Current Affairs Audiobooks | Politics

The Killing of Osama Bin Laden Audiobook

Electrifying investigation of White House lies about the assassination of Osama bin Laden In 2011, an elite group of US Navy SEALS stormed an enclosure in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad and killed Osama bin Laden, the man the United States had begun chasing before the devastating attacks of 9/11. The news did much to boost President Obama's first term and played a major part in his reelection victory of the following year. But much of the story of that night, as presented to the world, was incomplete, or a lie. The evidence of what actually went on remains hidden. At the same time, the full story of the United States' involvement in the Syrian civil war has been kept behind a diplomatic curtain, concealed by doublespeak. It is a policy of obfuscation that has compelled the White House to turn a blind eye to Turkey's involvement in supporting ISIS and its predecessors in Syria. This investigation, which began as a series of essays in the London Review of Books, has ignited a firestorm of controversy in the world media. In his introduction, Hersh asks what will be the legacy of Obama's time in office. Was it an era of change we can believe in or a season of lies and compromises that continued George W. Bush's misconceived War on Terror? How did he lose the confidence of the general in charge of America's forces who acted in direct contradiction to the White House? What else do we not know?

Seymour M. Hersh (Author), Eric Jason Martin, Eric Martin (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Hacked World Order: How Nations Fight, Trade, Maneuver, and Manipulate in the Digital Age

The Internet today connects roughly 2.7 billion people around the world, and booming interest in the "Internet of things" could result in 75 billion devices connected to the web by 2020. The myth of cyberspace as a digital utopia has long been put to rest. Governments are increasingly developing smarter ways of asserting their national authority in cyberspace in an effort to control the flow, organization, and ownership of information. In The Hacked World Order, Adam Segal shows how governments use the web to wage war and spy on, coerce, and damage each other. Israel is intent on derailing the Iranian nuclear weapons program. India wants to prevent Pakistani terrorists from using their Blackberries to coordinate attacks. Brazil has plans to lay new fiber cables and develop satellite links so its Internet traffic no longer has to pass through Miami. China does not want to be dependent on the West for its technology needs. These new digital conflicts have as yet posed no physical threat-no one has ever died from a cyberattack-but they serve to undermine the integrity of complex systems like power grids, financial institutions, and security networks. Segal describes how cyberattacks have the potential to produce unintended and unimaginable problems for anyone with an Internet connection and an email account. State-backed hacking initiatives can shut down, sabotage trade strategies, steal intellectual property, sow economic chaos, and paralyze whole countries.The Hacked World Order exposes how the Internet has ushered in a new era of geopolitical maneuvering and reveals its tremendous and terrifying implications for our economic livelihood, security, and personal identity.

Adam Segal (Author), Don Hagen (Narrator)

Audiobook

Jihad Academy: The Rise of Islamic State

A former Islamic State hostage and veteran Middle East journalist explores misperceptions of Islamic State and their consequences. For more than a decade, French journalist Nicolas Hénin has reported from the front lines of conflict in the Middle East, much of his time spent in Iraq and Syria. He witnessed the events leading to the rise of Islamic State, and in June 2013, he was himself captured by IS and spent ten months in captivity with James Foley and others who were beheaded soon after Hénin was released. Those barbarities and the first strikes against Islamic State prompted Hénin to present in Jihad Academy what he knows IS to be, in contrast to the misperceptions he sees perpetuated on an ongoing basis. Hénin sees Islamic State as a political entity, having arisen out of a sense of injustice and lack of hope and as the natural result of the Western inability to support Syrian democracy activists. The West, however, sees IS only as a terrorist organization, ignoring its political message and goals; by doing so, we act as a recruitment agent for Islamic State and largely overlook the greatest victims of IS violence: civilians on the ground. IS will only be ultimately defeated, he argues, by the people of the region, just as others have overthrown groups that practiced political violence on their people. Jihad Academy is a fresh and powerful assessment by a writer with the perspective of a historian, the passion of a journalist long committed to the region, and the credibility of someone who has witnessed terrorism firsthand. Hénin's is an important new voice in the ongoing debate about our role in the Middle East. "A brave and selfless book...offers plenty of lessons...It establishes, interspersing current events with a historical perspective, that attempts to divide communities on religion are a recipe for disaster."-Times of India (Mumbai)

Nicolas Hénin (Author), Malcolm Hillgartner (Narrator)

Audiobook

ISIS: A History

The Islamic State has stunned the world with its savagery, destructiveness, and military and recruiting successes. What explains the rise of ISIS and what does it portend for the future of the Middle East? In this book, one of the world's leading authorities on political Islam and jihadism sheds new light on these questions as he provides a unique history of the rise and growth of ISIS. Moving beyond journalistic accounts, Fawaz Gerges provides a clear and compelling account of the deeper conditions that fuel ISIS. The book describes how ISIS emerged in the chaos of Iraq following the 2003 U.S. invasion, how the group was strengthened by the suppression of the Arab Spring and by the war in Syria, and how ISIS seized leadership of the jihadist movement from Al Qaeda. Part of a militant Sunni revival, ISIS claims its goals are to resurrect a caliphate and rid "Islamic lands" of all Shia and other minorities. In contrast to Al Qaeda, ISIS initially focused on the "near enemy"-Shia, the Iraqi and Syrian regimes, and secular, pro-Western states in the Middle East. But in a tactical shift ISIS has now taken responsibility for spectacular attacks in Europe and other places beyond the Middle East, making it clear that the group is increasingly interested in targeting the "far enemy" as well. Ultimately, the book shows how decades of dictatorship, poverty, and rising sectarianism in the Middle East, exacerbated by foreign intervention, led to the rise of ISIS-and why addressing those problems is the only way to ensure its end. An authoritative introduction to arguably the most important conflict in the world today, this is an essential book for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the social turmoil and political violence ravaging the Arab-Islamic world.

Fawaz A. Gerges (Author), Bradley Hayes (Narrator)

Audiobook

United States of Jihad: Investigating America's Homegrown Terrorists

A riveting, panoramic look at "homegrown" Islamist terrorism from 9/11 to the present Since 9/11, more than three hundred Americans - born and raised in Minnesota, Alabama, New Jersey, and elsewhere - have been indicted or convicted of terrorism charges. Some have taken the fight abroad: an American was among those who planned the attacks in Mumbai, and more than eighty U.S. citizens have been charged with ISIS-related crimes. Others have acted on American soil, as with the attacks at Fort Hood, the Boston Marathon, and in San Bernardino. What motivates them, how are they trained, and what do we sacrifice in our efforts to track them? Paced like a detective story, United States of Jihad tells the entwined stories of the key actors on the American front. Among the perpetrators are Anwar al-Awlaki, the New Mexico-born radical cleric who became the first American citizen killed by a CIA drone and who mentored the Charlie Hebdo shooters; Samir Khan, whose Inspire webzine has rallied terrorists around the world, including the Tsarnaev brothers; and Omar Hammami, an Alabama native and hip hop fan who became a fixture in al Shabaabs propaganda videos until fatally displeasing his superiors. Drawing on his extensive network of intelligence contacts, from the National Counterterrorism Center and the FBI to the NYPD, Peter Bergen also offers an inside look at the controversial tactics of the agencies tracking potential terrorists - from infiltrating mosques to massive surveillance; at the bias experienced by innocent observant Muslims at the hands of law enforcement; at the critics and defenders of U.S. policies on terrorism; and at how social media has revolutionized terrorism. Lucid and rigorously researched, United States of Jihad is an essential new analysis of the Americans who have embraced militant Islam both here and abroad. From the Hardcover edition.

Peter Bergen (Author), Nicholas Guy Smith (Narrator)

Audiobook

Zero Footprint: The True Story of a Private Military Contractor's Covert Assignments in Syria, Libya

NATIONAL BESTSELLER A dramatic insider account of the world of private military contracting.Armored cars, burner phones, top-notch weaponry and top-secret missions--this is the life of today's private military contractor. Like author Simon Chase, many PMCs were once the world's top military operatives, and since retiring from outfits like US Navy SEAL TEAM Six and the UK's Special Boat Service, they have devoted their lives to executing sensitive and hazardous missions overseas.Working at the request of U.S. and British government entities as well as for private clients, he takes on jobs that require "zero footprint," with no trace of their actions left behind.Chase delivers first-hand accounts of tracking Bin Laden in Afghanistan and being one of the first responders after the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. We see his teams defuse terrorist bombs, guard dignitaries, and protect convoys traveling through perilous territory--and then there are the really big jobs: top-secret "zero footprint" missions that include searching for High Value Targets and setting up arms shipping networks.The missions in Zero Footprint will shock readers, but so will the personal dangers. Chase and the men he works with operate without government backup or air rescue. If they die serving their country--they remain anonymous. There are no military honors or benefits. Contractors like Simon Chase are the unsung heroes in the war against terrorism, a strong, but largely invisible force--until now.

Ralph Pezzullo, Simon Chase (Author), Eric Brooks (Narrator)

Audiobook

Too Dumb to Fail: How the GOP Betrayed the Reagan Revolution to Win Elections (and How It Can Reclai

From a leading voice among young conservatives, an impassioned argument that to stay relevant the Republican Party must look beyond short-term electoral gains and re-commit to historic conservative values. In 1963 Richard Hofstadter published his landmark book Anti-Intellectualism in American Life. Today, Matt Lewis argues, America's inclination toward simplicity and stupidity is stronger than ever, and its greatest victim is the Republican Party. Lewis, a respected conservative columnist and frequent guest on MSNBC's Morning Joe, eviscerates the phenomenon of candidates with a "no experience required" mentality and tea party "patriots" who possess bluster but few core beliefs. Lewis traces the conservative movement's roots, from Edmund Burke to William F. Buckley, and from Goldwater's loss to Reagan's landslide victory. He highlights visionary thinkers who understood nuance and deep ideology and changed the course of the nation. As we approach the 2016 presidential election, Lewis has an urgent message for fellow conservatives: embrace wisdom, humility, qualifications, and inclusion--or face extinction.

Matt K. Lewis (Author), Matt K. Lewis (Narrator)

Audiobook

Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity

Inequality is a choice.The United States bills itself as the land of opportunity, a place where anyone can achieve success and a better life through hard work and determination. But the facts tell a different story - the U.S. today lags behind most other developed nations in measures of inequality and economic mobility. For decades, wages have stagnated for the majority of workers while economic gains have disproportionately gone to the top one percent. Education, housing, and health care - essential ingredients for individual success - are growing ever more expensive. Deeply rooted structural discrimination continues to hold down women and people of color, and more than one-fifth of all American children now live in poverty. These trends are on track to become even worse in the future.Some economists claim that todays bleak conditions are inevitable consequences of market outcomes, globalization, and technological progress. If we want greater equality, they argue, we have to sacrifice growth. This is simply not true. American inequality is the result of misguided structural rules that actually constrict economic growth. We have stripped away worker protections and family support systems, created a tax system that rewards short-term gains over long-term investment, offered a de facto public safety net to too-big-to-fail financial institutions, and chosen monetary and fiscal policies that promote wealth over full employment.

Joseph E Stiglitz, Joseph E. Stiglitz (Author), Fred Sanders (Narrator)

Audiobook

Sold Out: How High-Tech Billionaires & Bipartisan Beltway Crapweasels Are Screwing America's Best &

In Sold Out, Michelle Malkin and John Miano show you who are the worst perpetrators screwing American workers -- and how and why they’re doing it, and what we must do to stop them. In this book, they will name names and expose the lies of those who corrupt America's free capitalist system. For example: LIE NUMBER ONE: America is suffering from an apocalyptic “shortage” of science, technology, engineering, and math workers. LIE NUMBER TWO: U.S. companies cannot function without an unlimited injection of the most “highly skilled” and “highly educated” foreign workers, who offer intellectual capital and entrepreneurial energy that American workers can’t match. LIE NUMBER THREE: America’s best and brightest talents are protected because employers are required to demonstrate that they’ve made every effort to hire American citizens before resorting to foreign labor. LIE NUMBER FOUR: If politicians don’t give in to American companies’ demands for a massive foreign labor pipeline, they’ll be forced to send American jobs overseas. Sold Out shows how everything you've been taught about outsourcing and offshoring is a lie. For too long, these corporations have escaped tough public scrutiny of their means and motives. This book is not only an indictment of political corruption in Washington, but also of the journalistic malpractice that enables it. It’s time to trade the whitewash for solvent. American workers deserve better and the American public deserves the unvarnished truth.

John Miano, Michelle Malkin (Author), Juliet St. John (Narrator)

Audiobook

Hunting Season: James Foley, ISIS, and the Kidnapping Campaign that Started a War

Based on his groundbreaking reporting for Vanity Fair, Hunting Season is award-winning journalist James Harkin's harrowing investigation into the abduction, captivity, and execution of James Foley, at the hands of the masked militant known as "Jihadi John" (Mohammed Emwazi), and the fate of more than two-dozen other ISIS hostages. On August 19, 2014, the jihadist rebel group known as ISIS uploaded a video to YouTube. Entitled "Message to America," the clip depicted the final moments of American journalist James Foley's life--and the gruesome aftermath of his beheading at the hands of a masked executioner. Foley's murder--and the choreographed killings that would follow--captured the world's attention, and the Islamic State's kidnapping campaign exploded into war. Hunting Season is a riveting account of how the world's newest and most powerful terror franchise came to target Western hostages, who was behind it, and why almost no one knew about it until it was too late.

James Harkin (Author), Paula Fox (Narrator)

Audiobook

Stealing America: What My Experience with Criminal Gangs Taught Me About Obama, Hillary, and the Dem

What do the Democratic Party and a gang of criminals have in common? Funny you should ask! In the fall of 2014, outspoken pundit, author, and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza found himself hauled into federal court for improperly donating money to a friend who was running for the Senate. D’Souza pleaded guilty, apologized for his offense, and was sentenced to eight months in a state-run confinement center near his home in San Diego. In the facility, he lived among hardened criminals—drug dealers, thieves, gangbangers, rapists, and murderers. Now, in this timely, fresh, provocative, and entertaining book, the bestselling author explains how this experience not only changed his life, but fundamentally transformed his perception of his adopted country. Previously, D’Souza had seen America through the eyes of a grateful immigrant who came here as a student and became successful by applying and defending conservative principles. Again and again, D’Souza made the case that America is an exceptional nation, fundamentally fair and just. But his prolonged exposure to the criminal underclass provided an eye-opening education in American realities. In the view of hardened criminals, America is anything but fair and just. Instead, it is a jungle in which various armed gangs face off against one another, with the biggest and most powerful gangs inhabiting the federal government. Applying this hardboiled perspective to American politics, D’Souza saw that America is becoming less exceedingly exceptional every day. Indeed, it is in danger of becoming just like India and other corrupt third world nations, run by gangs of kleptocrats. As for American liberalism, it is not a movement of ideas at all; it is but a series of scams and cons aimed at nothing less than stealing the wealth of the American people. With biting wit and literary brio, D’Souza describes these liberal cons and the rationales and methods used to justify and execute them. Stealing America is a vital wake-up call for Americans who still believe that theirs is an exceptional nation.

Dinesh D'Souza (Author), Andrew Klavan, Dinesh D'Souza (Narrator)

Audiobook

'Wir werden gewinnen': Frankreich

Die Attentäter von Paris zielten auf ein junges, lässiges Paris und meinten unser aller Alltag in der offenen Gesellschaft: Ein falscher Frühling beherrscht Paris im November, seit Wochen ist das Wetter mild, die Abende sind lau, die Straßen belebt, die Terrassen voll, als käme nicht bald der Winter. In leichten Jacken sitzen 80 000 Menschen unter freiem Himmel im Stade de France, als sich am vergangenen Freitag die heimische und die deutsche Fußball-Nationalmannschaft zu den Hymnen am Mittelkreis aufstellen. Die Marseillaise erklingt, das alte Kriegslied, Frankreichs Hymne: '... Gegen uns wurde der Tyrannei blutiges Banner erhoben! Hört ihr im Land das Brüllen der grausamen Krieger? Sie rücken uns auf den Leib, eure Söhne, eure Frauen zu köpfen!' Historische Verse, sie werden gleich auf grauenhafte Weise aktuell. Dies ist die Vertonung des Titelthemas der SPIEGEL-Ausgabe 48/2015. Sie entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit der Deutschen Blindenstudienanstalt e.V.

Der Spiegel (Author), Deutsche Blindenstudienanstalt E.V. (Narrator)

Audiobook

Current Affairs Audiobooks in Politics