Current Affairs Audiobooks | Politics

Here is a stunning and provocative guide to the future of international relations-a system for managing global problems beyond the stalemates of business versus government, East versus West, rich versus poor, democracy versus authoritarianism, free markets versus state capitalism. Written by the most esteemed and innovative adventurer-scholar of his generation, Parag Khanna's How to Run the World posits a chaotic modern era that resembles the Middle Ages, with Asian empires, Western militaries, Middle Eastern sheikhdoms, magnetic city-states, wealthy multinational corporations, elite clans, religious zealots, tribal hordes, and potent media seething in an ever more unpredictable and dangerous storm. But just as that initial "dark age" ended with the Renaissance, Khanna believes that our time can become a great and enlightened age as well-only, though, if we harness our technology and connectedness to forge new networks among governments, businesses, and civic interest groups to tackle the crises of today and avert those of tomorrow. With his trademark energy, intellect, and wit, Khanna reveals how a new "mega-diplomacy" consisting of coalitions among motivated technocrats, influential executives, super-philanthropists, cause-mopolitan activists, and everyday churchgoers can assemble the talent, pool the money, and deploy the resources to make the global economy fairer, rebuild failed states, combat terrorism, promote good governance, deliver food, water, health care, and education to those in need, and prevent environmental collapse. With examples taken from the smartest capital cities, most progressive boardrooms, and frontline NGOs, Khanna shows how mega-diplomacy is more than an ad hoc approach to running a world where no one is in charge-it is the playbook for creating a stable and self-correcting world for future generations. How to Run the World is the cutting-edge manifesto for diplomacy in a borderless world.

Parag Khanna (Author), Jim Meskimen (Narrator)

Audiobook

On Nuclear Terrorism

Nuclear terrorism is such a disturbing prospect that we shy away from its details. Yet, as a consequence, we fail to understand how best to defeat it. Michael Levi takes us inside nuclear terrorism and behind the decisions a terrorist leader would be faced with in pursuing a nuclear plot. Along the way, Levi identifies the many obstacles, large and small, that such a terrorist scheme might encounter, allowing him to discover a host of ways that any plan might be foiled. Surveying the broad universe of plots and defenses, this accessible account shows how a wide-ranging defense that integrates the tools of weapon and materials security, law enforcement, intelligence, border controls, diplomacy, and the military can multiply, intensify, and compound the possibility that nuclear terrorists will fail. Levi draws from our long experience with terrorism and cautions us not to focus solely on the most harrowing yet most improbable threats. Nuclear terrorism shares much in common with other terrorist threats-and as a result, he argues, defeating it is impossible unless we put our entire counterterrorism and homeland security house in order. As long as we live in a nuclear age, no defense can completely eliminate nuclear terrorism. But this book reminds us that the right strategy can minimize the risks and shows us how to do it. "We wish…that the current and incoming national security advisor and secretaries of State, Defense, and Homeland Security [would] read Michael Levi's On Nuclear Terrorism and make it a top priority to ensure that everything that can be done to foil a nuclear attack by terrorists is being done."-Los Angeles Times

Michael Levi (Author), Mike Chamberlain (Narrator)

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A Rope and a Prayer: The Story of a Kidnapping

David Rohde, Kristen Mulvihill (Author), David Rohde, Kristen Mulvihill (Narrator)

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The Mendacity of Hope: Barack Obama and the Betrayal of American Liberalism

A fearless and incisive manifesto that exposes the real causes of President Obama's failure to enact liberal reform, by the former editor of Harper's Magazine Americans find themselves in genuine confusion and dismay concerning the actions of President Obama's administration, especially when it comes to the financial crisis and health care. Obama's reform packages, passed with great fanfare, ignore the most significant perils facing the United States. In The Mendacity of Hope, Roger D. Hodge makes the provocative case that substantive reform was never even on the table. Behind the euphoria of Obama's victory was in fact a business-as-usual corporate machine, a bloc of political investors, campaign contributors, and lobbyists expecting big returns on their investments. And what a return they have received: in one bailout after another, for the health insurance industry as well as for Wall Street, Obama made sure that the Democratic Party's most powerful investors made out like bandits. None of Obama's most important campaign promises'ending the Iraq war, abolishing torture, closing Guant'namo, changing Washington's culture of corruption'has come to pass. Instead, he has escalated the conflict in Afghanistan, bailed out the bankers, and institutionalized the civil rights abuses of the Bush regime. Another president might have played the forces of corporate interest differently, but Hodge argues that the fantasy of American politics is that a different kind of president is possible without a fundamental reform of our political system. Americans bought into the delusion that one man could bring change to Washington, but instead of reform we've seen a continuation of George W. Bush's assault on the Constitution. Obama's presidency has demonstrated that mere hope is never enough, that change will come only when the American people take charge of their own politics. A brilliantly crafted call to arms, The Mendacity of Hope offers an essential analysis of the American political system and the powerful interests that control our government.

Roger D. Hodge (Author), James Lurie (Narrator)

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Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System

Today's raucous revolt against Washington and Wall Street is a classic populist uprising. Now two respected political pollsters show what it means for the future of American politics. The riotous tea parties and town hall meetings of last summer seemingly took everyone by surprise. They shouldn't have. Populist movements have always arisen in times of economic hardship. Here, Scott Rasmussen and Doug Schoen explore the heart of the uprising that has thrown American politics into turmoil.In the past, populist movements have taken root either on the right or on the left. Today's revolt has two wings: a left wing that wants universal health care and a right wing that wants to reduce the power of governmental influence in our lives. Both are hostile to the Washington political class, Wall Street, and the mainstream media'all of which they consider out of touch with the concerns of 'real' Americans. The difference is that left-wing populists are effectively represented by Barack Obama and congressional Democrats, while right-wing populists are chiefly represented by Fox News and Rush Limbaugh'a potentially more powerful political force. Many have failed to comprehend the new populism, dismissing it as marginal and extreme. But it is reshaping American politics, whether politicians and elite journalists like it or not. The Tea Party movement is not a flash in the pan. Nor is it a movement of racist rednecks and ignorant boobs, as some have crudely suggested. It is an authentic grassroots movement of concerned American citizens demanding to be heard by an out-of-touch political establishment. Their concerns are real, their issues legitimate. The new populism is here to stay, and it has already changed our politics for the better. Mad As Hell is an authoritative guide to the new populism, featuring proprietary polling data, political analysis, results from online focus groups, and more. It is a must-read for anyone interested in American electoral politics. 'Scott Rasmussen and Doug Schoen are two of America's most insightful and penetrating political analysts.''Rush Limbaugh

Douglas E. Schoen, Scott Rasmussen (Author), Mike Chamberlain (Narrator)

Audiobook

Palestinian & Israeli Middle East Conflict: Separating the People from the Problems

Palestinian & Israeli Middle East Conflict: Separating the People from the Problems This work employs the lessons learned in our audio book, Conflict Resolution, to analyze the Middle East Conflict, discuss the points of view of the parties, identify the pluses-minuses-and interesting points (PMI Thinking) involved as well as the ideas expressed in Roger Ury's landmark book, Getting to Yes. It extensively reviews the points of view of the United States, Europe and the rest of the world, as well as Israel, the Palestinians, and others in the Middle East. This reasoned approach takes no sides, supports no party, but works to identify the truth and significance of each party's point of view. This new landmark audio book is well worth listening to in order to acquire a dispassionate reasoned perspective on this long standing seemingly immutable conflict as well as a learning process to help you resolve conflicts in your own work and life.

Deaver Brown, Harvard AB & MBA (Author), Deaver Brown, Harvard AB & MBA (Narrator)

Audiobook

Even Silence Has an End: My Six Years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle

Ingrid Betancourt (Author), Margaret Nichols (Narrator)

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Knowing the Enemy

Mary Habeck (Author), Jo Anna Perrin (Narrator)

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Conduct Unbecoming: How Barack Obama Is Destroying the Military and Endangering Our Security

In Conduct Unbecoming, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Patterson, New York Times bestselling author and former senior military aide to President Clinton, exposes how President Barack Obama's national security policies are weakening our military and endangering America's safety. From underfunding and misusing the military to his "Apology Tour" across Europe and the Middle East, President Obama has made America more vulner-able with both our allies and our enemies. In Conduct Unbecoming, you'll discover how Obama is not listening to his generals' recommendations on Afghanistan, how Obama's first two acts as commander-in-chief weakened our national secu-rity and military, and how Obama's feckless diplomatic efforts with other countries are severely threat-ening our national security. Shocking and controversial, Conduct Unbecoming reveals how President Obama's disregard for the military and a strong foreign policy is exposing us to unprecedented risks in the twenty-first century. "Read this book. It will educate you and shock you at the same time. Brilliant read."-General Thomas G. McInerney, Fox News military analyst and bestselling coauthor of Endgame: The Blueprint for Victory in the War on Terror

Robert "Buzz" Patterson, Lt. Col. USAF (RET.), Robert “buzz” Patterson (Author), Jim Meskimen (Narrator)

Audiobook

Pinheads and Patriots: Where You Stand in the Age of Obama

When Bill O'Reilly interviewed then-Senator Barack Obama during the 2008 Presidential elections, the two had a lively debate about the nation's future. Since that time America has changed rapidly'some would even say seismically'and many believe these shifts are doing more than just rocking the political and social climate: they're rocking the American core. In his latest spirited book, O'Reilly prompts further debate with the President and the American people on the current state of the union. While the changes that took place in America during President Obama's first 18 months in office are dizzying to just think about, their real-life impact on the average American is a helluva lot stronger than that. Tempers have reached the boiling point over the shifts in healthcare, immigration, national security, energy and the environment. And then there's the economy. O'Reilly sorts it all out with his trademark mix of humor and bluster in his most impassioned book to date. And this is just the book to guide you through the most important issues of the midterm elections and beyond.

Bill O'Reilly (Author), Bill O'Reilly (Narrator)

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The Roots of Obama's Rage

Critics of President Obama have attacked him as a socialist, an African American radical, and a big-government liberal. But somehow the critics have failed to understand what's truly driving Barack Obama. Now bestselling author Dinesh D'Souza throws out these misplaced attacks in his new book, The Roots of Obama's Rage. D'Souza explains that the reason Obama appears to be working to destroy Ameri-ca from within is found, as Obama himself admits, in "The Dreams of My Father": a deeply hostile anticolonialism. Instilled in him by his father, this worldview has led President Obama to resent America and everything we stand for. Viewing Obama through this anticolonialism prism and drawing evidence from President Obama's own life and writings, D'Souza masterfully shows how Obama is working to weaken and punish America here and abroad. From enacting crippling financial reforms to setting artificial withdrawal dates in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama is trying to muzzle the capitalism which he sees as exploiting the weak. Our president, argues D'Souza, is more concerned with being labeled as America the Oppressor than winning the war on terror. The Roots of Obama's Rage reveals Obama for who he really is: a man driven by the anticolonial ideology of his father and the first American president to actually seek to reduce America's strength, influence, and standard of living. Controversial and compelling, The Roots of Obama's Rage is poised to be the one book that truly defines Obama and his presidency. "Dinesh D'Souza is one of the most original, insightful, and penetrating minds in America today."-Paul Johnson, author of Modern Times

Dinesh D'Souza, Dinesh D’Souza (Author), Sean Runnette (Narrator)

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C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy

In Jeff Sharlet's bestselling book, The Family, he wrote about the ""C Street House,"" a Washington, D.C., Christian fellowship home shared by a number of conservative politicians. In the summer of 2009, the house became infamous as the center of sex scandals involving three of its residents: Senator John Ensign, Governor Mark Sanford, and Congressman Chip Pickering. Sharlet is the leading expert on ""the Family,"" and his undercover research and investigative work answers some of the country's biggest questions: how political fundamentalism endures in America; why, despite the collapse of the old Christian Right, it is as big a threat to democracy as ever before; and where, in a time of political upheaval and culture wars, fundamentalist politicians really intend to lead the country.

Jeff Sharlet (Author), Jeremy Guskin (Narrator)

Audiobook

Current Affairs Audiobooks in Politics