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The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom
- America and China, 1776 to the Present
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 30 hrs and 3 mins
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Listen to the sample first!
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Publisher's summary
Our relationship with China remains one of the most complex and rapidly evolving and is perhaps one of the most important to our nation's future. Here, John Pomfret, the author of the best-selling Chinese Lessons, takes us deep into these two countries' shared history and illuminates in vibrant, stunning detail every major event, relationship, and ongoing development that has affected diplomacy between these two booming, influential nations. We meet early American missionaries and chart their influence in China and follow a group of young Chinese students who enroll in American universities, eager to soak up Western traditions. We witness firsthand major and devastating events like the Boxer Rebellion and the rise of Mao. We examine both nations' involvement in world events such as World War I and II. Pomfret takes the myriad historical milestones of two of the world's most powerful nations and turns them into one fluid, fascinating story, leaving us with a nuanced understanding of where these two nations stand in relation to one another and the rest of the world.
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At the center of the debate over American intervention in World War II stood the two most famous men in America: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who championed the interventionist cause, and aviator Charles Lindbergh, who as unofficial leader and spokesman for America's isolationists emerged as the president's most formidable adversary. Their contest of wills personified the divisions within the country at large, and Lynne Olson makes masterly use of their dramatic personal stories to create a poignant and riveting narrative.
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Incivility in Politics - A Real Shocker!
- By Carole T. on 04-24-13
By: Lynne Olson
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A Force So Swift
- Mao, Truman, and the Birth of Modern China, 1949
- By: Kevin Peraino
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In the opening months of 1949, US President Harry S. Truman found himself faced with a looming diplomatic catastrophe - "perhaps the greatest that this country has ever suffered", as the journalist Walter Lippmann put it. Throughout the spring and summer, Mao Zedong's Communist armies fanned out across mainland China, annihilating the rival troops of America's onetime ally Chiang Kai-shek and taking control of Beijing, Shanghai, and other major cities.
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360-Degrees of China, Very Good History Book
- By Jose on 06-19-18
By: Kevin Peraino
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Hitler's American Friends
- The Third Reich's Supporters in the United States
- By: Bradley W. Hart
- Narrated by: Chris Ciulla
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Hitler's American Friends, by Bradley W. Hart, is an audiobook examining the strange terrain of Nazi sympathizers, nonintervention campaigners, and other voices in America who advocated on behalf of Nazi Germany in the years before World War II. Americans who remember World War II reminisce about how it brought the country together. The less-popular truth behind this warm nostalgia: Until the attack on Pearl Harbor, America was deeply, dangerously divided.
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Excellent Information
- By Laura on 05-09-19
By: Bradley W. Hart
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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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Performance
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Story
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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Great Perfomance, Less than Stellar Story
- By Alexander on 01-02-12
By: Shimon Peres, and others
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The Icarus Syndrome
- A History of American Hubris
- By: Peter Beinart
- Narrated by: John Morgan
- Length: 18 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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In The Icarus Syndrome, Peter Beinart tells a tale as old as the Greeks—a story about the seductions of success. Beinart describes Washington on the eve of three wars—World War I, Vietnam, and Iraq—three moments when American leaders decided they could remake the world in their image. Each time, leading intellectuals declared that history was over, and the spread of democracy was inevitable. Each time, a president held the nation in the palm of his hand.
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Great read
- By Rick on 06-11-10
By: Peter Beinart
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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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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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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Excellent, mildly but honestly biased, terrible narration
- By Schaq on 04-01-17
By: Daniel Gordis
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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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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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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Excellent Book But First Time Listener Beware
- By Nostromo on 03-23-15
By: Stephen Kotkin
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A History of Modern Britain
- By: Andrew Marr
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 29 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A History of Modern Britain confronts head-on the victory of shopping over politics. It tells the story of how the great political visions of New Jerusalem or a second Elizabethan Age, rival idealisms, came to be defeated by a culture of consumerism, celebrity and self-gratification. In each decade political leaders think they know what they are doing but find themselves confounded. Every time the British people turn out to be stroppier and harder to herd than predicted.
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Masterful in focus, pace, content, performance
- By Philo on 11-10-16
By: Andrew Marr
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How to Hide an Empire
- A History of the Greater United States
- By: Daniel Immerwahr
- Narrated by: Luis Moreno
- Length: 17 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
We are familiar with maps that outline all 50 states. And we are also familiar with the idea that the United States is an "empire", exercising power around the world. But what about the actual territories - the islands, atolls, and archipelagos - this country has governed and inhabited? In How to Hide an Empire, author Daniel Immerwahr tells the fascinating story of the United States outside the United States. In crackling, fast-paced prose, he reveals forgotten episodes that cast American history in a new light.
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How to beat a straw man to death
- By Susan on 01-25-20
By: Daniel Immerwahr
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1946
- The Making of the Modern World
- By: Victor Sebestyen
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 1946, Victor Sebestyen creates a taut, panoramic narrative and takes us to meetings that changed the world: to Berlin in July 1945, when Truman tells Stalin that we have successfully tested the bomb; to Ye'nan, China, in January 1946, when General George Marshall tells the Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong that Americans won't send troops to China, assuring that the Communists will attain power.
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An education. Somber, detailed, many-faceted
- By Philo on 08-20-16
By: Victor Sebestyen
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Desmond Shum is not a rube! He knows about wine, ok?
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Very interesting and up to date book
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What listeners say about The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- D. Keith
- 03-12-17
Indispensable for understanding the US China relationship
I grew up with the subject of this book as my family history and have pursued my interest in this as a teacher of history. My mother spent significant intervals of her childhood in China between 1912 and 1927. My grandfather began as a medical missionary in Canton in 1900 and, shortly after arriving there, had the task of conveying to his future wife's family that his fiancee's older sister and her husband had been killed in the Boxer Rebellion. By 1922 he was no longer a missionary but was an employee of the Rockefeller Foundation's Peking Union Medical College in Peking.
Having taught history in a number of independent schools where I taught some Chinese history, I can claim academic familiarity in this subject, without being any kind of authority. What I can say is that this book enlarged by understanding of this history significantly and is well worth reading for anyone who would like to have a better understanding of this complicated relationship.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Ysolde
- 04-08-17
Informative, disquieting, captivating
Where does The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
among the best
What other book might you compare The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom to and why?
Thomas Rid, Rise of the Machines: subtle, balanced, engaging history of a subject that is consistently misrepresented in popular culture
Evan Osnos, Age of Ambition: new ways to think about China
What does Tom Perkins bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Pronunciation of Chinese words that is almost but not quite right
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The chapters about US behavior toward China during WWII were a revelation and painful to listen to for an American
Any additional comments?
I first visited China in 1984 and have returned regularly ever since. I'm in China now listening to this on the campus of a Chinese university that was built by Christian missionaries 100 years ago. Pomfret's analysis of US China relations is a breath of fresh air. By foregrounding the immense cultural baggage that Americans usually bring to their relationship with China, Pomfret is giving Americans some tools they can use if they want to try to have a more authentic experience of China
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3 people found this helpful
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- Lawrence
- 03-07-17
Highly recommended
This is one of the best books about China, it is balanced view from an American spends years in China. I highly recommend it, Thank you
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3 people found this helpful
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- David Sheppard
- 07-13-18
Detailed and Interesting
John Pomfret wrote a great book explaining the history of US and China relations. I loved the various stories though there are other things I wish he'd written more details about. The narrator is great until it comes to Chinese words and names. Maybe I've just been spoiled by listening to Laslo Montgomery's CHP. Anyway, it grated on me, but I think it wouldn't bother someone who hasn't heard the names or words in Chinese before.
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- Amazon Customer
- 02-12-17
Fascistic deep dive in the bilateral relationship
Fascistic deep dive in the bilateral relationship. Fascistic deep dive in the bilateral relationship. great
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- Lewis C. Rogers
- 09-16-23
An absolute must read!
Having lived in China almost 12 years now and experiencing the significant change happening in the country and globally… this book gives the background/history which will simply amaze you. When people say history repeats itself…. This book attests to that. It’s stunning how connected China and the USA have been over the last 200 years or so. This book is well written, engaging, and well performed. I’m going to queue it back up for a 2nd listen.
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- JK
- 01-22-22
AWSOME
This is an absolute must read!
I am a student of history. I can safely say that this is one of the few books I have read/listened to that I rate among the best.
The history and relationship of China and the USA, for that matter, of the world is important.
I cannot recommend this book more.
I will definitely listen again in the future.
The narrator, mr. Tom Perkins, is a pleasure to listen to.
My thanks to all involved, JK.
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- fellow traveler
- 01-03-21
excellent history of the United States and China
this is an excellent history of the United States and China. it is told in a entertaining way especially the early history. my only request in terms of the information contained in it, would be for more of the figures to be stated as percentages of GDP or other relevant economic figures.
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- Jaymin Kim
- 01-02-21
Good book, cringeworthy performance
The narrator gets the most basic Chinese pronunciations wrong, and that made it really hard for me to enjoy this audiobook. I ended up getting a paper copy of the book, and I enjoyed the book overall. I still don't understand their choice for the narrator for a book on US-China relations
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- Elliott
- 06-20-18
Great
What a beautifully written story of such a powerful and fraught relationship. The themes and characters are so resonant to this day.
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