Global Politics Audiobooks | Politics

Saving Sam: The True Story of an American's Disappearance in Syria and His Family's Extraordinary Fi

A gripping testament of resilience, family, and faith, this is the incredible and true story of an American traveler who was captured and wrongfully imprisoned in Syria while on a journey to experience every country in the world. What would you do if your son suddenly disappeared in Syria, and you had no idea what had happened to him? Would you contact the FBI? The State Department? Pray? Would you Google "What to do if your son disappears in Syria"? When the unthinkable happened, the answer, in the case of Ann Goodwin and her husband Tag, was: all of the above. Their 30-year-old son Sam, who was attempting to become one of the few people in history to travel to every single country on the planet, vanished in a supposed safe-zone run by the Kurds on the Turkish border. At first, they didn't even realize he had been abducted: maybe the phone reception had gone down, they told themselves, as had happened plenty of times before when Sam was in an off-the-beaten-path place. Just wait, he'll call back soon. But Sam never did call back, and over the coming days, the horror of their situation quickly bore down on the Goodwins, a devout Catholic family of seven living a middle-class suburban lifestyle in St. Louis, Missouri. Frustrated and increasingly terrified, the Goodwin's came to realize that they couldn't rely on their government to save Sam. They were going to have to do it themselves. This is the extraordinary story of Sam's abduction by the Syrian regime, who threatened to hand him over to ISIS for beheading if he did not confess to being a CIA spy. It's also the story of a Midwestern American family who transformed themselves into their own detective agency, building up a network of journalists, hostage negotiators, Middle East experts, Russian diplomats, Vatican envoys, and shady mercenaries, until eventually - by nothing short of a miracle - they found a secret backdoor into the heart of the Syrian intelligence service itself. Through multiple first-person narrators, Saving Sam recounts an inspiring and unforgettable saga that includes a travel journey to every country in the world, famous celebrities, heads of state, high-stakes diplomacy and critical life lessons around curiosity, uncertainty, prayer and what it ultimately means to be free. In a genuine, straightforward and sometimes humorous style, Sam draws on his experience as a hostage to demonstrate how we can all turn our own adversities into assets, whether it be in our personal, professional or spiritual lives.

Sam Goodwin (Author), Aaran Abano, Barbara Henslee, Erin Deward, Jonathan Todd Ross, Sam Goodwin, Tbd (Narrator)

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The Island: The Making and Unmaking of Modern Puerto Rico

NBC News Senior White House Correspondent Gabe Gutierrez offers a forceful, necessary exposé on the precarious realities and politics of modern Puerto Rico, detailing the decade of financial exploitation, federal negligence, and American ambivalence that pushed the most populous US territory to the brink and examining what must be done to insure the island’s survival. On September 16, 2017, Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm, leaving the island devastated and largely without power for weeks. Slow to respond to the severity of the storm and the logistics of the island’s geographic isolation, the Trump administration faced harsh criticism for its lack of preparedness. While Maria exposed the federal government’s ineptitude and inability to aid Puerto Rico in its time of greatest need, the storm also laid bare a crisis decades in the making, a slow-motion train wreck of American neglect, institutional exploitation, and financial ruin. Now veteran NBC News reporter Gabe Gutierrez, who has covered the island’s storms and its people for years, tells the urgent story of how Puerto Rico came to this precarious moment in its history, uncovering how decades of failed US policies have culminated in the tumultuous last ten years. Whether it’s the US hedge funds who leveraged the island into bankruptcy, or the federal bureaucracy that has robbed the island of the autonomy to shape its own destiny, the mismanagement of Puerto Rico has stretched across presidential administrations and political parties. As The Island reveals, with each passing year, with each storm, this negligence comes at a steeper price to US taxpayers, but more importantly to those who live there. With moving portraits of the people working to preserve Puerto Rico for future generations, Gutierrez demonstrates the human cost that accompanies lack of representation in Washington and the toll it takes on everyday Puerto Ricans as they fight to keep their vibrant island home. What emerges is an eye-opening narrative of American ambivalence about an island so deeply tied to our uncomfortable, imperial past. A seasoned journalist’s ambitious examination of what it takes to change American institutions, The Island shows how our failure to care adequately for Puerto Rico is a failure to reckon with our own history.

Gabe Gutierrez (Author), TBD (Narrator)

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All the Rage: “Mississippi Goddam.” and the World that Nina Simone Made

Salamishah Tillet (Author), TBD (Narrator)

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Tinderbox: India’s Slide Towards Turmoil

A devastating critique of India’s failure to fulfil its founding promises. Since claiming independence from the British Empire in 1947, India has dramatically changed its nature and its place on the world stage. Today, it is common knowledge that the country glitters with formidable potential. India is the largest democracy in the world and it has the third-most billionaires after the US and China. It is predicted it will have the world’s third-largest economy by 2030, the largest middle class by 2033 and the third biggest navy by 2035. India boasts a raft of savvy English-speaking academics and business-leaders, an army of talented software engineers and a youthful population buzzing with ideas and ambition. But can all that India has promised – to itself and the wider world – come to fruition? In Tinderbox, acclaimed Wall Street Journal columnist Sadanand Dhume takes a hard look at the country’s progress and potential, bringing together a view of politics, history, economic thinking and social attitudes. Dhume points to why the economic progress of India is stuttering, with a seemingly unbridgeable gap between the desires of its technocrats and its politicians; he shows how democracy is fraying, Hindu nationalism cutting away at the nation’s fabled pluralism; and he accounts for the country’s continuing paradox of astonishing contradictions, what with its record-numbers of billionaires and mass poverty, its technological advances but overall lack of access to electricity and clean water. In short, it’s time to revisit the view that India’s growth and progress will continue at its prophesied pace. And it’s time to overturn the widespread assumption that a familiar India will remain familiar.

Sadanand Dhume (Author), TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Architecture of Modern Empire

Brought to you by Penguin. From the bestselling author of Azadi and My Seditious Heart, a piercing exploration of modern empire, nationalism and rising fascism that gives us the tools to resist and fight back ‘I try to create links, to join the dots, to tell politics like a story, to make it real…’ Over a lifetime spent at the frontline of solidarity and resistance, Arundhati Roy’s words have lit a clear way through the darkness that surrounds us. Combining the skills of the architect she trained to be and the writer she became, she illuminates the hidden structures of modern empire like no one else, revealing their workings so that we can resist. Her subjects: war, nationalism, fundamentalism and rising fascism, turbocharged by neoliberalism and now technology. But also: truth, justice, freedom, resistance, solidarity and above all imagination – in particular the imagination to see what is in front of us, to envision another way, and to fight for it. Arundhati Roy’s voice – as distinct and compelling in conversation as in her writing – explores these themes and more in this essential collection of interviews with David Barsamian, conducted over two decades, from 2001 to the present. WITH AN AFTERWORD FROM NAOMI KLEIN ©2024 Arundhati Roy (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Arundhati Roy (Author), Jeed Saddy, TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

Downfall: Prigozhin and Putin, and the new fight for the future of Russia

Brought to you by Penguin. Evgeny Prigozhin emerged as one of the most dangerous warlords in the world and as one of Vladimir Putin's chief rivals in Russia's tumultuous political climate, exiled after leading Wagner's attempted coup and killed in a mysterious plane crash. But what is the truth about this enigmatic figure, his role in the war with Ukraine, and the chaos unleashed across Russia by his turn against Putin? And, the aftermath of his death, what is next for Russia in the new stage of late Putinism that Prigozhin's life forged? Drawing on years of research, this book traces the rise of Russia's most prominent non-state actor and examines the political climate that propelled a convicted gangster with no government office to the formidable role he has come to occupy. An essential story of Russia's recent history, The Warlord is also a compelling insight into its likely future. ©2024 Anna Arutunyan & Mark Galeotti (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Anna Arutunyan, Mark Galeotti (Author), Mark Galeotti, TBD (Narrator)

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American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation—And Could Again

A top conservative scholar reveals the Constitution's remarkable power to repair our broken civic culture, rescue our malfunctioning politics, and unify a fractious America Common ground is hard to find in today's politics. In a society teeming with irreconcilable political perspectives, many people have grown frustrated under a system of government that constantly demands compromise. More and more on both the right and the left have come to blame the Constitution for the resulting discord. But the Constitution is not the problem we face; it is the solution. Blending engaging history with lucid analysis, conservative scholar Yuval Levin's American Covenant recovers the Constitution's true genius and reveals how it charts a path to repairing America's fault lines. Uncovering the framers' sophisticated grasp of political division, Levin showcases the Constitution's exceptional power to facilitate constructive disagreement, negotiate resolutions to disputes, and forge unity in a fractured society. Clear-eyed about the ways that contemporary politics have malfunctioned, Levin also offers practical solutions for reforming those aspects of the constitutional order that have gone awry. Hopeful, insightful, and rooted in the best of our political tradition, American Covenant celebrates the Constitution's remarkable power to bind together a diverse society, reassuring us that a less divided future is within our grasp.

Yuval Levin (Author), Leon Nixon, TBD (Narrator)

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Rebellion: The Antiliberal Tradition That is Tearing America Apart – Again

Robert Kagan (Author), Jason Culp, TBD (Narrator)

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Plans For Your Good: A Prime Minister's Testimony of God's Faithfulness

Scott Morrison, Australia's 30th Prime Minister (2018-2022), offers a unique insider's account of a Christian who was open about his faith and operated at the top level of politics for more than a decade. During one of the toughest periods since the second world war, covering drought, wildfires, a global pandemic and recession, he chronicles God's faithfulness throughout, win or lose, public criticism or public success. Less political memoir and more pastoral encouragement, Morrison is passionate about encouraging others to discover how they can access and see the many blessings of God in their own lives, no matter their circumstances, drawing on Jeremiah 29:11, that God's plans are for our good and not our harm, to give us a future and a hope. In each section Morrison asks the questions all of us are looking to find answers to: - Who am I? Discovering your purpose. - How should I live? Finding your pathway. - What should I hope for? Embracing your future. Full of fascinating insights into the handling of some of the most significant global events and issues of our time Morrison's honest, vulnerable and reflective answers offers a unique lens to better understand your relationship with God and the blessing that can flow from such a relationship. Alongside an account of high-level politics in a new media age where cancel culture, identity politics and deep secularization is taking hold across so many western societies, creating a truly post Christian west, Morrison testifies to the faithful love and blessings of God.

Scott Morrison (Author), Mike Pence, Scott Morrison (Narrator)

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The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective

A sweeping account of the anarchists who terrorized the streets of New York and the detective duo who transformed policing to meet the threat-a tale of fanaticism, forensic science, and dynamite from the bestselling author of The Ghost Map Steven Johnson's engrossing account of the epic struggle between the anarchist movement and the emerging surveillance state stretches around the world and between two centuries-from Alfred Nobel's invention of dynamite and the assassination of Czar Alexander II to New York City in the shadow of World War I. April 1914. The NYPD is still largely the corrupt, low-tech organization of the Tammany Hall era. To the extent the police are stopping crime-as opposed to committing it-their role has been almost entirely defined by physical force: the brawn of the cop on the beat keeping criminals at bay with nightsticks and fists. The solving of crimes is largely outside their purview. The new commissioner, Arthur Woods, is determined to change that, but he cannot anticipate the maelstrom of violence that soon tests his science-based approach to policing. Within weeks of his tenure, New York City is engulfed in the most concentrated terrorism campaign in the nation's history: a five-year period of relentless bombings, many of them perpetrated by the anarchist movement led by legendary radicals Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman. Coming to Woods's aide are Inspector Joseph Faurot, a science-first detective who works closely with him in reforming the police force and Amadeo Polignani, the young Italian undercover detective who infiltrates the notorious Bresci Circle. Johnson reveals a mostly forgotten period of political conviction, scientific discovery, assassination plots, bombings, undercover operations, and innovative sleuthing. The Infernal Machine is the complex pre-history of our current moment, when decentralized anarchist networks have once again taken to the streets to protest law enforcement abuses, right-wing militia groups have attacked government buildings, and surveillance is almost ubiquitous.

Steven Johnson (Author), Steven Johnson, TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Searchers: Five Rebels, Their Dream of a Different Britain, and Their Many Enemies

Brought to you by Penguin. In the great revolutionary year of 1968, Tony Benn was a respectable Labour minister in his forties, and he was restless. While new social movements were shaking up Britain and much of the world, Westminster politics seemed stuck. It was time, he decided, for a different approach. Over the next half century, the radicalized Benn helped forge a new left in Britain. He was joined by four other politicians, who would become comrades, collaborators and rivals: Ken Livingstone, John McDonnell, Diane Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn. For Andy Beckett, the story of these admired and loathed political explorers - both their sudden breakthroughs and long stretches in the wilderness - is the untold story of British politics in modern times. As he reveals, their project to create a radically more equal, liberal and democratic Britain has been much more influential than electoral history might suggest, and can be seen from the shape of our city life to the causes of our culture wars. For their many detractors, this influence was and remains dangerous: a form of extremism that must be stamped out. But as these five searchers believed, in politics there is no total victory - nor total defeat. ©2024 Andy Beckett (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Andy Beckett (Author), Alexi Armitage, TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Russian FSB: A Concise History of the Federal Security Service

Since its founding in 1995, the FSB, Russia's Federal Security Service, has regained the majority of the domestic security functions of the Soviet-era KGB. Under Vladimir Putin, who served as FSB director just before becoming president, the agency has grown to be one of the most powerful and favored organizations in Russia. The FSB not only conducts internal security but also has primacy in intelligence operations in former Soviet states. Their activities include anti-dissident operations at home and abroad, counterintelligence, counterterrorism, criminal investigations of crimes against the state, and guarding Russia's borders. In The Russian FSB, Kevin P. Riehle provides a brief history of the FSB's origins, placed within the context of Russian history, the government's power structure, and Russia's wider culture. He describes how the FSB's mindset and priorities show continuities from the tsarist regimes and the Soviet era. The book's chapters analyze origins, organizational structure, missions, leaders, international partners, and cultural representations such as the FSB in film and television. Based on both English and Russian sources, this book is a well-researched introduction to understanding the FSB and its central role in Putin's Russia.

Kevin P. Riehle (Author), Nigel Patterson (Narrator)

Audiobook

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