The Wise Men

Six Friends and the World They Made

De: Evan Thomas, Walter Isaacson

Narrado por: Jonathan Reese

Six close friends shaped the role their country would play in the dangerous years following World War II. They were the original best and brightest, whose towering intellects, outsize personalities, and dramatic actions would bring order to the postwar chaos, and whose strong response to Soviet expansionism would leave a legacy that dominates American policy to this day.

In April 1945, they converged to advise an untutored new president, Harry Truman. They were Averell Harriman, the freewheeling diplomat and Roosevelt’s special envoy to Churchill and Stalin; Dean Acheson, the secretary of state who was more responsible for the Truman Doctrine than Truman and for the Marshall Plan than General Marshall; George Kennan, self-cast outsider and intellectual darling of the Washington elite; Robert Lovett, assistant secretary of war, undersecretary of state, and secretary of defense throughout the formative years of the Cold War; John McCloy, one of the nation’s most influential private citizens; and Charles Bohlen, adroit diplomat and ambassador to the Soviet Union.

Together they formulated a doctrine of Communist containment that was to be the foundation of American policy, and years later, when much of what they stood for appeared to be sinking in the mire of Vietnam, they were summoned for their steady counsel. It was then that they were dubbed “the Wise Men.” Working in an atmosphere of trust that in today’s Washington would seem quaint, they shaped a new world order that committed a once-reticent nation to defending freedom wherever it sought to flourish.

©2012 Walter Isaacson and E. Thomas (P)2013 Random House Audio

Great book, awful pronunciation

How it’s possible to find a narrator who can’t pronounce the most basic words properly — or find a producer who can’t help — would be funny if the subject matter weren’t so interesting.

amazing historical biography

fantastic inside view of US place in 20th century world history, focusing these incredible decision makers.

Loved it, a must read!

This must be a required read for anyone in public service (politics), specially for those in the state department or foreign ministries.

Hysterically bad performance

What didn’t you like about Jonathan Reese’s performance?

The story here is pretty decent and at times very engaging. However, the speaker gets so many words wrong that it breaks any sort of momentum. A lot of times, narrators have a hard time with foreign words or proper nouns. That's not the problem here; the narrator simply mispronounces regular English words at a rate of about 1 in 500. Thus, count on hearing a clunker every few minutes. I read the reviews ahead of time and wasn't angry about this. On the contrary, I laughed out loud and related some of the worst examples to my friends. However, it's easy to say that this sort of comedy is inappropriate for a history book.

Learning experience

A part of history that I knew very little about. Very pleasant learning experience. So interesting

Revelatory information, distractingly poor performance

Thus is a worthy listen if you are genuinely interested in connecting some essential historical dots across 20th century history. The Wise Men’s influence reaches out even to foreign and military policy in the 21st century. Sadly, the somewhat embarrassing performance of the narrator, who’s wooden style and penchant for mispronunciation (example “Stah-LEEN” rather than “Stalin” throughout) is one of many renderings that make this otherwise interesting book a chore to endure. I recommend the content, but not the narration performance.

Great Story, Terrible Narrator

It is a testament to the book that the terrible narration doesn't cause you to quit listening. I almost gave at the beginning but the compelling subject and the writing kept this worthwhile despite the narration. The narration is more than distracting, it's a discredit to the authors and their subjects.

Great History

Foremost, this was well written along with a superb narrative. of a complicated story. This country badly needs the services of the Wise Men. Considering the nincompoops in office now, this country is being badly served. I have always admired these six men even though I had disagreed with them over Vietnam. I believe the very best service provided by these six men was with the accession to power of Harry Truman. Truman enabled and supported these men a manner unlike the tactics of Roosevelt. They were able to steer United States through post World War II and successful built a great Western Alliance. This is a great legacy from which this country can still build. I was moved by the authors insights of each man in terms of their strengths and weaknesses. I felt I knew each man along with their motivations. What a powerful story.

Learned so Much

Despite the narration, I learned so much. The detail was almost torturing but I persevered. The broader concepts were enlightening. The narration was one of the worst. But now that I completed the book, I understand this era so much better.

Disappointed: Couldn't Get Passed the Narrator

This book sounds incredibly interesting and I love Walter Isaacson's works, but I could not get passed the first chapter because of the narrator. His performance was slow, boring, and hesitant with a bunch of mispronunciations.

It was tough getting through the over pronunciation of every word and every "a" pronounced "ā", but I had to stop when he pronounced Joseph Stalin as Joseph Stalēn. Come on!

Very disappointing it since I really rely on audiobooks during my commute to and from work.