History Audiobooks in Politics

The Great Degeneration: How Institutions Decay and Economics Die

What causes rich countries to lose their way? Symptoms of decline are all around us today: slowing growth, crushing debts, increasing inequality, aging populations, antisocial behavior. But what exactly has gone wrong? The answer, Niall Ferguson argues in The Great Degeneration, is that our institutions—the intricate frameworks within which a society can flourish or fail—are degenerating. The Great Degeneration is an incisive indictment of an era of negligence and complacency. While the Arab world struggles to adopt democracy and China struggles to move from economic liberalization to the rule of law, our society is squandering the institutional inheritance of centuries. To arrest the breakdown of our civilization, Ferguson warns, will take heroic leadership and radical reform.

Niall Ferguson (Author), Paul Slack (Narrator)

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Intellectuals and Race

Intellectuals and Race is a radical book in the original sense—one that goes to the root of the problem. The role of intellectuals in racial strife is explored in an international context that puts the American experience in a wholly new light. Intellectuals have played a major role in racial issues throughout the centuries. Though their individual views may differ, as a whole their views tend to group, and just over the course of the twentieth century, they have shifted from one end of the spectrum to the other. Surprisingly, these radically different views of race were held by intellectuals whose views on other issues were often very similar. Intellectuals and Race is not, however, a book about history, even though it has much historical evidence, as well as demographic, geographic, and economic evidence—all of it directed toward testing the underlying assumptions about race that have prevailed at times among intellectuals in general, and especially at their highest levels. Nor is this simply a theoretical exercise. Sowell’s ultimate concern is the impact of intellectual movements on the larger society, both past and present. These ideas and crusades have ranged widely from racial theories of intelligence to eugenics to “social justice” and multiculturalism. In addition to in-depth examinations of these and other issues, Intellectuals and Race explores the incentives, the visions, and the rationales that drive intellectuals at the highest levels to conclusions that have often turned out to be counterproductive and even disastrous, not only for particular racial or ethnic groups but for societies as a whole. “Sowell brings an all-too-rare perspective to whatever he writes about—that of a conservative black intellectual, especially valuable for this book’s topic.”—Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Thomas Sowell (Author), Robertson Dean (Narrator)

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Intellectuals and Race

Intellectuals and Race is a radical book in the original sense—one that goes to the root of the problem. The role of intellectuals in racial strife is explored in an international context that puts the American experience in a wholly new light. Intellectuals have played a major role in racial issues throughout the centuries. Though their individual views may differ, as a whole their views tend to group, and just over the course of the twentieth century, they have shifted from one end of the spectrum to the other. Surprisingly, these radically different views of race were held by intellectuals whose views on other issues were often very similar. Intellectuals and Race is not, however, a book about history, even though it has much historical evidence, as well as demographic, geographic, and economic evidence—all of it directed toward testing the underlying assumptions about race that have prevailed at times among intellectuals in general, and especially at their highest levels. Nor is this simply a theoretical exercise. Sowell’s ultimate concern is the impact of intellectual movements on the larger society, both past and present. These ideas and crusades have ranged widely from racial theories of intelligence to eugenics to “social justice” and multiculturalism. In addition to in-depth examinations of these and other issues, Intellectuals and Race explores the incentives, the visions, and the rationales that drive intellectuals at the highest levels to conclusions that have often turned out to be counterproductive and even disastrous, not only for particular racial or ethnic groups but for societies as a whole.

Thomas Sowell (Author), Robertson Dean (Narrator)

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Umgekehrter Totalitarismus

2003 prAgte Wolin in einem Zeitungsartikel den Begriff Inverted Totalitarianism (deutsch: Umgekehrter Totalitarismus). Mit dem Buch Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism baute er 2008 seine Argumentation zum Inverted Totalitarianism aus. Die These dieses Werkes ist, dass am Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts mit dem Streben nach Superpower und dem Management von Demokratie in den USA eine postdemokratische Regierungstechnik entstanden sei, die Elemente der liberalen Demokratie mit denen totalitArer politischer Systeme verbinde. Einen zentralen Unterschied zum klassischen Totalitarismus sieht Wolin darin, dass der Nationalsozialismus ein Mobilisierungsregime gewesen sei, wAhrend der invertierte Totalitarismus auf eine weitreichende Entpolitisierung der BevOlkerung setze. Außerdem setze die postmoderne Form totaler Herrschaft auf weichere, kaum wahrnehmbare UnterdrUckungsmechanismen. Eine starke FUhrungspersOnlichkeit sei in dieser Regierungsform verzichtbar.

Sheldon S. Wolin (Author), Markus Böker, Markus Bökerrainer Mausfeld, Rainer Mausfeld (Narrator)

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Ike and Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage

From the author of Trudy Hopedale comes a groundbreaking narrative of the relationship between Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon-from the politics that divided them to the marriage that united their families. Richard Nixon was a young Navy officer when he first saw Dwight D. Eisenhower through a storm of tickertape as Manhattan celebrated the end of the war in Europe. Seven years later, Nixon was Eisenhower's running mate on the Republican presidential ticket-the beginning of a political and personal relationship that lasted for nearly twenty years. Despite a gulf that separated them by age and temperament, their association evolved into a collaboration that helped to shape the nation's political ideology, foreign policy, and domestic goals, from civil rights to the civilian space program. Ike and Dick relates much that occurred out of public view, such as the sensitive discussions among senior staffers concerned about Nixon's proper role when Eisenhower suffered illnesses that might have incapacitated him. Based on deep archival research and interviews with dozens of men and women who knew and worked with both men, including family members, it offers fresh views of Nixon, the striving tactician, and the legendary general, a distant man with a warm smile who could, and did, make Nixon's life miserable. In rediscovering the circle that surrounded them and a cast that includes Billy Graham, Senator Joseph McCarthy, Martin Luther King Jr., powerful newspaper columnists, early television personalities, and even the chilly young adman H.R. Haldeman, Ike and Dick provides an intimate view of America during the Cold War and of two men whose influence has never waned.

Jeffrey Frank (Author), Arthur Morey (Narrator)

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Strache: Im braunen Sumpf

Zwei Jahre harter Recherchearbeit hat Bestseller-Autor Hans-Henning Scharsach in eine Dokumentation investiert, die sich 'während des Schreibens selbstständig gemacht hat, weil die Ergebnisse meiner Recherchen so nicht vorherzusehen waren', wie er resümierend feststellt. Was als Sachbuch konzipiert wurde, ist zum politischen Thriller geworden, der tiefe Einblicke in zwei sehr unterschiedliche Milieus bietet: Auf der einen Seite die Welt des Strategen Heinz-Christian Strache und seiner Mitstreiter, die im Parlament arbeiten, in der Hofburg tanzen, sich im Scheinwerferlicht der Fernsehkameras sonnen und höchste Ämter anstreben. Auf der anderen Seite die finstersten Keller der ewig gestrigen Hitler-Nostalgiker und der unversöhnlichen Hetzer gegen Juden, Zuwanderer und Muslime. Die Verknüpfung unterschiedlicher Milieus - bewährte Methode erfolgreicher Krimi-Autoren - ist diesmal nicht Stilmittel, sondern Ergebnis journalistischer Ermittlungsarbeit und peniblen Quellenstudiums. Dabei wird der Boden wissenschaftlich seriöser Dokumentation nie verlassen.

Hans H Scharsach (Author), Alfons Haider (Narrator)

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The Globalist Papers: A Case for Political Unity

The nation-state remains the political paradigm of the current era even as nuclear weapons, global communications, climate change, and the global economy make it obsolete. The Globalist Papers shows the immediate need for unity among the nations of the world much the same way the Federalist Papers showed the need in the 1700's for unity among the states of America. This book is not limited to political history. It explores the spiritual and psychological dimensions of the transition away from nationality. Why is it more important now to be national than human, and how will it be possible for the transition to take place?

Samuel Avery (Author), Andrew Mulcare (Narrator)

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The Emancipation Proclamation

While the conflict over slavery was a factor in the Civil War, the abolition of slavery did not become a stated objective until Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which went into effect on January 1, 1863. Now, to commemorate the 150 year anniversary of the Proclamation, here is a new, unabridged audio recording of that historic document, freeing the slaves held in the still Confederate controlled states. Heralded as one of America's most significant documents, this is a piece of history not to be missed.

Abraham Lincoln (Author), Robertson Dean (Narrator)

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The Founding Fathers' Guide to the Constitution

What does the Constitution really mean? How did the founding generation intend for us to interpret and apply the Constitution? Are liberals right when they cite its "elastic" clauses to justify big government, or are conservatives right when they cite its explicit limits on federal power? Professor Brion McClanahan, popular author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers, finds the answers by going directly to the source-the Founders themselves, who debated all the relevant issues in their state constitutional conventions. In The Founding Fathers' Guide to the Constitution, you'll discover how the Constitution was designed to protect rather than undermine the rights of states; why Congress, not the executive branch, was meant to be dominant and why the Founders would have argued for impeaching many modern presidents for violating the Constitution; why an expansive central government was the Founders' biggest fear, and how the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were designed to guard against it; why the founding generation would regard most of the current federal budget, including "stimulus packages," unconstitutional; why the Founding Fathers would oppose attempts to "reform" the Electoral College; why they would be horrified at the enormous authority of the Supreme Court; and why they intended Congress, not the Court, to interpret federal law. Authoritative, fascinating, and timely, The Founding Fathers' Guide to the Constitution is the definitive layman's guide to America's most important-and often most willfully misunderstood-historical document. "For generations, left-wing judges, professors, and lawyers have told us that we can never know what the Constitution was supposed to mean, so judges are free to do what they want. Yet, in The Founding Fathers' Guide to the Constitution, Brion McClanahan gives us a clear, clause-by-clause explanation of the original understanding of the Constitution. Constitutional government is possible, if only officials would be true to their oaths."-Kevin R. C. Gutzman, JD, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution

Brion McClanahan (Author), David Cochran Heath (Narrator)

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First Principles & Natural Law Part I: The Foundations of Political Philosophy (part I)

In this course of lectures, Professor Hadley Arkes seeks to recall the classic connection between law and morality. Law works by replacing personal choice and private judgment with a public rule enforced on everyone, which raises the question of whether there are in fact rights grounded in the very nature of human beings. Seeking the principles that form the groundwork of moral judgment, Arkes examines cases that take in the most vexing issues of our time: conscientious objection, the justifications for war and interventions abroad, the claims of "privacy," and the problem of abortion.

Hadley Arkes (Author), Hadley Arkes (Narrator)

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Marked for Death

Geert Wilders is a hunted man. He lives in a heavily protected safe house that is bombproof and bulletproof. Why? Because Geert Wilders is marked for death by Islamic extremists. In his new book, Marked for Death, Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders tells his never-before-published story about the jihad being waged against him-and the West. Revealing how he has been censored, bullied, threatened, and even banished from the UK for politically opposing Islam and for telling the truth about its violent history and nature, Wilders explains why what has happened to him is happening all across the West-and why Americans need to stop the infiltration of radical Islam now. Marked for Death is an eye-opening account of a man who has sacrificed life as he knew it to tell the truth about radical Islam.

Geert Wilders (Author), Lou Lander (Narrator)

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Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Michael J Sandel's, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? Read by the author himself. Considering the role of justice in our society and our lives, Michael Sandel reveals how an understanding of philosophy can help to make sense of politics, religion, morality - and our own convictions. Breaking down hotly contested issues, from abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriage, to patriotism, dissent and affirmative action, Sandel shows how the biggest questions in our civic life can be broken down and illuminated through reasoned debate. Justice promises to take readers - of all ages and political persuasions - on an exhilarating journey to confront today's political and moral controversies in a fresh and enlightening way.

Michael J. Sandel, Michael Sandel (Author), Michael J. Sandel, Michael Sandel (Narrator)

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