Discover the Best Sellers Audiobooks in History, 20th Century

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Title: Revolution 1989

Subtitle: The Fall of the Soviet Empire

Author: Victor Sebestyen

Narrator: Paul Hecht

Format: Unabridged

Length: 18 hrs and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-02-09

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 218 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Revolution 1989 by British journalist Victor Sebestyen is a comprehensive and revealing account of those dizzying days that toppled Soviet tyranny and changed the World. For more than 40 years, communism held eight European nations in its iron fist. Yet by the end of 1989, all of these nations had thrown off communism, declared independence, and embarked on the road to democracy.

©2009 Victor Sebestyen (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

Editorial Reviews:

If it were fiction nobody would believe it. Real life events just dont happen in such dramatic and thematic sync, right? A succession of aged, feeble, and sclerotic Soviet leaders General Secretaries Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, and Konstantin Chernenko become embodiments of the total moral rot that was the Soviet Union. The next in line, Mikhail Gorbachev, believed in communism and, unlike almost all of his colleagues, admired Lenin. Who would have thought that a man with such beliefs would introduce glasnost (openness), and perestroika (restructuring), and that he would be serious about it? That he would insist upon the unthinkable: that the Soviet satellite states independently make their own political decisions? The Soviet Union was ideologically, militarily, and fiscally bankrupt, and in cutting loose the satellite states, Gorbachev believed these states would choose communism. Victor Sebestyens Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire chronicles the transformation of the Soviet leadership under Gorbachev and the revolutions in the six nations of the Warsaw Pact East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria that toppled the old guards of the Soviet Union and altered the course of history.

Sebestyen had access to the Soviet archives, and the finely detailed narrative renderings that pervade Revolution 1989 indicate the archives were extensively used. Paul Hecht, with his rich baseline baritone voice, his precise dramatic control, his evocative vocal cadences and inflections, and careful detailing of characters and events, is the perfect narrator for this book. At 18 hours, 40 minutes in length, the narrative is presented both chronologically and by shifts to and from the six Warsaw Pact states and Soviet Russia. The narrative architecture of the Soviet Unions deconstruction is a complex and involved and exhilarating story. For this listener and reviewer, the effect of dynamic events of such scale and on all fronts produced a stark, dramatic, and fluid rendering of visual images. Without Hechts superb narration I doubt this visual enhancement would have been present in the audiobook. Revolution 1989 is a richly compelling, historically important, and very exciting listen. David Chasey

Members Reviews:

Unsurpassed

I bought this book to try to understand the events that lead to the fall of the Soviet Empire. I lived through the period as an adult and thought I knew what happened, but also thought that an actual history might help me understand the underlying events that caused the fall. I expected to be slightly bored by a retelling of events that I thought I knew, but expected to learn enough new to be worth the time. What I found was a fascinating book that kept me entralled as much as any suspense novel.

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Title: Munich, 1938

Subtitle: Appeasement and World War II

Author: David Faber

Narrator: Arthur Morey

Format: Unabridged

Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-30-09

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 59 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

On September 30, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew back to London from his meeting at Munich with the German chancellor Adolf Hitler and was greeted with a hero's welcome. As he paused on the aircraft steps, he held aloft the piece of paper, bearing both his and the Fuhrer's signatures, that contained the promise that Britain and Germany would never go to war with each other again. Later that evening, from his upstairs window at 10 Downing Street, he told the ecstatic and thankful crowd that he had returned bringing "Peace with honor---Peace for our time."

In this important reappraisal of the extraordinary events of 70 years ago, acclaimed historian David Faber traces the key incidents leading up to the meeting at Munich and its immediate aftermath. He describes Lord Halifax's ill-fated visit to Hitler; Chamberlain's secret negotiations with Mussolini, followed by the resignation of Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden; and the Berlin scandal that rocked Hitler's regime. Faber takes us to Vienna for the Nazi Anschluss; to the Sudentenland, the mountainous border region of Czechoslovakia, where Hitler's puppets attempted to provide him with a pretext for war by inciting the minority German population to rebellion; and to Prague, where the Czechoslovak government desperately tried to head off the Fuhrer's warlike intentions. In Berlin, we witness Hitler inexorably preparing for war, even in the face of opposition from his own generals; and in London, we watch helplessly as Chamberlain seizes executive control from his own cabinet and makes one supreme effort after another to appease Hitler, culminating in his three remarkable flights to Germany.

Drawing on a wealth of original archival material, including diaries and notes taken by Hitler and Chamberlain's translator, Faber's sweeping reassessment of the events of 1938 resonates with an insider's feel for the political infighting he uncovers.

Editorial Reviews:

David Faber has an intimately familial connection with the diplomatic debacle that was the Neville Chamberlain/Adolf Hitler Munich Conference. A former member of the British Parliament, Faber is a grandson of Harold Macmillan, British Prime Minister from 1957 to 1963. In 1938 Macmillan was a staunch opponent of Prime Minister Chamberlains appeasement policy. With Munich, 1938 Faber has produced what author and professor of history Douglas Brinkley has called the most thoughtful and well-researched study of the Munich Conference ever written.

The Munich Conference is well-known, but chiefly in fragments and through simplifying summery accounts. Munich, 1938 carefully sticks to the books great strength Fabers impressively detailed scholarship presenting a model for narrating a book of such profound compositional depth and historical importance. It helps to have a narrator, Arthur Morey, who, besides being an actor, is an author and has ghost written and edited books on politics, medicine, and literary criticism. He has also taught writing on the university level. Morey masters a fine balance of pacing and expression, advancing the narrative with a somewhat dampened voice that keeps each sequence of the continually developing dramatic events narratively in line with the historical drama as a whole.

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Title: The Monuments Men

Subtitle: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History

Author: Robert M. Edsel, Bret Witter

Narrator: Jeremy Davidson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-08-09

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1118 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Monuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture. Focusing on the 11-month period between D-Day and V-E Day, this fascinating account follows six Monuments Men and their impossible mission to save the world's great art from the Nazis.

Critic Reviews:

"The story is both engaging and inspiring. In the midst of a total war, armies systematically sought to mitigate cultural loss." (Publishers Weekly)

"[Narrator Jeremy Davidson] varies the pacing effectively, based on the nature of the text. He speeds up slightly during exciting action-filled sequences. He reads letters and documents with a flatter tone, making it easy for listeners to discern when the document stops and the author's words resume. He also gives a slight but not intrusive or cartoonish British accent to quotations by Britishers." (AudioFile)

Members Reviews:

Fine book, adequate narration

I enjoyed this book but found the narrator's attempts at foreign accents jarring. I'd like to see Audible vet narrators on their ability to do foreign accents before they hire them to read books that require foreign accents.

LOVED IT!

How is it possible that 67 years later, we are still reading new (and interesting) facts about World War II? This is a wonderful story and I kept a list of works of art discussed throughout the book to google. It reminded me of the beauty of works by Vermeer and others and I found the book an art history class as well as a story of brave men and women who risked their lives to save what they loved most - art.

Interesting listen

I met Bret Witter at a book convention, and after speaking with him decided to listen to this book. While parts of the book are very interesting, overall it is somewhat disjointed. It is more like a string of stories and adventures, rather than a novel. If you have an interest in WWII, as I do, then you would probably enjoy this, but it may be one of those books that is better to read than to listen to. I did find the book at Borders, and was able to see the art objects that the author describes as well as trace the paths of the Monuments Men.

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Title: America

Subtitle: The Last Best Hope Volume 2: From a World at War to the Triumph of Freedom

Author: William J. Bennett

Narrator: Jon Gauger

Format: Unabridged

Length: 20 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-23-09

Publisher: Oasis Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 92 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

But while he wears both his patriotism and politics on his sleeve, Bennett avoids flag-waving or talk-radio-style generalizations. This is a breezy, heartfelt survey, written with the average listener in mind, that will appeal broadly to those looking for an America-friendly introduction to 20th century U.S. history.

Members Reviews:

America The Last Best Hope Vol II

This was the Second book that I selected from my Audible membership and it too was well worth the investment. I recommend the book as part of a full home schooling agenda. It is a great history resource as part of the whole set. Dr. William J. Bennett knows how to put together a complete and true picture of our American History. This book picks up from World War I up to the end of the Reagan years.

Balanced History

Dr. Bennett's second installment of his history of the USA continues as a balanced, fair treatment of our country. He ties in global events when necessary to understand the context of events in the US, but his focus is on the greatness of our nation and its special place in human history. He treats minor historical events as what they are -- minor -- and gives world changing events their due.

Kudos, Mr. Bennett!

Excellent! Why couldn't we have used this for our history text book in school? I thought you set the bar so high in Volume 1, I was excited to get vol. 2. You didn't dissappoint.

Great Follow Up to the Original

Volumes 1 & 2 cover a great deal of our history. Bennett does a great job in presenting the facts in an interesting manner. Highly recommended.

Great readable history.

A very accessible history that recognizes the great and the not so great of the country.

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Title: Tears in the Darkness

Subtitle: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath

Author: Elizabeth Norman, Michael Norman

Narrator: Michael Prichard

Format: Unabridged

Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-09-09

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 1099 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

From then until the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, the prisoners of war suffered an ordeal of unparalleled cruelty and savagery: 41 months of captivity, starvation rations, dehydration, hard labor, deadly disease, and torture---far from the machinations of General Douglas MacArthur. The Normans bring to the story remarkable feats of reportage and literary empathy.

Their protagonist, Ben Steele, is a figure out of Hemingway: a young cowboy turned sketch artist from Montana who joined the army to see the world. Juxtaposed against Steele's story and the sobering tale of the Death March and its aftermath is the story of a number of Japanese soldiers. The result is an altogether new and original World War II book: it exposes the myths of military heroism as shallow and inadequate; and it makes clear, with great literary and human power, that war causes suffering for people on all sides.

Editorial Reviews:

On April 9, 1942, more than 76,000 American and Filipino soldiers on the island of Batan surrendered to the Japanese, who set them walking 66 miles to prison camp, a notorious walk that came to be known as "The Bataan Death March". Their surrender meant defeat in the first major land battle for America in World War II. Tears in the Darkness, the result of 10 years' research and interviews, weaves a strikingly vivid tapestry of voices from all sides to bring this crucial episode to life. Its central narrative traces new Army Air Corp recruit Ben Steele from his cowboy upbringing in Montana to his shattering experience as a prisoner of war. From this quintessential American tale, other individual stories including those of Filipinos and the Japanese hang together, fleshing out the narrative and providing a remarkably rounded account. This balance is an important part of the book; although there are many detailed descriptions of the inhuman acts committed against prisoners, the authors treat the Japanese with sympathy and respect.

Michael Pritchard's delivery encompasses the campfire setting of Steele's Montana youth equally as well as the General Masaharu Homma's addresses to his Japanese troops, or the harrowing descriptions of the execution of surrendered captives. Pritchard's audiobook credits include titles by Zane Grey, Tom Clancy, and numerous works on American history, and it's not hard to see why: his dust-dry voice has a no-nonsense authority, an unforced sturdiness that honors the book's military milieu without ever being starchy or dull.

Tears in the Darkness stands apart from many military histories through the pungency of its writing: the steaming jungle, agonising thirsts, and overwhelming desperation are conveyed with a color that is more common to novels than history texts. However, the main achievement of the book is the cohesion of its myriad fragments: we get an appraisal of US military strategy in the Southwest Pacific, Filipino children running through Japanese soldiers' legs to get banana-leaves and handfuls of rice to their starving fathers, one survivor's agonisingly slow crawl to safety from under the corpses of executed captives. And throughout, the book's hold never flags, due as much to Pritchard's powerful yet restrained narration as to the sense of unflinching truth.

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Title: Rocket Men

Subtitle: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon

Author: Craig Nelson

Narrator: Richard McGonagle

Format: Unabridged

Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-25-09

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 702 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

At 9:32 A.M. on July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 rocket launched in the presence of more than a million spectators who had gathered to witness a truly historic event. It carried Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins to the last frontier of human imagination: the moon.

Rocket Men is the thrilling story of the moon mission, and it restores the mystery and majesty to an event that may have become too familiar for most people to realize what a stunning achievement it represented in planning, technology, and execution.

Through interviews, 23,000 pages of NASA oral histories, and declassified CIA documents on the space race, Craig Nelson re-creates a vivid and detailed account of the Apollo 11 mission. From the quotidian to the scientific to the magical, readers are taken right into the cockpit with Aldrin and Armstrong and behind the scenes at Mission Control.

Rocket Men is the story of a 20th-century pilgrimage, a voyage into the unknown motivated by politics, faith, science, and wonder that changed the course of history.

Critic Reviews:

"Using interviews, NASA oral histories, and declassified CIA material, Nelson has produced a magnificent, very readable account of the steps that led to the success of Apollo 11." (Booklist)

Members Reviews:

There's always more to learn

I was an avid follower of the the Apollo program in it's day, even though I was very young, and even today if the networks aired coverage of space launches in more detail, I'd be watching them. I've watched "From the Earth to the Moon" countless times, and I pretty much know the script to the movie Apollo 13. I've listened to Neil Armstrong's memoir (as an audiobook) and Wally Schira's - among others. So, while skeptical that this would offer anything new, I still bought it. In many ways, it does recount many of the same stories - it would be impossible not to; but there is always an opportunity for fresh material and a fresh perspective. I'm not a nitpicker when it comes to details, and the minutiae of technology tend to bore me - so, while others could possibly find errors that might annoy them (I'm not saying there are any), I enjoyed the fact that this is one more popular telling of the of the Apollo program. If you enjoy hearing stories of the space program, even if you've heard them many times, then you should enjoy this. The narration is very well done, and there was fresh material and interesting perspectives to keep me engaged.

TRULY OUTSTANDING

There are many books on the space program but this one captures the heart and soul and takes you there!

I get a peculiar reaction to really great outstanding books, I pace back and forth. my enthusiasm, and wonder overflows my inner cup and I'm simply yet ecstatically overwhelmed. needless to say this listen fits into that coveted category.

What an amazingly unique challenge this was for mankind! What an adventure the whole planet held its breath for. All of those enormous probably catastrophic risks laid out on live tv.

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Title: In the Spirit of Crazy Horse

Author: Peter Matthiessen

Narrator: Mark Bramhall

Format: Unabridged

Length: 28 hrs and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-15-09

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 93 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

On a hot June morning in 1975, a fatal shoot-out took place between FBI agents and American Indians on a remote property near Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in which an Indian and two federal agents were killed.

Eventually, four members of the American Indian Movement were indicted on murder charges in the deaths of the two agents. Behind this violent chain of events lie issues of great complexity and profound historical resonance, brilliantly explicated by Peter Matthiessen in this controversial book.

Critic Reviews:

"A giant of a book...Indescribably touching, extraordinarily intelligent." (Los Angeles Times)

"The first solidly documented account of the U.S. government's renewed assault upon American Indians that began in the 1970s." (Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee)

Members Reviews:

Must read for a true picture of america

An excellent audiobook. Very well read with great voices. Very thorough and detailed research excellently excellently presented by peter matthiassen. Thank you peter for doing all the work to bring this information into access of the public. And may america wake up to the injustices served to leonard peltier and recognize it as a great example of the true nature of the american "legal" system

Good story

Would you listen to In the Spirit of Crazy Horse again? Why?

Yes. It's a compelling history of government abuse of power

What does Mark Bramhall bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

Local feel of desolation and the rough hewn life.

Good Story But Too Much Detail

Very interesting story on a matter that I had not previously heard of, but the book dives into way too much detail on minor points that might be important in a court case, but are not needed for the story or to believe the veracity of the author. Not only does the author state his bias, but it is clear from the start. I have hit the fast forward button several times and was amazed that it left no gaps in my understanding even though I zoomed through a good hour of audio at a time.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse

A good story but hard to follow. When the narrator tries to sound like an Indian, it's a little creepy.

A complete waste of time

What a bunch of liberal apologist drivel! Can't believe I have wasted the time and money on this book. Nearly halfway through and should have stopped hours ago.

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Title: Invisible Hands

Subtitle: The Making of the Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan

Author: Kim Phillips-Fein

Narrator: Lorna Raver

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-03-09

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 24 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Long before the "culture wars" usually associated with the rise of conservative politics, these driven individuals funded think tanks, fought labor unions, and formed organizations to market their views. These nearly unknown, larger-than-life, and sometimes eccentric personalities - such as General Electric's zealous, silver-tongued Lemuel Ricketts Boulware and the self-described "revolutionary" Jasper Crane of DuPont - make for a fascinating, behind-the-scenes view of American history.

The winner of a prestigious academic award for her original research on this book, Kim Phillips-Fein is already being heralded as an important new young American historian. Her meticulous research and narrative gifts reveal the dramatic story of a pragmatic, step-by-step, check-by-check campaign to promote an ideological revolution---one that ultimately helped propel conservative ideas to electoral triumph.

Editorial Reviews:

What lies behind the dramatic rise of American conservative politics in the 20th century? Invisible Hands, a painstakingly researched historical book by Kim Phillips-Fein, offers new insight into the backroom dealings of businessmen who united against the New Deal's "nanny state", culminating in the triumph of Ronald Reagan's conservatism. Actress Lorna Raver narrates this revealing history with depth and aplomb, her gravelly, character-filled voice lending gravitas to Phillips-Fein's research. Along the way, listeners discover how the zealous efforts of people like General Electric's Lemuel Ricketts Boulware and DuPont's Jasper Crane tamped down the power of labor unions and dismantled socialist policies that restricted the free market - insuring the bottom line of the massively lucrative corporations these men represented.

Critic Reviews:

"Incisive.... An important contribution to our understanding of American conservatism." (Publishers Weekly)

"Engaging history from a talented new scholarly voice." (Kirkus)

Members Reviews:

Phenomenal research paired with excellent storytelling. Must read.

Phenomenal research paired with excellent storytelling. People tend to assume that Hayek + Friedman + Thatcher + Reagan = neoliberalism, eliding the essential role played by businessmen and the organizations they founded or sponsored. To know our present political economic condition is to know the story of the American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, Chamber of Commerce, et al., and the ideas and men (always men) leading them. It is also to know how these men were activated by ideologues such as Hayek, and how they would go on to influence politicians in Washington. Phillips-Fein gives you all this.

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Title: The Race Beat

Subtitle: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation

Author: Gene Roberts, Hank Klibanoff

Narrator: Richard Allen

Format: Unabridged

Length: 21 hrs and 37 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-18-08

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 104 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Pulitzer Prize, History, 2007

Drawing on private correspondence, notes from secret meetings, unpublished articles, and interviews, veteran journalists Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff go behind the headlines and datelines to show how a dedicated cadre of newsmen - first black reporters, then liberal Southern editors, then reporters and photographers from the national press and the broadcast media - revealed to a nation its most shameful shortcomings and propelled its citizens to act.

We watch the black press move bravely into the front row of the confrontation, only to be attacked and kept away from the action. Following the Supreme Court's 1954 decision striking down school segregation and the South's mobilization against it, we see a growing number of white reporters venture South to cover the Emmett Till murder trial, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the integration of the University of Alabama.

We witness some Southern editors joining the call for massive resistance and working with segregationist organizations to thwart compliance. But we also see a handful of other Southern editors write forcefully and daringly for obedience to federal mandates, signaling to the nation that moderate forces were prepared to push the region into the mainstream.

The pace quickens in Little Rock, where reporters test the boundaries of journalistic integrity, then gain momentum as they cover shuttered schools in Virginia, sit-ins in North Carolina, mob-led riots in Mississippi, Freedom Ride buses being set afire, fire hoses and dogs in Birmingham, and long, tense marches through the rural South.

Critic Reviews:

"This Pulitzer-winning chronicle of the role the news media played in shaping the civil rights movement makes its belated audio debut. Richard Allen undertakes the vocal depictions of the players from across the race-relations spectrum with tremendous skill. He manages to portray characters instead of caricatures as the sweeping real-life drama unfolds." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

A fascinating inside look at history

Histories of the civil rights movement are abundant but this book focuses on those that wrote that history - the journalists.

The book brings their efforts alive and awakens the reader to the struggles and dangers they faced in simply getting the truth out. Reporters from the black newspapers excluded because of their race; small town editors taking brave stands that could cost them advertising; Northern writers not understanding the culture. Publications that are now respected that can not but be ashamed at their past.

All are included and all are worth your time.

Amazing.

Would you consider the audio edition of The Race Beat to be better than the print version?

The first part of the book is a bit of a slog as an audiobook because there are so many names being listed that it's difficult to keep everyone straight. However, after that initial bit I had no problems--Richard Allen does a great job with the narration and makes a lot of the scenes really come to life with his skillful use of voices.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Race Beat?

The chapter on the riots at Ole Miss was truly harrowing.

Any additional comments?

I thought this book sounded a little dry when I first saw it, but ended up loving it.

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Title: Churchill, Hitler, and 'The Unnecessary War'

Author: Patrick J. Buchanan

Narrator: Don Leslie

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-29-08

Publisher: Books on Tape

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 196 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

In this monumental and provocative history, Patrick Buchanan makes the case that, if not for the blunders of British statesmen - Winston Churchill first among them - the horrors of two world wars and the Holocaust might have been avoided and the British Empire might never have collapsed into ruins. Half a century of murderous oppression of scores of millions under the iron boot of Communist tyranny might never have happened, and Europe's central role in world affairs might have been sustained for many generations.

Among the British and Churchillian blunders were:

Members Reviews:

A classic of history books

This book took quite some courage for me to listen to, because I am an admirer of Winston Churchill. And I simply was not looking forward to a tirade on Churchill, or tolerating another typical doggone liberal revisionist "history." I was born in Britain a long, long time ago, I should explain, so I have a deep prejudice in Winston's favor.

Mr. Buchanan has written a kind of meta-analysis of World Wars I and II that should be a milestone history of the World Wars of the 20th century, where 50,000,000 people died. By meta-analysis, I mean he summarizes histories by, yes, Winston Churchill, Barbara Tuchman, AJP Taylor, George Kenon, and quotes Churchill's contemporaries so they do not seem quite the dolts that Churchill and his biographers characterize them as.

In fact, if I were a history major again, I would never accept a professor who had not read this book and who claimed it was "nothing." Because this book shows that the history books on these wars were written upside down.

I cannot begin to summarize this book (it has 1300 citations, by the way). But Churchill's part in these wars (understanding WW I got us WWII) began with a secret agreement to bring England to war in defense of France (so secret in fact that only Edward Grey knew of it on England's side). Winston usurped his own government's prerogative! (Sorry for the excitement.) To simplify, thus World War.

This book is an eye opener. I recommend it. You might be shocked when you listen to/read this book. Read some of the reviews on Amazon.com.

Churchill, Hitler etc

A lengthy and modern discourse on the history of modern Europe leading into WW2. It is said that the victors of any war write the history as they want it remembered and certainly the allies did that after both world wars. Buchanan is prepared to contend with British propaganda and thank Heaven for that. However he does not go as far as he ought. He discusses causes in terms of political cowardice, dishonesty and hype but he fails to consider the imperatives of oil, economics and finance that interested Churchill. Nor does he question the role of Churchill and his allies in white anting Chamberlain and his accord with Hitler, making it impossible for the accord to work. There is still a great deal more history to be disclosed. Nevertheless, Buchanen gives us a good and wide ranging discussion that is very easy on the ear and enriches the stories we already know by his willingness to bark at sacred cows.

Good history

Well documented and interesting listen.