army. The already sensational story took the first of many incredible twists on April 3, when the group released a tape of Patty saying she had joined the SLA and had adopted the nom de guerre “Tania.”
-
-
Privilege calling privilege privileged
- By Kelley on 08-05-16
By: Jeffrey Toobin
-
Burn the Ice
- The American Culinary Revolution and Its End
- By: Kevin Alexander
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the past decade, Kevin Alexander saw American dining turned on its head. Starting in 2006, the food world underwent a transformation as the established gatekeepers of American culinary creativity in New York City and the Bay Area were forced to contend with Portland, Oregon. Its new, no-holds-barred, casual fine-dining style became a template for other cities, and a culinary revolution swept across America. Traditional ramen shops opened in Oklahoma City. Craft cocktail speakeasies appeared in Boise. Poke bowls sprung up in Omaha.
-
-
Amazing read
- By JC Final on 10-27-23
By: Kevin Alexander
-
A Little History of the World
- By: E. H. Gombrich
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
E. H. Gombrich's world history, an international best seller now available in English for the first time, is a text dominated not by dates and facts but by the sweep of experience across the centuries, a guide to humanity's achievements, and an acute witness to its frailties.
-
-
an enlightening book; very well read
- By A.B.Oxford on 06-03-06
By: E. H. Gombrich
-
How the Earth Works
- By: Michael E. Wysession, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Michael E. Wysession
- Length: 24 hrs and 31 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How the Earth Works takes you on an astonishing journey through time and space. In 48 lectures, you will look at what went into making our planet - from the big bang, to the formation of the solar system, to the subsequent evolution of Earth.
-
-
Excellent course
- By Doug B. on 05-23-19
By: Michael E. Wysession, and others
-
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
- By: Thomas S. Kuhn
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A good book may have the power to change the way we see the world, but a great book actually becomes part of our daily consciousness, pervading our thinking to the point that we take it for granted, and we forget how provocative and challenging its ideas once were - and still are. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is that kind of book.
-
-
The problem is not with the book
- By Marcus on 08-09-09
By: Thomas S. Kuhn
-
The Balanced Brain
- The Science of Mental Health
- By: Camilla Nord
- Narrated by: Camilla Nord
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There are many routes to mental well-being. In this groundbreaking book, neuroscientist Camilla Nord offers a fascinating tour of the scientific developments that are revolutionizing the way we think about mental health, showing why and how events—and treatments—can affect people in such different ways. In The Balanced Brain, Nord explains how our brain constructs our sense of mental health—actively striving to maintain balance in response to our changing circumstances.
-
-
Mildly informative, minimally actionable
- By Michael on 03-29-24
By: Camilla Nord
-
Return of a King
- The Battle for Afghanistan
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sagar Arya
- Length: 20 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 1839, Britain invaded Afghanistan for the first time. Nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the high mountain passes and re-established on the throne Shah Shuja ul-Mulk. On the way in, the British faced little resistance. But after two years of occupation, the Afghan people rose in answer to the call for jihad and the country exploded into violent rebellion. The First Anglo-Afghan War ended in Britain's greatest military humiliation of the 19th century.
-
-
Read the hard copy
- By Gina Czupka on 11-28-23
-
1774
- The Long Year of Revolution
- By: Mary Beth Norton
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From one of our most acclaimed and original colonial historians, a groundbreaking book - the first to look at the critical "long year" of 1774 and the revolutionary change that took place from December 1773 to mid-April 1775, from the Boston Tea Party and the First Continental Congress to the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
-
-
The US revolutionary war was baked in by 1775
- By Randall Parker on 04-18-20
By: Mary Beth Norton
What listeners say about Evil Geniuses
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- richmondsteve
- 04-09-21
Everyone should listen to Kurt Andersen
There are only a few Good Geniuses like Kurt Andersen around. Not only does he have enormous academic and intellectual credibility, he has the street cred to go with it. Don't be scared... he's from the Midwest. Lots of quotations, research, and statistics to back him up. This book will make clear that most Americans are on the same page; whereas our government has become a tool of big business (the Evil Geniuses). Very well written too, and quite entertaining. Kurt Andersen for presidential advisor!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- UltraB
- 09-10-20
How conservatives and big business conned us.
Anderson lays out in fascinating detail all of the steps in the rise of modern "conservative," small govt America. It's a chilling narrative that connects the dots and shows how, little by little, conservatives and corporatists flushed a half century of post-New Deal prosperity down the toilet for all but the upper echelons of our society.
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
- Frank Torcia
- 09-15-20
comprehensive
loved it. eye opening and distressing. we have a lot of work ahead of us. might move to Finland or Denmark.
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
- Alex
- 08-10-21
A history reminder all Americans need to read
Memories are short, things easily forgotten and much much more hidden from view of the public.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jonathan R Haag
- 04-03-21
Great book, both in hardcover and audible versions
This very persuasively written book (I am a Kurt Andersen fan) was a good listen. It lags a bit, but chapter 19 and onward are very good places to restart thus audible book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark Landrieu
- 10-22-21
Very comprehensive and thorough. Well written.
I listened to the audio version and was captivated thru out.
In depth yet plain and easy to understand. Right on the money.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Christian Ely
- 08-17-20
A must read for anyone who cares about the future of The United States.
Mr. Andersen lays out the map and the territory of where we find ourselves socially, politically, artistically, and economically. Then he gives us astute and well reasoned solutions to help our country escape the oligarchic stranglehold that encumbers growth and opportunity in our society.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
17 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chris Woods
- 08-30-20
How we got here!
One of the best thorough explanations of how the country became so incompetent and how it has lost its democracy, and by whom. It is a journalistic recounting of what happened when, by whom that is easy to see. I've read several along this line and feel this one is the best. It's also always fun and more engaging when you listen to the author reading his own work.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
16 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 12-19-20
change your life
incredibly good, essential for realizing that the world did not magically become an austerity hellscape, it did not organically tend toward this catastrophic capitalism like some natural force, it was made this way, by these people. somehow knowing what they did and how makes it seem more tangibly undo-able
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anthony Spicola
- 09-17-20
How America Lost Its Way
A must for individuals that actually care about America and its future. A well researched and reasoned call to action.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful