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Our Man
- Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 20 hrs and 11 mins
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Publisher's summary
Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Biography
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Prize for Biography
Winner of the 2019 Hitchens Prize
"Portrays Holbrooke in all of his endearing and exasperating self-willed glory.... Both a sweeping diplomatic history and a Shakespearean tragicomedy.... If you could read one book to comprehend American's foreign policy and its quixotic forays into quicksands over the past 50 years, this would be it." (Walter Isaacson, The New York Times Book Review)
"By the end of the second page, maybe the third, you will be hooked.... There never was a diplomat-activist quite like [Holbrooke], and there seldom has been a book quite like this - sweeping and sentimental, beguiling and brutal, catty and critical, much like the man himself." (David M. Shribman, The Boston Globe)
Richard Holbrooke was brilliant, utterly self-absorbed, and possessed of almost inhuman energy and appetites. Admired and detested, he was the force behind the Dayton Accords that ended the Balkan wars, America's greatest diplomatic achievement in the post-Cold War era. His power lay in an utter belief in himself and his idea of a muscular, generous foreign policy.
From his days as a young adviser in Vietnam to his last efforts to end the war in Afghanistan, Holbrooke embodied the postwar American impulse to take the lead on the global stage. But his sharp elbows and tireless self-promotion ensured that he never rose to the highest levels in government that he so desperately coveted. His story is thus the story of America during its era of supremacy: Its strength, drive, and sense of possibility, as well as its penchant for overreach and heedless self-confidence.
In Our Man, drawn from Holbrooke's diaries and papers, we are given a nonfiction narrative that is both intimate and epic in its revelatory portrait of this extraordinary and deeply flawed man and the elite spheres of society and government he inhabited.
Critic reviews
"It is impossible to read George Packer’s new biography of Richard Holbrooke without a piercing sense of melancholy, not only that a man so supremely alive should be dead, but also because such people - Our Man, in Packer’s title, the incarnation of vanished glory, imperial hubris, exceptional Americanism - no longer walk the earth.... Extraordinary." (James Traub, Foreign Policy)
"This book is a real accomplishment; it’s hands down the best biography I have read this year.... Deeply researched and reported.... Sure to win a prize (or two or three) in the 2019 literary-awards sweepstakes." (Adam B. Kushner, Philadelphia Inquirer)
"This is the kind of biography (massive, detailed) by the kind of author (respected, experienced) reserved for great books on great men.... Packer make[s] a case for Holbrooke’s place in the pantheon, showing that there was real idealism and skill buried beneath the layers of self-regard." (Mary Ann Gwin, The Seattle Times)
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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Chris Garrett
- 11-10-19
Story telling at its finest...
I was mesmerized by the audio version. Packer's retelling of history was absolutely fascinating. I could not stop listening. Parts of it had me laughing out loud. Holbrooke was a gifted and inspired larger than life character with larger than life brokenness. Following his life was like following the history of the United States since the 1960s. It is a potent reminder that history is made not just but great men and women, but men and women with character flaws, feelings, and vulnerabilities. The narrator does a perfect job in bringing the text to life.
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4 people found this helpful
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- A. M.
- 12-28-19
Honest portrayal that leaves you lacking
I can't say I was impressed with the book or Richard Holbrooke, a hard-charging old school diplomat who was neither an intellectual like George Kennan or as fascinating as Christopher R. Hill. In the end, he found himself outside looking in, a pathetic situation. His accomplishments were fewer than may seem and his blind ambition unsightly.
Had the book been focused more narrowly, say a certain aspect of Holbrooke's career then it would have been far more interesting than this broad banality.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Chencheno111
- 06-24-19
A riveting story about an imperfect diplomat
A great book for those interested in the role of the USA in the 20th Century. The voice, cadence and rhythm of narrator Joe Barrett really added to this audible version. George Packer has a rare skill to unpack personality, history and psychology into a thoroughly enjoyable book. The arch from Vietnam to Bosnia, to Afghanistan describes the role that Dick Holbrooke played in the "American Century"
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- Rosemary Wells
- 06-15-19
A Brilliant, funny, addictive book wonderfully narrated
This is as good a history of a flawed, tragic genius of a diplomat and America’s disarrayed foreign policy as you’ll ever get. The narrator sounds as if he’s giving you marvelous personal secrets of the powerful right in your kitchen. Sensational!
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-18-19
A five star experience on a great problem solver
Moving, raw and very informative on Presidents Clinton and Obama. Excellent narator and biography on a difficult but brilliant man.
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- Peggy
- 11-21-19
Fantastic book!
I had two brief encounters with Holbrooke in my career, and Packer captures this larger than life man perfectly a terrific, interesting read.
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- John Nelson
- 09-02-19
Riveting Story!
Never expected such a riveting and enthralling book on modern US foreign policy. Yes Holbrooke's “bull in china shop” personality and career warrants such an interesting book though George Packer goes the extra mile in covering many aspects of US foreign policy since the Vietnam War (when Holbrooke started his career) up to the Obama administration in such a way that you just can’t stop listening / reading. Fascinating to learn about Holbrooke’s life in all the nitty-gritty details. For a man that accomplished so much in diplomacy, it's amazing to see how undiplomatic he was throughout his life. Not a surprise that he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize, though he definitely deserved it. Incredible read!
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- PortD
- 08-06-19
A distinct accent and style
Not easy to listen to this guy and his accent and emphasis I gave up
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- IBH
- 07-14-19
Haunting
I didn’t know much about Holbrooke, I’m too young to have known of him in Vietnam, and while I recall hearing about him frequently on the news about Bosnia and Pakistan after that, I never really understood who he was. That’s kind of the story the book and of Holbrooke, a man who wanted greatness, but fell short. After listening to this book, I feel that those blanks in my education have been corrected.
Packer is harsh in some ways, making it difficult to understand how Holbrooke did as well as he did, and yet it’s a sympathetic portrait too.
In the end it left me unsettled; many of us fail to achieve all our goals, but few have goals as lofty as Holbrooke. I’m not sure if that says more about him, or the rest of us.
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- Michael S.
- 06-24-19
Breathlessly, unrelentingly good.
This worked on so many levels: an intimate portrait of a man; an Insider's view of the making of American foreign policy. Highly recommended.
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By: David Nasaw
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Master of the Game
- Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy
- By: Martin Indyk
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 25 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
More than 20 years have elapsed since the United States last brokered a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians. In that time, three presidents have tried and failed. Martin Indyk - a former United States ambassador to Israel and special envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in 2013 - has experienced these political frustrations and disappointments firsthand.
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A very good book on history, diplomacy and negotiation
- By Citizen 90028 on 01-25-22
By: Martin Indyk
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The Unwinding
- An Inner History of the New America
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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In The Unwinding, George Packer, author of The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq, tells the story of the United States over the past three decades in an utterly original way, with his characteristically sharp eye for detail and gift for weaving together complex narratives. The Unwinding portrays a superpower in danger of coming apart at the seams, its elites no longer elite, its institutions no longer working, its ordinary people left to improvise their own schemes for success and salvation.
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Can't understand the low ratings!
- By Janet Pittman Henley on 05-27-13
By: George Packer
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Last Best Hope
- America in Crisis and Renewal
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: George Packer
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Acclaimed National Book Award-winning author George Packer diagnoses America’s descent into a failed state and envisions a path toward overcoming our injustices, paralyses, and divides.
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Terribly disappointing
- By Bill Lauderback on 07-13-21
By: George Packer
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Merchant Kings
- When Companies Ruled the World, 1600-1900
- By: Stephen R. Bown
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It was an era when monopoly trading companies were the unofficial agents of European expansion, controlling vast numbers of people and huge tracts of land, and taking on governmental and military functions. The leaders of these trading enterprises exercised virtually unaccountable, dictatorial political power over millions of people.
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Fun, if traditional
- By Zero on 08-28-23
By: Stephen R. Bown
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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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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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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The Patriarch
- The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy
- By: David Nasaw
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 30 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Joseph Patrick Kennedy - whose life spanned the First World War, the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, the Second World War, and the Cold War - was the patriarch of America’s greatest political dynasty. The father of President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert and Edward Kennedy, 'Joe' Kennedy was an indomitable and elusive figure whose dreams of advancement for his nine children were matched only by his extraordinary personal ambition and shrewd financial skills.
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Commissioned by the Kennedy Family...
- By E.R. on 09-09-13
By: David Nasaw
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Master of the Game
- Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy
- By: Martin Indyk
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 25 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
More than 20 years have elapsed since the United States last brokered a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians. In that time, three presidents have tried and failed. Martin Indyk - a former United States ambassador to Israel and special envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in 2013 - has experienced these political frustrations and disappointments firsthand.
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A very good book on history, diplomacy and negotiation
- By Citizen 90028 on 01-25-22
By: Martin Indyk
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The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams
- By: Stacy Schiff
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Thomas Jefferson once asserted that "for depth of purpose, zeal, and sagacity, no man in Congress exceeded, if any equaled, Sam Adams." John Adams called him "the most elegant writer, the most sagacious politician, and celebrated patriot perhaps of all." But in spite of his celebrated status among America's founding fathers as a revolutionary leader, Samuel Adams' life and achievements have been largely overshadowed in the history books. Now, in The Revolutionary Samuel Adams, Stacy Schiff brings her masterful skill as historian and storyteller to the life of Samuel Adams.
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The revolutionary
- By Charles on 11-02-22
By: Stacy Schiff
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George F. Kennan
- An American Life
- By: John Lewis Gaddis
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hilgartner
- Length: 31 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Drawing on extensive interviews with George Kennan and exclusive access to his archives, an eminent scholar of the Cold War delivers a revelatory biography of its troubled mastermind. This is a landmark work of history and biography that reveals the vast influence and rich inner landscape of a life that both mirrored and shaped the century it spanned.
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Kennan: a man who needs to be studied
- By Muttering Beduwen on 06-10-12
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Judgment at Tokyo
- World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia
- By: Gary J. Bass
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 31 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the weeks after Japan finally surrendered to the Allies to end World War II, the world turned to the question of how to move on from years of carnage and destruction. For Harry Truman, Douglas MacArthur, Chiang Kai-shek, and their fellow victors, the question of justice seemed clear: Japan’s militaristic leaders needed to be tried and punished for the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor; shocking atrocities against civilians in China, the Philippines, and elsewhere; and rampant abuses of prisoners of war in notorious incidents such as the Bataan death march.
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Topical
- By Lavinia on 10-25-23
By: Gary J. Bass
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JFK
- Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956
- By: Fredrik Logevall
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 29 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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By the time of his assassination in 1963, John F. Kennedy stood at the helm of the greatest power the world had ever seen, a booming American nation that he had steered through some of the most perilous diplomatic standoffs of the Cold War. Born in 1917 to a striving Irish American family that had become among Boston’s wealthiest, Kennedy knew political ambition from an early age, and his meteoric rise to become the youngest elected president cemented his status as one of the most mythologized figures in American history.
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Excellent Portrait of JFK & His Times
- By John David on 12-14-20
By: Fredrik Logevall
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The Education of an Idealist
- A Memoir
- By: Samantha Power
- Narrated by: Samantha Power
- Length: 21 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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