A Sense of the Enemy
The High Stakes History of Reading Your Rival's Mind
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A Sense of the Enemy
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Narrated by:
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Shanet Clark
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By:
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Zachary Shore
About this listen
More than 2,000 years ago the Chinese strategist Sun Tzu advised us to know our enemies. The question has always been how. In A Sense of the Enemy, the historian Zachary Shore demonstrates that leaders can best understand an opponent not simply from his pattern of past behavior, but from his behavior at pattern breaks. Meaningful pattern breaks occur during dramatic deviations from the routine, when the enemy imposes costs upon himself. It's at these unexpected moments, Shore explains, that successful leaders can learn what makes their rivals truly tick. Shore presents a uniquely revealing history of 20th-century conflict. With vivid, suspenseful prose, he takes us into the minds of statesmen, to see how they in turn tried to enter the minds of others. In the process, he shows how this type of mind-reading, which he calls "strategic empathy," shaped matters of war and peace. Mahatma Gandhi, for instance, was an excellent strategic empath. In the wake of a British massacre of unarmed Indian civilians, how did Gandhi know that nonviolence could ever be effective? And what of Gustav Stresemann, the 21-year-old Wunderkind Ph.D., who rose from lobbyist for chocolate makers to Chancellor of Germany. How did he manage to resurrect his nation to great power status after its humiliating loss in World War One? One key to all these leaders' triumphs came from the enemy's behavior at pattern breaks. Drawing on research from the cognitive sciences, and tapping multilingual, multinational sources, Shore has crafted an innovative history of the last century's most pivotal moments, when lives and nations were on the line. Through this curious study of strategic empathy, we gain surprising insights into how great leaders think.
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-
Story4 out of 5 stars 101
The Future of War - which covers civil wars to as yet unknown nuclear conflicts, proxy wars (real) to the Cold War (not), fashionably small wars to the War to End All Wars (it didn't) - is filled with insight and fascinating nuggets of military history and culture from one of the most brilliant military and strategic historians of his generation.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A good historical review of the progression of war
- By Ian R. Graham on 06-14-18
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Supreme Command
- Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime
- By: Eliot A. Cohen
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 196
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 167
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 165
The relationship between military leaders and political leaders has always been a complicated one, especially in times of war. When the chips are down, who should run the show, the politicians or the generals? In Supreme Command, Eliot Cohen examines four great democratic war statesmen - Abraham Lincoln, Georges Clemenceau, Winston Churchill, and David Ben-Gurion - to reveal the surprising answer - the politicians. The generals may think they know how to win, but the statesmen are the ones who see the big picture.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Dated material
- By Charlotte R. Shover on 11-21-20
By: Eliot A. Cohen
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Kissinger: Volume I
- 1923-1968: The Idealist
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 34 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 260
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 230
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 229
No American statesman has been as revered and as reviled as Henry Kissinger. Once hailed as "Super-K" - the "indispensable man" whose advice has been sought by every president from Kennedy to Obama - he has also been hounded by conspiracy theorists, scouring his every "telcon" for evidence of Machiavellian malfeasance. Yet as Niall Ferguson shows in this magisterial biography, the idea of Kissinger as the ruthless arch-realist is based on a profound misunderstanding.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Riveting
- By Jean on 11-10-15
By: Niall Ferguson
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The Cold War
- A New History
- By: John Lewis Gaddis
- Narrated by: Jay Gregory, Alan Sklar
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 965
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 693
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 688
Drawing on new and often startling information from newly opened Soviet, Eastern European, and Chinese archives, this thrilling account explores the strategic dynamics that drove the Cold War, provides illuminating portraits of its major personalities, and offers much fresh insight into its most crucial events. Riveting, revelatory, and wise, it tells a story whose lessons it is vitally necessary to understand as America once more faces an implacable ideological enemy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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WOW
- By Cordell eddings on 10-13-07
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Ike's Gamble
- America's Rise to Dominance in the Middle East
- By: Michael Doran
- Narrated by: Casey Jones
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 69
In 1956 President Nasser of Egypt moved to take possession of the Suez Canal, thereby bringing the Middle East to the brink of war. The British and the French, who operated the canal, joined with Israel in a plan to retake it by force. Despite the special relationship between England and America, Dwight Eisenhower intervened to stop the invasion.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Tightly Argued
- By Jean on 01-10-17
By: Michael Doran
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A Failed Empire
- The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev
- By: Vladimir Zubok
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 20 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 261
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 193
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Story4 out of 5 stars 192
Western interpretations of the Cold War--both realist and neoconservative--have erred by exaggerating either the Kremlin's pragmatism or its aggressiveness, argues Vladislav Zubok. Explaining the interests, aspirations, illusions, fears, and misperceptions of the Kremlin leaders and Soviet elites, Zubok offers a Soviet perspective on the greatest standoff of the 20th century.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Focus on the Top Leadership
- By Augustus T. White on 08-13-10
By: Vladimir Zubok
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Strategy
- A History
- By: Lawrence Freedman
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 32 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,011
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 861
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Story4 out of 5 stars 851
In Strategy: A History, Sir Lawrence Freedman, one of the world's leading authorities on war and international politics, captures the vast history of strategic thinking, in a consistently engaging and insightful account of how strategy came to pervade every aspect of our lives.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Comprehensive 'Tour de Force' on Strategy
- By Logical Paradox on 07-20-14
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America's War for the Greater Middle East
- A Military History
- By: Andrew J. Bacevich
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro, Andrew J. Bacevich
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 953
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 849
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 845
From the end of World War II until 1980, virtually no American soldiers were killed in action while serving in the Greater Middle East. Since 1990, virtually no American soldiers have been killed in action anywhere else. What caused this shift? Andrew J. Bacevich, one of the country's most respected voices on foreign affairs, offers an incisive critical history of this ongoing military enterprise - now more than 30 years old and with no end in sight.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Key to Understanding the US Need for Perp. War
- By Darwin8u on 05-01-16
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Kissinger's Shadow
- The Long Reach of America's Most Controversial Statesman
- By: Greg Grandin
- Narrated by: Brian O'Neill
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 66
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
A new account of America's most controversial diplomat that moves beyond praise or condemnation to reveal Kissinger as the architect of America's current imperial stance. In his fascinating new book, acclaimed historian Greg Grandin argues that to understand the crisis of contemporary America - its never-ending wars abroad and political polarization at home - we have to understand Henry Kissinger.
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2 out of 5 stars
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A Rehash of Rehashes...nothing new
- By A. M. on 10-06-19
By: Greg Grandin
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The End of Tsarist Russia
- The March to World War I and Revolution
- By: Dominic Lieven
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 18 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 132
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 116
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Story4 out of 5 stars 115
World War I and the Russian Revolution together shaped the 20th century in profound ways. In The End of Tsarist Russia, acclaimed scholar Dominic Lieven connects for the first time the two events, providing both a history of the First World War's origins from a Russian perspective and an international history of why the revolution happened.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A good book done in by bad narration.
- By James on 05-25-16
By: Dominic Lieven
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The Sleepwalkers
- How Europe Went to War in 1914
- By: Christopher Clark
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 24 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 884
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 772
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 774
The Sleepwalkers is historian Christopher Clark's riveting account of the explosive beginnings of World War I. Drawing on new scholarship, Clark offers a fresh look at World War I, focusing not on the battles and atrocities of the war itself but on the complex events and relationships that led a group of well-meaning leaders into brutal conflict.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Very interesting take on a complex problem
- By Steve on 01-24-15
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Hegemony or Survival
- America's Quest for Global Dominance
- By: Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: Brian Jones, Noam Chomsky
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 722
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 185
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 187
For more than half a century, the United States has been pursuing a grand imperial strategy with the aim of staking out the globe. Our leaders have shown themselves willing, as in the Cuban missile crisis, to follow the dream of dominance no matter how high the risks. Now the Bush administration is intensifying this process, driving us toward the final frontiers of imperial control, toward a choice between the prerogatives of power and a livable Earth.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Read and open your mind
- By Rupert on 01-15-04
By: Noam Chomsky
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Magnificent Delusions
- Pakistan, the United States, and an Epic History of Misunderstanding
- By: Husain Haqqani
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 234
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 199
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 202
A character-driven history that describes the bizarrely ill-suited alliance between America and Pakistan, written by a uniquely insightful participant: Pakistan's former ambassador to the US. The relationship between America and Pakistan is based on mutual incomprehension, and always has been. Pakistan - to American eyes - has gone from being a stabilizing friend to an essential military ally to a seedbed of terror.
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4 out of 5 stars
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It it Delusions or Sleeping with the Enemy
- By Shah Alam on 01-28-14
By: Husain Haqqani
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Road to Disaster
- A New History of America’s Descent into Vietnam
- By: Brian VanDeMark
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 23 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 82
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 76
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Story5 out of 5 stars 76
Many books have been written on the tragic decisions regarding Vietnam made by the stars of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Yet despite many words of analysis and reflection, no historian has been able to explain why such decent and previously successful men stumbled so badly. That changes with Road to Disaster. Historian Brian VanDeMark draws upon decades of archival research, his own interviews with many of those involved, and a wealth of previously unheard recordings by Robert McNamara and Clark Clifford, who served as Defense Secretaries for Kennedy and Johnson.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Vietnam Veteran
- By Jim Rollins on 04-02-19
By: Brian VanDeMark
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Potsdam
- The End of World War II and the Remaking of Europe
- By: Michael Neiberg
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 468
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 409
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 408
After Germany's defeat in World War II, Europe lay in tatters. Millions of refugees were dispersed across the continent. Food and fuel were scarce. Britain was bankrupt while Germany had been reduced to rubble. In July 1945, Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin gathered in a quiet suburb of Berlin to negotiate a lasting peace - a peace that would finally put an end to the conflagration that had started in 1914, a peace under which Europe could be rebuilt.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Richly told and entertaining.
- By John Kaiser on 06-20-15
By: Michael Neiberg