Audiobooks narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner

Resuming the narrative of his Pulitzer Prize-winning Ghost Wars, bestselling author Steve Coll tells for the first time the epic and enthralling story of America's intelligence, military, and diplomatic efforts to defeat Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan since 9/11 Prior to 9/11, the United States had been carrying out small-scale covert operations in Afghanistan, ostensibly in cooperation, although often in direct opposition, with I.S.I., the Pakistani intelligence agency. While the US was trying to quell extremists, a highly secretive and compartmentalized wing of I.S.I., known as "Directorate S," was covertly training, arming, and seeking to legitimize the Taliban, in order to enlarge Pakistan's sphere of influence. After 9/11, when fifty-nine countries, led by the U. S., deployed troops or provided aid to Afghanistan in an effort to flush out the Taliban and Al Qaeda, the U.S. was set on an invisible slow-motion collision course with Pakistan. Today we know that the war in Afghanistan would falter badly because of military hubris at the highest levels of the Pentagon, the drain on resources and provocation in the Muslim world caused by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and corruption. But more than anything, as Coll makes painfully clear, the war in Afghanistan was doomed because of the failure of the United States to apprehend the motivations and intentions of I.S.I.'s "Directorate S". This was a swirling and shadowy struggle of historic proportions, which endured over a decade and across both the Bush and Obama administrations, involving multiple secret intelligence agencies, a litany of incongruous strategies and tactics, and dozens of players, including some of the most prominent military and political figures. A sprawling American tragedy, the war was an open clash of arms but also a covert melee of ideas, secrets, and subterranean violence. Coll excavates this grand battle, which took place away from the gaze of the American public. With unsurpassed expertise, original research, and attention to detail, he brings to life a narrative at once vast and intricate, local and global, propulsive and painstaking. This is the definitive explanation of how America came to be so badly ensnared in an elaborate, factional, and seemingly interminable conflict in South Asia. Nothing less than a forensic examination of the personal and political forces that shape world history, Directorate S is a complete masterpiece of both investigative and narrative journalism.

Steve Coll (Author), Malcolm Hillgartner (Narrator)

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American Warlords: How Roosevelt's High Command Led America to Victory in World War II

In a lifetime shaped by politics, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proved himself a master manipulator of Congress, the press, and the public. But when war in Europe and Asia threatened America's shores, FDR found himself in a world turned upside down, where his friends became his foes, his enemies his allies. To help wage democracy's first

Jonathan W. Jordan (Author), Malcolm Hillgartner (Narrator)

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Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft

This volume collects, for the first time, the entire Dream Cycle created by H. P. Lovecraft, the master of twentieth-century horror, including some of his most fantastic tales, such as: The Doom That Came to Sarnath—Hate, genocide, and a deadly curse consume the land of Mnar. The Statement of Randolph Carter—“You fool, Warren is dead!” The Nameless City—Death lies beneath the shifting sands, in a story linking the Dream Cycle with the legendary Cthulhu Mythos. The Cats of Ulthar—In Ulthar, no man may kill a cat … and woe unto any who tries. The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath—The epic nightmare adventure with tendrils stretching throughout the entire Dream Cycle. Plus twenty more tales of surreal terror! “[Lovecraft’s] dream fantasy works are as terrifying and haunting as his tales of horror and the macabre. A master craftsman, Lovecraft brings compelling visions of nightmarish fear, invisible worlds, and the demons of the unconscious. If one author truly represents the very best in American literary horror, it is H. P. Lovecraft.”—John Carpenter

H. P. Lovecraft, H.P. Lovecraft (Author), Bronson Pinchot, Elijah Alexander, John Lescault, Malcolm Hillgartner, Robertson Dean, Sean Runnette, Simon Prebble, Simon Vance, Stefan Rudnicki, Tom Weiner, Various, Various Narrators, Various Narrators (Narrator)

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Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist, 1968–1976

This astonishing volume of private correspondence, a critically acclaimed follow-up to The Proud Highway, shows Hunter S. Thompson as brazen, incisive, and outrageous as ever. When that first book of letters appeared in 1997, Time pronounced it “deliriously entertaining,” Rolling Stone called it “brilliant beyond description,” and the New York Times celebrated its “wicked humor and bracing political conviction.” Spanning the years between 1968 and 1976, these never-before-published letters show Thompson building his legend: running for sheriff in Aspen, Colorado; creating the seminal road book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; twisting political reporting to new heights for Rolling Stone; and making sense of it all in the landmark Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72. To read Thompson’s dispatches from these years—addressed to the author’s friends, enemies, editors, and creditors and such notables as Jimmy Carter, Tom Wolfe, and Kurt Vonnegut—is to read a raw, revolutionary eyewitness account of one of the most exciting and pivotal eras in American history. “A vital, deliriously erratic force in journalism…Reading Hunter Thompson is like using gasoline for aftershave—bracing…These untidy letters are welcome, showing us as they do a great American original in his lair.”—New York Times Book Review

Hunter S. Thompson (Author), Malcolm Hillgartner (Narrator)

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Eldritch Tales: A Miscellany of the Macabre

Following the phenomenal success of Necronomicon, its companion volume brings together Lovecraft’s remaining major stories plus his weird poetry, a number of obscure revisions, and some notable nonfiction, including the seminal critical essay “Supernatural Horror in Literature.” Gathering together in chronological order the rest of Lovecraft’s rarely seen but extraordinary short fiction, this collection includes the entirety of the long-out-of-print collection of thirty-six sonnets “Fungi from Yuggoth.” Lovecraft died at the age of forty-seven, but in his short life he turned out dozens of stories that changed the face of horror. His extraordinary imagination spawned both the Elder God Cthulhu and his eldritch cohorts, as well as the strangely compelling town of Innsmouth, all of which feature here. “One is drawn into Lovecraft by the very air of plausibility and characteristic understatement of the prose, the question being, ‘When will the weirdness strike?’”—Joyce Carol Oates, praise for the author

H. P. Lovecraft, H.P. Lovecraft (Author), A Full Cast, A Full Cast, Armando Durán, Bronson Pinchot, Elijah Alexander, Gildart Jackson, Malcolm Hillgartner, Pamela Garelick, Robertson Dean, Sean Runnette, Simon Prebble, Simon Vance, Stefan Rudnicki, Tom Weiner (Narrator)

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The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955–1967

Here, for the first time, is the private and most intimate correspondence of one of America’s most influential and incisive journalists—Hunter S. Thompson. In letters to a who’s who of luminaries, from Norman Mailer to Charles Kuralt, Tom Wolfe to Lyndon Johnson, William Styron to Joan Baez—not to mention his mother, the NRA, and a chain of newspaper editors—Thompson vividly catches the tenor of the times in 1960s America and channels it all through his own razor-sharp perspective. Passionate in their admiration, merciless in their scorn, and never anything less than fascinating, the dispatches of The Proud Highway offer an unprecedented and penetrating gaze into the evolution of the most outrageous raconteur/provocateur ever to assault a typewriter. “Proud Highway proves as meaty as most bios on Thompson—and way more fun.”—Entertainment Weekly

Hunter S. Thompson (Author), Malcolm Hillgartner (Narrator)

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When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940-1944

The spellbinding and revealing chronicle of Nazi-occupied Paris On June 14, 1940, German tanks entered a silent and nearly deserted Paris. Eight days later, France accepted a humiliating defeat and foreign occupation. Subsequently, an eerie sense of normalcy settled over the City of Light. Many Parisians keenly adapted themselves to the situation-even allied themselves with their Nazi overlords. At the same time, amidst this darkening gloom of German ruthlessness, shortages, and curfews, a resistance arose. Parisians of all stripes-Jews, immigrants, adolescents, communists, rightists, cultural icons such as Colette, de Beauvoir, Camus and Sartre, as well as police officers, teachers, students, and store owners-rallied around a little known French military officer, Charles de Gaulle. WHEN PARIS WENT DARK evokes with stunning precision the detail of daily life in a city under occupation, and the brave people who fought against the darkness. Relying on a range of resources---memoirs, diaries, letters, archives, interviews, personal histories, flyers and posters, fiction, photographs, film and historical studies---Rosbottom has forged a groundbreaking book that will forever influence how we understand those dark years in the City of Light.

Ronald C. Rosbottom (Author), Malcolm Hillgartner (Narrator)

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Let There Be Water: Israel's Solution for a Water-Starved World

As every day brings urgent reports of growing water shortages around the world, there is no time to lose in the search for solutions. The United States government predicts that forty of our fifty states-and 60 percent of the earth's land surface-will soon face alarming gaps between available water and the growing demand for it. Without action, food prices will rise, economic growth will slow, and political instability is likely to follow. Let There Be Water illustrates how Israel can serve as a model for the United States and countries everywhere by showing how to blunt the worst of the coming water calamities. Even with 60 percent of its country made of desert, Israel has not only solved its water problem; it also has an abundance of water. Israel even supplies water to its neighbors-the Palestinians and the Kingdom of Jordan-every day. Based on meticulous research and hundreds of interviews, Let There Be Water reveals the methods and techniques of the often offbeat inventors who enabled Israel to lead the world in cutting-edge water technology. Let There Be Water also tells unknown stories of how cooperation on water systems can forge diplomatic ties and promote unity. Remarkably, not long ago, now-hostile Iran relied on Israel to manage its water systems, and access to Israel's water know-how helped to warm China's frosty relations with Israel. Beautifully written, Let There Be Water is and inspiring account of the vision and sacrifice by a nation and people that have long made water security a top priority. Despite scant natural water resources, a rapidly growing population and economy, and often hostile neighbors, Israel has consistently jumped ahead of the water innovation curve to assure a dynamic, vital future for itself. Every town, every country, and every listener can benefit from learning what Israel did to overcome daunting challenges and transform itself from a parched land into a water superpower. "With global water shortages generating political, military and humanitarian crises across the globe, Israel's astonishing ingenuity for wresting abundance from drought is an inspiring and instructive blueprint for the planet."-Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Seth M. Siegel (Author), Malcolm Hillgartner (Narrator)

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Earthquake Storms: The Fascinating History and Volatile Future of the San Andreas Fault

The lives of millions will be changed after it breaks, and yet so few people understand it, or even realize it runs through their backyard. Dvorak reveals the San Andreas Fault’s fascinating history—and its volatile future. It is a prominent geological feature that is almost impossible to see unless you know where to look. Hundreds of thousands of people drive across it every day. The San Andreas Fault is everywhere—and primed for a colossal quake. For decades scientists have warned that such a sudden shifting of the earth’s crust is inevitable. In fact, it is a geologic necessity. The San Andreas Fault runs almost the entire length of California, from the redwood forest to the east edge of the Salton Sea. Along the way, it passes through two of the largest urban areas of the country—San Francisco and Los Angeles. Dozens of major highways and interstates cross it. Scores of housing developments have been planted over it. The words San Andreas are so familiar today that they have become synonymous with earthquake. Yet few people understand the San Andreas or the network of subsidiary faults it has spawned. Some run through Hollywood, others through Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. The Hayward Fault slices the football stadium at the University of California in half. Even among scientists, few appreciate that the San Andreas Fault is a transient, evolving system that, as seen today, is younger than the Grand Canyon and key to our understanding of earthquakes worldwide. “A massive earthquake is overdue at the southern end of the San Andreas Fault. Conditions are right for the ‘Big One’ to hit a hundred-mile segment of the fault that would be felt from San Diego to Los Angeles. But the problem is being able to pinpoint when the quake may strike.”—NPR

John Dvorak (Author), Malcolm Hillgartner (Narrator)

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The Hundred-Year Marathon: China’s Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower

One of the US government’s leading China experts reveals the hidden strategy fueling that country’s rise—and how Americans have been seduced into helping China overtake us as the world’s leading superpower. For more than forty years, the United States has played an indispensable role helping the Chinese government build a booming economy, develop its scientific and military capabilities, and take its place on the world stage, in the belief that China’s rise will bring us cooperation, diplomacy, and free trade. But what if the “China Dream” is to replace us, just as America replaced the British Empire, without firing a shot? Based on interviews with Chinese defectors and newly declassified, previously undisclosed national security documents, The Hundred-Year Marathon reveals China’s secret strategy to supplant the United States as the world’s dominant power, and to do so by 2049, the one-hundredth anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic. Michael Pillsbury, a fluent Mandarin speaker who has served in senior national security positions in the US government since the days of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, draws on his decades of contact with the “hawks” in China’s military and intelligence agencies and translates their documents, speeches, and books to show how the teachings of traditional Chinese statecraft underpin their actions. He offers an inside look at how the Chinese really view America and its leaders—as barbarians who will be the architects of their own demise. Pillsbury also explains how the US government has helped—sometimes unwittingly and sometimes deliberately—to make this “China Dream” come true, and he calls for the United States to implement a new, more competitive strategy toward China as it really is and not as we might wish it to be. The Hundred-Year Marathon is a wake-up call as we face the greatest national security challenge of the twenty-first century. “Michael Pillsbury has been meeting with, talking to, and studying the ‘hawks’ in China’s military and intelligence apparatus for more than four decades, since back when America and China were cooperating against the Soviet Union. In this fascinating, provocative new book, he lays out the hawks’ views about the United States and their long-term strategies for overcoming American power by the middle of this century. In the process, the book challenges the wrong-headed assumptions in Washington about a gradually reforming China. Given the direction China has been taking in the past few years, Pillsbury’s book takes on immediate relevance.”—James Mann, New York Times bestselling author

Michael Pillsbury (Author), Malcolm Hillgartner (Narrator)

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The Last Million: Europe's Displaced Persons from World War to Cold War

From bestselling author David Nasaw, a sweeping new history of the one million refugees left behind in Germany after WWII In May 1945, German forces surrendered to the Allied powers, putting an end to World War II in Europe. But the aftershocks of global military conflict did not cease with the German capitulation. Millions of lost and homeless concentration camp survivors, POWs, slave laborers, political prisoners, and Nazi collaborators in flight from the Red Army overwhelmed Germany, a nation in ruins. British and American soldiers gathered the malnourished and desperate refugees and attempted to repatriate them. But after exhaustive efforts, there remained more than a million displaced persons left behind in Germany: Jews, Poles, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, and other Eastern Europeans who refused to go home or had no homes to return to. The Last Million would spend the next three to five years in displaced persons camps, temporary homelands in exile, divided by nationality, with their own police forces, churches and synagogues, schools, newspapers, theaters, and infirmaries. The international community could not agree on the fate of the Last Million, and after a year of debate and inaction, the International Refugee Organization was created to resettle them in lands suffering from postwar labor shortages. But no nations were willing to accept the 200,000 to 250,000 Jewish men, women, and children who remained trapped in Germany. In 1948, the United States, among the last countries to accept refugees for resettlement, finally passed a displaced persons bill. With Cold War fears supplanting memories of World War II atrocities, the bill granted the vast majority of visas to those who were reliably anti-Communist, including thousands of former Nazi collaborators and war criminals, while severely limiting the entry of Jews, who were suspected of being Communist sympathizers or agents because they had been recent residents of Soviet-dominated Poland. Only after the controversial partition of Palestine and Israel's declaration of independence were the remaining Jewish survivors able to leave their displaced persons camps in Germany. A masterwork from acclaimed historian David Nasaw, The Last Million tells the gripping yet until now largely hidden story of postwar displacement and statelessness. By 1952, the Last Million were scattered around the world. As they crossed from their broken past into an unknowable future, they carried with them their wounds, their fears, their hope, and their secrets. Here for the first time, Nasaw illuminates their incredible history and, with profound contemporary resonance, shows us that it is our history as well.

David Nasaw (Author), Malcolm Hillgartner (Narrator)

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The House of Tongues

James Dashner (Author), Malcolm Hillgartner (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner