The Pursuit of Dominance
2000 Years of Superpower Grand Strategy
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The Pursuit of Dominance
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Narrated by:
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Tristan Morris
About this listen
The United States is the most powerful actor in the international system, but it is facing a set of challenges that might lead to its decline as this century unfolds.
In The Pursuit of Dominance, Christopher J. Fettweis examines the grand strategy of previous superpowers to see how they maintained, or failed to maintain, their status. Over the course of six cases, from Ancient Rome to the British Empire, he seeks guidance from the past for present US policymakers. Like the United States, the examples Fettweis uses were the world's strongest powers at particularly moments in time, and they were hoping to stay that way. Rather than focusing on those powers' rise or how they ruled, however, Fettweis looks at how they sought to maintain their power. From these cases, one paramount lesson becomes clear: Dominant powers usually survive even the most incompetent leaders. Fettweis is most interested in how these superpowers defined their interests, the grand strategies these regimes followed to maintain superiority over their rivals, and how the practice of that strategy worked.
A sweeping history of grand strategy, The Pursuit of Dominance looks at the past 2,000 years to highlight what--if anything--current US strategists can learn from the experience of earlier superpowers.
©2023 Christopher J. Fettweis (P)2022 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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By: Michael Schuman
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Lost Islamic History
- Reclaiming Muslim Civilisation from the Past
- By: Firas Alkhateeb
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 132
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 117
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 117
Islam has been one of the most powerful religious, social, and political forces in history. Over the last 1,400 years, from origins in Arabia, a succession of Muslim polities, and later empires expanded to control territories and peoples that ultimately stretched from southern France to East Africa and South East Asia. Yet many of the contributions of Muslim thinkers, scientists, and theologians, not to mention rulers, statesmen, and soldiers, have been occluded. This book rescues from oblivion and neglect some of these personalities and institutions.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent narration
- By Jamal on 06-19-22
By: Firas Alkhateeb
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The Napoleonic Wars
- By: Alexander Mikaberidze
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 35 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 400
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 324
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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.
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2 out of 5 stars
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No description of battles
- By John Gaston on 01-15-21
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A History of Iran
- Empire of the Mind
- By: Michael Axworthy
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 157
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 138
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Story4 out of 5 stars 138
Although frequently vilified, Iran is a nation of great intellectual variety and depth, and one of the oldest continuing civilizations in the world. Its political impact has been tremendous, not only on its neighbors in the Middle East but also throughout the world. From the time of the prophet Zoroaster, to the powerful ancient Persian Empires, to the revolution of 1979, the hostage crisis, and the current standoff over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Michael Axworthy vividly depicts the nation’s rich history.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Lazy Narration
- By Arya Pourtabatabaie on 11-05-16
By: Michael Axworthy
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The Dark Ages
- A Captivating Guide to the Period Between the Fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Randy Whitlow
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
Following the fall of Rome in 476 CE, the entire dynamic of Europe underwent a complete shift in power and culture. The Dark Ages was an interesting period of about six centuries, and during it, Europe was still trying to figure out what it was and how it would survive the chaos that followed the fall of Rome.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A very solid overview
- By Daniel on 02-01-22
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Empires of the Weak
- The Real Story of European Expansion and the Creation of the New World
- By: J. C. Sharman
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 37
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 37
What accounts for the rise of the state, the creation of the first global system, and the dominance of the West? The conventional answer asserts that superior technology, tactics, and institutions forged by Darwinian military competition gave Europeans a decisive advantage in war from 1500 onward. Empires of the Weak argues that Europeans had no general military superiority in the early modern era. Sharman shows instead that European expansion is better explained by deference to strong Asian and African polities, disease in the Americas, and maritime supremacy earned by default.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Dull Revisionism
- By Alan Kane on 08-20-24
By: J. C. Sharman
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The End of Tsarist Russia
- The March to World War I and Revolution
- By: Dominic Lieven
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 18 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 131
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 115
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Story4 out of 5 stars 114
World War I and the Russian Revolution together shaped the 20th century in profound ways. In The End of Tsarist Russia, acclaimed scholar Dominic Lieven connects for the first time the two events, providing both a history of the First World War's origins from a Russian perspective and an international history of why the revolution happened.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A good book done in by bad narration.
- By James on 05-25-16
By: Dominic Lieven
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God's Shadow
- Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, and the Making of the Modern World
- By: Alan Mikhail
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 227
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 192
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 190
Long neglected in world history, the Ottoman Empire was a hub of intellectual fervor, geopolitical power, and enlightened pluralistic rule. Yet, despite its towering influence and centrality to the rise of our modern world, the Ottoman Empire's history has for centuries been distorted, misrepresented, and even suppressed in the West. Now Alan Mikhail presents a vitally needed recasting of Ottoman history, retelling the story of the Ottoman conquest of the world through the dramatic biography of Sultan Selim I (1470-1520).
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1 out of 5 stars
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Entertaining narrative, but poor scholarship
- By Yosemite on 09-15-20
By: Alan Mikhail
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The Horde
- How the Mongols Changed the World
- By: Marie Favereau
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 69
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
Favereau takes us inside one of the most powerful sources of cross-border integration in world history. The Horde was the central node in the Eurasian commercial boom of the 13th and 14th centuries and was a conduit for exchanges across thousands of miles. Its unique political regime - a complex power-sharing arrangement among the khan and the nobility - rewarded skillful administrators and diplomats and fostered an economic order that was mobile, organized, and innovative.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Golden Horde complete history, well done
- By Amazon Customer on 03-10-22
By: Marie Favereau
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The Peloponnesian War
- A Captivating Guide to the Ancient Greek War Between the Two Leading City-States in Ancient Greece: Athens and Sparta
- By: Captivating Captivating History
- Narrated by: Colin Fluxman
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 27
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 27
If you want to discover the captivating history of the Peloponnesian War, then pay attention. The Peloponnesian War enveloped the entire Greek world, from Syracuse on the island of Sicily to the shores of western Turkey. It ravaged the Greek population and produced great hardships, and it led to the eventual downfall of the Athenian Empire and the rise of the Spartan Empire.
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1 out of 5 stars
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factually incorrect
- By Maarten-Jan on 12-24-22
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The Birth of Classical Europe
- A History from Troy to Augustine
- By: Simon Price, Peter Thonemann
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 145
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 119
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Story4 out of 5 stars 118
To an extraordinary extent we continue to live in the shadow of the classical world. At every level, from languages to calendars to political systems, we are the descendants of a “classical Europe,” using frames of reference created by ancient Mediterranean cultures. As this consistently fresh and surprising new audio book makes clear, however, this was no less true for the inhabitants of those classical civilizations themselves, whose myths, history, and buildings were an elaborate engagement with an already old and revered past - one filled with great leaders and writers....
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent overview of the Classical World
- By David I. Williams on 01-12-14
By: Simon Price, and others
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Seapower States
- Maritime Culture, Continental Empires, and the Conflict That Made the Modern World
- By: Andrew Lambert
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 44
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 33
Andrew Lambert, author of The Challenge - winner of the prestigious Anderson Medal - turns his attention to Athens, Carthage, Venice, the Dutch Republic, and Britain, examining how their identities as "seapowers" informed their actions and enabled them to achieve success disproportionate to their size. Lambert demonstrates how creating maritime identities made these states more dynamic, open, and inclusive than their lumbering continental rivals. Only when they forgot this aspect of their identity did these nations begin to decline.
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1 out of 5 stars
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only got 1 hour or so through
- By fm2 on 01-14-19
By: Andrew Lambert
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The Fall of the Roman Empire
- A New History of Rome and the Barbarians
- By: Peter Heather
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 21 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 484
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 433
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 431
The death of the Roman Empire is one of the perennial mysteries of world history. Now, in this groundbreaking book, Peter Heather proposes a stunning new solution: Centuries of imperialism turned the neighbors Rome called barbarians into an enemy capable of dismantling an Empire that had dominated their lives for so long. A leading authority on the late Roman Empire and on the barbarians, Heather relates the extraordinary story of how Europe's barbarians, transformed by centuries of contact with Rome on every possible level, eventually pulled the empire apart.
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1 out of 5 stars
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A New HIstory but not a better history
- By Mario on 03-28-14
By: Peter Heather
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A Concise History of Spain
- By: William Phillips Jr., Carla Rahn Phillips
- Narrated by: Luis Soto
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 62
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
This audiobook traces Spain's development from prehistoric times to the present, focusing particularly on culture, society, politics, and personalities. It introduces listeners to key themes that have shaped Spain's history and culture, including its varied landscapes and climates; the impact of waves of diverse human migrations; the importance of its location as a bridge between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and Europe and Africa; and religion, particularly militant Catholic Christianity and its centuries of conflict with Islam and Protestantism.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Underwhelmed
- By Anonymous User on 02-20-20
By: William Phillips Jr., and others
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The Savior Generals
- How Five Great Commanders Saved Wars That Were Lost - From Ancient Greece to Iraq
- By: Victor Davis Hanson
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 344
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 307
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 306
Prominent military historian Victor Davis Hanson explores the nature of leadership with his usual depth and vivid prose in The Savior Generals, a set of brilliantly executed pocket biographies of five generals (Themistocles, Belisarius, William Tecumseh Sherman, Matthew Ridgway, and David Petraeus) who single-handedly saved their nations from defeat in war. War is rarely a predictable enterprise - it is a mess of luck, chance, and incalculable variables. Today's sure winner can easily become tomorrow's doomed loser.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A good history book tells about human nature.
- By Doruk Denkel on 03-03-20
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The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta
- The Persian Challenge
- By: Paul A. Rahe
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 14 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 217
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 203
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 199
More than 2,500 years ago, a confederation of small Greek city-states defeated the invading armies of Persia, the most powerful empire in the world. In this meticulously researched study, historian Paul Rahe argues that Sparta was responsible for the initial establishment of the Hellenic defensive coalition and was, in fact, the most essential player in its ultimate victory.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Investigation Undermined by Bad Editing
- By Richard on 02-12-16
By: Paul A. Rahe