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Legacy of Ashes
- The History of the CIA
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 21 hrs and 37 mins
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Publisher's summary
National Book Award Winner, Nonfiction, 2007
This is the book the CIA does not want you to read. For the last 60 years, the CIA has maintained a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, never disclosing its blunders to the American public. It spun its own truth to the nation while reality lay buried in classified archives. Now, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Tim Weiner offers a stunning indictment of the CIA, a deeply flawed organization that has never deserved America's confidence.
Legacy of Ashes is based on more than 50,000 documents, primarily from the archives of the CIA. Everything is on the record. There are no anonymous sources, no blind quotations. With shocking revelations that will make headlines, Tim Weiner gets at the truth and tells us how the CIA's failures have profoundly jeopardized our national security.
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Three and a half years ago, David Sanger’s book The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power described how a new American president came to office with the world on fire. Now, just as the 2012 presidential election battle begins, Sanger follows up with an eye-opening, news-packed account of how Obama has dealt with those challenges, relying on innovative weapons and reconfigured tools of American power to try to manage a series of new threats.
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Sobering reminder on what the presidency requires
- By Marilyn on 09-03-12
By: David E. Sanger
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The Killing of Osama Bin Laden
- By: Seymour M. Hersh
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 3 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Ridiculous
- By Amazon Customer on 08-22-17
By: Seymour M. Hersh
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Rise and Kill First
- The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations
- By: Ronen Bergman
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 25 hrs and 58 mins
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The Talmud says: “If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first.” This instinct to take every measure, even the most aggressive, to defend the Jewish people is hardwired into Israel’s DNA. From the very beginning of its statehood in 1948, protecting the nation from harm has been the responsibility of its intelligence community and armed services, and there is one weapon in their vast arsenal that they have relied upon to thwart the most serious threats: Targeted assassinations have been used countless times, on enemies large and small....
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Eye Opening
- By Ari Safari on 02-09-18
By: Ronen Bergman
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A World of Trouble
- The White House and the Middle East
- By: Patrick Tyler
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 27 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The Middle East is the beginning and the end of U.S. foreign policy: events there influence our alliances, make or break presidencies, govern the price of oil, and draw us into war. But it was not always so - and as Patrick Tyler shows in this thrilling chronicle of American misadventures in the region, the story of American presidents' dealings there is one of mixed motives, skulduggery, deceit, and outright foolishness, as well as of policymaking and diplomacy.
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Does't deliver
- By Matthew on 02-10-09
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State of Denial
- Bush at War, Part III
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Boyd Gaines
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Bob Woodward examines how the Bush administration avoided telling the truth about Iraq to the public, to the Congress, and often to themselves in State of Denial. Woodward's third book on President Bush is a sweeping narrative from the first days George W. Bush thought seriously about running for president, through the recruitment of his national security team, the war in Afghanistan, the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and the struggle for political survival in the second term.
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Concerning and hard to put down
- By Chris on 12-10-06
By: Bob Woodward
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Manhunt
- The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden - from 9-11 to Abbottabad
- By: Peter L. Bergen
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
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From the author of the New York Times best-selling Holy War, Inc., this is the definitive account of the decade-long manhunt for the world’s most wanted man, Osama bin Laden. Al Qaeda expert and CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen paints a multidimensional picture of the hunt for bin Laden over the past decade, including the operation that killed him.
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DO NOT MISS THIS ONE!
- By Betty on 05-04-12
By: Peter L. Bergen
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1983
- Reagan, Andropov, and a World on the Brink
- By: Taylor Downing
- Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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A riveting, real-life thriller about 1983 - the year tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union nearly brought the world to the point of nuclear Armageddon. The year 1983 was an extremely dangerous one - more dangerous than 1962, the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the United States, President Reagan vastly increased defense spending, described the Soviet Union as an "evil empire," and launched the "Star Wars" Strategic Defense Initiative to shield the country from incoming missiles.
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Great story, poor narration choices.
- By John Gray on 02-11-19
By: Taylor Downing
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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
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Performance
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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.
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The Agenda is Clear
- By Penny on 09-28-11
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The War State
- The Cold War Origins Of The Military-Industrial Complex And The Power Elite, 1945-1963
- By: Michael Swanson
- Narrated by: Larry Wayne
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
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Performance
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Today when you factor in the interest on the national debt from past wars and total defense expenditures the United States spends almost 40% of its federal budget on the military. It accounts for over 46% of total world arms spending. Before World War II it spent almost nothing on defense and hardly anyone paid any income taxes. You can't have big wars without big government. Such big expenditures are now threatening to harm the national economy.
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Surprisingly Good
- By ohmie on 04-22-14
By: Michael Swanson
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What listeners say about Legacy of Ashes
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Stanley
- 11-04-11
Ashes to Ashes
From the authors point of view the CIA has done little succesfully over the last 60 years. It felt like the author began with a bias for which facts were sought. I am sure there were successes, perhaps they were more secret. I would have enjoyed a book which was a bit more balanced. It is the nature of a book like this to not know enough. It made me wonder if the KGB etc, while built up by the author as being subtantially more succesful were more inept than the CIA? It is the nature of a book like this that you are left wondering what is missing from the tale.
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10 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Jason
- 11-26-08
Very intresting however a little slanted
I highly recommend anyone to read this book. While it is long and admittedly I stopped listening to it for a long time, it has opened my eyes and explained in detail many historic events. While I won't give anything away in the book, I am quite honestly surprised the CIA didn't start us a war with a few nations due to failed or exposed CIA missions. But who knows, they could have and it could still be classified.
I will say that the author seems to be slanted in his views. He seems to pull out and explain many many failed missions he doesn't go into as much detail in the missions that were a success. Successful missions he lists and explains seem less than what you can count on two hands. I find it hard to believe the CIA has been that ineffective. CIA is no James Bond but if they were truly that unsuccessful then they would have been abolished long ago.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Wendy
- 11-23-07
Wendy
I finished this book about a month ago, but because of its truly shocking and depressing disclosures, I have been thinking and talking about it ever since. While I would have like the author to have spent more time discussing the CIA's involvement in Latin America, the section of the book that revealed the CIA's involvement in the Middle East, past and present, was quite literally jaw dropping.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Greg B
- 10-26-07
History book
I am not much of a history buff, and I got about an hour into this book and was very bored. Though I'm sure it is a good book for those that enjoy history, I have other things I can listen too that will hold my attention better.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- L
- 09-27-07
history you should know
every citizen should read this book.
first, it contains a lot of new information from recently declassified documents.
second, along with Bamford's The Puzzle Palace, it tells you where your taxes are going. and it often isn't pretty.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- SS71-92
- 09-25-07
Out of the ashes
This is a marvelous book, well written, well narrated and one that contains a remarkable look at those pushes and pulls behind foreign policy. It is interesting to note that even as recently as last year discussion of some of the 'capers' recounted in the book would have been a prosecutable Federal offense.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Bronson
- 03-14-11
It's Hard to Focus on This Book
I thought this was a good book. Many interesting things are discussed in the book and many of the things I learned from this book, gave me some interesting perspectives and thoughts on management. The problem I had with this book was that I found myself continuously distracted and unable to focus. I think it's the narrator. He's okay, but a little monotone and it takes a little bit off the experience.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Wrenluv
- 02-04-19
a thorough and honest exploration of the CIA
I found this book to be very well written and thorough. after reading it, feel a greater understanding for the challenge the CIA faces in any task it embarks on.
I read this book prior to the US 2016 election. I'm frightened to listen again, but the book is more relevant than ever.
a thank you to the author for compiling such a great read.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- stpal001
- 12-13-07
Outstanding
I must admit I approached this book with more than a bit of skepticism. That caution was reinforced by the amazingly gentle tone the author took with Jimmy Carter. The book, though depressing, was a fascinating and mandatory read for anyone interested in recent American history. I read Tenet’s book (At the Center of the Storm) immediately before starting this one. Weiner did an outstanding job filling in the obviously missing pieces of the former and saying the things Tenet chose not to. I can strongly recommend reading both pieces, but make sure you put Tenet first. I agree with other reviewers that Legacy of Ashes is a haunting work that follows you around for weeks after completion. As an academician I was particularly indicted by the repeated mantra of the impossibility of finding qualified recruits for the CIA. That is not a failing of CIA recruiters but of those of us who are supposed to be mentoring the next generation of “Great Americans” that these folks end up hiring. In the same vein, the inability of the CIA to synthesize complex and disparate data sets into a coherent picture of what is happening struck a chord which most scientists will appreciate. The issue of “drowning in data” is not a problem confined to intelligence services and I took more than one instructive cue from the quotes Weiner uses on the topic. Where Tenet’s book was mostly about management practices, Weiner seems to focus more on basic human foibles. Weiner names names where Tenet demurs. Never dull. Always deadly accurate, and amazingly lowfat in political commentary. I came away convinced that the author genuinely believes in the mission of the CIA, but like many, is ultimately disappointed that the agency was unable to effectively reach those goals during its first 60 years of existence. Let’s pray the next 60 are different.
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- Zachary
- 12-20-16
Not the CIA you see in movies
Amazing how much of our global issues were caused by CIA mistskes. Anyone who thinks the Agency is a shadow government that runs the world will be seriously dissapointed.
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