Current Affairs Audiobooks | Politics

[German] - HOW TO STAND UP TO A DICTATOR - Der Kampf um unsere Zukunft (Ungekürzt)

Meinungsfreiheit und freier Journalismus sind die schärfsten Waffen zur Verteidigung von Demokratien. Maria Ressa steht wie keine andere für den Kampf um die Wahrheit und gegen Hass und Gewalt. In ihrem Buch beschreibt sie, wie Demokratien durch Autokraten und Diktatoren ausgehöhlt werden - mittels sozialer Medien. Denn Facebook und Google dulden aus Profitgier Propaganda und Fake News. Ressa legt ein Netzwerk der Desinformation offen, das den ganzen Globus umspannt: von Dutertes Drogenkrieg über die Stürmung des Kapitols in Washington, vom Brexit bis zu Cyber-Kriegsführung durch Russland und China. Maria Ressas Recherche ist verstörend - und dringend notwendig. Gewinnerin des FRIEDENSNOBELPREISES 2021 und des UNESCO FREEDOM AWARD 2021

Maria Ressa (Author), Kordula Leiße (Narrator)

Audiobook

I Am the Famous Carlos: The Story of Carlos the Jackal, the World's First Celebrity Terrorist

He was the most wanted man in the world for decades. Carlos the Jackal, the Venezuelan-born terrorist, carried out a wave of attacks across Europe in the 1970s and 1980s. A ruthless self-proclaimed revolutionary and notorious womanizer, he claimed to fight for the Palestinian cause and communist ideology, but also worked as a mercenary for rogue regimes and organizations. After bursting onto the world stage with the 1975 OPEC siege in Vienna, where he took 60 hostages and killed three people, he managed to evade capture for two decades. Finally arrested in a daring raid in Sudan in 1994, he was brought to justice in France where he is serving three life sentences for his reign of terror. This is the riveting story of how a pudgy Caracas schoolboy became the world’s first celebrity terrorist.

Christina Hoag (Author), André G. Chapoy (Narrator)

Audiobook

Planes, Trains and Toilet Doors: 50 Places That Changed British Politics

‘’F *** ing brilliant. I would describe it as like a bag of political nuts – moreish and fabulously salty’ JOE LYCETT Planes, Trains and Toilet Doors is an entertaining and original romp through the highs and lows of British political history and the unlikely locations that have decided our national fate. Forget Westminster bust-ups and PMQs, some of the key events that have shaped modern British politics happened not in the cloisters of parliament or Downing Street’s many corridors of power, but in car parks, village halls and seaside resorts where the mundane have played host to the mighty. From Pitt the Younger’s Putney Heath duel to finding Margaret Thatcher a voice coach on a train, Harold Wilson’s ‘Scilly’ season holidays to John Major’s dental appointment clearing his path to No10 – these (and many more) are the places where chance meetings, untimely deaths and snap, sometimes daft, decisions changed the course of politics. Matt Chorley has spent almost two decades covering Westminster, interviewing prime ministers, mocking ministers and chronicling the serious, and sometimes unintentionally absurd, events which act as unlikely turning points in the direction of a nation. Illustrated by award-winning political cartoonist Morten Morland, Planes, Trains and Toilet Doors combines Matt’s insider-knowledge, smart analysis and detailed research with his background in comedy to create an hilarious history of how politics actually happens.

Matt Chorley (Author), Matt Chorley (Narrator)

Audiobook

Sedition Hunters: How January 6th Broke the Justice System

The January 6th attack is an unprecedented crime in American history. Sprawling and openly political, it can't be handled by the traditional rules and norms of law enforcement--threatening the very idea of justice and its role in society. The attack on the Capitol building following the 2020 election was an extraordinarily large and brazen crime. Conspiracies were formed on social media in full public view, the law-breakers paraded on national television with undisguised faces, and with outgoing President Donald Trump openly cheering them on. The basic concept of law enforcement--investigators find criminals and serve justice--quickly breaks down in the face of such an event. The system has been strained by the sheer volume of criminals and the widespread perception that what they did wasn't wrong. A mass of online tipsters--"sedition hunters"--have mobilized, simultaneously providing the FBI with valuable intelligence and creating an ethical dilemma. Who gets to serve justice? How can law enforcement still function as a pillar of civil society? As the foundations of our government are questioned, the FBI and Department of Justice are the first responders to a crisis of democracy and law that threatens to spread, and fast. In this work of extraordinary reportage, Ryan Reilly gets to know would-be revolutionaries, obsessive online sleuths, and FBI agents, and shines a light on a justice system that's straining to maintain order in our polarized country. From the moment the police barriers were breached on January 6th, 2021, Americans knew something had profoundly changed. Sedition Hunters is the fascinating, high-stakes story of what happens next.

Ryan J. Reilly (Author), Ryan J. Reilly (Narrator)

Audiobook

American Man: Speaking the Truth about the War on Masculinity

Fox News star Lawrence Jones delivers the common sense book America needs more than ever in this definitive takedown of the left's never-ending attacks on masculinity. A generation ago it was understood that men and women were unique, yet interdependent, and designed by God to be that way. Today, the woke crowd wants you to believe masculinity is "toxic." In his first book, Lawrence embarks on a thorough examination of who is doing the attacking and why. Informed by his travels across the country for Fox News, Lawrence explains how confused progressives are about manhood-and how powerful the need is to set the record straight. Men, he argues, are indispensable to thriving families and prosperous societies, and the sooner men start acting like men, the better off we all will be. Packed with stories from his own life and work, Lawrence makes a persuasive case for the virtues of manliness-courage, resilience, godliness, and self-reliance among others. Lawrence challenges his fellow men to live up to their responsibilities as men and to fill the cultural void woke ideologues have been happy to exploit. In confronting the chaos of contemporary culture, Lawrence is forced to reexamine his own beliefs as he spurs an honest discussion about what it means to be a man in America. The book also includes candid, never-before-shared interviews conducted by Lawrence of his Fox News colleagues, like Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Pete Hegseth, Will Cain, as well as other prominent voices like NFL great Ben Watson and actor Dean Cain. This insightful and uncompromising book from one of the country's fastest rising stars will enlighten and inspire readers-as it proves once and for all the crucial role men can and must play in American life today.

Lawrence Jones (Author), Lincoln Wright (Narrator)

Audiobook

Wrong: How Media, Politics, and Identity Drive Our Appetite for Misinformation

An engaging look at how American politics and media reinforce partisan identity and threaten democracy. Why are so many of us wrong about so much? From COVID-19 to climate change to the results of elections, millions of Americans believe things that are simply not true-and act based on these misperceptions. In Wrong: How Media, Politics, and Identity Drive Our Appetite for Misinformation, expert in media and politics Dannagal Goldthwaite Young offers a comprehensive model that illustrates how political leaders and media organizations capitalize on our social and cultural identities to separate, enrage, and-ultimately-mobilize us. Through a process of identity distillation encouraged by public officials, journalists, political and social media, Americans' political identities-how we think of ourselves as members of our political team-drive our belief in and demand for misinformation. It turns out that if being wrong allows us to comprehend the world, have control over it, or connect with our community, all in ways that serve our political team, then we don't want to be right. By understanding the dynamics that encourage identity distillation, Wrong explains how to reverse this dangerous trend and strengthen American democracy in the process.

Dannagal Goldthwaite Young (Author), Rachel Perry (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Canceling of the American Mind: How Cancel Culture Undermines Trust, Destroys Institutions, and

Brought to you by Penguin. A new way of thinking about cancel culture and the much-needed antidote for our dangerous and divisive times Cancel culture isn't just a moral panic: it erodes our ability to argue productively, listen generously and to be civil when we disagree. Whether on university campuses, in the workplace or on social media, it is a dysfunctional part of how individuals battle for power, status, and dominance. It's just one symptom of a much larger problem: why bother refuting your opponents, when you can just take away their platform or career? In this book, Lukianoff and Shlott analyze the pervasive effects of cancel culture, drawing on original research and data, along with hundreds of new examples showing how the left and the right both work to silence their enemies in different ways. Eye-opening, urgent and transformative, The Canceling of the American Mind offers concrete steps towards reclaiming a culture of free speech, with materials specifically tailored for parents, teachers, business leaders and all those who use social media. It shows how we can all harness intellectual humility to become more resilient and open minded. ©2023 Greg Lukianoff & Rikki Schlott (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Greg Lukianoff, Rikki Schlott (Author), Rikki Schlott (Narrator)

Audiobook

How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement

An eye-opening exploration of American policy reform, or lack thereof, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement and how the country can do better in the future. In 2020, while the Covid-19 pandemic raged, the United States was hit by a ripple of political discontent the likes of which had not been seen since the 1960s. The spark was the viral video of the horrific police murder of an unarmed Black man in Minneapolis. The killing of George Floyd galvanized a nation already reeling from Covid and a toxic political cycle. Tens of thousands poured into the streets to protest. Major corporations and large nonprofit groups—institutions that are usually resolutely apolitical—raced to join in. The fervor for racial justice intersected with the already simmering demands for change from the #MeToo movement and for economic justice from Gen Z. The entire country suddenly seemed to be roaring for change in one voice. Then nothing much happened. In How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement, Fredrik deBoer explores why these passionate movements failed and how they could succeed in the future. In the digital age, social movements flare up but then lose steam through a lack of tangible goals, the inherent moderating effects of our established institutions and political parties, and the lack of any real grassroots movement in contemporary America. Hidden beneath the rhetoric of the oppressed and the symbolism of the downtrodden lies the inconvenient fact that those doing the organizing, messaging, protesting, and campaigning are predominantly drawn from this country's more upwardly mobile educated classes. Poses are more important than policies. DeBoer lays out an alternative vision for how society's winners can contribute to social justice movements without taking them over, and how activists and their organizations can become more resistant to the influence of elites, nonprofits, corporations, and political parties. Only by organizing around class rather than empty gestures can we begin the hard work of changing minds and driving policy.

Fredrik Deboer (Author), Sean Patrick Hopkins (Narrator)

Audiobook

Thanks for Your Service: The Causes and Consequences of Public Confidence in the US Military

A definitive study on the decades-long run of high public confidence in the military and why it may rest on some shaky foundations. What explains the high levels of public confidence in the US military and does high confidence matter? In Thanks for Your Service, the eminent civil-military relations scholar Peter D. Feaver addresses this question and focuses on what it means for the military. Proprietary survey data show that confidence is partly based on public beliefs about the military's high competence, adherence to high professional ethics, and a determination to stand apart from the bitter divisions of partisan politics. However, as Feaver argues, confidence is also shaped by a partisan gap and by social desirability bias, the idea that some individuals express confidence in the military because they believe that is the socially approved attitude to hold. Not only does Feaver help us understand how and why the public has confidence in the military, but he also exposes problems that policymakers need to be aware of. Specifically, this book traces how confidence in the institution shapes public attitudes on the use of force and may not always reinforce best practices in democratic civil-military relations.

Peter D. Feaver (Author), Lee Goettl (Narrator)

Audiobook

Saved at the Seawall: Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift

Saved at the Seawall is the definitive history of the largest ever waterborne evacuation. Jessica DuLong reveals the dramatic story of how the New York Harbor maritime community heroically delivered stranded commuters, residents, and visitors out of harm's way. Even before the US Coast Guard called for 'all available boats,' tugs, ferries, dinner boats, and other vessels had sped to the rescue from points all across New York Harbor. In less than nine hours, captains and crews transported nearly half a million people from Manhattan. Anchored in eyewitness accounts and written by a mariner who served at Ground Zero, Saved at the Seawall weaves together the personal stories of people rescued that day with those of the mariners who saved them. DuLong describes the inner workings of New York Harbor and reveals the collaborative power of its close-knit community. Her chronicle of those crucial hours, when hundreds of thousands of lives were at risk, highlights how resourcefulness and basic human goodness triumphed over turmoil on one of America's darkest days.

Jessica Dulong (Author), Patricia Santomasso (Narrator)

Audiobook

Save the Planet

This audiobook has been recorded using Text to speech (TTS). Ever since the end of the Black Death in 1350 the human population has been growing continuously at an alarming rate and there is no sign of it stopping anytime soon. The biggest increase has been in most recent times. From the 1950's onward and due largely to medical advancement and the increase in agricultural productivity, the rate of increase has been significant. This in itself should tell us something. That this is a modern problem created recently and we have no precedent, no history to work upon. We don't know exactly what is going to happen. We don't know if a super virus will come along again as it did in 1918 and kill millions of people. We don't know if we will eat ourselves into mass extinction. We don't know if the destruction of natural species such as bees will seal our fate. We don't know if an asteroid will wipe us out or even artificial intelligence. We do know that overpopulation, no matter which way you look at it, is not good. We do know that we are running out of fossil fuels, food supplies, methods of producing more and more power and space. What does the future hold for a planet that is swarming in two-legged locusts hell bent on devouring every possible resource the Earth has to offer?

Raphael Terra (Author), Synthetic Voice (tts) (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time

Brought to you by Penguin. The origins, consequences and limitations of an ideology that has quickly become highly influential around the world. For much of their history, societies have violently oppressed ethnic, religious and sexual minorities. It is no surprise then that many who passionately believe in social justice have come to believe that members of marginalized groups need to take pride in their identity if they are to resist injustice. But over the past decades, a healthy appreciation for the culture and heritage of minorities has transformed into an obsession with group identity in all its forms. A new ideology - which Yascha Mounk terms the 'identity synthesis' - seeks to put each citizen's matrix of identities at the heart of social, cultural and political life. This, he argues, is The Identity Trap. Mounk traces the intellectual origin of these ideas. He tells the story of how they were able to win tremendous power over the past decade. And he makes a nuanced case why their application to areas from education to public policy is proving to be deeply counterproductive. In his passionate plea for universalism and humanism, he argues that the proponents of identitarian ideas will, though they may be full of good intentions, make it harder to achieve progress towards genuine equality. © Yascha Mounk 2023 (P) Penguin Audio 2023

Yascha Mounk (Author), Jd Jackson (Narrator)

Audiobook

Current Affairs Audiobooks in Politics