The Human Factor
Gorbachev, Reagan, and Thatcher, and the End of the Cold War
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
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
The Human Factor
Buy for $24.75
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
James Langton
-
By:
-
Archie Brown
About this listen
In this penetrating analysis of the role of political leadership in the Cold War's ending, Archie Brown shows why the popular view that Western economic and military strength left the Soviet Union with no alternative but to admit defeat is wrong.
To understand the significance of the parts played by Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan, and Margaret Thatcher in East-West relations in the second half of the 1980s, Brown addresses several specific questions: What were the values and assumptions of these leaders, and how did their perceptions evolve? What were the major influences on them? To what extent were they reflecting the views of their own political establishment or challenging them? How important for ending the East-West standoff were their interrelations? Would any of the realistically alternative leaders of their countries at that time have pursued approximately the same policies?
The Cold War got colder in the early 1980s, and the relationship between the two military superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union, each of whom had the capacity to annihilate the other, was tense. By the end of the decade, East-West relations had been utterly transformed, with most of the dividing lines - including the division of Europe - removed. Engagement between Gorbachev and Reagan was a crucial part of that process of change. More surprising was Thatcher's role. Regarded by Reagan as his ideological and political soul mate, she formed also a strong and supportive relationship with Gorbachev (beginning three months before he came to power). Promoting Gorbachev in Washington as "[A] man to do business with", she became, in the words of her foreign policy adviser Sir Percy Cradock, "[A]n agent of influence in both directions".
©2020 Archie Brown (P)2020 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Reagan
- The Life
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 31 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 734
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 640
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 639
Ronald Reagan today is a conservative icon, celebrated for transforming the American domestic agenda and playing a crucial part in ending communism in the Soviet Union. In his masterful new biography, H. W. Brands argues that Reagan, along with FDR, was the most consequential president of the 20th century. Reagan took office at a time when the public sector, after a half century of New Deal liberalism, was widely perceived as bloated and inefficient, an impediment to personal liberty.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Very little about Reagan
- By Jack Merritt on 07-30-15
By: H. W. Brands
-
The Rise and Fall of Communism
- By: Archie Brown
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 31 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 13
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 13
The Rise and Fall of Communism explores how and why Communists came to power; how they were able, in a variety of countries on different continents, to hold on to power for so long; and what brought about the downfall of so many Communist systems. For this comprehensive and illuminating work, Brown draws on more than 40 years of research and on a wealth of new sources.
By: Archie Brown
-
The White Pill
- A Tale of Good and Evil
- By: Michael Malice
- Narrated by: Michael Malice
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 852
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 779
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 776
The Bolsheviks promised that they were building a new society, a workers’ paradise that would change the nature of mankind itself. What they ended up constructing was the largest prison the world had ever seen: a Union of Soviet Socialist Republics that spanned half the globe.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Do not buy the audio version.
- By Todd on 02-20-23
By: Michael Malice
-
G-Man (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
- J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century
- By: Beverly Gage
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 36 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 602
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 512
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 512
A major new biography of J Edgar Hoover that draws from never-before-seen sources to create a groundbreaking portrait of a colossus who dominated half a century of American history and planted the seeds for much of today's conservative political landscape.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing!
- By Jessica Armas on 12-06-22
By: Beverly Gage
-
Berlin Diary
- The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent, 1934–1941
- By: William L. Shirer
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 15 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 995
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 888
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 880
By the acclaimed journalist and New York Times best-selling author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, this day-by-day eyewitness account of the momentous events leading up to World War II in Europe is the private, personal, utterly revealing journal of a great foreign correspondent.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Real Rise and Fall
- By Robert on 02-26-14
-
Gorbachev
- His Life and Times
- By: William Taubman
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 32 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 260
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 229
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 226
When Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, the USSR was one of the world's two superpowers. By 1989, his liberal policies of perestroika and glasnost had permanently transformed Soviet Communism and had made enemies of radicals on the right and left. By 1990 he, more than anyone else, had ended the Cold War, and in 1991, after barely escaping from a coup attempt, he unintentionally presided over the collapse of the Soviet Union he had tried to save.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Man Who Changed The Course Of History
- By Jean on 12-30-17
By: William Taubman
-
Reagan
- The Life
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 31 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 734
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 640
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 639
Ronald Reagan today is a conservative icon, celebrated for transforming the American domestic agenda and playing a crucial part in ending communism in the Soviet Union. In his masterful new biography, H. W. Brands argues that Reagan, along with FDR, was the most consequential president of the 20th century. Reagan took office at a time when the public sector, after a half century of New Deal liberalism, was widely perceived as bloated and inefficient, an impediment to personal liberty.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Very little about Reagan
- By Jack Merritt on 07-30-15
By: H. W. Brands
-
The Rise and Fall of Communism
- By: Archie Brown
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 31 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 13
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 13
The Rise and Fall of Communism explores how and why Communists came to power; how they were able, in a variety of countries on different continents, to hold on to power for so long; and what brought about the downfall of so many Communist systems. For this comprehensive and illuminating work, Brown draws on more than 40 years of research and on a wealth of new sources.
By: Archie Brown
-
The White Pill
- A Tale of Good and Evil
- By: Michael Malice
- Narrated by: Michael Malice
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 852
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 779
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 776
The Bolsheviks promised that they were building a new society, a workers’ paradise that would change the nature of mankind itself. What they ended up constructing was the largest prison the world had ever seen: a Union of Soviet Socialist Republics that spanned half the globe.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Do not buy the audio version.
- By Todd on 02-20-23
By: Michael Malice
-
G-Man (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
- J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century
- By: Beverly Gage
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 36 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 602
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 512
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 512
A major new biography of J Edgar Hoover that draws from never-before-seen sources to create a groundbreaking portrait of a colossus who dominated half a century of American history and planted the seeds for much of today's conservative political landscape.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing!
- By Jessica Armas on 12-06-22
By: Beverly Gage
-
Berlin Diary
- The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent, 1934–1941
- By: William L. Shirer
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 15 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 995
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 888
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 880
By the acclaimed journalist and New York Times best-selling author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, this day-by-day eyewitness account of the momentous events leading up to World War II in Europe is the private, personal, utterly revealing journal of a great foreign correspondent.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Real Rise and Fall
- By Robert on 02-26-14
-
Gorbachev
- His Life and Times
- By: William Taubman
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 32 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 260
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 229
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 226
When Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, the USSR was one of the world's two superpowers. By 1989, his liberal policies of perestroika and glasnost had permanently transformed Soviet Communism and had made enemies of radicals on the right and left. By 1990 he, more than anyone else, had ended the Cold War, and in 1991, after barely escaping from a coup attempt, he unintentionally presided over the collapse of the Soviet Union he had tried to save.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Man Who Changed The Course Of History
- By Jean on 12-30-17
By: William Taubman
-
The Cold War
- A World History
- By: Odd Arne Westad
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 22 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 420
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 363
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 362
In The Cold War, Odd Arne Westad offers a new perspective on a century when a superpower rivalry and an ideological war transformed every corner of our globe. We traditionally think of the Cold War as a post-World War II diplomatic and military conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. But in this major new work, Westad argues that the conflict must be understood as a global ideological confrontation with roots in the industrial revolution and with continuing implications for the world today.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A lenghy treatise on the Cold War
- By Donald Hill on 11-21-17
By: Odd Arne Westad
-
The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution: 1763-1789
- By: Robert Middlekauff
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 26 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,296
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,098
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,093
The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Strong History Rich With Behind The Scenes Details
- By John on 10-06-11
-
Watergate
- By: Garrett M. Graff
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy, Garrett M. Graff
- Length: 25 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 475
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 409
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 404
In the early hours of June 17, 1972, a security guard named Frank Wills enters six words into the log book of the Watergate office complex that will change the course of history: 1:47 AM Found tape on doors; call police. The subsequent arrests of five men seeking to bug and burgle the Democratic National Committee offices—three of them Cuban exiles, two of them former intelligence operatives—quickly unravels a web of scandal that ultimately ends a presidency and forever alters views of moral authority and leadership.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Elucidating
- By J.B. on 02-23-22
By: Garrett M. Graff
-
Collapse
- The Fall of the Soviet Union
- By: Vladislav M. Zubok
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 423
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 364
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 362
In 1945, the Soviet Union controlled half of Europe and was a founding member of the United Nations. By 1991, it had an army four million strong, 5,000 nuclear-tipped missiles, and was the second biggest producer of oil in the world. But soon afterward, the union sank into an economic crisis and was torn apart by nationalist separatism. Its collapse was one of the seismic shifts of the 20th century.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Hopefully Not Prescient
- By Joshua on 01-29-22
-
Vietnam
- An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Max Hastings, Peter Noble
- Length: 33 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,671
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,469
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1,460
Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the US in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed two million people.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A more nuanced view than Ken Burns' companion book
- By Vu on 10-21-18
By: Max Hastings
-
Not One Inch
- America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate
- By: M.E. Sarotte
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 211
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 182
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 182
Based on over a hundred interviews and on secret records of White House-Kremlin contacts, Not One Inch shows how the United States successfully overcame Russian resistance in the 1990s to expand NATO to more than 900 million people. But it also reveals how Washington's hardball tactics transformed the era between the Cold War and the present day, undermining what could have become a lasting partnership.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
America's NATO problem
- By Jeffrey D on 03-24-22
By: M.E. Sarotte
-
Command
- The Politics of Military Operations from Korea to Ukraine
- By: Lawrence Freedman
- Narrated by: Richard Burnip
- Length: 24 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 18
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 17
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 17
Using examples from a wide variety of conflicts, Lawrence Freedman shows that successful military command depends on the ability not only to use armed forces effectively, but also to understand the political context in which they are operating.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
LF remains dependable for scholarship and presentation quality
- By ronald waters on 01-15-23
-
The Napoleonic Wars
- By: Alexander Mikaberidze
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 35 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 400
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 324
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 321
The Napoleonic Wars saw fighting on an unprecedented scale in Europe and the Americas. It took the wealth of the British Empire, combined with the might of the continental armies, almost two decades to bring down one of the world's greatest military leaders and the empire that he had created. Napoleon's ultimate defeat was to determine the history of Europe for almost 100 years. From the frozen wastelands of Russia, through the brutal fighting in the Peninsula to the blood-soaked battlefield of Waterloo, this book tells the story of the dramatic rise and fall of the Napoleonic Empire.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
No description of battles
- By John Gaston on 01-15-21
-
The Russo-Ukrainian War
- The Return of History
- By: Serhii Plokhy
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 84
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 73
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 73
Despite repeated warnings from the White House, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 shocked the world. Why did Putin start the war—and why has it unfolded in previously unimaginable ways? Ukrainians have resisted a superior military; the West has united, while Russia grows increasingly isolated. Serhii Plokhy, a leading historian of Ukraine and the Cold War, offers a definitive account of this conflict, its origins, course, and the already apparent and possible future consequences.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Plokhy delivers as always!
- By Kristinka on 05-20-23
By: Serhii Plokhy
-
Paris 1919
- Six Months That Changed the World
- By: Margaret MacMillan
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 25 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,397
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,058
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,049
Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize, renowned historian Margaret MacMillan's best-selling Paris 1919 is the story of six remarkable months that changed the world. At the close of WWI, between January and July of 1919, delegates from around the world converged on Paris under the auspices of peace. New countries were created, old empires were dissolved, and for six months, Paris was the center of the world.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Good book, well narrated
- By W. F. Rucker on 02-07-09
-
The Twilight Struggle
- What the Cold War Teaches Us About Great-Power Rivalry Today
- By: Hal Brands
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
The United States is entering an era of great-power competition with China and Russia. Such global struggles happen in a geopolitical twilight, between the sunshine of peace and the darkness of war. In this innovative and illuminating book, Hal Brands, a leading historian and former Pentagon adviser, argues that America should look to the history of the Cold War for lessons in how to succeed in great-power rivalry today.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
one word
- By Stormchaser on 12-06-23
By: Hal Brands
-
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine
- A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917--2017
- By: Rashid Khalidi
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi, Rashid Khalidi - introduction
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,141
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,034
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,030
Drawing on a wealth of untapped archival materials and the reports of generations of family members - mayors, judges, scholars, diplomats, and journalists - The Hundred Years' War on Palestine upends accepted interpretations of the conflict, which tend, at best, to describe a tragic clash between two peoples with claims to the same territory. Instead, Khalidi traces a hundred years of colonial war on the Palestinians, waged first by the Zionist movement and then Israel, but backed by Britain and the United States, the great powers of the age.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Thoroughly Researched and Evidence-Based, but...
- By K on 05-24-21
By: Rashid Khalidi
Related to this topic
-
To Build a Better World
- Choices to End the Cold War and Create a Global Commonwealth
- By: Philip Zelikow, Condoleezza Rice
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 32
Two of America's leading scholar-diplomats, Philip Zelikow and Condoleezza Rice, have combed sources in several languages, interviewed leading figures, and drawn on their own firsthand experience to bring to life the choices that molded the contemporary world. Zeroing in on the key moments of decision, the might-have-beens, and the human beings working through them, they explore both what happened and what could have happened, to show how one world ended and another took form.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Valuable historical narrative
- By Jane G. Malkin on 04-07-22
By: Philip Zelikow, and others
-
America and Iran
- A History, 1720 to the Present
- By: John Ghazvinian
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 27 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 214
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 187
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 187
In this rich, fascinating history, John Ghazvinian traces the complex story of the relations between these two nations back to the Persian Empire of the 18th century - the subject of great admiration by Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams - and an America seen by Iranians as an ideal to emulate for their own government.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Distortions Galore
- By Chuck S. on 03-15-21
By: John Ghazvinian
-
Saving Freedom
- Truman, the Cold War, and the Fight for Western Civilization
- By: Joe Scarborough
- Narrated by: Joe Scarborough
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 278
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 236
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 231
History called on Harry Truman to unite the Western world against Soviet communism, but first he had to rally Republicans and Democrats behind America’s most dramatic foreign policy shift since George Washington delivered his farewell address. How did one of the least prepared presidents to walk into the Oval Office become one of its most successful?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An engaging review of a remarkable president
- By Mark A on 11-29-20
By: Joe Scarborough
-
Revolutionary Iran
- A History of the Islamic Republic
- By: Michael Axworthy
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 19 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 43
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 37
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 37
The Iranian Revolution of 1979 was a defining moment of the modern era. Its success unleashed a wave of Islamist fervor across the Middle East and signaled a sharp decline in the appeal of Western ideologies in the Islamic world. Michael Axworthy takes listeners through the major periods in Iranian history over the last 30 years: the overthrow of the old regime and the creation of the new one; the Iran-Iraq war; the reconstruction era following the war; the reformist wave led by Mohammed Khatami; and the present day, in which reactionaries have re-established control.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Questionable Narration
- By Arya Pourtabatabaie on 07-17-21
By: Michael Axworthy
-
A Failed Empire
- The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev
- By: Vladimir Zubok
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 20 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 261
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 193
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 192
Western interpretations of the Cold War--both realist and neoconservative--have erred by exaggerating either the Kremlin's pragmatism or its aggressiveness, argues Vladislav Zubok. Explaining the interests, aspirations, illusions, fears, and misperceptions of the Kremlin leaders and Soviet elites, Zubok offers a Soviet perspective on the greatest standoff of the 20th century.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Focus on the Top Leadership
- By Augustus T. White on 08-13-10
By: Vladimir Zubok
-
Kissinger: Volume I
- 1923-1968: The Idealist
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 34 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 258
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 229
-
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.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Riveting
- By Jean on 11-10-15
By: Niall Ferguson
-
To Build a Better World
- Choices to End the Cold War and Create a Global Commonwealth
- By: Philip Zelikow, Condoleezza Rice
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 32
Two of America's leading scholar-diplomats, Philip Zelikow and Condoleezza Rice, have combed sources in several languages, interviewed leading figures, and drawn on their own firsthand experience to bring to life the choices that molded the contemporary world. Zeroing in on the key moments of decision, the might-have-beens, and the human beings working through them, they explore both what happened and what could have happened, to show how one world ended and another took form.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Valuable historical narrative
- By Jane G. Malkin on 04-07-22
By: Philip Zelikow, and others
-
America and Iran
- A History, 1720 to the Present
- By: John Ghazvinian
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 27 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 214
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 187
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 187
In this rich, fascinating history, John Ghazvinian traces the complex story of the relations between these two nations back to the Persian Empire of the 18th century - the subject of great admiration by Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams - and an America seen by Iranians as an ideal to emulate for their own government.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Distortions Galore
- By Chuck S. on 03-15-21
By: John Ghazvinian
-
Saving Freedom
- Truman, the Cold War, and the Fight for Western Civilization
- By: Joe Scarborough
- Narrated by: Joe Scarborough
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 278
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 236
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 231
History called on Harry Truman to unite the Western world against Soviet communism, but first he had to rally Republicans and Democrats behind America’s most dramatic foreign policy shift since George Washington delivered his farewell address. How did one of the least prepared presidents to walk into the Oval Office become one of its most successful?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An engaging review of a remarkable president
- By Mark A on 11-29-20
By: Joe Scarborough
-
Revolutionary Iran
- A History of the Islamic Republic
- By: Michael Axworthy
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 19 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 43
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 37
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 37
The Iranian Revolution of 1979 was a defining moment of the modern era. Its success unleashed a wave of Islamist fervor across the Middle East and signaled a sharp decline in the appeal of Western ideologies in the Islamic world. Michael Axworthy takes listeners through the major periods in Iranian history over the last 30 years: the overthrow of the old regime and the creation of the new one; the Iran-Iraq war; the reconstruction era following the war; the reformist wave led by Mohammed Khatami; and the present day, in which reactionaries have re-established control.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Questionable Narration
- By Arya Pourtabatabaie on 07-17-21
By: Michael Axworthy
-
A Failed Empire
- The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev
- By: Vladimir Zubok
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 20 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 261
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 193
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 192
Western interpretations of the Cold War--both realist and neoconservative--have erred by exaggerating either the Kremlin's pragmatism or its aggressiveness, argues Vladislav Zubok. Explaining the interests, aspirations, illusions, fears, and misperceptions of the Kremlin leaders and Soviet elites, Zubok offers a Soviet perspective on the greatest standoff of the 20th century.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Focus on the Top Leadership
- By Augustus T. White on 08-13-10
By: Vladimir Zubok
-
Kissinger: Volume I
- 1923-1968: The Idealist
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 34 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 258
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 229
-
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.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Riveting
- By Jean on 11-10-15
By: Niall Ferguson
-
Diplomacy
- By: Henry Kissinger
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 37 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 306
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 260
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 257
Moving from a sweeping overview of history to blow-by-blow accounts of his negotiations with world leaders, Henry Kissinger describes how the art of diplomacy has created the world in which we live, and how America's approach to foreign affairs has always differed vastly from that of other nations. Brilliant, controversial, and profoundly incisive, Diplomacy stands as the culmination of a lifetime of diplomatic service and scholarship. It is a must-listen for anyone concerned with the forces that have shaped our world today and will impact upon it tomorrow.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great foreign policy overview!
- By Mikhail on 02-02-20
By: Henry Kissinger
-
The Nazi Menace
- Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, and the Road to War
- By: Benjamin Carter Hett
- Narrated by: Raphael Corkhill
- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 24
Berlin, November 1937. Adolf Hitler meets with his military commanders to impress upon them the urgent necessity for a war of aggression in Eastern Europe. Some generals are unnerved by the Führer’s grandiose plan, but these dissenters are silenced one by one, setting in motion events that will culminate in the most calamitous war in history.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Bad Melodramatic Reading
- By Tess on 08-18-20
-
Tomorrow, the World
- The Birth of US Global Supremacy
- By: Stephen Wertheim
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 112
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 88
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 86
For most of its history, the US avoided making political and military commitments that would entangle it in European-style power politics. Then, suddenly, it conceived a new role for itself as the world’s armed superpower and never looked back. In Tomorrow, the World, Wertheim traces America’s transformation to the crucible of World War II, especially in the months prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. As the Nazis conquered France, the architects of the nation’s new foreign policy came to believe that the US ought to achieve primacy in international affairs forevermore.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Powerful punch to American dogma.
- By JLK on 06-30-21
By: Stephen Wertheim
-
Hitler
- A Global Biography
- By: Brendan Simms
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 29 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 79
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 69
Hitler offers a deeply learned and radically revisionist biography, arguing that the dictator's main strategic enemy, from the start of his political career in the 1920s, was not communism or the Soviet Union, but capitalism and the United States. Whereas most historians have argued that Hitler underestimated the American threat, Simms shows that Hitler embarked on a preemptive war with the United States precisely because he considered it such a potent adversary.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A good biography with a different viewpoint
- By Timothy on 10-10-19
By: Brendan Simms
-
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine
- A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917--2017
- By: Rashid Khalidi
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi, Rashid Khalidi - introduction
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,141
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,034
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,030
Drawing on a wealth of untapped archival materials and the reports of generations of family members - mayors, judges, scholars, diplomats, and journalists - The Hundred Years' War on Palestine upends accepted interpretations of the conflict, which tend, at best, to describe a tragic clash between two peoples with claims to the same territory. Instead, Khalidi traces a hundred years of colonial war on the Palestinians, waged first by the Zionist movement and then Israel, but backed by Britain and the United States, the great powers of the age.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Thoroughly Researched and Evidence-Based, but...
- By K on 05-24-21
By: Rashid Khalidi
-
Putin's World
- Russia Against the West and with the Rest
- By: Angela Stent
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 178
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 162
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 161
Putin's World examines the country's turbulent past, how it has influenced Putin, the Russians' understanding of their position on the global stage and their future ambitions—and their conviction that the West has tried to deny them a seat at the table of great powers since the USSR collapsed.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
More like The West against the world
- By Felis N on 01-18-20
By: Angela Stent
-
Appeasement
- Chamberlain, Hitler, Churchill, and the Road to War
- By: Tim Bouverie
- Narrated by: John Sessions
- Length: 22 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 138
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 115
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 115
On a wet afternoon in September 1938, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain stepped off an airplane and announced that his visit to Hitler had averted the greatest crisis in recent memory. It was, he later assured the crowd in Downing Street, "peace for our time." Less than a year later, Germany invaded Poland and the Second World War began. Appeasement is a groundbreaking history of the disastrous years of indecision, failed diplomacy, and parliamentary infighting that enabled Hitler's domination of Europe.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
I cannot tolerate the narrator
- By DrBCFR on 06-05-19
By: Tim Bouverie
-
Europe's Last Summer
- By: David Fromkin
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 395
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 349
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 346
The early summer of 1914 was the most glorious Europeans could remember. But, behind the scenes, the most destructive war the world had yet known was moving inexorably into being, a war that would continue to resonate into the 21st century. The question of how the Great War of 1914 began has long vexed historians. In a gripping narrative, Fromkin shows that hostilities were started deliberately and that two wars were waged, one serving as pretext for the other.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A different take on the events leading to the Great War
- By Chris on 09-04-20
By: David Fromkin
-
How Ike Led
- The Principles Behind Eisenhower's Biggest Decisions
- By: Susan Eisenhower
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne, Susan Eisenhower
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 202
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 172
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 170
Few people have made decisions as momentous as Eisenhower, nor has one person had to make such a varied range of them. From D-Day to Little Rock, from the Korean War to Cold War crises, from the Red Scare to the Missile Gap controversies, he was able to give our country eight years of peace and prosperity by relying on a core set of principles. These were informed by his heritage and upbringing, his strong character and his personal discipline, but he also avoided making himself the center of things. He tried to be the calmest man in the room, not the loudest.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A President of the UNITED States
- By Happy Doc on 09-10-20
By: Susan Eisenhower
-
The Sleepwalkers
- How Europe Went to War in 1914
- By: Christopher Clark
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 24 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 883
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 771
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 773
The Sleepwalkers is historian Christopher Clark's riveting account of the explosive beginnings of World War I. Drawing on new scholarship, Clark offers a fresh look at World War I, focusing not on the battles and atrocities of the war itself but on the complex events and relationships that led a group of well-meaning leaders into brutal conflict.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Very interesting take on a complex problem
- By Steve on 01-24-15
-
The Biggest Prison on Earth
- A History of the Occupied Territories
- By: Ilan Pappe
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 105
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 94
Published on the 15th anniversary of the Six-Day War that culminated in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Pappe offers a comprehensive exploration of one of the world's most prolonged and tragic conflicts. Using recently declassified archival material, Pappe analyses the motivations and strategies of the generals and politicians-and the decision-making process itself - that laid the foundation of the occupation. Pappe paints a picture of what is to all intents and purposes the world's largest "open prison".
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Polemic
- By Frank on 01-21-24
By: Ilan Pappe
-
On China
- By: Henry Kissinger
- Narrated by: Nicholas Hormann
- Length: 20 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,387
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,150
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,143
In this sweeping and insightful history, Henry Kissinger turns for the first time at book length to a country he has known intimately for decades and whose modern relations with the West he helped shape. On China illuminates the inner workings of Chinese diplomacy during such pivotal events as the initial encounters between China and tight line modern European powers, the formation and breakdown of the Sino-Soviet alliance, the Korean War, and Richard Nixon’s historic trip to Beijing.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Another History of China
- By Elton on 09-23-11
By: Henry Kissinger
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Collapse
- The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall
- By: Mary Elise Sarotte
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 166
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 145
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 141
The Berlin Wall was erected in 1961 to end all traffic between the city’s two halves: the democratic west and the communist east. The iconic symbol of a divided Europe, the Wall became a focus of western political pressure on East Germany; as Ronald Reagan’s famously said in a 1987 speech in Berlin, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
NON VIOLENCE WINS
- By DS on 05-25-15
-
Gorbachev
- His Life and Times
- By: William Taubman
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 32 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 260
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 229
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 226
When Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, the USSR was one of the world's two superpowers. By 1989, his liberal policies of perestroika and glasnost had permanently transformed Soviet Communism and had made enemies of radicals on the right and left. By 1990 he, more than anyone else, had ended the Cold War, and in 1991, after barely escaping from a coup attempt, he unintentionally presided over the collapse of the Soviet Union he had tried to save.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Man Who Changed The Course Of History
- By Jean on 12-30-17
By: William Taubman
-
Overthrow
- America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 629
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 424
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 420
"Regime change" did not begin with the administration of George W. Bush, but has been an integral part of U.S. foreign policy for more than one hundred years. Starting with the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 and continuing through the Spanish-American War and the Cold War and into our own time, the United States has not hesitated to overthrow governments that stood in the way of its political and economic goals.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Looking at the dark side
- By Stanley on 08-02-06
By: Stephen Kinzer
-
Not One Inch
- America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate
- By: M.E. Sarotte
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 211
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 182
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 182
Based on over a hundred interviews and on secret records of White House-Kremlin contacts, Not One Inch shows how the United States successfully overcame Russian resistance in the 1990s to expand NATO to more than 900 million people. But it also reveals how Washington's hardball tactics transformed the era between the Cold War and the present day, undermining what could have become a lasting partnership.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
America's NATO problem
- By Jeffrey D on 03-24-22
By: M.E. Sarotte
-
The Map of Knowledge
- A Thousand-Year History of How Classical Ideas Were Lost and Found
- By: Violet Moller
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 87
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 86
The foundations of modern knowledge - philosophy, math, astronomy, geography - were laid by the Greeks, whose ideas were written on scrolls and stored in libraries across the Mediterranean and beyond. But as the vast Roman Empire disintegrated, so did appreciation of these precious texts. Christianity cast a shadow over so-called pagan thought, books were burned, and the library of Alexandria, the greatest repository of classical knowledge, was destroyed. Yet some texts did survive and The Map of Knowledge explores the role played by seven cities around the Mediterranean....
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Terrible narration.
- By nathan535 on 11-05-19
By: Violet Moller
-
The Button
- The New Nuclear Arms Race and Presidential Power from Truman to Trump
- By: William J. Perry, Tom Z. Collina
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 59
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 51
Written in an accessible and authoritative voice, The Button reveals the shocking tales and sobering facts of nuclear executive authority throughout the atomic age, delivering a powerful condemnation against ever leaving explosive power this devastating under any one person's thumb.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Garbage political tripe
- By Bryan Beaty on 03-15-21
By: William J. Perry, and others
-
The Collapse
- The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall
- By: Mary Elise Sarotte
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 166
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 145
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 141
The Berlin Wall was erected in 1961 to end all traffic between the city’s two halves: the democratic west and the communist east. The iconic symbol of a divided Europe, the Wall became a focus of western political pressure on East Germany; as Ronald Reagan’s famously said in a 1987 speech in Berlin, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
NON VIOLENCE WINS
- By DS on 05-25-15
-
Gorbachev
- His Life and Times
- By: William Taubman
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 32 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 260
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 229
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 226
When Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, the USSR was one of the world's two superpowers. By 1989, his liberal policies of perestroika and glasnost had permanently transformed Soviet Communism and had made enemies of radicals on the right and left. By 1990 he, more than anyone else, had ended the Cold War, and in 1991, after barely escaping from a coup attempt, he unintentionally presided over the collapse of the Soviet Union he had tried to save.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Man Who Changed The Course Of History
- By Jean on 12-30-17
By: William Taubman
-
Overthrow
- America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 629
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 424
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 420
"Regime change" did not begin with the administration of George W. Bush, but has been an integral part of U.S. foreign policy for more than one hundred years. Starting with the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 and continuing through the Spanish-American War and the Cold War and into our own time, the United States has not hesitated to overthrow governments that stood in the way of its political and economic goals.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Looking at the dark side
- By Stanley on 08-02-06
By: Stephen Kinzer
-
Not One Inch
- America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate
- By: M.E. Sarotte
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 211
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 182
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 182
Based on over a hundred interviews and on secret records of White House-Kremlin contacts, Not One Inch shows how the United States successfully overcame Russian resistance in the 1990s to expand NATO to more than 900 million people. But it also reveals how Washington's hardball tactics transformed the era between the Cold War and the present day, undermining what could have become a lasting partnership.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
America's NATO problem
- By Jeffrey D on 03-24-22
By: M.E. Sarotte
-
The Map of Knowledge
- A Thousand-Year History of How Classical Ideas Were Lost and Found
- By: Violet Moller
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 87
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 86
The foundations of modern knowledge - philosophy, math, astronomy, geography - were laid by the Greeks, whose ideas were written on scrolls and stored in libraries across the Mediterranean and beyond. But as the vast Roman Empire disintegrated, so did appreciation of these precious texts. Christianity cast a shadow over so-called pagan thought, books were burned, and the library of Alexandria, the greatest repository of classical knowledge, was destroyed. Yet some texts did survive and The Map of Knowledge explores the role played by seven cities around the Mediterranean....
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Terrible narration.
- By nathan535 on 11-05-19
By: Violet Moller
-
The Button
- The New Nuclear Arms Race and Presidential Power from Truman to Trump
- By: William J. Perry, Tom Z. Collina
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 59
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 51
Written in an accessible and authoritative voice, The Button reveals the shocking tales and sobering facts of nuclear executive authority throughout the atomic age, delivering a powerful condemnation against ever leaving explosive power this devastating under any one person's thumb.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Garbage political tripe
- By Bryan Beaty on 03-15-21
By: William J. Perry, and others
What listeners say about The Human Factor
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Edward C.
- 07-13-20
Compelling story of important events
Worthwhile reading and listening but about 20% too long and repetitive. The author’s regard for the role of Gorbachev skirts a cult of personality (to use a phrase relevant to Russian history) by undervaluing the roles of Helmut Kohl and Ronald Reagan as well as John Paul II. Although this Polish pope protected pedophiles at all levels of the Church throughout his papacy, his visit to Poland set loose social forces that put implacable pressure on the Soviet Union. The role of Lech Walesa is undervalued for the same reason. Great men — and women — matter but mass movements and the power of ideas can swamp systems and regimes no matter who their leaders are. The book would have been stronger by taking account of these forces and their origins.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful