Practicing History—Selected Essays
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Practicing History—Selected Essays
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Narrated by:
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Aviva Skell
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By:
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Barbara Tuchman
About this listen
The critically-acclaimed historian’s insights, sense of humor, and sharp pen take on everything from Vietnam, Israel, and the Great War to writing history and its meaning. Includes these essays: Why Policy-Makers Do Not Listen; When Does History Happen?; Is History a Guide to the Future?; America as an Idea; How We Entered World War I; and more.
©1981 Alma Tuchman, Lucy T. Eisenberg, Jessica Tuchman Matthews (P)1987 Recorded Books, LLCListeners also enjoyed...
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-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 228
No American statesman has been as revered and as reviled as Henry Kissinger. Once hailed as "Super-K" - the "indispensable man" whose advice has been sought by every president from Kennedy to Obama - he has also been hounded by conspiracy theorists, scouring his every "telcon" for evidence of Machiavellian malfeasance. Yet as Niall Ferguson shows in this magisterial biography, the idea of Kissinger as the ruthless arch-realist is based on a profound misunderstanding.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Riveting
- By Jean on 11-10-15
By: Niall Ferguson
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The Duel
- The 80-Day Struggle Between Churchill and Hitler
- By: John Lukacs
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 137
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 88
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 88
This is a day-by-day account of the 80-day struggle in 1940 between Hitler, poised on the edge of absolute victory, and Churchill, threatened by imminent invasion and defeat.
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2 out of 5 stars
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The most aggravating history lecture ever
- By Sidney on 12-31-08
By: John Lukacs
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Becoming Hitler
- The Making of a Nazi
- By: Thomas Weber
- Narrated by: Alex Hyde-White
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
In Becoming Hitler, award-winning historian Thomas Weber examines Adolf Hitler's time in Munich between 1918 and 1926, the years when Hitler shed his awkward, feckless persona and transformed himself into a savvy opportunistic political operator who saw himself as Germany's messiah. The story of Hitler's transformation is one of a fateful match between man and city. After opportunistically fluctuating between the ideas of the left and the right, Hitler emerged as an astonishingly flexible leader of Munich's right-wing movement.
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5 out of 5 stars
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talented malevolence c a dash of amazing luck
- By emilio squillante on 11-05-18
By: Thomas Weber
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God and Churchill
- How the Great Leader's Sense of Divine Destiny Changed His Troubled World and Offers Hope for Ours
- By: Wallace Henley, Jonathan Sandys
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 91
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 81
When Winston Churchill was a boy of 16, he already had a vision for his purpose in life. "This country will be subjected somehow to a tremendous invasion...I shall be in command of the defenses of London...it will fall to me to save the Capital, to save the Empire." It was a most unlikely prediction. Perceived as a failure for much of his life, Churchill was the last person anyone would have expected to rise to national prominence as prime minister and influence the fate of the world during World War II.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Just excellent
- By Claude T. Stauffer on 01-10-17
By: Wallace Henley, and others
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Five Days in London, May 1940
- By: John Lukacs
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 379
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 282
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 281
In the days between May 24th and 28th, 1940, the British War Cabinet held a historical debate over whether to negotiate with Hitler or to continue the war. In this magisterial work, John Lukacs demonstrates the decisive importance of those five days. Lukacs takes us hour by hour into the critical unfolding of events at 10 Downing Street, where Churchill, who had only been prime minister for a fortnight, painfully considered his war responsibilities.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Less Than Meets the Eye
- By Michael Moore on 01-06-09
By: John Lukacs
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De Gaulle
- By: Julian Jackson
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 41 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 173
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 149
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 147
In a definitive biography of the mythic general who refused to accept Nazi domination of France, Julian Jackson captures this titanic figure as never before. Drawing on unpublished letters, memoirs, and resources of the recently opened de Gaulle archive, he reveals how this volatile visionary put a broken France back at the center of world affairs.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Extremely British approach to de Gaulle
- By Keith on 05-31-19
By: Julian Jackson
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Supreme Command
- Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime
- By: Eliot A. Cohen
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 196
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 167
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 165
The relationship between military leaders and political leaders has always been a complicated one, especially in times of war. When the chips are down, who should run the show, the politicians or the generals? In Supreme Command, Eliot Cohen examines four great democratic war statesmen - Abraham Lincoln, Georges Clemenceau, Winston Churchill, and David Ben-Gurion - to reveal the surprising answer - the politicians. The generals may think they know how to win, but the statesmen are the ones who see the big picture.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Dated material
- By Charlotte R. Shover on 11-21-20
By: Eliot A. Cohen
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Churchill
- The Power of Words
- By: Sir Winston Churchill, Martin Gilbert
- Narrated by: Fraser Wilson
- Length: 18 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 101
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
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Story5 out of 5 stars 80
Winston Churchill understood and wielded the power of words throughout his six decades in the public eye. His wartime writings and speeches revealed both his vision for the future and his own personal feelings, fascinating generation after generation with their powerful style and thoughtful reflection. In this book Churchill's official biographer, Martin Gilbert, has skilfully selected 200 extracts from his entire oeuvre of books, articles and speeches that reflect his life story, career and philosophy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I wish I found this book 10 years ago when I was 21
- By Brian Schutte on 07-30-18
By: Sir Winston Churchill, and others
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Thoughts and Adventures
- By: Winston Churchill
- Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
This wide ranging collection of essays allows the contemporary reader to grasp the extraordinary variety and depth of the statesman's mature thoughts on questions, both grave and gay, facing modern man. Churchill begins by asking what it would be like to live your life over again and ends by describing his love affair with painting. In between he touches on subjects as diverse as spies, cartoons, submarines, elections, flying, and the future.
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5 out of 5 stars
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He is such a lively writer
- By W. Forrest on 07-15-23
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The Phoney Victory
- The World War II Illusion
- By: Peter Hitchens
- Narrated by: Peter Hitchens
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 89
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 82
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 81
Was World War II really the 'Good War'? In the years since the declaration of peace in 1945, many myths have sprung up around the conflict in the victorious nations. In this audiobook, Peter Hitchens deconstructs the many fables which have become associated with the narrative of the 'Good War'. Whilst not criticising or doubting the need for war against Nazi Germany at some stage, Hitchens does query whether September 1939 was the right moment or the independence of Poland the right issue.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Interesting but depressing story
- By casey urey on 03-16-19
By: Peter Hitchens
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There Was a Country
- A Personal History of Biafra
- By: Chinua Achebe
- Narrated by: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 171
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 139
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 139
The defining experience of Chinua Achebe's life was the Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran War, of 1967-1970. The conflict was infamous for its savage impact on the Biafran people, Chinua Achebe's people, many of whom were starved to death after the Nigerian government blockaded their borders. Immediately after, Achebe took refuge in an academic post in the United States, and for more than 40 years he has maintained a considered silence on the events of those terrible years. Now, decades in the making, comes a towering reckoning with one of modern Africa's most fateful events.
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1 out of 5 stars
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The Audible Edition Is a Disaster
- By Olu on 11-28-12
By: Chinua Achebe
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Ben-Gurion
- A Political Life
- By: Shimon Peres, David Landau
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 55
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 55
Shimon Peres was in his early 20s when he first met David Ben-Gurion. Although the state that Ben-Gurion would lead through war and peace had not yet declared its precarious independence, the "Old Man", as he was called even then, was already a mythic figure. Peres, who came of age in the cabinets of Ben-Gurion, is uniquely placed to evoke this figure of stirring contradictions - a prophetic visionary and a canny pragmatist who early grasped the necessity of compromise for national survival.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Great Perfomance, Less than Stellar Story
- By Alexander on 01-02-12
By: Shimon Peres, and others
-
Lincoln and Churchill
- Statesmen at War
- By: Lewis E. Lehrman
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 17 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
Acclaimed historian Lewis Lehrman, in his path-breaking comparison of both statesmen, finds that Lincoln and Churchill - with very different upbringings and contrasting personalities - led their war efforts, to some extent, in similar ways. As supreme war lords, they were guided not only by principles of honor, duty, freedom, but also by the practical wisdom to know when, where, and how to apply these principles. They made mistakes which Lehrman considers carefully. But the author emphasizes that, despite setbacks, they never gave up.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding book
- By Barmand on 03-07-18
By: Lewis E. Lehrman
-
The War That Ended Peace
- The Road to 1914
- By: Margaret MacMillan
- Narrated by: Richard Burnip
- Length: 31 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 990
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 894
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 883
From the best-selling and award-winning author of Paris 1919 comes a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, a fascinating portrait of Europe from 1900 up to the outbreak of World War I.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Detailed review of 1882 to 1914
- By smarmer on 04-06-14
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What listeners say about Practicing History—Selected Essays
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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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Havi Wingfield
- 06-13-17
Amazing!
So good. But the narrator read waaay too fast. Had to slow it down and then she sounded drunk.
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