What If? Volume 2
Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been
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What If? Volume 2
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Narrated by:
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Murphy Guyer
About this listen
These original essays range across the full span of history. Geoffrey Parker describes ramifications that might have included a divided Reformation movement, a strengthened Catholic leadership, and no European settlements in the Americas. And Caleb Carr argues that we could have been spared the horrific last six months of World War II in Europe if Eisenhower had seized his chance to destroy the Nazis in the fall of 1944.
This all-star list of award-winning and best-selling authors includes Lance Morrow, Andrew Roberts, Cecilia Holland, Theodore F. Cook, and Geoffrey C. Ward, and is edited by Robert Cowley.
©2001 American Historical Publications, Alll Rights Reserved (P)2001 Simon & Schuster Inc., AUDIOWORKS Is an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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The millions of people around the world who loved What If? still have questions, and those questions are getting stranger. Thank goodness xkcd creator Randall Munroe is here to help. Planning to ride a fire pole from the Moon back to Earth? The hardest part is sticking the landing. Hoping to cool the atmosphere by opening everyone’s freezer door at the same time? Maybe it’s time for a brief introduction to thermodynamics. Want to know what would happen if you rode a helicopter blade, made a lava lamp out of lava, or jumped on an erupting geyser? Okay, if you insist.
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4 out of 5 stars
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5 out of 5 stars
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- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 21
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 15
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Story4 out of 5 stars 15
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-
4 out of 5 stars
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What If? 2
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- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,136
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 981
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 973
The millions of people around the world who loved What If? still have questions, and those questions are getting stranger. Thank goodness xkcd creator Randall Munroe is here to help. Planning to ride a fire pole from the Moon back to Earth? The hardest part is sticking the landing. Hoping to cool the atmosphere by opening everyone’s freezer door at the same time? Maybe it’s time for a brief introduction to thermodynamics. Want to know what would happen if you rode a helicopter blade, made a lava lamp out of lava, or jumped on an erupting geyser? Okay, if you insist.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Interesting book, horrible narrator
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By: Randall Munroe
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The First World War
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- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 20 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 690
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 577
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 573
The First World War created the modern world. A conflict of unprecedented ferocity, it abruptly ended the relative peace and prosperity of the Victorian era, unleashing such demons of the 20th century as mechanized warfare and mass death. It also helped to usher in the ideas that have shaped our times - modernism in the arts, new approaches to psychology and medicine, radical thoughts about economics and society - and in so doing shattered the faith in rationalism and liberalism that had prevailed in Europe since the Enlightenment.
-
5 out of 5 stars
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Best Military History of First World War
- By Stephen F (SPFJR) on 06-13-19
By: John Keegan
-
With the Old Breed
- At Peleliu and Okinawa
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- Narrated by: Marc Vietor, Joe Mazzello, Tom Hanks (introduction)
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 10,924
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 9,814
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5 out of 5 stars
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Stamped from the Beginning
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Some Americans cling desperately to the myth that we are living in a post-racial society, that the election of the first Black president spelled the doom of racism. In fact, racist thought is alive and well in America - more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues in Stamped from the Beginning, if we have any hope of grappling with this stark reality, we must first understand how racist ideas were developed, disseminated, and enshrined in American society.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A masterful biography of the U.S. Army in the European Theater of Operations during World War II, Citizen Soldiers provides a compelling account of the extraordinary stories of ordinary men in their fight for democracy. From the high command on down to the enlisted men, Stephen E. Ambrose draws on hundreds of interviews and oral histories from men on both sides who were there.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Required reading, excellent narration
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Only days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt tapped Chester W. Nimitz to assume command of the Pacific Fleet. Nimitz transformed the devastated and dispirited Pacific fleet into the most powerful and commanding naval force in history. Facing demands from Washington to mount an early offensive, he had first to revive the depressed morale of the thousands of sailors, soldiers, and Marines who served under him. And of course, he also confronted a formidable and implacable enemy in the Imperial Japanese Navy.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great
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Prisoners of the Castle
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- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 414
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 351
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Story5 out of 5 stars 352
In this gripping narrative, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend. But as Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Another chapter of history brought to life by a master
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Israel
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- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 16 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,335
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,180
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,171
Israel is a tiny state, and yet it has captured the world's attention, aroused its imagination, and, lately, been the object of its opprobrium. Why does such a small country speak to so many global concerns? More pressingly: Why does Israel make the decisions it does? And what lies in its future? We cannot answer these questions until we understand Israel's people and the questions and conflicts, the hopes and desires, that have animated their conversations and actions.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent, mildly but honestly biased, terrible narration
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On Grand Strategy
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- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 970
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 819
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 811
For over 20 years, a select group of Yale undergraduates has been admitted into the year-long "Grand Strategy" seminar team-taught by John Lewis Gaddis and Paul Kennedy. Its purpose: to provide a grounding in strategic decision-making in the face of crisis to prepare future American leaders for important work. Now, John Lewis Gaddis has transposed the experience of that course into a wonderfully succinct, lucid and inspirational book, a view from the commanding heights of statesmanship across the landscape of world history from the ancient Greeks to Lincoln, and beyond.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Paris 1919
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,398
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,059
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,050
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.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good book, well narrated
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 46
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 37
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Story5 out of 5 stars 37
All but predicting the September 11 attacks, Pat Buchanan warns that America is inviting terrorist attacks and conflict by engaging in an interventionist foreign policy that is costly, dangerous, and does not serve our own interests. Anyone who has caught Pat Buchanan's television appearances, or heard his campaign rhetoric, will be surprised at his relatively evenhanded and thoughtful tone as he writes - often quite persuasively - in favor of the restoration of the political, military, and economic independence that largely drove U.S. foreign policy in the 19th century.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A little dated, but....
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The Collapse of the Third Republic
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 682
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 582
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Story5 out of 5 stars 580
As an international war correspondent and radio commentator, William L. Shirer didn't just research the fall of France. He was there. In just six weeks, he watched the Third Reich topple one of the world's oldest military powers - and institute a rule of terror and paranoia. Based on in-person conversation with the leaders, diplomats, generals, and ordinary citizens who both shaped the events of this time and lived through them on a daily basis, Shirer shapes a compelling account of historical events - without losing sight of the personal experience.
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4 out of 5 stars
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So much information
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Stalin, Volume I
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 875
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 741
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 740
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
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By: Stephen Kotkin
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1917
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 324
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 281
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 277
In this incisive, fast-paced history, New York Times best-selling author Arthur Herman brilliantly reveals how Lenin and Wilson rewrote the rules of modern geopolitics. Through the end of World War I, countries marched into war only to increase or protect their national interests. After World War I, countries began going to war over ideas. Together, Lenin and Wilson unleashed the disruptive ideologies that would sweep the world, from nationalism and globalism to Communism and terrorism, and that continue to shape our world today.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Another book you wish was part of every university world history curriculum
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Churchill, Hitler, and 'The Unnecessary War'
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 611
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 472
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In this monumental and provocative history, Patrick Buchanan makes the case that, if not for the blunders of British statesmen - Winston Churchill first among them - the horrors of two world wars and the Holocaust might have been avoided and the British Empire might never have collapsed into ruins.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A classic of history books
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Critic reviews
"Delicious mind candy." (Amazon.com)
"The book of the year for any history lover." (Kirkus Reviews)
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5 out of 5 stars
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3 out of 5 stars
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Bland
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David Bell emphasizes the astonishing sense of human possibility that Napoleon represented. Bell emphasizes the importance of the French Revolution in understanding Napoleon's career. The revolution made possible the unprecedented concentration of political authority that Napoleon accrued. Without the political changes brought about by the revolution, Napoleon could not have fought his wars. Without the wars, he could not have seized and held onto power. Though his virtual dictatorship betrayed the ideals of liberty and equality, his life and career were revolutionary.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Perfect introduction to Napoleon
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A Peace to End All Peace
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The Middle East has long been a region of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and ambitions. All of these conflicts are rooted in the region's political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed by the Allies after the First World War. Author David Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies drew lines on an empty map that remade the geography and politics of the Middle East. Focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922, when all seemed possible, he delivers in this sweeping and magisterial book the definitive account of this defining time.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Still A Great Book On The Topic
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Few years can justly be said to have transformed the earth: 1914 did. In July that year, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Britain and France were poised to plunge the world into a war that would kill or wound 37 million people, tear down the fabric of society, uproot ancient political systems and set the course for the bloodiest century in human history.
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4 out of 5 stars
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How the war started
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- A Concise Biography
- By: David A. Bell
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 194
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 166
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 165
David Bell emphasizes the astonishing sense of human possibility that Napoleon represented. Bell emphasizes the importance of the French Revolution in understanding Napoleon's career. The revolution made possible the unprecedented concentration of political authority that Napoleon accrued. Without the political changes brought about by the revolution, Napoleon could not have fought his wars. Without the wars, he could not have seized and held onto power. Though his virtual dictatorship betrayed the ideals of liberty and equality, his life and career were revolutionary.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Perfect introduction to Napoleon
- By DJP on 10-17-20
By: David A. Bell
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A Peace to End All Peace
- The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East
- By: David Fromkin
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 474
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 406
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 407
The Middle East has long been a region of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and ambitions. All of these conflicts are rooted in the region's political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed by the Allies after the First World War. Author David Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies drew lines on an empty map that remade the geography and politics of the Middle East. Focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922, when all seemed possible, he delivers in this sweeping and magisterial book the definitive account of this defining time.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Still A Great Book On The Topic
- By Nostromo on 02-03-19
By: David Fromkin
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1914
- The Year The World Ended
- By: Paul Ham
- Narrated by: Robert Meldrum
- Length: 22 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 109
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 102
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 99
Few years can justly be said to have transformed the earth: 1914 did. In July that year, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Britain and France were poised to plunge the world into a war that would kill or wound 37 million people, tear down the fabric of society, uproot ancient political systems and set the course for the bloodiest century in human history.
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4 out of 5 stars
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How the war started
- By Jean on 02-24-14
By: Paul Ham
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The World Remade
- America in World War I
- By: G. J. Meyer
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 24 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 370
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 332
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 331
After years of bitter debate, the United States declared war on Imperial Germany on April 6, 1917, plunging the country into the savage European conflict that would redraw the map of the continent - and the globe. The World Remade is an engrossing chronicle of America's pivotal, still controversial intervention into World War I, encompassing the tumultuous politics and towering historical figures that defined the era and forged the future.
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5 out of 5 stars
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"100% America" - a disturbing place to be
- By DPM on 04-01-17
By: G. J. Meyer
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Napoleon
- By: Paul Johnson
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 154
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 78
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Story4 out of 5 stars 79
Paul Johnson's book is a refreshing return to a concept whose time has come once again: the Great Man theory of biography. It serves as "the greatest possible refutation of those who hold that events are governed by forces, classes, economics, and geography rather than the powerful wills of men and women". Napoleon truly was the Great Man of his age, a towering and terrible genius who managed to conquer the Continent.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not your standard biography
- By Mark Grannis on 04-24-05
By: Paul Johnson
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Napoleon
- By: J. Christopher Herold
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 61
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 51
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Story4 out of 5 stars 50
Napoleon Bonaparte's rise from common origins to the pinnacle of power, as well as his defeat at Waterloo, still influences our daily lives, from the map of Europe to the metric system. Here's the fascinating story of the great soldier-statesman.
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3 out of 5 stars
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modern and cynical history of Napoleon
- By Mavs on 06-21-18
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Napoleon
- Soldier of Destiny
- By: Michael Broers
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 20 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Story4 out of 5 stars 53
Written with great energy and authority - and using the newly available personal archives of Napoleon himself - the first volume of a majestic two-part biography of the great French emperor and conqueror.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Clarity
- By Tad Davis on 03-25-19
By: Michael Broers
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The War That Ended Peace
- The Road to 1914
- By: Margaret MacMillan
- Narrated by: Richard Burnip
- Length: 31 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 992
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 895
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 884
From the best-selling and award-winning author of Paris 1919 comes a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, a fascinating portrait of Europe from 1900 up to the outbreak of World War I.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Detailed review of 1882 to 1914
- By smarmer on 04-06-14
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History of Germany
- A Captivating Guide to German History, Starting from 1871 through the First World War, Weimar Republic, and World War II to the Present
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 40
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 38
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 37
Germany is one of the richest and most influential countries in the world, which is amazing when you consider that the nation is only about the size of the US states of Oregon and Washington combined. It’s even more astounding when you consider that at the end of World War II, every major German city (and many minor ones) had been flattened by the Allied bombing campaign. Still more amazing is that the country has gone from international pariah and home of the Holocaust to one of the most well-regarded and humanitarian nations on Earth.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Concise
- By J Stewart on 04-09-24
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Ben-Gurion
- A Political Life
- By: Shimon Peres, David Landau
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 55
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 55
Shimon Peres was in his early 20s when he first met David Ben-Gurion. Although the state that Ben-Gurion would lead through war and peace had not yet declared its precarious independence, the "Old Man", as he was called even then, was already a mythic figure. Peres, who came of age in the cabinets of Ben-Gurion, is uniquely placed to evoke this figure of stirring contradictions - a prophetic visionary and a canny pragmatist who early grasped the necessity of compromise for national survival.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Great Perfomance, Less than Stellar Story
- By Alexander on 01-02-12
By: Shimon Peres, and others
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Winston Churchill
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: Richard Matthews
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 129
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 63
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Story4 out of 5 stars 64
The eminent historian John Keegan charts Churchill's career, following his steadfast leadership during the catastrophic events of World War II while England was dangerously poised on the brink of collapse. With wonderful eloquence, Keegan illuminates Churchill's incredible strength during this crucial moment in history and his unshakable belief that democracy would always prevail.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A good intro/summary
- By Sabrina on 01-07-06
By: John Keegan
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On Grand Strategy
- By: John Lewis Gaddis
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 970
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 819
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 811
For over 20 years, a select group of Yale undergraduates has been admitted into the year-long "Grand Strategy" seminar team-taught by John Lewis Gaddis and Paul Kennedy. Its purpose: to provide a grounding in strategic decision-making in the face of crisis to prepare future American leaders for important work. Now, John Lewis Gaddis has transposed the experience of that course into a wonderfully succinct, lucid and inspirational book, a view from the commanding heights of statesmanship across the landscape of world history from the ancient Greeks to Lincoln, and beyond.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Interesting, but fails to offer real lessons.
- By Zack on 07-04-18
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Israel
- A Concise History of a Nation Reborn
- By: Daniel Gordis
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 16 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,335
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,180
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,171
Israel is a tiny state, and yet it has captured the world's attention, aroused its imagination, and, lately, been the object of its opprobrium. Why does such a small country speak to so many global concerns? More pressingly: Why does Israel make the decisions it does? And what lies in its future? We cannot answer these questions until we understand Israel's people and the questions and conflicts, the hopes and desires, that have animated their conversations and actions.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent, mildly but honestly biased, terrible narration
- By Schaq on 04-01-17
By: Daniel Gordis
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The British Empire
- By: Stephen W. Sears
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 30 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 118
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 102
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 100
Here is the story of how the English acquired their vast domain; how they ruled, maintained, and exploited it; and how, within decades, they presided over its dissolution. Here are Britain's triumphs and also her stinging defeats, her heroes and her scoundrels. It is a full and fascinating chronicle of the growth of the British Empire and its people and of the impact that empire had on the rest of the world.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great presentation of a broad historical narrative
- By MiamiMe on 03-27-18
By: Stephen W. Sears
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The Politically Incorrect Guide to the British Empire
- By: H. W. Crocker III
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 257
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 218
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Story4 out of 5 stars 216
Nothing offends liberals more than Western imperialism—it is racism, sexism, and chauvinism all in one. And of course the epitome of Western imperialism is the British Empire, covering at its height a quarter of the globe’s surface and ruling a quarter of the world’s population. Here, best-selling author H. W. Crocker III exposes how the British Empire was actually one of the greatest establishers and defenders of freedom in history.
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1 out of 5 stars
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More Propaganda than History
- By Mike on 10-21-19