-
The Dark Side
- The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals
- Narrated by: Richard McGonagle
- Length: 16 hrs and 47 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $22.50
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
The Dark Side is a riveting narrative account of how the U.S. made terrible decisions in the pursuit of terrorists, decisions that not only violated the Constitution, but also hampered the pursuit of Al Qaeda.
In gripping detail, acclaimed New Yorker writer and best-selling author Jane Mayer relates specific cases, shown in real time against the larger tableau of Washington, looking at the intelligence gained - or not - and the price paid. In all cases, whatever the short-term gains, there were incalculable losses in terms of moral standing, our country's place in the world, and its sense of itself.
The Dark Side chronicles one of the most disturbing chapters in American history, one that will serve as the lasting legacy of the George W. Bush presidency.
Critic reviews
"Like a good suspense novel....potent and disturbing stuff." (San Diego Tribune)
"The Dark Side is about how the war on terror became 'a war on American ideals,' and Mayer gives this story all the weight and sorrow it deserves. Many books get tagged with the word 'essential'; hers actually is." (Salon.com)
Related to this topic
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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?
-
-
Absolutely Fantastic
- By Nicholas on 10-12-04
By: Seymour M. Hersh
-
Enemies
- A History of the FBI
- By: Tim Weiner
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We think of the FBI as America’s police force. But secret intelligence is the Bureau’s first and foremost mission. Enemies is the story of how presidents have used the FBI as the most formidable intelligence force in American history. This is the first definitive history of the FBI’s secret intelligence operations, from an author whose work on the Pentagon and the CIA won him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
-
-
Good book, just not for me
- By a on 11-12-12
By: Tim Weiner
-
Pay Any Price
- Greed, Power, and Endless War
- By: James Risen
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ever since 9/11 America has fought an endless war on terror, seeking enemies everywhere and never promising peace. In Pay Any Price, James Risen reveals an extraordinary litany of the hidden costs of that war: from squandered and stolen dollars, to outrageous abuses of power, to wars on normalcy, decency, and truth. In the name of fighting terrorism, our government has done things every bit as shameful as its historic wartime abuses - and until this audiobook, it has worked very hard to cover them up.
-
-
If you care about our liberties, read this book.
- By John L. Moncrief on 11-02-14
By: James Risen
-
500 Days
- Secrets and Lies in the Terror Wars
- By: Kurt Eichenwald
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 500 Days, master chronicler Kurt Eichenwald lays bare the harrowing decisions, deceptions, and delusions of the eighteen months that changed the world forever, as leaders raced to protect their citizens in the wake of 9/11. Eichenwald's gripping, immediate style and true-to-life dialogue puts readers at the heart of these historic events, from the Oval Office to Number 10 Downing Street, from Guantanamo Bay to the depths of CIA headquarters, from the al Qaeda training camps to the torture chambers of Egypt and Syria.
-
-
Gory Details of Torture, Not An Unbiased History
- By Graham on 09-27-12
By: Kurt Eichenwald
-
Hubris
- The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War
- By: Michael Isikoff, David Corn
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 18 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This fast-paced, behind-the-scenes narrative tells the inside story of how the Bush administration used bad intelligence to sell and then justify the Iraq war. Veteran reporters Michael Isikoff and David Corn take the reader behind the scenes at the White House, the CIA, the Pentagon, the State Department, and Congress, where controversial decisions and turf battles were fought in the highest circles of the Bush administration.
-
-
Hubris
- By Pamela on 12-19-06
By: Michael Isikoff, and others
-
The Burglary
- The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover's Secret FBI
- By: Betty Medsger
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot, Betty Medsger
- Length: 25 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The never-before-told full story of the history-changing break-in at the FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, by a group of unlikely activists - quiet, ordinary, hardworking Americans - that made clear the shocking truth and confirmed what some had long suspected, that J. Edgar Hoover had created and was operating, in violation of the U.S. Constitution, his own shadow Bureau of Investigation.
-
-
Forget Ocean's 11
- By Susie on 02-06-14
By: Betty Medsger
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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?
-
-
Absolutely Fantastic
- By Nicholas on 10-12-04
By: Seymour M. Hersh
-
Enemies
- A History of the FBI
- By: Tim Weiner
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We think of the FBI as America’s police force. But secret intelligence is the Bureau’s first and foremost mission. Enemies is the story of how presidents have used the FBI as the most formidable intelligence force in American history. This is the first definitive history of the FBI’s secret intelligence operations, from an author whose work on the Pentagon and the CIA won him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
-
-
Good book, just not for me
- By a on 11-12-12
By: Tim Weiner
-
Pay Any Price
- Greed, Power, and Endless War
- By: James Risen
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ever since 9/11 America has fought an endless war on terror, seeking enemies everywhere and never promising peace. In Pay Any Price, James Risen reveals an extraordinary litany of the hidden costs of that war: from squandered and stolen dollars, to outrageous abuses of power, to wars on normalcy, decency, and truth. In the name of fighting terrorism, our government has done things every bit as shameful as its historic wartime abuses - and until this audiobook, it has worked very hard to cover them up.
-
-
If you care about our liberties, read this book.
- By John L. Moncrief on 11-02-14
By: James Risen
-
500 Days
- Secrets and Lies in the Terror Wars
- By: Kurt Eichenwald
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 500 Days, master chronicler Kurt Eichenwald lays bare the harrowing decisions, deceptions, and delusions of the eighteen months that changed the world forever, as leaders raced to protect their citizens in the wake of 9/11. Eichenwald's gripping, immediate style and true-to-life dialogue puts readers at the heart of these historic events, from the Oval Office to Number 10 Downing Street, from Guantanamo Bay to the depths of CIA headquarters, from the al Qaeda training camps to the torture chambers of Egypt and Syria.
-
-
Gory Details of Torture, Not An Unbiased History
- By Graham on 09-27-12
By: Kurt Eichenwald
-
Hubris
- The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War
- By: Michael Isikoff, David Corn
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 18 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This fast-paced, behind-the-scenes narrative tells the inside story of how the Bush administration used bad intelligence to sell and then justify the Iraq war. Veteran reporters Michael Isikoff and David Corn take the reader behind the scenes at the White House, the CIA, the Pentagon, the State Department, and Congress, where controversial decisions and turf battles were fought in the highest circles of the Bush administration.
-
-
Hubris
- By Pamela on 12-19-06
By: Michael Isikoff, and others
-
The Burglary
- The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover's Secret FBI
- By: Betty Medsger
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot, Betty Medsger
- Length: 25 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The never-before-told full story of the history-changing break-in at the FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, by a group of unlikely activists - quiet, ordinary, hardworking Americans - that made clear the shocking truth and confirmed what some had long suspected, that J. Edgar Hoover had created and was operating, in violation of the U.S. Constitution, his own shadow Bureau of Investigation.
-
-
Forget Ocean's 11
- By Susie on 02-06-14
By: Betty Medsger
-
Kiss the Boys Goodbye
- How the United States Betrayed Its Own POWs in Vietnam
- By: Monica Jensen-Stevenson, William Stevenson
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kiss the Boys Goodbye convincingly shows that a legacy of shame remains from America’s ill-fated involvement in Vietnam even though that conflict ended over 35 years ago. Until US government policy on POW/MIAs changes, it remains one of the most crucial issues for any American soldier who fights for home and country, particularly when we are engaged with an enemy who doesn't adhere to the international standards for the treatment of prisoners - or any American hostage...
-
-
God Grant Them Peace
- By Gillian on 05-19-15
By: Monica Jensen-Stevenson, and others
-
Company Man
- Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA
- By: John Rizzo
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1975, fresh out of law school and working a numbing job at the Treasury Department, John Rizzo took "a total shot in the dark" and sent his résumé to the CIA. In Company Man, Rizzo charts the CIA's evolution from shadowy entity to an organization exposed to new laws, rules, and a seemingly never-ending string of public controversies. Rizzo offers a direct window into the CIA in the years after the 9/11 attacks, when he served as the agency's top lawyer, with oversight of actions that remain the subject of intense debate today.
-
-
The real CIA, from the inside, no punches pulled
- By M. R. Leavitt on 09-10-15
By: John Rizzo
-
Destiny Betrayed, Second Edition
- JFK, Cuba, and the Garrison Case
- By: James DiEugenio
- Narrated by: Paul Neal Rohrer
- Length: 23 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you enjoyed the chilling experience of In Cold Blood and were at the edge of your seat while watching Oliver Stone’s JFK, you’ll love this investigative look into all the facets of one of the top conspiracies of the 20th century and beyond. DiEugenio, who has spent decades researching the Kennedy assassination, takes both an analytical and conversational approach to his fascinating exploration of the pivotal historical events and scandals surrounding that day.
-
-
Essential Book but Narration Almost Ruins it
- By Nathan D. Backlund on 09-20-16
By: James DiEugenio
-
At the Center of the Storm
- My Years at the CIA
- By: George Tenet
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the whirlwind of accusations and recriminations that has attended the post 9/11 world, one man's vital testimony has been conspicuously absent. Candid and compelling, At the Center of the Storm is George Tenet's memoir of his life at the CIA - a revelatory look at the inner workings of America's top intelligence agency and its dealings with national leaders at home and abroad.
-
-
Brilliant!
- By Karen on 05-05-07
By: George Tenet
-
Enhanced Interrogation
- Inside the Minds and Motives of the Islamic Terrorists Trying To Destroy America
- By: James E. Mitchell Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Ryan Rennot
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the dark days immediately after 9/11, the CIA turned to Dr. James Mitchell to help craft an interrogation program designed to elicit intelligence from just-captured top al-Qa'ida leaders and terror suspects. A civilian contractor who had spent years training US military members to resist interrogation should they be captured, Mitchell, aware of the urgent need to prevent impending catastrophic attacks, worked with the CIA to implement "enhanced interrogation techniques" - which included waterboarding.
-
-
Part curtain pull, part self defense
- By Tim Hairston on 12-15-16
-
The One Percent Doctrine
- Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11
- By: Ron Suskind
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author Ron Suskind takes you deep inside America's real battles with violent, unrelenting terrorists, a game of kill-or-be-killed, from the Oval Office to the streets of Karachi.
-
-
The Agenda is Clear
- By Penny on 09-28-11
By: Ron Suskind
-
CIA & JFK
- The Secret Assassination Files
- By: Jefferson Morley
- Narrated by: Larry Wayne
- Length: 3 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The JFK story remains unsettled well into the 21st century, no matter what the various conspiracy and anti-conspiracy theorists may proclaim. This is a book that reveals deceit and deception on the part of the CIA relating to the Kennedy assassination and why the CIA should reveal to the American people what it is still keeping secret.
-
-
JFK
- By Amazon Customer on 12-22-22
By: Jefferson Morley
-
The Nazis Next Door
- How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler's Men
- By: Eric Lichtblau
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Until recently, historians believed America gave asylum only to key Nazi scientists after World War II, along with some less famous perpetrators who managed to sneak in and who eventually were exposed by Nazi hunters. But the truth is much worse, and has been covered up for decades: the CIA and FBI brought thousands of perpetrators to America as possible assets against their new Cold War enemies.
-
-
Still trust government? Read this.
- By joyce on 01-02-17
By: Eric Lichtblau
-
The Ghost
- The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton
- By: Jefferson Morley
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Ghost, investigative reporter Jefferson Morley tells Angleton's dramatic story, from his friendship with the poet Ezra Pound through the underground gay milieu of mid-century Washington to the Kennedy assassination to the Watergate scandal. From the agency's MKULTRA mind-control experiments to the wars of the Mideast, Angleton wielded far more power than anyone knew.
-
-
Flawed Superpatriot
- By Bubblehog on 11-23-17
By: Jefferson Morley
-
JFK and the Unspeakable
- Why He Died and Why It Matters
- By: James W. Douglass
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 22 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the height of the Cold War, JFK risked committing the greatest crime in human history: starting a nuclear war. Horrified by the specter of nuclear annihilation, Kennedy gradually turned away from his long-held Cold Warrior beliefs and toward a policy of lasting peace. But to the military and intelligence agencies in the United States, who were committed to winning the Cold War at any cost, Kennedy's change of heart was a direct threat to their power and influence.
-
-
One Book EVERY AMERICAN Needs to Read
- By Peter on 06-09-12
-
The Killing of Osama Bin Laden
- By: Seymour M. Hersh
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 3 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2011, an elite group of US Navy SEALS stormed an enclosure in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad and killed Osama bin Laden, the man the United States had begun chasing before the devastating attacks of 9/11. The news did much to boost President Obama’s first term and played a major part in his reelection victory of the following year. But much of the story of that night, as presented to the world, was incomplete, or a lie. The evidence of what actually went on remains hidden.
-
-
Ridiculous
- By Amazon Customer on 08-22-17
By: Seymour M. Hersh
-
A Problem From Hell
- America and the Age of Genocide
- By: Samantha Power
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 22 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her award-winning interrogation of the last century of American history, Samantha Power - a former Balkan war correspondent and founding executive director of Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy - asks the haunting question: Why do American leaders who vow “never again” repeatedly fail to stop genocide?
-
-
A dark lesson in dramatic irony
- By Andrew Palmer on 10-04-17
By: Samantha Power
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Dark Money
- The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right
- By: Jane Mayer
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 16 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why is America living in an age of profound economic inequality? Why, despite the desperate need to address climate change, have even modest environmental efforts been defeated again and again? Why have protections for employees been decimated? Why do hedge-fund billionaires pay a far lower tax rate than middle-class workers? The conventional answer is that a popular uprising against "big government" led to the rise of a broad-based conservative movement.
-
-
"I just want my fair share--which is all of it."
- By Darwin8u on 11-28-16
By: Jane Mayer
-
Landslide
- The Unmaking of the President, 1984-1988
- By: Jane Mayer, Doyle McManus
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 19 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The explosive tale of the unraveling of an American president. For six years, Ronald Reagan seemed invincible. But behind the glowing image of success was an administration courting disaster. In this spellbinding book, two top Washington reporters trace the origins of the Iran-Contra affair and the unraveling of the Reagan presidency, taking us deep inside a white house that cared more for stagecraft than statecraft and that mistook a landslide reelection for an unlimited mandate.
-
-
Great reporting
- By daisey on 09-03-23
By: Jane Mayer, and others
-
Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas
- By: Jane Mayer, Jill Abramson
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 17 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charged with racial, sexual, and political overtones, the confirmation of Clarence Thomas as a Supreme Court justice was one of the most divisive spectacles the country has ever seen. Anita Hill's accusation of sexual harassment by Thomas, and the attacks on her that were part of his high-placed supporters rebuttal, both shocked the nation and split it into two camps. In this brilliant, often shocking book, Jane Mayer and Jill Abramson, two of the nation's top investigative journalists, examine all aspects of this controversial case.
-
-
Great read/listen
- By S. Gallegos on 11-24-19
By: Jane Mayer, and others
-
Democracy in Chains
- The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America
- By: Nancy MacLean
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Behind today's headlines of billionaires taking over our government is a secretive political establishment with long, deep, and troubling roots. The capitalist radical right has been working not simply to change who rules but to fundamentally alter the rules of democratic governance. But billionaires did not launch this movement; a white intellectual in the embattled Jim Crow South did.
-
-
A must read if you believe in democracy
- By H. L. Nelson on 10-11-17
By: Nancy MacLean
-
Shadow Network
- By: Anne Nelson
- Narrated by: Katherine Fenton
- Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1981, emboldened by Ronald Reagan’s election, a group of some 50 Republican operatives, evangelicals, oil barons and gun lobbyists met in a Washington suburb to coordinate their attack on civil liberties and the social safety net. These men and women called their coalition the Council for National Policy. Over four decades, this elite club has become a strategic nerve centre for channelling money and mobilising votes behind the scenes.
-
-
Critical to understanding our current political dynamics.
- By Scott on 05-24-20
By: Anne Nelson
-
Fiasco
- The American Military Adventure in Iraq
- By: Thomas E. Ricks
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The American military is a tightly sealed community, and few outsiders have reason to know that a great many senior officers view the Iraq war with incredulity and dismay. But many officers have shared their anger with renowned military reporter Thomas E. Ricks, and in Fiasco, Ricks combines these astonishing on-the-record military accounts with his own extraordinary on-the-ground reportage to create a spellbinding account of an epic disaster.
-
-
History not Politics
- By Scott on 08-10-06
By: Thomas E. Ricks
-
Dark Money
- The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right
- By: Jane Mayer
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 16 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why is America living in an age of profound economic inequality? Why, despite the desperate need to address climate change, have even modest environmental efforts been defeated again and again? Why have protections for employees been decimated? Why do hedge-fund billionaires pay a far lower tax rate than middle-class workers? The conventional answer is that a popular uprising against "big government" led to the rise of a broad-based conservative movement.
-
-
"I just want my fair share--which is all of it."
- By Darwin8u on 11-28-16
By: Jane Mayer
-
Landslide
- The Unmaking of the President, 1984-1988
- By: Jane Mayer, Doyle McManus
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 19 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The explosive tale of the unraveling of an American president. For six years, Ronald Reagan seemed invincible. But behind the glowing image of success was an administration courting disaster. In this spellbinding book, two top Washington reporters trace the origins of the Iran-Contra affair and the unraveling of the Reagan presidency, taking us deep inside a white house that cared more for stagecraft than statecraft and that mistook a landslide reelection for an unlimited mandate.
-
-
Great reporting
- By daisey on 09-03-23
By: Jane Mayer, and others
-
Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas
- By: Jane Mayer, Jill Abramson
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 17 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charged with racial, sexual, and political overtones, the confirmation of Clarence Thomas as a Supreme Court justice was one of the most divisive spectacles the country has ever seen. Anita Hill's accusation of sexual harassment by Thomas, and the attacks on her that were part of his high-placed supporters rebuttal, both shocked the nation and split it into two camps. In this brilliant, often shocking book, Jane Mayer and Jill Abramson, two of the nation's top investigative journalists, examine all aspects of this controversial case.
-
-
Great read/listen
- By S. Gallegos on 11-24-19
By: Jane Mayer, and others
-
Democracy in Chains
- The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America
- By: Nancy MacLean
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Behind today's headlines of billionaires taking over our government is a secretive political establishment with long, deep, and troubling roots. The capitalist radical right has been working not simply to change who rules but to fundamentally alter the rules of democratic governance. But billionaires did not launch this movement; a white intellectual in the embattled Jim Crow South did.
-
-
A must read if you believe in democracy
- By H. L. Nelson on 10-11-17
By: Nancy MacLean
-
Shadow Network
- By: Anne Nelson
- Narrated by: Katherine Fenton
- Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1981, emboldened by Ronald Reagan’s election, a group of some 50 Republican operatives, evangelicals, oil barons and gun lobbyists met in a Washington suburb to coordinate their attack on civil liberties and the social safety net. These men and women called their coalition the Council for National Policy. Over four decades, this elite club has become a strategic nerve centre for channelling money and mobilising votes behind the scenes.
-
-
Critical to understanding our current political dynamics.
- By Scott on 05-24-20
By: Anne Nelson
-
Fiasco
- The American Military Adventure in Iraq
- By: Thomas E. Ricks
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The American military is a tightly sealed community, and few outsiders have reason to know that a great many senior officers view the Iraq war with incredulity and dismay. But many officers have shared their anger with renowned military reporter Thomas E. Ricks, and in Fiasco, Ricks combines these astonishing on-the-record military accounts with his own extraordinary on-the-ground reportage to create a spellbinding account of an epic disaster.
-
-
History not Politics
- By Scott on 08-10-06
By: Thomas E. Ricks
-
Kochland
- The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America
- By: Christopher Leonard
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 23 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Just as Steve Coll told the story of globalization through ExxonMobil and Andrew Ross Sorkin told the story of Wall Street excess through Too Big to Fail, Christopher Leonard’s Kochland uses the extraordinary account of how the biggest private company in the world grew to be that big to tell the story of modern corporate America.
-
-
An anti-capitalism treatise
- By Luis on 10-01-19
-
Enemies
- A History of the FBI
- By: Tim Weiner
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We think of the FBI as America’s police force. But secret intelligence is the Bureau’s first and foremost mission. Enemies is the story of how presidents have used the FBI as the most formidable intelligence force in American history. This is the first definitive history of the FBI’s secret intelligence operations, from an author whose work on the Pentagon and the CIA won him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
-
-
Good book, just not for me
- By a on 11-12-12
By: Tim Weiner
-
Captured
- The Corporate Infiltration of American Democracy
- By: Sheldon Whitehouse, Melanie Wachtell Stinnett
- Narrated by: Michael Bybee, Sheldon Whitehouse
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Americans know something is wrong in their government. Senator Whitehouse combines history, legal scholarship, and personal experiences to provide the first hands-on, comprehensive explanation of what's gone wrong, exposing multiple avenues through which our government has been infiltrated and disabled by corporate powers. Captured reveals an original oversight by the founders and shows how and why corporate power has exploited that vulnerability.
-
-
Good book but ineffective narrator
- By Ahmed Ebrahim on 08-08-19
By: Sheldon Whitehouse, and others
-
The Looming Tower
- Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
- By: Lawrence Wright
- Narrated by: Lawrence Wright
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America. Lawrence Wright's remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States.
-
-
Supremely thorough and interesting
- By Josh on 10-05-17
By: Lawrence Wright
-
Strongmen
- Mussolini to the Present
- By: Ruth Ben-Ghiat
- Narrated by: Chloe Cannon
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is the expert on the "strongman" playbook employed by authoritarian demagogues from Mussolini to Putin. In Strongmen, she lays bare the blueprint these leaders have followed over the past 100 years, and empowers us to recognize, resist, and prevent their disastrous rule in the future.
-
-
Fascism expert talks fascism
- By sparky on 12-04-20
By: Ruth Ben-Ghiat
-
White Trash
- The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America
- By: Nancy Isenberg
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her groundbreaking bestselling history of the class system in America, Nancy Isenberg upends history as we know it by taking on our comforting myths about equality and uncovering the crucial legacy of the ever-present, always embarrassing—if occasionally entertaining—poor white trash.
-
-
I have lived this experience and failed badly.
- By James W. Hoffpauir on 08-26-23
By: Nancy Isenberg
What listeners say about The Dark Side
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joe Hidalgo
- 12-15-16
A must read to understand today's politics!
Many of the ideals on torture that the conservatives hold true today are based on a false narrative stemming from the Bush administration. A skewed view of the constitution to uphold false arguments is not what our founding fathers stood for. In fact, the constitution was specifically written with this in mind. A republic is only a republic when the people choose to fight for it. This book explains explicitly how fear and knee jerk reactions leads to something almost unspeakable. This is a part of history that we should not forget and readily keep available to all academics seeking truth. Our future as a nation depends on it!! Also, if you love Jane Mayer then this book is a no brainer. All of her work is extraordinary!!! Stay woke!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Madeleine
- 03-19-09
Brilliant and Maddening
This was, from start to finish, one of the most engaging audio books I've listened to. Mayer covers the Bush administration from the eve of 9/11 until the end of its tenure with a focus on its manipulation of the law for political ends, especially as it related to executive power and the right to redefine how captured enemy combatants are treated. Far from being a critique of President Bush himself, she underlines his willingness to acquiesce to Cheney and his legal counsel, David Addington, in all matters regarding the treatment of prisoners and the methods by which intelligence was being extracted from them. It is a damning indictment of the unelected bureaucrats who cared more for their own peculiar and idiosyncratic dogmas than for the constitution of the United States, the separation of powers, or the will of the American people.
My only caution is - don't listen to it while you're trying to fall asleep; it will make you so angry, you won't get any.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
25 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- E. J. Fronczek
- 03-15-16
The Story of how America gave up it's honor.
Very well researched and written; a story I wished didn't need to be told. A must read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Curtis Nelson
- 06-18-09
Enlightening!
A very well crafted account of our country's recent decent into torture and the fearmongering politics of the Bush Administration. Although a very long-winded book, the author leaves no detail or accusation unexplained. Mayer clearly did her homework on this subject, as this book should be mandatory reading for every civics class in American schools.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Corina
- 11-03-08
Absolutely outstanding
This is a frightening--hair-raising--book that every American should read. Unfortunately, the narration is monotone and sluggish, to my ear. But the content is so compelling that this hardly gets in the way.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- KingLev5150
- 02-29-16
One of my best audible purchases to date
I can't wait to listen to this one again. Each sentence kept me wanting more with never a dull moment. If you find this type of recent history interesting, you should've already heard this book. If you aren't sure if you like this genre, you will love this book even more for showing you behind the scenes of the aftermath of 9/11. Warning: You will be highly upset, but at least you will be entertained. I love how this isn't a boring, dry, stereotypical educational book. It's truly upbeat, fast pace, straightforward narrative that does a great job of separating chunks of information into the various chapters.
The narrator did an excellent job. I will look for more books read by him. His voice is so easy to listen to & adds the perfect emotion for what is being described.
You will not be disappointed. I promise you. If you aren't pleased, I will gift you a free credit.*
*not guaranteed. offering party will not be held accountable. "free credit" claim is a lie.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Keith E. Anderson
- 02-21-16
C
great !! everyone should read this book.
now I know why Isis puts orange jump suits
on captors before they be-head them.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- karin
- 01-27-18
Astounding !!!!
Every American should be made to read this book - we now have the Trump administration repeating this abuse of power ! What is it with the Republicans ? It’s simply disgusting and very sad to know this has gone on and is now repeating itself . Not that the Democrats are innocent , but in comparison to the Republicans, it’s no contest , and lest we forget , those Rep Evangelicals... 🙄
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
- nancy udell
- 11-09-08
Must read history
Thank you Jane Mayer for a chilling and detailed account of Cheney, David Addington and John Yoo's reign of terror. This is an important book that tells the story of how we became torturers and how a few courageous republican lawyers -- Jack Goldsmith and James Comey -- spoke truth to power and put in motion the eventual outing of this outrageous criminality. This is not a democrat v. republican book. THis is a book about principled v. unprincipled people -- courage v. cowardice and sanity v. insanity. It is a must read ("listen").
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
27 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Eugene Ngumi
- 11-18-15
Required tell reading on recent political history
A fascinating account of the painful and idiotic descent into stupidity in the bush administration
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful