Download Top 100  Full Audiobooks in History, 20th Century

Download Top 100 Full Audiobooks in History, 20th Century

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Download Top 100 Full Audiobooks in History, 20th Century episodes

  • Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream Audiobook by Tanya Lee Stone
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    Title: Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream
    Author: Tanya Lee Stone
    Narrator: Susan Ericksen
    Format: Unabridged
    Length: 3 hrs and 40 mins
    Language: English
    Release date: 08-24-10
    Publisher: Brilliance Audio
    Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 3 votes
    Genres: History, 20th Century
    Publisher's Summary:
    Have you ever heard of the Mercury 13 women? Did you know that nearly twenty years before the first women were let into NASAs astronaut program, there were others who tried?
    What are the requirements for being shot into space, piloting a hunk of metal while carrying the hopes and fears of your nation? Mastery of flying, as well as courage, intelligence, resistance to stress, and fitness any checklist would certainly include these. But when America created NASA in 1958, there was an unspoken rule in place: astronauts must be male, and they must be white.
    Here is the tale of thirteen women who proved not only that they were as tough as any man but also that they were brave enough to challenge the government. Their passage to space was blocked by prejudice, jealousy, and a note scrawled by one of the most powerful men in Washington. But in the end, their inspiring example empowered young women to take their rightful place in the sky, piloting jets and commanding space capsules. Almost Astronauts is the story of thirteen true pioneers of the space age.
    Members Reviews:
    A great piece of history
    An ideal accounting of the history and challenges of the Apollo 13, delivered in blazing style. Readers may be shocked at the unexpected, factual twist at the end of this chapter of space achievement.
    3 hr 40 min
  • They Called Themselves the KKK Audiobook by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
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    Title: They Called Themselves the KKK
    Author: Susan Campbell Bartoletti
    Narrator: Dion Graham, Susan Campbell Bartoletti
    Format: Unabridged
    Length: 4 hrs and 26 mins
    Language: English
    Release date: 08-23-10
    Publisher: Audible Studios
    Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 74 votes
    Genres: History, 20th Century
    Publisher's Summary:
    A thoroughly-documented, chilling history of one of the worlds most recognizable extremist groups, this is the true story of terrorism in America.
    Boys, let us get up a club. With these chilling words, six restless young men raided the linens at a friends mansion, pulled pillowcases over their heads, hopped on horses, and cavorted through the streets of Pulaski, Tennessee. They called their new club the Ku Klux Klan, and it quickly grew into the self-proclaimed Invisible Empire, with secret dens spreading across the South.
    Award-winning author Susan Campbell Bartoletti weaves together vivid personal accounts from oral histories, congressional documents, and diaries in this enlightening, surprising, and disquieting story, which has received a slew of starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and other esteemed publications. Her extensive research places the length of the Klans history into a larger context that sheds new light on the roots of hate groups.
    When you purchase They Called Themselves the KKK, youll get exclusive bonus audio from a conversation with the author and Audie Award-winning narrator Dion Graham.
    Members Reviews:
    not about the kkk
    this book hardly mentions the kkk. it instead describes the perils and difficult times of african americans during the reconstruction period post civil war in detail. it's quite interesting in that respect, but i wanted to hear how the kkk grew and why it still exists in america, etc. i feel it was advertised as something that it was not.
    Good Information
    This is a well-researched recounting of the history of the KKK. I've read other books on the subject that were more comprehensive in scope, but went on to the point where it was difficult to remember the point of the books. This one is brief, to the point, and authoritative.
    They Called Themselves th KKK
    Would you consider the audio edition of They Called Themselves the KKK to be better than the print version?
    I wished I could of seen thew images in the book, but loved lisening to it.
    What did you like best about this story?
    I liked the history behind the book. How much detail the author put into it.I absolutely loved this author's work. She is a Newberry Honor-winning author of Hitler Youth and Sibert Award-winning author of Black Potatoes. I want to read more of her books.
    Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
    Afterr listening to it, it really made me think of how hard it was for ewveryone back after the war.
    Any additional comments?
    The beginning of the book:Boys, let us get up a club. With those words, six restless young men raided the linens at a friends mansion, pulled pillowcases over their heads, hopped on horses, and cavorted through the streets of Pulaski, Tennessee. The six friends named their club the Ku Klux Klan, and, all too quickly, their club grew into the self-proclaimed Invisible Empire with secret dens spread across the South.This is the story of how a secret terrorist group took root in Americas democracy. Filled with chilling and vivid personal accounts unearthed from oral histories, congressional documents, and diaries, it is a book to read and remember.The Ku Klux Klan arose after the Civil War and quickly became a terrorist organization spreading fear and hatred throughout the United States.
    4 hr 26 min
  • A Night to Remember Audiobook by Walter Lord
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    Title: A Night to Remember
    Author: Walter Lord
    Narrator: Fred Williams
    Format: Unabridged
    Length: 5 hrs and 19 mins
    Language: English
    Release date: 08-17-10
    Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
    Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 69 votes
    Genres: History, 20th Century
    Publisher's Summary:
    The "unsinkable Titanic was four city blocks long, with a French sidewalk café, private promenade decks, and the latest, most ingenious safety devices but only twenty lifeboats for the 2,207 passengers and crew on board.
    Gliding through a calm sea, disdainful of all obstacles, the Titanic brushed an iceberg. Two hours and forty minutes later, she upended and sank. Only 705 survivors were picked up from the half-filled boats of the ship that God Himself couldnt sink.
    Walter Lords classic minute-by-minute re-creation is as vivid now as it was upon first publication more than sixty years ago. From the initial distress flares to the struggles of those left adrift for hours in freezing waters, this audio presentation will bring that moonlit night in 1912 to life for a new generation of readers.
    Critic Reviews:
    "One of the most exciting books of this or any year." (
    New York Times )
    [T]he best Titanic story. the immediacy engages the reader from the start." (
    Library Journal)
    [As] seamless and skillful as youre going to get.its clear why this is many a researchers Titanic bible. (
    Entertainment Weekly)
    Members Reviews:
    Riveting story
    Walter Lord's account of the Titanic disaster is still the best place to start an exploration of this subject. (The second place to go is Lord's sequel, "The Night Lives On," unfortunately not available as an audiobook at the time this review was written. Wyn Craig Wade's excellent book about the US Senate investigation is scheduled to be released as an audiobook in the new year. Another good resource is John Foster's "Titanic Reader" - though also, unfortunately, unavailable as an audiobook.)
    Lord had a massive amount of information at his disposal, including interviews with many of the survivors. He wove the details into a riveting story that begins at the moment of impact and only later goes back to fill in some of the details of the building of the ship and the impact the disaster had on society and maritime law. Many of the individuals are so familiar now from various other book and film treatments that it's hard to remember the time, when the book first appeared some 50 years ago, that many of the details of the story had either not been revealed or had been long forgotten.
    The most memorable moment, for me, occurs after the last of the boats has been launched, and two of the upper-class men are making their way to the stern, at that point rising sharply out of the water. Their path is blocked by a sudden explosion on deck of hundreds of third-class passengers who had been held below, by ignorance of the severity of the situation, by ignorance of how to get from steerage to the boat deck, by language problems, and sometimes by locked gates. Most of them died, either pulled down by the ship or in the sub-freezing sea water.
    From the standpoint of completeness, the main detail missing from the book is the fact that the ship broke apart before it sank. There was conflicting eyewitness testimony on that point, and the point was only cleared up when the wreck itself was discovered. (It's an interesting comment on the reliability of eyewitness testimony that such a spectacular event, witnessed by hundreds of survivors in the boats, could be uncertain without the corresponding physical evidence.)
    Fred Williams has gotten some criticism here for his "monotone" narration.
    5 hr 19 min
  • The Storm of War Audiobook by Andrew Roberts
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    Title: The Storm of War
    Author: Andrew Roberts
    Narrator: Christian Rodska
    Format: Unabridged
    Length: 28 hrs and 40 mins
    Language: English
    Release date: 04-01-10
    Publisher: Audible Studios
    Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 184 votes
    Genres: History, 20th Century
    Publisher's Summary:
    Russian success has been somewhat aided by the strategy of Herr Hitler, of Corporal Hitler Even military idiots find it difficult not to see some faults in his actions.
    Winston Churchill (2 August 1944, in the wake of the complete destruction of the German Army Group Centre in Belorussia)
    Here is one of the best-selling history titles of 2009. Examining the Second World War on every front, Andrew Roberts asks whether, with a different decision-making process and a different strategy, Hitlers Axis might even have won.
    Were those German generals who blamed everything on Hitler after the war correct, or were they merely scapegoating their former Führer once he was safely beyond defending himself? In researching this uniquely vivid history of the Second World War, Roberts has walked many of the key battlefield and wartime sites of Russia, France, Italy, Germany, and the Far East.
    The book is full of illuminating sidelights on the principle actors that bring their characters and the ways in which they reached decisions into fresh focus.
    Andrew Robertss Masters and Commanders was one of the most acclaimed, best-selling history books of 2008. His previous books include Salisbury: Victorian Titan (1999), which won the Wolfson History Prize and the James Stern Silver Pen Award for Non-Fiction, and Hitler and Churchill: Secrets of Leadership (2003), which coincided with a four-part BBC2 history series. He is one of Britain's most prominent journalists and broadcasters.
    Critic Reviews:
    "His mastery of the huge variety of subjects is truly impressive and his ability to marshal these subjects into a single compelling narrative stunning." (Keith Lowe, Daily Telegraph)
    "He presents stylish penmanship, gritty research and lucid reasoning, coupled with poignant and haunting detours into private lives ruined and shortened." (The Economist)
    Members Reviews:
    Things I had never known!
    I am a 67 yr old history buff. I have read many WWII histories, but none as complete as the Storm of War. I especially enjoyed the indepth coverage of "the Easten Front". No one has ever covered it better. Plus, the reader does a fantastic job. He is able to hold your interest through out. Very well done & 5 Stars is my honest vote. War history buffs should not miss this one. John
    Fantastically Detailed, Spectacularly Narrated
    This is the most complete history of the second World War I have read. The author has gone to commendable lengths to condense the immense histories of this engagement into one volume and to present some wonderful assessments of how the outcome of the war might have been different had different personalities and decisions been made at critical times. The narration is excellent, one of the best I have encountered, and his accents gave real character and presence to the quotations littered throughout the book. This is highly recommended for any who possess an interest in military, or 20th century history.
    An absolute pleasure!!
    Im not basing my 5 star review on content but rather on narration. This is a very well written run-through of WWII touching on all the important points and offering well thought out opinions. What makes it a stand-out is the narration of Christian Rodska.
    0 min
  • A Failed Empire Audiobook by Vladimir Zubok
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    Title: A Failed Empire
    Subtitle: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev
    Author: Vladimir Zubok
    Narrator: Nick Sullivan
    Format: Unabridged
    Length: 20 hrs and 19 mins
    Language: English
    Release date: 03-22-10
    Publisher: Audible Studios
    Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 161 votes
    Genres: History, 20th Century
    Publisher's Summary:
    Western interpretations of the Cold War - both realist and neoconservative - have erred by exaggerating either the Kremlin's pragmatism or its aggressiveness, argues Vladislav Zubok. Explaining the interests, aspirations, illusions, fears, and misperceptions of the Kremlin leaders and Soviet elites, Zubok offers a Soviet perspective on the greatest standoff of the 20th century.
    Critic Reviews:
    "Ranks as the new standard work on the Soviet Union's Cold War - for scholars and students alike.... An excellent combination of old and new, offering both a synthetic interpretation of Soviet foreign policy in the latter half of the twentieth century and fresh new material to reconceptualize the factors behind that policy.... An important book [and] a standout." (Journal of American History)
    Members Reviews:
    Focus on the Top Leadership
    This is a history of the Cold War, largely from the perspective of the Kremlin. The author unapologetically emphasizes the effect of personality on the course of the Cold War. In fact, he argues that the personalities in the Kremlin were decisive. Unlike many historians, he thinks highly of Brezhnev and even Andropov. His evaluations of Kruschev and Gorbachev are mixed.
    Zubok's scholarship and grasp of detail are impressive, and he makes good use of the new historical materials which have become available since the late 1990's. Personally, I suspect his analysis is completely off base. However, one of the virtues of the book is that Zubok gives the reader enough solid information to make a personal judgment possible.
    The narration is a bit mechanical, but clear and well-paced. This may be because Zubok's writing could be described in almost the same words. This is solid, well-crafted political biography -- not really history in the broader sense. However, if, like me, you lived through many of those events and always wondered, "why did they do that? What were they thinking?" then this book will go a long way towards answering those questions.
    If this seems contradictory, consider an example: Zubok explains almost nothing about the internal economic problems of the USSR. However, he thoroughly explores the Soviet leadership's deep ignorance of these issues and how that ignorance affected their decisions. He doesn't really explain the deep stagnation of the Soviet apparat, but is brilliant in explaining how this dead weight isolated the top leadership and constrained their thinking.
    The view from the other side
    This book covers the period from the end of World War II through the end of the Soviet Union as seen through the eyes of the Soviet leadership and, as such, it adds a great deal to a balanced view of what happened and why. While it may not be surprising that the Soviets viewed the causes of the crises that arose between the Soviet Union and the West differently it is sometimes surprising to find out exactly how they viewed these causes and what they saw as the possible solutions. This book is written by Vladimir Zubok who appears to have been a member of the Soviet government during part of the time covered by the book and his views and statements are backed up by Soviet archives.
    20 hr 19 min
  • The Remains of Company D Audiobook by James Carl Nelson
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    Title: The Remains of Company D
    Subtitle: A Story of the Great War
    Author: James Carl Nelson
    Narrator: Ray Porter
    Format: Unabridged
    Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
    Language: English
    Release date: 02-26-10
    Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
    Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 24 votes
    Genres: History, 20th Century
    Publisher's Summary:
    Haunted by an ancestors tale of near death on a distant battlefield, James Carl Nelson set out in pursuit of the scraps of memory of his grandfathers small infantry unit. Years of travel across the world led to the retrieval of unpublished personal papers, obscure memoirs, and communications from numerous doughboys as well as original interviews of the descendents of his grandfathers comrades in arms. The result is a compelling tale of battle rooted in new primary sources, and one mans search for his grandfathers legacy in a horrifying maelstrom that is today poorly understood and nearly forgotten.
    The Remains of Company D follows the members of Company D, 28th Infantry Regiment, United States First Division, from enlistment to combat to the effort to recover their remains, focusing on the three major battles at Cantigny, Soissons, and in the Meuse-Argonne, and the effect these horrific battles had on the men.
    This is an important and powerful tale of the different destinies, personalities, and motivations of the men in Company D and a timeless portrayal of men at war.
    Critic Reviews:
    [Nelson] does an excellent job honoring the specific American experience in WWI.A personal, moving journey that will be a welcome addition to any military-history shelf. (
    Kirkus Reviews)
    Members Reviews:
    WWI Recreated by a Grandson
    This book uses the story of a grandson's search for history of his grandfather's involvement, and subsequent wounding, in World War I. In so doing he uses the members of his Grandfather's company in the 1st Infantry Division as a supporting cast. The book shows the American waste of soldiers in WWI as Pershing repeated all the errors of the French and British in 1914. Not much new here but it is an interesting summer listen.
    A careless production gets in the way
    What did you like best about The Remains of Company D? What did you like least?
    I liked that the author chose to stick with his "Company D" and not wander off into the politics of the era or the grander scope of the war. You get a clear sense of his mission to shed light on his grandfather's part in the war and you feel a sense of satisfaction for him when he achieves that goal. That is also the downside to this story. A lot of repetition. A lot of "didn't we just read about that part of the battle?". Also, the frame of this story which the author clearly delineated at the beginning, means that no credit or acknowledgment of the commonwealth countries is given for their part in the war which was obviously a greater part of the overall story of the war. A newcomer to history might think that WWI was a minor skirmish that the Americans fought to save Europe from itself.
    What did you like best about this story?
    Didn't I just answer that?
    What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?
    I can tell you what I didn't like about the performance which is my reason for knocking off points from this otherwise enjoyable read. The producers and or the reader should have done their homework when it comes to proper pronunciation of European terms of that era. It was the writer's goal to keep the memory of his grandfather's war alive and the production team could have at least honoured him by getting such commonly used words (back then) as Boche and poilus right.
    13 hr 41 min
  • The White War Audiobook by Mark Thompson
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    Title: The White War
    Subtitle: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919
    Author: Mark Thompson
    Narrator: Gerard Doyle
    Format: Unabridged
    Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
    Language: English
    Release date: 12-11-09
    Publisher: Audible Studios
    Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 83 votes
    Genres: History, 20th Century
    Publisher's Summary:
    The Western Front dominates our memories of the First World War. Yet a million and half men died in northeast Italy in a war that need never have happened, when Italy declared war on the Habsburg Empire in May 1915. Led by General Luigi Cadorna, the most ruthless of all the Great War commanders, waves of Italian conscripts were sent charging up the limestone hills north of Trieste to be massacred by troops fighting to save their homelands.
    This is a great, tragic military history of a war that gave birth to fascism. Mussolini fought in those trenches, but so did many of the greatest modernist writers in Italian, German, and English: Ungaretti, Gadda, Musil, Hemingway. It is through these accounts that Mark Thompson, with great skill and empathy, brings to life this forgotten conflict.
    Critic Reviews:
    "[A] study as pioneering as it is brilliant.... Drawing on an impressive array of British, Italian, and Austrian sources, including fascinating interviews with survivors, Thompson re-creates the Italo-Austrian conflict in all its facets.... The White War is the work of a bright young historian proving his mettle." (The Weekly Standard)
    "Thompson's book is beautifully written, and he skillfully interweaves vivid accounts of military progress with telling vignettes about the more extraordinary figures caught up in the fighting." (Independent)
    Members Reviews:
    Lost in history...
    To a limited number of history buffs "The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919" will have meaning. In my case, my grandfather was a participant in this interminable carnage. As you drive through any village down the length of Italy you will invariably see a monument in the central piazza to "I nostri caduti" "Our dead" from the first world war. And I mean EVERY hamlet no matter how small, some with just three or four names etched on a weathered monument.
    Listening to this account of the unbelievable stupid military tactics and waste of human life in this lost part of the war has changed my viewpoint as I visit these towns and villages. I now always stop and carefully examine these forgotten memorials and read each name and imagine what their lives were like and the effect it had on their families and home towns.
    Beside the engrossing account of the actual fighting, impossible terrain and weather conditions, the book gives insight into the growth of Italy into a nation state from an assortment of provinces. Men who could not even speak Italian, such as those from the islands of Sardinia and Sicily were mingled with a thousand sub cultures that made up the Italian mainland. It was the first time some people actually thought of themselves as belonging to the entity called Italy.
    The author Mark Thompson does a creditable job gathering the facts and presents them in a smooth historical flow. The narration by Gerard Doyle could be warmer and with more dramatic effect but it will do as is.
    The names and fates of all those preserved on those monuments are mostly forgotten as are the battles fought with almost no gain in territory or military accomplishment. I look at this work as an effort to acknowledge what they went through and suffered.
    19 hr 3 min
  • The Endurance Audiobook by Caroline Alexander
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    Title: The Endurance
    Author: Caroline Alexander
    Narrator: Michael Tezla, Martin Rubin
    Format: Abridged
    Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
    Language: English
    Release date: 11-04-09
    Publisher: HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
    Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 28 votes
    Genres: History, 20th Century
    Publisher's Summary:
    Drawing upon previously unavailable sources, Caroline Alexander gives us a riveting account of Shackleton's expedition. An extraordinary re-creation of the terrible beauty of Antarctica, the awful destruction of the ship, and the crew's heroic daily struggle for survival, The Endurance thrillingly describes one of the last great adventures in the brave age of exploration, perhaps the greatest of them all.
    Contact me for any questions: [email protected]
    6 hr 7 min
  • Defend the Realm Audiobook by Christopher Andrew
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    Title: Defend the Realm
    Subtitle: The Authorized History of MI5
    Author: Christopher Andrew
    Narrator: Robin Sachs
    Format: Unabridged
    Length: 39 hrs and 43 mins
    Language: English
    Release date: 11-03-09
    Publisher: Random House Audio
    Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 68 votes
    Genres: History, 20th Century
    Publisher's Summary:
    The book also describes how MI5 has been managed, what its relationship has been with government, where it has triumphed, and where it has failed. In all of this, no restriction has been placed on the judgments made by the author.
    Defend the Realm also reveals the identities of previously unknown enemies of the United Kingdom whose activities have been uncovered by the Service, adds significantly to our knowledge of many celebrated events and notorious individuals, and definitively lays to rest a number of persistent myths. Above all, it shows the place of this previously extremely secretive organization within the United Kingdom. Few books could make such an immediate and extraordinary increase to our understanding of British history over the past century.
    Members Reviews:
    A very throrough and impartial history.
    Christopher Andrew has excelled himself in the daunting task of cataloging and critiquing the first century of MI5's work in the UK and around the Commonwealth.
    I found the tone both entertaining and witty. This book could have so easily been either too dry or, even worse, too trashy and "spy thriller" like. Thankfully, Defend the Realm is neither. It is, instead, filled with insightful analysis and intriguing new information.
    I do have two minor criticisms, however. Firstly, one of the middle sections - dedicated to the Service's role in the break up of the Empire - drags on a little. MI5 did very similar things in almost all newly independent countries and the repetition becomes a little stale. Lastly, the final section on the Service's modern day responsibilities (counter-terrorism) is all too brief. Sadly, this is unavoidable due to the sensitive nature of the book and Andrew Explains this in the foreword.
    I would highly recommend Defend the Realm, especially to those interested in 20th century history and most of all those interested in the role of espionage in both World Wars and the Cold War. You will be surprised at all that the Service has achieved and entertained by a brilliant writing style.
    I would like to also commend Robin Sachs reading. His voice adds greatly to the success of the audio-book, despite his occasional accents.
    A read that was both informative and captivating
    Where does Defend the Realm rank among all the audiobooks youve listened to so far?
    Defend the realm is an unique kind of book. It is a very informative, to the point of being a bit droll at times, but at the same time, it manages to capture the feeling of camraderie and adventure that it describes being present in Mi5. When I finished the book, I felt like I had just finished a career at Mi5 (and not just because of the book's length!), and felt nostalgia for times past.
    Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
    The feelings of victory at the end of world war one and two were conveyed adeptly to the reader, and they were touching to me.
    Any additional comments?
    The narrator does a fantastic job of sounding both professional and interesting, which is very much in the spirit of this book.
    mind-numbingly dull
    Would you try another book from Christopher Andrew and/or Robin Sachs?
    I don't think so, unless I see reviews that say "way better than his other works, this one actually grabbed my attention".
    0 min
  • The Dead Hand Audiobook by David E. Hoffman
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    Title: The Dead Hand
    Subtitle: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy
    Author: David E. Hoffman
    Narrator: Bob Walter
    Format: Abridged
    Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
    Language: English
    Release date: 09-22-09
    Publisher: Random House Audio
    Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 32 votes
    Genres: History, 20th Century
    Publisher's Summary:
    During the Cold War, world superpowers amassed nuclear arsenals containing the explosive power of one million Hiroshimas. The Soviet Union secretly plotted to create the "Dead Hand", a system designed to launch an automatic retaliatory nuclear strike on the United States, and developed a fearsome biological warfare machine. President Ronald Reagan, hoping to awe the Soviets into submission, pushed hard for the creation of space-based missile defenses.
    In the first full account of how the arms race finally ended, The Dead Hand provides an unprecedented look at the inner motives and secret decisions of each side. Drawing on top-secret documents from deep inside the Kremlin, memoirs, and interviews in both Russia and the United States, David Hoffman introduces the scientists, soldiers, diplomats, and spies who saw the world sliding toward disaster and tells the gripping story of how Reagan, Gorbachev, and many others struggled to bring the madness to an end. When the Soviet Union dissolved, the danger continued, and the United States began a race against time to keep nuclear and biological weapons out of the hands of terrorists and and rogue states.
    Critic Reviews:
    "A stunning feat of research and narrative. Terrifying." (John le Carré)
    Members Reviews:
    Excellent and terrifying.
    Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
    If that friend has an interest in Cold War politics and the politics around WMD development and use (safe to say most do not) then absolutely.
    Have you listened to any of Bob Walters other performances before? How does this one compare?
    I have not. I have since purchased another book he narrated though, I enjoyed him.
    Any additional comments?
    The subject is a bit scary and I don't think a lot of people realize just how bad the USSR was at disposing of or securing their WMD as the collapse of their government happened.
    frightening beyond imagination
    one of the most frightening hisotrical accounts i listened to since the rise and fall of the thrid rich.I do not know what to say this story left me disturbed to the core, I mean litteraly a world ending semi automatic response to a "threat"! -I could not stop listning in the same way you just need to look at traffic accident. Moreover the accounts of the Soviet biowarfare program left an indellable mark on my conscience-In my opion this technology represents a much greater terror threat than the use of nuclear weapons-ponder this an engineered super germ resistant to all vaccienes and treatment without the teltale blast of a nuclear weapon. this isnt horror fantasy beacuse the Soviet war machine developed and deployed these nightmare weapons up unitl the 90's! As to the story and writting it was overall very good. However there was a bit of disjointment one second we are discussing some terrible secret bio weapon the next we are talking about removing short range nuclear missles from europe. I kind of felt that there was enough marrow in this account to write three seperate books instead of sewing three parallel histories into one volume.
    I would not hesitate to recomend this to anyone.
    9 hr 34 min

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