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The Bodies in Person
- An Account of Civilian Casualties in American Wars
- Narrated by: Nick McDonell
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
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The Bodies in Person
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Publisher's summary
Since the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, uncounted thousands of civilians have died in the fighting and as a result of the destruction. These are deaths for which no one assumes responsibility and which have been presented, historically, as fallout. No one knows their true number.
In The Bodies in Person, Nick McDonell introduces us to some of the civilians who died, along with the rescue workers who tried to save them, US soldiers grappling with their deaths, and everyone in between. He shows us how decent Americans, inside and outside the government and military, looked away from the mounting death toll, even as they claimed to do everything in their power to prevent civilian casualties.
With a novelist's eye—and hundreds of hours of recorded interviews—McDonell brings us the untold story of the innocent dead in America's ongoing wars, from leveled cities to drone operation centers to Capitol back rooms. As we follow him around the world, The Bodies in Person raises questions not only about what it means to be an American but about the value of a life, what it means to risk one, and what is owed afterward.
Critic reviews
“Striking…pulsating with attention to moral principle.”—The New Republic
“This first-hand contemplation of death in war is a gift to future historians and a gesture to moral philosophers. It helps us to see the world as it is while gently encouraging us to ask how it might be better.“—Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny
"Some of the finest war reporting by an American that I have ever read.”—Dennis Covington, The American Scholar
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- The al-Qaeda Mole who Infiltrated the CIA
- By: Joby Warrick
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra
- Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 846
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 711
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 704
In December 2009, a group of the CIA’s top terrorist hunters gathered at a secret base in Khost, Afghanistan, to greet a rising superspy: Humam Khalil al-Balawi, a Jordanian double-agent who infiltrated the upper ranks of al-Qaeda. For months, he had sent shocking revelations from inside the terrorist network and now promised to help the CIA assassinate Osama bin Laden’s top deputy. Instead, as he stepped from his car, he detonated a 30-pound bomb strapped to his chest, instantly killing seven CIA operatives....
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great modern history story
- By Melissa on 08-11-11
By: Joby Warrick
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Naked in Baghdad
- The Iraq War as Seen by National Public Radio's Correspondent
- By: Anne Garrels
- Narrated by: Anne Garrels
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 763
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 191
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 192
One of only sixteen unembedded American journalists who stayed in Baghdad's now-legendary Palestine Hotel throughout the American invasion of Iraq, NPR's Anne Garrels was at the very center of the storm. She brings us the sights, sounds, and smells of our latest war with unparalleled vividness and immediacy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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My favorite book of the year!
- By Native Texan on 10-03-03
By: Anne Garrels
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American Spartan
- The Promise, the Mission, and the Betrayal of Special Forces Major Jim Gant
- By: Ann Scott Tyson
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Danny Campbell
- Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 567
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 509
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 508
Some have called him "Lawrence of Afghanistan". To the Pashtun tribesmen he is "Commander Jim", leader of the "bearded ones". He is Army Special Forces Major Jim Gant, one of the most charismatic and controversial U.S. commanders of modern memory, a man who changed the face of America's war in Afghanistan when his critical white paper, "One Tribe at a Time", went viral at the Pentagon, the White House, and on Capitol Hill in 2009.
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5 out of 5 stars
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THE TRUE ARMY OF ONE!!!"THE SPARTAN"
- By Hunter on 07-17-14
By: Ann Scott Tyson
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From Beirut to Jerusalem
- By: Thomas L. Friedman
- Narrated by: Thomas L. Friedman
- Length: 3 hrs and 2 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 478
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 353
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Story4 out of 5 stars 355
In From Beirut to Jerusalem, Thomas L. Friedman, a columnist for The New York Times and a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner, has drawn on his decade in the Middle East to produce the most trenchant, vivid, and thought-provoking book yet on the region.
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2 out of 5 stars
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This is an abridged version
- By Theodore on 03-31-14
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Operation Pineapple Express
- By: Scott Mann
- Narrated by: Lt. Col. Scott Mann
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 279
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 258
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Story5 out of 5 stars 258
In April 2021, an urgent call was placed from a Special Forces operator serving overseas. The message was clear: Get Nezam out of Afghanistan now. Nezam was part of the Afghan National Army’s first group of American-trained commandos; he passed through Fort Bragg’s legendary Q course and served alongside the US Special Forces for over a decade. But Afghanistan’s government and army were on the edge of collapse, and Nezam was receiving threatening texts from the Taliban.
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5 out of 5 stars
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amazing, uplifting, heart wrenching
- By Lisa L. Weinley on 09-13-22
By: Scott Mann
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Always Faithful
- A Story of the War in Afghanistan, the Fall of Kabul, and the Unshakable Bond Between a Marine and an Interpreter
- By: Thomas Schueman, Zainullah Zaki
- Narrated by: Patrick Kirchner, Wali Habib
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 175
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 162
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Story5 out of 5 stars 164
Band of Brothers meets Argo in this dramatic and heartfelt dual memoir of the war in Afghanistan told by two men from opposite worlds. Always Faithful entwines the stories of Marine Major Tom Schueman, and his friend and Afghan interpreter, Zainullah “Zak” Zaki, as they describe their parallel lives, converging paths, and unbreakable bond in the face of overwhelming danger, culminating in Zak and his family’s harrowing escape from Kabul.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Read!
- By justin on 08-13-22
By: Thomas Schueman, and others
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The Forever War
- By: Dexter Filkins
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 511
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 337
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 338
Through the eyes of Dexter Filkins, we witness the chain of events that began with the rise of the Taliban in the 1990s, continued with the attacks of 9/11, and moved on to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Forever War allows us a visceral understanding of today's battlefields and of the experiences of the people on the ground, warriors and innocents alike. It is a brilliant, fearless work, not just about America's wars after 9/11, but ultimately about the nature of war itself.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A memorable "read"
- By TCinDC on 02-16-09
By: Dexter Filkins
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The Operators
- The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan
- By: Michael Hastings
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 430
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 375
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 379
An explosive, behind-the-scenes look into the workings of the U.S. war in Afghanistan that lifts the curtain of the world stage to reveal the devastating greed, waste, and failure surrounding this unwinnable war.
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4 out of 5 stars
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VERY INTERESTING STORY
- By Professor on 01-04-13
By: Michael Hastings
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The Prince of the Marshes
- By: Rory Stewart
- Narrated by: Rory Stewart
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 102
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
Told from Stewart's distinctly Western perspective, The Prince of the Marshes chronicles his time acting as the deputy governor of two southern Iraqi provinces.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A View From The Real Iraq
- By James on 11-24-07
By: Rory Stewart
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No Good Men Among the Living
- America, the Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes
- By: Anand Gopal
- Narrated by: Assaf Cohen
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 283
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 252
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 249
In a breathtaking chronicle, acclaimed journalist Anand Gopal traces in vivid detail the lives of three Afghans caught in America's war on terror. He follows a Taliban commander who rises from scrawny teenager to leading insurgent, a U.S.-backed warlord who uses the American military to gain personal wealth and power, and a village housewife trapped between the two sides who discovers the devastating cost of neutrality.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding book, remarkable narrator
- By captainramius on 04-05-19
By: Anand Gopal
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Where Men Win Glory
- The Odyssey of Pat Tillman
- By: Jon Krakauer
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,341
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,713
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,716
Like the men whose epic stories Jon Krakauer has told in his previous bestsellers, Pat Tillman was an irrepressible individualist and iconoclast. In May 2002, Tillman walked away from his $3.6 million NFL contract to enlist in the United States Army. He was deeply troubled by 9/11, and he felt a strong moral obligation to join the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Two years later, he died on a desolate hillside in southeastern Afghanistan.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good book, painful narration
- By Daniel on 09-23-09
By: Jon Krakauer
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Killer in the Kremlin
- By: John Sweeney
- Narrated by: John Sweeney
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 91
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 81
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 79
In Killer in the Kremlin, award-winning journalist John Sweeney takes listeners from the heart of Putin's Russia to the killing fields of Chechnya, to the embattled cities of an invaded Ukraine. In a disturbing exposé of Putin's sinister ambition, Sweeney draws on thirty years of his own reporting—from the Moscow apartment bombings to the atrocities committed by the Russian Army in Chechnya, to the annexation of Crimea and a confrontation with Putin over the shooting down of flight MH17—to understand the true extent of Putin's long war.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Nothing new. Author has zero credibility
- By MICHAEL W. SHOEMAKER on 12-08-22
By: John Sweeney
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Black Ops
- The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior
- By: Ric Prado
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,081
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 974
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 972
Enrique Prado found himself in his first firefight at age seven. The son of a middle-class Cuban family caught in the midst of the Castro Revolution, his family fled their war-torn home for the hope of a better life in America. Fifty years later, the Cuban refugee retired from the Central Intelligence Agency as the CIA equivalent of a two-star general. Black Ops is the story of Ric’s legendary career that spanned two eras, the Cold War and the Age of Terrorism.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Impressive and Inspiring!
- By medardo on 03-12-22
By: Ric Prado
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Code Name: Johnny Walker
- The Extraordinary Story of the Iraqi Who Risked Everything to Fight with the U.S. Navy SEALs
- By: Johnny Walker, Jim DeFelice
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 552
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 512
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 511
>In this illuminating and informative memoir, an Iraqi translator who risked his life working with American Sniper author Chris Kyle and the Navy SEALs tells his remarkable and inspiring story, offering a refreshing new perspective on the Iraq War. As the insurgency in Iraq intensified following the American invasion, U.S. Navy SEALs were called upon to root terrorists from their lairs. Unsure of the local neighborhoods and unable to speak the local languages, they came to rely on one man to guide them and watch their backs. He was a "terp" - an interpreter - with a job so dangerous they couldn't even use his real name.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding and real
- By Noel C. Stanhope on 06-05-14
By: Johnny Walker, and others
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We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families
- Stories from Rwanda
- By: Philip Gourevitch
- Narrated by: Philip Gourevitch
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 281
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 244
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Story5 out of 5 stars 243
An unforgettable firsthand account of a people's response to genocide and what it tells us about humanity. This remarkable audiobook chronicles what has happened in Rwanda and neighboring states since 1994, when the Rwandan government called on everyone in the Hutu majority to murder everyone in the Tutsi minority.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Things you'd never imagine
- By LEE on 12-27-19
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The Good Soldiers
- By: David Finkel
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,096
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 791
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 793
It was the last-chance moment of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. He called it "the surge". "Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences," he told a skeptical nation. Among those listening were the young, optimistic Army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Honest opinion folks
- By james on 11-06-11
By: David Finkel