Current Affairs Audiobooks | Politics

In the face of modern conditions, revolution is inevitable. The rampant inequality that exists between the political and corporate elites and the struggling masses; the destruction wreaked upon our environment by faceless, careless corporations; the steady stripping away of our civil liberties and the creation of a monstrous surveillance system-all of these have combined to spark a profound revolutionary moment. Corporate capitalists, dismissive of the popular will, do not see the fires they are igniting. In Wages of Rebellion, Chris Hedges-a renowned chronicler of the malaise and sickness of a society in terminal moral decline-investigates what social and psychological factors cause revolution and resistance. Focusing on the stories of radicals and dissenters from around the world and throughout history, and drawing on an ambitious overview of prominent philosophers, historians, and novelists, Hedges explores what it takes to be a rebel in modern times. Hedges, using a term coined by the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, cites

Chris Hedges (Author), David De Vries, David DeVries (Narrator)

Audiobook

ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror

Initially dismissed by US President Barack Obama, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has shocked the world by conquering massive territories in both countries and promising to create a vast new Muslim caliphate that observes the strict dictates of Sharia law. In ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, American journalist Michael Weiss and Syrian analyst Hassan Hassan explain how these violent extremists evolved from a nearly defeated Iraqi insurgent group into a jihadi army of international volunteers who have conquered territory equal to the size of Great Britain. Drawing on original interviews with former US military officials and current ISIS fighters, the authors also reveal the internecine struggles within the movement itself, as well as ISIS's bloody hatred of Shiite Muslims, which is generating another sectarian war in the region. Past is prologue and America's legacy in the Middle East is sowing a new generation of terror.

Hassan Hassan, Michael Weiss (Author), Qarie Marshall (Narrator)

Audiobook

End of Discussion: How the Left's Outrage Industry Shuts Down Debate, Manipulates Voters, and Makes

They want to shut you up. But don't let this be the End of Discussion. In this fresh and provocative new book, Mary Katharine Ham and Guy Benson, dynamic Fox News and Townhall Media duo, expose how the Left exploits fake outrage to silence their political opponents-in public, on social media, at work, and even in their own homes. End of Discussion encourages all Americans who value the open exchange of ideas to fight back against this strategic effort to make America less free, less feisty, and less fun. Ham and Benson demonstrate just how dangerous the outrage industry-a coalition of mostly liberal blowhards and busybodies-is to democracy. This media frenzy is designed to disqualify opposing viewpoints on everything from health care to infrastructure to education by labeling them racist, sexist, and evil. They punish speech that makes them uncomfortable, demanding boycotts, firings, regulations, and other economic costs for the sin of disagreeing with them. Instead of engaging in discussion, they seek to win the debate by preventing it from happening. And if you think this behavior is relegated to political fights or politicians, think again. A network of well-trained operatives, nonprofit groups, PR firms, universities, politicians, and "thought leaders" exists to foment outrage over your association with the "wrong" fried chicken joints, Internet browsers, breast cancer charities, pasta, children's toys, Halloween costumes, TV shows, schools, and even comedians' jokes. With Ham and Benson's help, readers can cut through the noise and find their voices again, fighting back against the rampant self-censorship and hair-trigger apologies that always make things worse, not better. With fresh reporting and insightful, occasionally tongue-in-cheek, analysis, End of Discussion is a timely handbook for anyone who wants to make sure debate doesn't meet an ugly death during the 2016 election. Despite President Obama's frequent declarations to the contrary, the time for debate is not over.

Guy Benson, Mary Katharine Ham (Author), Guy Benson, Mary Katharine Ham (Narrator)

Audiobook

In the Skin of a Jihadist: A Young Journalist Enters the ISIS Recruitment Network

The riveting personal story of a young French journalist who goes undercover and gets dangerously close to a key member of ISIS On Facebook, Melodie, a twenty-year-old convert to Islam living with her mother and sister in Toulouse, meets Bilel, a French-born, high-ranking militant for the Islamic State in Syria. Within days, Bilel falls in love with Melodie, and Skypes her repeatedly, urging her to come to Syria, marry him, and do jihad. But Melodie is actually Anna Erelle, a Paris-based journalist investigating the recruitment channels of the Islamic State, whose digital propaganda constitutes one of its most formidable and frightening weapons, successfully mobilizing increasing numbers of young Europeans. In this mesmerizing true story, Erelle chronicles her intense monthlong relationship with Bilel, who turns out to be none other than the right-hand man of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of ISIS. Impatient for Melodie to join him, Bilel tells her that, according to an imam he has consulted, they are already all but married, and will be officially when she arrives in Syria. As she embarks on the final, most perilous stage of her investigation, Melodie leaves for Amsterdam to begin her journey to the Middle East. But things go terribly wrong. A gripping and often harrowing inquiry into the factors that motivate young people to join extremist causes, In the Skin of a Jihadist is a page-turner that helps us better understand the appeal of extremism.

Anna Erelle, Erin Potter (Author), Anonymous (Narrator)

Audiobook

Agent Storm: My Life Inside al-Qaeda

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Agent Storm: My Life Inside al-Qaeda by Morten Storm with Tim Lister and Paul Cruckshanks. Read by Neil Shah. He was the Western convert who would plunge deep inside al-Qaeda. He named his first son Osama after 9/11 and became a Jihadist. But then - after a sudden loss of faith - Morten Storm made a life-changing decision. He became a double agent and joined the CIA, MI6 and MI5. Filled with hair-raising close calls and deception, Storm's story builds to the climactic finale when he must betray his friend and mentor al-Awlaki - al-Qaeda's biggest threat to the West. Storm is trusted to find al-Awlaki a wife from Europe. She becomes the bait for a possible American drone strike.

Morten Storm, Paul Cruickshank, Tim Lister (Author), Neil Shah (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Brothers: The Road to an American Tragedy

An important story for our era: How the American Dream went wrong for two immigrants, and the nightmare that resulted. On April 15, 2013, two homemade bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston marathon, killing three people and wounding more than 264 others. In the ensuing manhunt, Tamerlan Tsarnaev died, and his younger brother, Dzhokhar, was captured and ultimately charged on thirty federal counts. Yet long after the bombings and the terror they sowed, after all the testimony and debate, what we still haven’t learned is why. Why did the American Dream go so wrong for two immigrants? How did such a nightmare come to pass? Acclaimed Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen is uniquely endowed with the background, access, and talents to tell the full story. An immigrant herself, who came to the Boston area with her family as a teenager, she returned to the former Soviet Union in her early twenties and covered firsthand the transformations that were wracking her homeland and its neighboring regions. It is there that the history of the Tsarnaev brothers truly begins, as descendants of ethnic Chechens deported to Central Asia in the Stalin era. Gessen follows the family in their futile attempts to make a life for themselves in one war-torn locale after another and then, as new émigrés, in the looking-glass, utterly disorienting world of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Most crucially, she reconstructs the struggle between assimilation and alienation that ensued for each of the brothers, incubating a deadly sense of mission. And she traces how such a split in identity can fuel the metamorphosis into a new breed of homegrown terrorist, with feet on American soil but sense of self elsewhere.

Masha Gessen (Author), Hillary Huber (Narrator)

Audiobook

End the IRS Before It Ends Us: How to Restore a Low Tax, High Growth, Wealthy America

As the recent scandal shows, the IRS is big, bad, and out of control. Grover Norquist analyzes the problems within the agency and presents solutions to rein them in. The driving force behind the American Revolution was our forefathers' refusal to accept unfair taxation. Citizens rose up, won a war against impossible odds, and established the most unique government on the face of the earth, with taxes set at about 2 percent. How much has changed since 1776? The strength of Americans resolve is still unrivaled, and Grover Norquist, founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, knows that once liberty-loving Americans learn the truth behind the oppressive and prosperity-stifling taxes we face today, they'll rise up again. Urging his fellow citizens to join him, Norquist tells a powerful and urgent story that will convince you we must act now to END THE IRS BEFORE IT ENDS US.

Grover Norquist (Author), Grover Norquist (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Conservatarian Manifesto

There is an underserved movement budding among young conservatives, in which fiscal responsibility and controlled government spending remain crucial tenets, but issues like gay marriage and drug control are approached with a libertarian bent.The ideas of this growing wave need a public, nuanced voice. The implications for the Republican party if this philosophy is more widely adopted may not only spur major change within the party, but could also revitalize its chances of claiming more power in our government. Author Charles Cooke has coined the term 'conservatarian' for this group, and The Conservatarian Manifesto is his explanation of what defines this new breed of Republican, what they believe on every hot-button issue of our day, and how they can effect change within the GOP. This audiobook is a blueprint of action and ideology for the growing population of socially liberal, fiscally conservative young members of the political Right.

Charles C. W. Cooke (Author), Charles C. W. Cooke (Narrator)

Audiobook

Inside ISIS: The Brutal Rise of a Terrorist Army

A year ago, few people had heard of ISIS-- today, they are a major terrorist threat. Despite numerous warnings from intelligence services, ISIS's rise to power has left countries around the world floundering for solutions. Today, we face a threat that is more violent, powerful and financially stronger than ever before. In this book, Journalist Benjamin Hall will provide insights by answering the basic questions we still don't have the answers to; Who are they? Where did they come from? How are they so successful, so quickly? How can they be stopped? By embedding himself behind enemy lines, Hall provides a riveting narrative based on firsthand experience and personal interviews. He goes beyond the vicious jihadis, to reveal a generation of chaos, and uncover a volatile region engulfed in turmoil. Hall reveals why ISIS is a problem that will define the Middle East - and the West - for decades to come.

Benjamin Hall (Author), Chris Kayser (Narrator)

Audiobook

ISIS: The State of Terror

The Islamic State, known as ISIS, exploded into the public eye in 2014 with startling speed and shocking brutality. It has captured the imagination of the global jihadist movement, attracting recruits in unprecedented numbers and wreaking bloody destruction with a sadistic glee that has alienated even the hardcore terrorists of its parent organization, al Qaeda. Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger, two of America's leading experts on terrorism, dissect the new model for violent extremism that ISIS has leveraged into an empire of death in Iraq and Syria, and an international network that is rapidly expanding in the Middle East, North Africa and around the world. ISIS: The State of Terror traces the ideological innovations that the group deploys to recruit unprecedented numbers of Westerners, the composition of its infamous snuff videos, and the technological tools it exploits on social media to broadcast its atrocities, and its recruiting pitch to the world, including its success at attracting thousands of Western adherents. The authors examine ISIS's predatory abuse of women and children and its use of horror to manipulate world leaders and its own adherents as it builds its twisted society. The authors offer a much-needed perspective on how world leaders should prioritize and respond to ISIS's deliberate and insidious provocations.

J. M. Berger, Jessica Stern (Author), Ray Porter (Narrator)

Audiobook

ISIS: The State of Terror

The first major book on ISIS to be published since the group exploded on the international stage in summer 2014. Drawing on their unusual access to intelligence sources and material, law enforcement, and groundbreaking research into open source intelligence, Stern and Berger outline the origins of ISIS as the formidable terrorist group it has quickly become. 'State of Terror' delves into the 'ghoulish pornography' of pro-jihadi videos, the seductive appeal of 'jihadi chic' and the startling effectiveness of the Islamic State's use of social media as a means of luring and recruiting citizens from countries such as the United States, Great Britain, and France-using recent examples such as Douglas McCain, the American citizen from Minnesota who joined ISIS and died in combat fighting on the side of the Islamic State. Although the picture Stern and Berger paint is bleak, 'State of Terror' also offers well-informed thoughts on potential government responses to ISIS - most importantly, emphasizing that we must alter our present conceptions of terrorism and react to the rapidly changing jihadi landscape, both online and off, as quickly as the terrorists do. 'State of Terror: Jihad in the 21st Century' is not only a compelling account of the evolution of a terrorist organization, but also a necessary book that attempts to answer the question of what our next move - as a country, as a government, as the world - should be.

J. M. Berger, Jessica Stern (Author), Ray Porter (Narrator)

Audiobook

Going to Pot: Why the Rush to Legalize Marijuana Is Harming America

William J. Bennett, former director of the National Drug Control policy under President George H.W. Bush and bestselling author of The Book of Virtues, and co-author Robert White provide strong societal and scientific arguments against the legalization of marijuana. Marijuana, once considered worthy of condemnation, has in recent years become a "medicine," legalized fully in four states, with others expected to follow. But the dangers are clear. According to Bennett's research, more Americans are admitted to treatment facilities for marijuana use than for any other illegal drug. Studies have shown a link between marijuana use and abnormal brain structure and development. From William Bennett comes a call-to-action for the 46 states that know better than to support full legalization, and a voice of reason for millions who have jumped on the legalization bandwagon because they haven't had access to the facts.

Robert A. White, William J. Bennett (Author), Kevin Stillwell (Narrator)

Audiobook

Current Affairs Audiobooks in Politics