• Pay Any Price

  • Greed, Power, and Endless War
  • By: James Risen
  • Narrated by: Christopher Lane
  • Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (288 ratings)

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Pay Any Price  By  cover art

Pay Any Price

By: James Risen
Narrated by: Christopher Lane
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Publisher's summary

War corrupts. Endless war corrupts absolutely.

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.

Lincoln suspended habeas corpus. FDR authorized the internment of thousands of Japanese Americans. Presidents Bush and Obama now must face their own reckonings. Power corrupts, but it is endless war that corrupts absolutely.

©2014 James Risen (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved

What listeners say about Pay Any Price

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A good collection of essays

This book was enjoyable but felt like a series of longer magazine articles. Good info nevertheless and worth reading. The narrator was solid and appropriate.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent

A must read for anyone who wants to know how and why the U.S. Government does things in the national security realm. You'll be amazed at the things people do

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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NSA Corruption of the Constitution

At first I found the extensive background perplexing. That it finally evolved to a satisfying, yea, thrilling ending made the slog all the more satisfying. Thank you James for paying the price.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Not sure we what to pay any price.

A very enlightening book that shows what we, as a nation, have become since 9/11. Many of the government actions mentioned should give us an uncomfortable cause for concern!

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8 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Good read, with too much details

The book certainly delivers on the big picture it set out to portray, but I found it too detailed for me to follow all along

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Welcome to the real world

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

How to profit from war

Any additional comments?

I knew a lot of the stories in this book, but many I did not know. This is the story of war profiteers and horrible war management. It makes me sick that so many people see war as a business opportunity.

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2 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Chronicles the security overreaction of 9/11

More importantly this book shows how this over concern with security has become the basis for "a permanent state of war on terrorism." As an entrenched centrist, I found some of the adjectives used to be a bit strident, but probably are really only a mild counterbalance to what I call "Cable News Theater" of both the left and the right. That, more than anything else, caused me to downgrade the overall rating, The story is important and extremely well written and preformed.

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6 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Easy to Listen to

The book provides details, names and accounts of facts known generally, I was expecting more. However it's a good listen and does detail the three parts well, greed, politics and the smoke screens..

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very revealing.

detailed stories of govt spying and secret laws are enough to make anybody angry at the political environment in the United States.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Important book

Drags a bit in the middle but beginning and end are riveting. A must-read for people who think about our country's future.

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1 person found this helpful