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  • 1983

  • The World at the Brink
  • By: Taylor Downing
  • Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe
  • Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (184 ratings)
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1983 cover art

1983

By: Taylor Downing
Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe
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Summary

1983 was a supremely dangerous year - even more dangerous than 1962, the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the US, President Reagan massively increased defence spending, described the Soviet Union as an 'evil empire' and announced his 'Star Wars' programme, calling for a shield in space to defend the US from incoming missiles.

Yuri Andropov, the paranoid Soviet leader, saw all this as signs of American aggression and convinced himself that the US really meant to attack the Soviet Union. He put the KGB on alert to look for signs of an imminent nuclear attack. When a Soviet fighter jet shot down Korean Air Lines flight KAL 007 after straying off course over a sensitive Soviet military area, President Reagan described it as a 'terrorist act' and 'a crime against humanity'. The temperature was rising fast.

Then at the height of the tension, NATO began a war game called Able Archer 83. In this exercise, NATO requested permission to use the codes to launch nuclear weapons. The nervous Soviets convinced themselves this was no exercise but the real thing.

This is an extraordinary and largely unknown Cold War story of spies and double agents, of missiles being readied, of intelligence failures, misunderstandings and the panic of world leaders. With access to hundreds of extraordinary new documents just released in the US, Taylor Downing is able to tell for the first time the gripping but true story of how near the world came to the brink of nuclear war in 1983.

1983: The World at the Brink is a real-life thriller.

©2018 Taylor Downing (P)2018 Little, Brown Book Group
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about 1983

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

American accents!?

Ok the content was good and the narration very good until the parts where there are quotes for Americans, for some mad reason the narrator puts on a terrible and inconsistent American accent that manages to slowly change back into an English accent by the end of the quote. Inextricably some of the quotes for Russians are also done in a strange America type accent. I got to chapter three and couldn't take it anymore the accents where so off putting I had to give up on the book.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Enthralling but let down by narration

An excellent insight into how close we came to war, with some fascinating detail. Narration is poor, though. American accents are all over the place, and the rest is delivered in a rasping croak which sounds like it's being read by a carrion crow.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent!

This is a very good listening. A well written, very well narrated audiobook, covering some of the most momentous times of the cold war era, ending up with the arms reductions treaty now being scuttled by the incompetent Trump administration.

Highly recommended.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Real life intrigue and drama - superb.

What a period to have lived through. If you’re in your fifties, sixties or seventies now, then in your salad days you lived through this period of high tension, Cold War, and the world in which we grew up almost unrecognisable today. This part history lesson, all entertaining and gripping recounting of events from that most dangerous year will keep you glued to your earphones or car hi-fi for hour after hour. I cannot recommend enough.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic, Gripping listen.

A brilliant book. I had almost been out off buying this book by some reviews suggesting it was ruined by narration, but I don’t think this was the case at all. A really interesting and enjoyable listen.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Could be Now

This detailed account of the 1983 position between the USSR and The West draws many parallels with the situation today. a must read if you want to know more about the paranoid distrust that the Russions had of the USA and the misunderstandings by the West of how Russians think.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Awful American Accents

This recording is basically unlistenable. The awful accents he tries to mimic, which seem to go in between different regions and strengths even in the same sentence, totally ruin it. And his voice in general is so gravelly and low it’s hard to listen to.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Awful awful narrator

The most irritating and uncomfortable audio. So off putting I can’t listen to another moment having paid for it. Sounds like a very hungover guy with a cold croaking away. Like nails on a blackboard after a while. Avoid, I wished I had listened to a sample first, I’ll never make that mistake again !!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good book - terrible narration

Interestingly, the British narrator uses the same "american" accent for every single american person in the book (from Regan to Schultz)... Makes it hard to listen to.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Superb. Oh and scary.

Well written, compelling, engrossing account of the events of 1983 and how close we came to annihilation.
Do not be put off this book by other reviewers’ views on the narration.

Narrator does an overall excellent job. Yes, some of the American accents fall wide of mark and are unnecessary. However his brilliant and perfectly judged delivery of the important parts more than makes up for it. And his Reagan is actually rather good…

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