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All the Shah's Men
- An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard, Jonathan Yen
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
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Editorial Reviews
With his fast-paced narrative and deep ferreting out of the facts, Kinzer reassembles the CIA's 1953 coup of Mohammad Mossadegh, the democratically elected leader of Iran in favor of the bloodthirsty dictatorship of Mohammad Reza Shah, who is believed to have been a puppet for the US government.
If you like Robert Ludlum or John Le Carre, you'll delight in Kinzer's account of the return of the Shah to Iran. It's written and performed like a spy novel, with code names, secret meetings, and last-minute plot twists. Kinzer's a long-time, highly experienced New York Times foreign correspondent, so he's deft at crafting hard facts into compelling narrative.
Michael Prichard, a veteran narrator of everything from walking tours to military nonfiction, maintains a deliberate and steady pace. No shocking detail is overemphasized, and this contributes to the overall impact of the book.
What's most frightening is that in the middle of this listen you begin to see connections between the installation of the Shah in Iran and the events of 9/11. "Past is prologue" has rarely been as accurate as it is here.
Publisher's summary
Half a century ago, the United States overthrew the democratically elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mossadegh, whose "crime" was nationalizing the country's oil industry.
In a cloak-and-dagger story of spies, saboteurs, and secret agents, Kinzer reveals the involvement of Eisenhower, Churchill, Kermit Roosevelt, and the CIA in Operation Ajax, which restored Mohammad Reza Shah to power. Reza imposed a tyranny that ultimately sparked the Islamic Revolution of 1979 which, in turn, inspired fundamentalists throughout the Muslim world, including the Taliban and terrorists who thrived under its protection.
"It is not far-fetched", Kinzer asserts, "to draw a line from Operation Ajax through the Shah's repressive regime and the Islamic Revolution to the fireballs that engulfed the World Trade Center in New York."
Critic reviews
"Breezy storytelling and diligent research.... This stands as a textbook lesson in how not to conduct foreign policy." (Publishers Weekly)
"With a keen journalistic eye, and with a novelist's pen....a very gripping read." (The New York Times)
"Kinzer's brilliant reconstruction of the Iranian coup is made even more fascinating by the fact that it is true. It is as gripping as a thriller, and also tells much about why the United States is involved today in places like Afgahanistan and Iraq." (Gore Vidal)
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What listeners say about All the Shah's Men
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Rick
- 09-25-04
Hard to please
Being fairly conservative, I expected a liberal slant from a New York Times reporter. I felt the book was well researched and very well written. I'll never remember all of the Middle Eastern names mentioned in the book but I received an education that helps me understand current events in a more enlightened frame of mind.
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36 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Carla
- 09-09-04
Great & timely read, but I'll avoid the reader
All the reviews laud the content, so let me submit my one gripe: the reader. I had to force myself to continue listening past the monotone and pedantic characteristics of the reader. I will actively avoid this reader from now on.
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18 people found this helpful
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Overall
- D. Keith
- 04-10-04
The Law of Unintended Consequences writ large
I already knew something about the events that Kinzer describes here, but he tells the tale in a captivating fashion with rich detail and excellent historical background. He presents his conclusions in a balanced way, but his case against this American involvement is very compelling and makes me shudder when I consider the unintended consequences that could result from our latest Gulf adventure. This as the stated intended consequence of a stable, democratic, and friendly Iraq is looking more and more like a pipe dream turning into a nightmare. Truman emerges from this story as a real hero with the longer view of the dangers while various British and American leaders (particularly the Dulles brothers) are shown to be blinded by their own arrogance and in the end brought about incalculable harm.
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14 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Jeremy
- 03-03-04
Great book
This compelling book couldn't be more timely. It presents a complex and nuanced understanding of the dynamics at play in the Middle East through the historical lens of Operation Ajax.
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14 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Ahmed
- 03-01-04
What a book!
Reads like a spy thriller, yet provides you deep insights into politics of Middle East and identifies the roots of 9/11.
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13 people found this helpful
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Overall
- A Mellor
- 07-20-05
The beginning of the end
THis was an absolutely great book on Iran/American history. After reading this book it is clear why IRAN dislikes us. It is not hard to understand why we bacame the target of extremeists by other middle east countries given our involvement in Iran int he 1950's. I never thought that just 50 years ago the American govt would lead a covert operation to overthrow a democracy and instal a represive monarchy. But that is exactly what happened. Now I am going to go read Charlie Wilson's War to find out how we armed these people we pissed off.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Dan
- 08-23-07
Wow, a great (and useful) read!
Kinzer tells a fascinating story that grabs your attention while providing detailed information about a historical topic that is still very salient today.
After finishing this book, one can't help but be fascinated by the fact that the US and British role in squelching Iranian democracy and installing their own puppet ruler is not more widely known. This book was very enlightening in helping me understand an important part of Iranian history; and one which still has a significant impact on middle east policy today. I found the level of detail and quality of storytelling superb.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- D. Littman
- 02-11-05
Outstanding nonfiction title
Excellent book on US/Iran relations. The kind of thing our policymakers ought to be reading as they raise the level of din about Iran & its nuclear program & its mullah leaders. Our poor relationship with the Iran of today cannot be 100% traced back to our joint imperialist effort with Britain in the early-1950s, but there is certainly a line from that time to this. Mossadegh was no saint, the author makes that clear, but neither was he completely recalcitrant with the Shah & with the British oil interests. And he certainly was no communist. It was the weak-kneed Shah, his corrupt cronies (who ran the military) and the the British leaders pining away for the time "when the sun never set on the British Empire" who were most responsible for the state of the affairs back in 1950. Absolutely no doubt about that. And it was the Eisenhower Administration that made things happen (just as they would in Guatemala a year later). Sad. Anyhow, I thought the book was very well put together, unbiased, and very well narrated.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Mark D. Jones
- 06-19-10
Should be mandatory reading for all kids in school
We should know the dark history of our Nation every bit as thoroughly as we know about its success. What a terrible thing we did in the days of the Red Scare.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- despinne
- 03-13-06
Iran for Iranians
Despite the title, this audio does not have much to say about the Shah himself. I recall when he and his wife fled Iran, and it seemed he was a national leader, but not in this book. However, the emphasis is on the mistreatment of Iran, such as Great Britain's colonialist practices of stealing the raw materials of a country (oil), and when the natives complain, entice the USA to help them force Iran to continue shipping their oil to England. The British oil company made something like $100 million against $8 million for Iran. They don't need it; they've lived for thousands of years without electricity, the Brits said. When a popular leader arose and became prime minister in the early 1950s, a good man who stood up for his country and wanted to bring them into the 20th century, the USA decided to get rid of him--and did, altho it seems he was not murdered. Apparently the idea was that Iran would remain subject to the West. However, by putting a halt to developing democracy, we opened the door for the current fanatics to take over. We met the enemy, and indeed he IS us! We sowed the wind, and now we are reaping the whirlwind. Now: what have we done in other countries to cause them to hate us as they do?
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- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 19 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Iranian Revolution of 1979 was a defining moment of the modern era. Its success unleashed a wave of Islamist fervor across the Middle East and signaled a sharp decline in the appeal of Western ideologies in the Islamic world. Michael Axworthy takes listeners through the major periods in Iranian history over the last 30 years: the overthrow of the old regime and the creation of the new one; the Iran-Iraq war; the reconstruction era following the war; the reformist wave led by Mohammed Khatami; and the present day, in which reactionaries have re-established control.
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Questionable Narration
- By Arya Pourtabatabaie on 07-17-21
By: Michael Axworthy
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Making the Arab World
- Nasser, Qutb, and the Clash That Shaped the Middle East
- By: Fawaz A. Gerges
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 18 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 2013, just two years after the popular overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian military ousted the country's first democratically elected president - Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood - and subsequently led a brutal repression of the Islamist group. These bloody events echoed an older political rift: the splitting of nationalists and Islamists during the rule of Egyptian president and Arab nationalist leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. Fawaz Gerges, one of the world's leading authorities on the Middle East, tells how the clash between pan-Arab nationalism and pan-Islamism has shaped the history of the region.
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like a surgeon explaining a body by its organs
- By Mayo on 09-14-19
By: Fawaz A. Gerges
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Overthrow
- America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
"Regime change" did not begin with the administration of George W. Bush, but has been an integral part of U.S. foreign policy for more than one hundred years. Starting with the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 and continuing through the Spanish-American War and the Cold War and into our own time, the United States has not hesitated to overthrow governments that stood in the way of its political and economic goals.
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Looking at the dark side
- By Stanley on 08-02-06
By: Stephen Kinzer
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Iran
- A Modern History
- By: Abbas Amanat
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 41 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
This history of modern Iran is not a survey in the conventional sense but an ambitious exploration of the story of a nation. It offers a revealing look at how events, people, and institutions are shaped by currents that sometimes reach back hundreds of years. The book covers the complex history of the diverse societies and economies of Iran against the background of dynastic changes, revolutions, civil wars, foreign occupation, and the rise of the Islamic Republic.
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Extremely Opinionated.
- By Glaudrung on 02-13-19
By: Abbas Amanat
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The True Flag
- Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
How should the United States act in the world? Americans cannot decide. Sometimes we burn with righteous anger, launching foreign wars and deposing governments. Then we retreat - until the cycle begins again. No matter how often we debate this question, none of what we say is original. Every argument is a pale shadow of the first and greatest debate, which erupted more than a century ago. Its themes resurface every time Americans argue whether to intervene in a foreign country.
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Timely and important
- By Joshua C. Packard on 02-20-17
By: Stephen Kinzer
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The Brothers
- John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: David Cochran Heath
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
John Foster Dulles was secretary of state while his brother, Allen Dulles, was director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In this book, Stephen Kinzer places their extraordinary lives against the backdrop ofAmerican culture and history. He uses the framework of biography to ask: Why does the United States behave as it does in the world?
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A duel biography
- By Jean on 09-26-14
By: Stephen Kinzer
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Revolutionary Iran
- A History of the Islamic Republic
- By: Michael Axworthy
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 19 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Iranian Revolution of 1979 was a defining moment of the modern era. Its success unleashed a wave of Islamist fervor across the Middle East and signaled a sharp decline in the appeal of Western ideologies in the Islamic world. Michael Axworthy takes listeners through the major periods in Iranian history over the last 30 years: the overthrow of the old regime and the creation of the new one; the Iran-Iraq war; the reconstruction era following the war; the reformist wave led by Mohammed Khatami; and the present day, in which reactionaries have re-established control.
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Questionable Narration
- By Arya Pourtabatabaie on 07-17-21
By: Michael Axworthy
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Making the Arab World
- Nasser, Qutb, and the Clash That Shaped the Middle East
- By: Fawaz A. Gerges
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 18 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2013, just two years after the popular overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian military ousted the country's first democratically elected president - Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood - and subsequently led a brutal repression of the Islamist group. These bloody events echoed an older political rift: the splitting of nationalists and Islamists during the rule of Egyptian president and Arab nationalist leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. Fawaz Gerges, one of the world's leading authorities on the Middle East, tells how the clash between pan-Arab nationalism and pan-Islamism has shaped the history of the region.
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like a surgeon explaining a body by its organs
- By Mayo on 09-14-19
By: Fawaz A. Gerges
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The Fall of the Ottomans
- The Great War in the Middle East
- By: Eugene Rogan
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 17 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In The Fall of the Ottomans, award-winning historian Eugene Rogan brings the First World War and its immediate aftermath in the Middle East to vivid life, uncovering the often ignored story of the region's crucial role in the conflict.
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Great Book About A Little Known Part of WWI
- By Nostromo on 06-08-15
By: Eugene Rogan
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The Shadow Commander
- Soleimani, the US, and Iran’s Global Ambitions
- By: Arash Azizi
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Until his assassination by US drone strike in January 2020, commander Qassem Soleimani was one of the most powerful men in Iran and the military spearhead for Iranian foreign policy, enacting the wishes of the country's Supreme Leader in the region. A widely popular but also feared maverick operator, he helped to establish the Islamic Republic as a major force in the Middle East, with interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. This was a long way from where he began as a youth, living on the margins in a country ruled by a monarch supported by the United States.
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Rather disappointing
- By Aliz on 01-19-21
By: Arash Azizi
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Poisoner in Chief
- Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: James Linkin
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The visionary chemist Sidney Gottlieb was the CIA’s master magician and gentlehearted torturer - the agency’s “poisoner in chief.” As head of the MK-ULTRA mind control project, he directed brutal experiments at secret prisons on three continents. He made pills, powders, and potions that could kill or maim without a trace - including some intended for Fidel Castro and other foreign leaders. He paid prostitutes to lure clients to CIA-run bordellos, where they were secretly dosed with mind-altering drugs. His experiments spread LSD across the United States.
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Narration not great
- By VelvetLedbetter on 09-20-19
By: Stephen Kinzer
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The Twilight War
- The Secret History of America's Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran
- By: David Crist
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 25 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
For the past three decades, the United States and Iran have been engaged in an unacknowledged secret war. This conflict has frustrated five American presidents, divided administrations, and repeatedly threatened to bring the two nations to the brink of open warfare. Drawing upon unparalleled access to senior officials and key documents of several US administrations, David Crist, a senior historian in the federal government, breaks new ground in virtually every section of The Twilight War.
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Most authoritative book on conflict on Iran, hands down.
- By David Free on 07-14-19
By: David Crist
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The Cambridge History of Warfare
- By: Geoffrey Parker
- Narrated by: Andrew Cullum
- Length: 21 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The new edition of The Cambridge History of Warfare, written and updated by a team of eight distinguished military historians, examines how war was waged by Western powers across a sweeping timeframe beginning with classical Greece and Rome, moving through the Middle Ages and the early modern period, down to the wars of the 21st century in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.
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Too anglocentric
- By A. Siegel on 10-27-22
By: Geoffrey Parker
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The Secret War with Iran
- By: Ronen Bergman
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the years since 9/11, the U.S. war on terror has focused on al-Qaeda, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Coverage of Iran has been devoted almost exclusively to its nuclear ambitions. Yet, as Ronen Bergman's groundbreaking reporting in this vital investigative history reveals, for 30 years, Iran has been the world's leading sponsor of global terror and stands as the most formidable sponsor of terror in the world today.
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A Must Read !
- By JerryL on 07-14-09
By: Ronen Bergman
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Understanding Iran
- Everything You Need to Know, From Persia to the Islamic Republic, From Cyrus to Khamenei
- By: William R. Polk
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A former member of the State Department's Policy Planning Council, Polk describes a country and a history misunderstood by many in the West. While Iranians chafe under the yolk of their current leaders, they also have bitter memories of generations of British, Russian, and American espionage, invasion, and dominance. There are important lessons to be learned from the past, and Polk teases them out of a long and rich history and shows that it is not just now, but for decades to come that an understanding of Iran will be essential to American safety and well-being.
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Great book with clear narration
- By Wasu Koysiripong on 09-07-20
By: William R. Polk
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Hunting the Caliphate
- America's War on ISIS and the Dawn of the Strike Cell
- By: Dana J.H. Pittard, Wes J. Bryant, General David Petraeus - Foreword by
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain, Shawn Compton
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall