On Distant Service cover art

On Distant Service

The Life of the First U.S. Foreign Service Officer to Be Assassinated

Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

On Distant Service

By: Susan M. Stein
Narrated by: Bryan Carmody
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

On July 18, 1924, a mob in Tehran killed US foreign service officer Robert Whitney Imbrie. His violent death, the first political murder in the history of the service, outraged the American people. Though Imbrie’s loss briefly made him a cause célèbre, subsequent events quickly obscured his extraordinary life and career.

Susan M. Stein tells the story of a figure steeped in adventure and history. Imbrie rejected a legal career to volunteer as an ambulance driver during World War I and joined the State Department when the United States entered the war. Assigned to Russia, he witnessed the October Revolution, fled ahead of a Bolshevik arrest order, and continued to track communist activity in Turkey even as the country’s war of independence unfolded around him. His fateful assignment to Persia led to his death at age 41 and set off political repercussions that cloud relations between the United States and Iran to this day. Drawing on a wealth of untapped materials, On Distant Service returns listeners to an era when dash and diplomacy went hand-in-hand.

©2020 Susan M. Stein (P)2022 Susan M. Stein
Historical Political Science Politicians Politics & Activism Politics & Government War Middle East Iran Career Military

Listeners also enjoyed...

Donovan cover art
A Forgotten Hero cover art
The Plots to Kill Hitler cover art
Rome - City in Terror cover art
Ghosts of Honolulu cover art
War on the Border cover art
The Mexican Revolution cover art
Saigon Has Fallen cover art
Dwight D. Eisenhower cover art
War of Shadows cover art
The Lumumba Plot cover art
The Padre cover art
Cambodia cover art
Trail of Hope cover art
Great Hatred cover art
Destination Casablanca cover art
No reviews yet