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War Against the Taliban
- Why it all Went Wrong in Afghanistan
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
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War Against the Taliban
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Publisher's summary
Afghanistan's strategically significant lands have long been fought over by foreign invaders. Today, as yet another generation risks life and limb in this inhospitable territory, an ever-rising death toll puts back under the spotlight the way the modern war in Afghanistan is being run, and demands answers. Drawing on interviews with Afghan politicians, businessmen and ordinary people, British, American and European diplomats and soldiers, Sandy Gall addresses the challenges - political, religious, and military - that face those now fighting on the most dangerous frontier in the world.
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The explosive first-hand account of America's secret history in Afghanistan. With the publication of Ghost Wars, Steve Coll became not only a Pulitzer Prize winner, but also the expert on the rise of the Taliban, the emergence of Bin Laden, and the secret efforts by CIA officers and their agents to capture or kill Bin Laden in Afghanistan after 1998.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An Exceptional Accomplishment
- By Joe on 11-08-13
By: Steve Coll
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88 Days to Kandahar
- A CIA Diary
- By: Robert L. Grenier
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 274
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 253
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Story4 out of 5 stars 251
In his gripping narrative, we meet General Tommy Franks, who bridles at CIA control of "his" war; General "Jafar Amin", a gruff Pakistani intelligence officer who saves Grenier from committing career suicide; Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan's brilliant ambassador to the US, who tries to warn her government of the al-Qaeda threat; "Mark", the CIA operator who guides GulAgha Shirzai to bloody victory over the Taliban.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Honest conclusion based on practical realities.
- By rehman on 03-30-15
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Arik
- The Life of Ariel Sharon
- By: David Landau
- Narrated by: Waler Dixon
- Length: 19 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 48
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 42
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Story4 out of 5 stars 42
From the former editor in chief of Haaretz, the first in-depth, comprehensive biography of Ariel Sharon, the most dramatic and imposing Israeli political and military leader of the last forty years. The life of Ariel Sharon spans much of modern Israel’s history. A commander in the Israeli Army from its inception in 1948, Sharon participated in the 1948 War of Independence, played decisive roles in the 1956 Suez War and the Six-Day War of 1967, and is credited here with the shift in the outcome of the Yom Kippur War of 1973.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Larger than Life Hero
- By Eugene Choong on 10-07-24
By: David Landau
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The Endgame
- The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from George W. Bush to Barack Obama
- By: Michael R. Gordon, Bernard E. Trainor
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 32 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 114
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 103
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 103
The Endgame is Michael R. Gordon and General Bernard E. Trainor's most ambitious and news-breaking book to date. A peerless work of investigative journalism and historical recreation ranging from 2003 to 2012, it gives us the first comprehensive, inside account of arguably the most widely reported yet least understood war in American history - from the occupation of Iraq to the withdrawal of American troops.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Interesting Perspective, but One-Sided
- By Benjamin on 02-09-14
By: Michael R. Gordon, and others
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Descent into Chaos
- The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia
- By: Ahmed Rashid
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 19 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 136
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 69
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Story4 out of 5 stars 73
Rashid examines Central Asia, and the corridors of power in Washington and Europe, to see how the promised nation building in the region has progressed. His conclusions are devastating.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Useful!
- By John Robert BEHRMAN on 02-24-09
By: Ahmed Rashid
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A Great Place to Have a War
- America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA
- By: Joshua Kurlantzick
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 155
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 132
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 136
In 1960 President Eisenhower was focused on Laos, a tiny Southeast Asian nation few Americans had ever heard of. Washington feared the country would fall to Communism, triggering a domino effect in the rest of Southeast Asia. So in January 1961, Eisenhower approved the CIA's Operation Momentum, a plan to create a proxy army of ethnic Hmong to fight Communist forces in Laos. While remaining hidden from the American public and most of Congress, Momentum became the largest CIA paramilitary operation in the history of the United States.
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5 out of 5 stars
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illuminating read of Laos' relationship with USA
- By Daniel on 12-28-18
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Little America
- The War within the War for Afghanistan
- By: Rajiv Chandrasekaran
- Narrated by: Rajiv Chandrasekaran
- Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 100
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 84
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 84
When President Barack Obama ordered the surge of troops and aid to Afghanistan, Washington Post correspondent Rajiv Chandrasekaran followed. He found the effort sabotaged not only by Afghan and Pakistani malfeasance, but by infighting and incompetence within the American government: a war cabinet arrested by vicious bickering among top national security aides; diplomats and aid workers who failed to deliver on their grand promises; and generals who dispatched troops to the wrong places.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Easily Confused with Vietnam
- By Chris Reich on 07-12-12
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A World of Trouble
- The White House and the Middle East
- By: Patrick Tyler
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 27 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 46
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
The Middle East is the beginning and the end of U.S. foreign policy: events there influence our alliances, make or break presidencies, govern the price of oil, and draw us into war. But it was not always so - and as Patrick Tyler shows in this thrilling chronicle of American misadventures in the region, the story of American presidents' dealings there is one of mixed motives, skulduggery, deceit, and outright foolishness, as well as of policymaking and diplomacy.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Does't deliver
- By Matthew on 02-10-09
By: Patrick Tyler
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The Longest War
- America and Al-Qaeda Since 9/11
- By: Peter L. Bergen
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 16 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 152
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 87
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 87
In The Longest War, Peter Bergen offers a comprehensive history of this war and its evolution, from the strategies devised in the wake of the 9/11 attacks to the fighting in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and beyond. Weaving together internal documents from al-Qaeda and the U.S. offices of counterterrorism, first-person interviews with top-level jihadists and senior Washington officials, along with his own experiences on the ground in the Middle East, Bergen balances the accounts of each side.
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2 out of 5 stars
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More Bush bashing..yes, but still worth reading.
- By Dennis on 01-18-11
By: Peter L. Bergen
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The Assassins' Gate
- America in Iraq
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 19 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 208
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 100
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 102
The Assassins' Gate, so dubbed by American soldiers, is the entrance to the American zone in the city of Baghdad. In 2003, the United States blazed into Iraq to depose dictator Saddam Hussein. But after three years and unknown thousands killed, that country faces an escalating civil war and an uncertain fate. How did it get to this point?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Highly Recommended
- By Drapeau on 02-01-07
By: George Packer
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Cursed Victory
- Israel and the Occupied Territories; A History
- By: Ahron Bregman
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25
In a move that would forever alter the map of the Middle East, Israel captured the West Bank, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip, and Sinai Peninsula in 1967's brief but pivotal Six Day War. Cursed Victory is the first complete history of the war's troubled aftermath—a military occupation of the Palestinian territories that is now well into its fifth decade. The audiobook provides a gripping and unvarnished chronicle of how what Israel promised would be an "enlightened occupation" quickly turned sour and the anguished diplomatic attempts to bring it to an end.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Largely just the diplomatic history
- By Norman B. Bernstein on 09-28-15
By: Ahron Bregman
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Chain of Command
- The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib
- By: Seymour M. Hersh
- Narrated by: Peter Friedman
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Abridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 208
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Story4 out of 5 stars 34
Since September 11, 2001, Seymour M. Hersh has riveted readers, and outraged the Bush Administration, with his stories in The New Yorker magazine, including his breakthrough pieces on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Now, in Chain of Command, he brings together this reporting, along with new revelations, to answer the critical question of the last three years: how did America get from that clear morning in September to a divisive and dirty war in Iraq?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Absolutely Fantastic
- By Nicholas on 10-12-04
By: Seymour M. Hersh
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Confront and Conceal
- Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power
- By: David E. Sanger
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 214
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 181
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 180
Three and a half years ago, David Sanger’s book The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power described how a new American president came to office with the world on fire. Now, just as the 2012 presidential election battle begins, Sanger follows up with an eye-opening, news-packed account of how Obama has dealt with those challenges, relying on innovative weapons and reconfigured tools of American power to try to manage a series of new threats.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Sobering reminder on what the presidency requires
- By Marilyn on 09-03-12
By: David E. Sanger
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My Country, My Life
- Fighting for Israel, Searching for Peace
- By: Ehud Barak
- Narrated by: Ehud Barak, Jonathan Davis
- Length: 20 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 63
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 51
In the summer of 2000, the most decorated soldier in Israel's history - Ehud Barak - set himself a challenge as daunting as any he had faced on the battlefield: to secure a final peace with the Palestinians. He would propose two states for two peoples, with a shared capital in Jerusalem. He knew the risks of failure. But he also knew the risks of not trying: letting slip perhaps the last chance for a generation to secure genuine peace. It was a moment of truth.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Unbelievably Fantastic Book
- By Amazon Customer on 08-15-18
By: Ehud Barak