The KGB
The History and Legacy of the Soviet Union's Notorious Spy Agency
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The KGB
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Narrated by:
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Colin Fluxman
About this listen
The KGB is one of the most famous abbreviations of the 20th century, and it has become synonymous with the shadowy and often violent actions of the Soviet Union’s secret police and internal security agencies. In fact, it is often used to refer to the Soviet state security agencies throughout its history, from the inception of the Cheka (Extraordinary Commission) in 1917 to the official elimination of the KGB in 1992. Whether it’s associated with the Russian Civil War’s excesses, Stalin’s purges, or even Vladimir Putin, the KGB has long been viewed as the West’s biggest bogeyman during the second half of the 20th century.
The KGB: The History and Legacy of the Soviet Union’s Notorious Spy Agency examines the history of one of the most famous agencies in history. You will learn about the KGB like never before.
©2017 Charles River Editors (P)2017 Charles River EditorsListeners also enjoyed...
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Hitler's Europe Ablaze
- Occupation, Resistance, and Rebellion during World War II
- By: Ben H. Shepherd - editor, Phillip Cooke - editor
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 90
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 76
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Story4 out of 5 stars 76
Local resistance to German-led Axis occupation occurred throughout the European continent during World War II, taking a wide range of forms - noncooperation and disinformation, sabotage and espionage, and armed opposition and full-scale partisan warfare. It is a key element in the experience and the national memory of those who found themselves under Axis government and control.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Historically questionable.
- By Nestor Perez on 04-22-21
By: Ben H. Shepherd - editor, and others
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The Russian Revolution
- A Captivating Guide to the February and October Revolutions and the Rise of the Soviet Union Led by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Timothy Burke
- Length: 2 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 29
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
The Russian Revolution was the most important and progressive political event of the 20th century. There is a lot to learn from these explosive political episodes and many remarkable stories to discover.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Data without understanding
- By Greg Becker on 01-26-19
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Joseph Stalin: The Dictator of the USSR
- Best Biography
- By: The History Hour
- Narrated by: Alexander G.
- Length: 1 hr and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 11
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 10
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Story5 out of 5 stars 10
Initially presiding over an oligarchic one-party regime that governed by plurality, Joseph Stalin became the de facto dictator of the Soviet Union. Stalin raised funds for Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction via robberies, kidnappings, and protection rackets. To eradicate those regarded as "enemies of the working class", Stalin instituted the "Great Purge" in which more than a million were imprisoned and at least 700,000 were executed from 1934 to 1939.
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5 out of 5 stars
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good
- By Justin E. Huynh on 10-28-19
By: The History Hour
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The Partition of Ireland and the Troubles: The History of Northern Ireland from the Irish Civil War to the Good Friday Agreement
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Colin Fluxman
- Length: 1 hr and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 58
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 51
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
The Partition of Ireland and the Troubles: The History of Northern Ireland from the Irish Civil War to the Good Friday Agreement analyzes the tumultuous events that marked the creation of Northern Ireland, and the conflicts fueled by the partition. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Northern Ireland like never before.
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3 out of 5 stars
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The Partition and the Troubles, slightly biased
- By J. Dalton on 05-19-19
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The New Nobility
- The Restoration of Russia's Security State and the Enduring Legacy of the KGB
- By: Andrei Soldatov, Irina Borogin
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 75
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4 out of 5 stars 59
While Vladimir Putin has been president and prime minister of Russia, the Kremlin has deployed the security services to intimidate the political opposition, reassert the power of the state, and carry out assassinations overseas. At the same time, its agents and spies were put beyond public accountability and blessed with the prestige, benefits, and legitimacy lost since the Soviet collapse.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A little difficult to follow
- By Jairus on 12-10-10
By: Andrei Soldatov, and others
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Stalin, Volume I
- Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928
- By: Stephen Kotkin
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 38 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 874
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 740
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 739
Volume One of Stalin begins and ends in January 1928 as Stalin boards a train bound for Siberia, about to embark upon the greatest gamble of his political life. He is now the ruler of the largest country in the world, but a poor and backward one, far behind the great capitalist countries in industrial and military power, encircled on all sides. In Siberia, Stalin conceives of the largest program of social reengineering ever attempted.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Book But First Time Listener Beware
- By Nostromo on 03-23-15
By: Stephen Kotkin
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The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism
- The Political Economy of Human Rights - Volume I
- By: Noam Chomsky, Edward S. Herman
- Narrated by: Brian Jones
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 154
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 129
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Story5 out of 5 stars 130
A brilliant, shattering, and convincing account of United States-backed suppression of political and human rights in the Third World... It relentlessly dissects the official views of Establishment scholars and their journals. The "best and brightest" pundits of the status quo emerge from this audiobook thoroughly denuded of their credibility.
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5 out of 5 stars
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must listen
- By Amazon Customer on 09-14-20
By: Noam Chomsky, and others
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The Secret World
- A History of Intelligence
- By: Christopher Andrew
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 37 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 104
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 87
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 88
The history of espionage is far older than any of today's intelligence agencies, yet the long history of intelligence operations has been largely forgotten. In this audiobook, distinguished historian Christopher Andrew recovers much of the lost intelligence history of the past three millennia - and shows its relevance today.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Very interesting history but biased
- By Thor Olson on 10-09-18
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The Third Reich in History and Memory
- By: Richard J. Evans
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 63
In the 70 years since the demise of the Third Reich, there has been a significant transformation in the ways in which the modern world understands Nazism. In this brilliant and eye-opening collection, Richard J. Evans offers a critical commentary on that transformation, exploring how major changes in perspective have informed research and writing on the Third Reich in recent years. Drawing on his most notable writings, Evans reveals the shifting perspectives on Nazism's rise to political power, its economic intricacies, and its subterranean extension into postwar Germany.
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5 out of 5 stars
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each book is better than the first. your writing is genius
- By Anonymous User on 05-10-24
By: Richard J. Evans
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Korean War
- A Captivating Guide to Korean War History
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Duke Holm
- Length: 2 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 45
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
The narrative of the Korean War in the West, and particularly in the United States, tells the tale of a conflict between two global superpowers and competing ideologies in a far-flung corner of the globe. The reality is that the wheels of motion that drove the country to war in 1950 began turning long before American boots set foot on Korean soil. The heart of the conflict was a civil war between a population arbitrarily divided by colonization and the global geopolitics at the end of the Second World War.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Awful
- By Kyle on 05-14-18
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Stormtroopers
- A New History of Hitler's Brownshirts
- By: Daniel Siemens
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
Germany's Stormtroopers engaged in a vicious siege of violence that propelled the National Socialists to power in the 1930s. Known also as the SA or Brownshirts, these "ordinary" men waged a loosely structured campaign of intimidation and savagery across the nation from the 1920s to the "Night of the Long Knives" in 1934, when Chief of Staff Ernst Röhm and many other SA leaders were assassinated on Hitler's orders.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Tedious
- By AudioFile on 10-21-19
By: Daniel Siemens
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Russia in Flames
- War, Revolution, Civil War, 1914 - 1921
- By: Laura Engelstein
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 31 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
October 1917, heralded as the culmination of the Russian Revolution, remains a defining moment in world history. Even a hundred years after the events that led to the emergence of the world's first self-proclaimed socialist state, debate continues over whether, as historian E. H. Carr put it decades ago, these earth-shaking days were a "landmark in the emancipation of mankind from past oppression" or "a crime and a disaster."
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5 out of 5 stars
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Solid overview of events
- By Anonymous User on 06-27-19
By: Laura Engelstein
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Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan
- By: Herbert P. Bix
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 29 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 133
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 120
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Story4 out of 5 stars 121
In this groundbreaking biography of the Japanese emperor Hirohito, Herbert P. Bix offers the first complete, unvarnished look at the enigmatic leader whose 63-year reign ushered Japan into the modern world. Never before has the full life of this controversial figure been revealed with such clarity and vividness. Bix describes what it was like to be trained from birth for a lone position at the apex of the nation's political hierarchy and as a revered symbol of divine status.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Not what I bargained for
- By Alexander Crowell on 08-21-20
By: Herbert P. Bix
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Army of Evil
- A History of the SS
- By: Adrian Weale
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 105
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Story4 out of 5 stars 92
In Nazi Germany, they were called the Schutzstaffel. The world would know them as the dreaded SS - the most loyal and ruthless enforcers of the Third Reich...It began as a small squad of political thugs. Yet by the end of 1935, the SS had taken control of all police and internal security duties in Germany - ranging from local village "gendarmes" all they way up to the secret political police and the Gestapo.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Got lost in the details.
- By Alan on 11-28-12
By: Adrian Weale
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Fateful Triangle
- The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians (Updated Edition)
- By: Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: Brian Jones
- Length: 30 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 85
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 71
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 71
From its establishment to the present day, Israel has enjoyed a special position in the American roster of international friends. In Fateful Triangle, Noam Chomsky explores the character and historical development of this special relationship.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Ethical Right to the Point
- By Not-Professor know-it-all on 09-23-15
By: Noam Chomsky