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The Fall of Heaven
- The Pahlavis and the Final Days of Imperial Iran
- Narrated by: Assaf Cohen
- Length: 22 hrs and 1 min
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An immersive, gripping account of the rise and fall of Iran's glamorous Pahlavi dynasty, written with the cooperation of the late shah's widow, Empress Farah.
In this remarkably human portrait of one of the 20th century's most complicated personalities, author Andrew Scott Cooper traces Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's life from childhood through his ascension to the throne in 1941. He highlights the turbulence of the postwar era, during which the shah survived assassination attempts and coup plots to build a modern, pro-Western state and launch Iran onto the world stage as one of the world's top five powers. Listeners get the story of the shah's political career alongside the story of his courtship and marriage to Farah Diba, who became a power in her own right; the story of the beloved family they created; and an exclusive look at life inside the palace during the Iranian Revolution.
Cooper's investigative account ultimately delivers the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty through the eyes of those who were there: leading Iranian revolutionaries; President Jimmy Carter and White House officials; US Ambassador William Sullivan and his staff in the American embassy in Tehran; American families caught up in the drama; and even Empress Farah herself, along with the rest of the Iranian imperial family.
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Thirteen Days in September
- Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David
- By: Lawrence Wright
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall, Lawrence Wright
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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A gripping day-by-day account of the 1978 Camp David conference, when President Jimmy Carter persuaded Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat to sign the first peace treaty in the modern Middle East, one which endures to this day.
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Lessons in Negotiation
- By David on 06-18-15
By: Lawrence Wright
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Mao
- The Unknown Story
- By: Jung Chang, Jon Halliday
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 29 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Based on a decade of research and on interviews with many of Mao's close circle in China who have never talked before, and with virtually everyone outside China who had significant dealings with him, this is the most authoritative biography of Mao ever written.
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Fills many gaps! Very good..but!
- By Jene on 08-07-06
By: Jung Chang, and others
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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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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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Highly Recommended
- By Drapeau on 02-01-07
By: George Packer
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Our Last Best Chance
- The Pursuit of Peace in a Time of Peril
- By: King Abdullah II of Jordan
- Narrated by: Nadim Sawalha
- Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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A news-breaking memoir revealing the secret, high level negotiations that could soon transform the map of the Middle East. Why would a sitting head of state choose to write about the most explosive issues he faces? King Abdullah does so now because he believes we face a moment of truth: a last chance for peace in the Middle East. The prize is enormous; the cost of failure far greater than we dare imagine.
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Meet the fourth King of Jordan ,
- By katie on 06-29-16
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The Last Palace
- Europe's Turbulent Century in Five Lives and One Legendary House
- By: Norman Eisen
- Narrated by: Jeff Goldblum
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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When Norman Eisen moved into the US ambassador’s residence in Prague, returning to the land his mother had fled after the Holocaust, he was startled to discover swastikas hidden beneath the furniture in his new home. These symbols of Nazi Germany were remnants of the residence’s forgotten history, and evidence that we never live far from the past. From that discovery unspooled the twisting, captivating tale of four of the remarkable people who had called this palace home. Their story is Europe’s....
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Great book despite goldblum’s narration
- By Fernando Ferrante on 01-19-19
By: Norman Eisen
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Troublesome Young Men
- The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England
- By: Lynne Olson
- Narrated by: Dennis Kleinman
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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On May 7, 1940, the House of Commons began perhaps the most crucial debate in British parliamentary history. On its outcome hung the future of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's government and also of Britain - indeed, perhaps, the world. Troublesome Young Men is Lynne Olson's fascinating account of how a small group of rebellious Tory MPs defied the Chamberlain government's defeatist policies that aimed to appease Europe's tyrants and eventually forced the prime minister's resignation.
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Spectacular Narrative History Book
- By Nostromo on 11-30-18
By: Lynne Olson
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The New Tsar
- The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin
- By: Steven Lee Myers
- Narrated by: René Ruiz
- Length: 22 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The epic tale of the rise to power of Russia's current president—the only complete biography in English–that fully captures his emergence from shrouded obscurity and deprivation to become one of the most consequential and complicated leaders in modern history, by the former New York Times Moscow bureau chief.
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A retelling of facts without much added info
- By A. M. on 03-07-16
By: Steven Lee Myers
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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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Six Months in 1945
- FDR, Stalin, Churchill, and Truman--from World War to Cold War
- By: Michael Dobbs
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 16 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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When Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill met in Yalta in February 1945, Hitler's armies were on the run and victory was imminent. The Big Three wanted to draft a blueprint for a lasting peace - but instead set the stage for a 44-year division of Europe into Soviet and western spheres of influence. After fighting side by side for nearly four years, their political alliance was rapidly fracturing. By the time the leaders met again in Potsdam in July 1945, Russians and Americans were squabbling over the future of Germany and Churchill was warning about an "iron curtain" being drawn down over the Continent.
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Totally Outstanding. Bravo !
- By Alan on 10-25-12
By: Michael Dobbs
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Hard to please
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A Nuanced, and Objective Masterpiece !!!!!
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The new, impeccable translation and adaptation of the Epic of Persian Kings by Ahmad Sadri brought to life a host of heroic characters and wove their adventures into a thrilling story spanning thousands of years. Containing four grand tragedies and four beautiful love stories, the audiobook is currently going into its fifth edition. It has been a smashing success. We are delighted to present a 12-hour audio experience of this text (performed by the award-winning voice actor, Marc Thompson) against the backdrop of evocative sound design and music editing of Hamid Rahmanian the creator of the Shahnameh project.
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Learn about Persian culture through epic tales
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The Last Palace
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When Norman Eisen moved into the US ambassador’s residence in Prague, returning to the land his mother had fled after the Holocaust, he was startled to discover swastikas hidden beneath the furniture in his new home. These symbols of Nazi Germany were remnants of the residence’s forgotten history, and evidence that we never live far from the past. From that discovery unspooled the twisting, captivating tale of four of the remarkable people who had called this palace home. Their story is Europe’s....
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Great book despite goldblum’s narration
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Persians
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The Achaemenid Persian kings ruled over the largest empire of antiquity, stretching from Libya to the steppes of Asia and from Ethiopia to Pakistan. In Persians, historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells the epic story of this dynasty and the world it ruled. Drawing on Iranian inscriptions, cuneiform tablets, art, and archaeology, he shows how the Achaemenid Persian Empire was the world’s first superpower—one built, despite its imperial ambition, on cooperation and tolerance. This is the definitive history of the Achaemenid dynasty and its legacies in modern-day Iran.
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Good History and Historiography
- By David A on 04-19-22
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Peter the Great
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This superbly told story brings to life one of the most remarkable rulers––and men––in all of history and conveys the drama of his life and world. The Russia of Peter's birth was very different from the Russia his energy, genius, and ruthlessness shaped. Crowned co-Tsar as a child of ten, after witnessing bloody uprisings in the streets of Moscow, he would grow up propelled by an unquenchable curiosity, everywhere looking, asking, tinkering, and learning, fired by Western ideas.
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Narrater ruins everything
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What listeners say about The Fall of Heaven
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Engineering Manager
- 05-19-17
Very interesting though probably quite biased.
I'm waiting for my Iranian co-worker to finish the book and discuss before assigning a degree of confidence regarding the overall assessment of the major characters. Other than that it was a very interesting account of a history most of us know of, but about which I don't know much.
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- L. Maranto
- 09-04-16
I learned so much, but will have to reread
At first I was skeptical because it seemed so solidly pro-Shah. Later in the book, I became convinced, not that he was perfect, but that he did many good things and wanted to do so much more. I am convinced that his overthrow was a terrible thing for Iran, the US and the world. I say this in spite of the fact that I am an American who believes strongly in democracy.
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6 people found this helpful
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- John S
- 08-17-17
The fall of Heaven
Great book! I am Iranian and have lived through the nasty revolution while I was child. This book gave me closer perspective of everything was going on before revolution and the reality of Khomeini. The reader's pronunciation of Iranians names is awful!
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1 person found this helpful
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- SPN
- 04-19-22
Perfect capture of historic events
This is truly an amazing book to read or to listen to. It describes the events keeps you on the edge. As an Iranian I wish there were moments in history I could’ve been changed! Absolutely amazing book must read
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- AnAnoun
- 11-09-18
Get someone who speaks Farsi please...
Why not use someone who could speak Farsi to read this book. Very annoying that every name of persons and places is mispronounced.
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8 people found this helpful
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- John
- 02-18-17
Long on quotes, short on narrative
This book was informative but cumbersome due to the minutiae of quotes, asides, and dialogue.
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- A. Mujica
- 08-22-23
Safest story of down fall of a country
I am an Iranian who was in her 20s when the odious revelation. By the most brutal human beings took place. It was loathsome tragedy that a country could go through. USA did not support the Shah who had every intention to bring his country to a modern civilization and the American Ambassador in Iran of that time typically made the grave mistake to back the brutal mullahs who were behind this hideous revolution. President Carter who lacked the wisdom as a state man created the situation in Middle East that now still we are witnessing. Iran is destroyed and the Iranians are stripped off the most basic freedom. Women are pushed out from the work force and are obliged to cover their hair or go to jail and be tortured and rapped by the guardians of the Islamic Republic. It’s is inconceivable how a country at this time and age could be forced to go back to the dark ages. I hold the USA government mostly responsible to what has happened in Iran of today. The Shah had a huge role in keeping the Middle East in peace and Hormons and just look what happened after him to that part of the world. This book a very detailed account of how it all happened during the last years of the rule of Pahlavi dynasty who were the best possible alternative for our country.
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- Luis Lara
- 02-12-17
Very interesting; recommended
A very interesting insight into what occurred in Iran after the coups d'etat in 53'. Although the focus is on the Pahlavi dynasty, the author does not shy away from pointing out shortcomings of the crown and ill-decision making premised on wishful thinking.
Recommended for those interested in a nation/people we know so little about, yet for whom the West holds a strong, negative opinion. For those that want to understand how yesterday's decisions (or lack therein) shaped the world today.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-09-23
Great book
Eye opening book . Wish the people inside Iran could have access to it. History is the best teacher .
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Sarah Jane
- 10-12-22
Informative & Important Perspectives
I’m impressed by the body of history in this book- all of the perspectives and all of the events reported by the author that help the reader (no matter how extensively informed prior to reading this one may be on the subject matter) understand what lead to the demise of the Iranian Monarchy. I feel lucky to have found this book.
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