Try an audiobook on us
The Best and the Brightest
People who bought this also bought...
-
The Pentagon Papers
- The Secret History of the Vietnam War
- By: Neil Sheehan, E. W. Kenworthy, Fox Butterfield, and others
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 37 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The basis for the film The Post, The Pentagon Papers are a series of articles, documents, and studies examining the Johnson Administration's lies to the public about the extent of US involvement in the Vietnam War, bringing to light shocking conclusions about America's true role in the conflict. With a brand-new foreword by James L. Greenfield, this edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning story is sure to provoke discussion about free press and government deception.
-
A People’s Tragedy
- By: Orlando Figes
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 47 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Opening with a panorama of Russian society, from the cloistered world of the Tsar to the brutal life of the peasants, A People’s Tragedy follows workers, soldiers, intellectuals and villagers as their world is consumed by revolution and then degenerates into violence and dictatorship. Drawing on vast original research, Figes conveys above all the shocking experience of the revolution for those who lived it, while providing the clearest and most cogent account of how and why it unfolded.
-
-
A good guide to the repeating history of Russia
- By Mikhail Tikilyaynen on 14-02-19
-
Team of Vipers
- My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House
- By: Cliff Sims
- Narrated by: Daniel Thomas May, Cliff Sims - introduction
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After standing at Donald Trump’s side on Election Night, Cliff Sims joined him in the West Wing as special assistant to the president and director of White House message strategy. He soon found himself pulled into the president’s inner circle as a confidante, an errand boy, an advisor, a punching bag, and a friend. This is the story of what it was really like in the West Wing as a member of the president’s team. It's a story of power and palace intrigue, backstabbing and bold victories, as well as painful moral compromises, occasionally with yourself.
-
-
Bleeping out swear words? Really?
- By Adam on 05-02-19
-
A Bright Shining Lie
- John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam
- By: Neil Sheehan
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 35 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sheehan's tragic biography of John Paul Vann is also a sweeping history of America's seduction, entrapment and disillusionment in Vietnam.
-
-
Very interesting.
- By Roger on 07-05-13
-
Vietnam
- An Epic History of a Divisive War 1945-1975
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Peter Noble, Max Hastings - introduction
- Length: 33 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the United States in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. He portrays the set pieces of Dienbienphu, the Tet offensive, the air blitz of North Vietnam and less familiar battles such as the bloodbath at Daido.
-
-
Brilliant
- By Derrick on 20-10-18
-
Directorate S
- The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan
- By: Steve Coll
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 28 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Resuming the narrative of his Pulitzer Prize-winning Ghost Wars, best-selling 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.
-
-
Filled with facts and beautifully written
- By Saad on 08-05-18
-
The Pentagon Papers
- The Secret History of the Vietnam War
- By: Neil Sheehan, E. W. Kenworthy, Fox Butterfield, and others
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 37 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The basis for the film The Post, The Pentagon Papers are a series of articles, documents, and studies examining the Johnson Administration's lies to the public about the extent of US involvement in the Vietnam War, bringing to light shocking conclusions about America's true role in the conflict. With a brand-new foreword by James L. Greenfield, this edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning story is sure to provoke discussion about free press and government deception.
-
A People’s Tragedy
- By: Orlando Figes
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 47 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Opening with a panorama of Russian society, from the cloistered world of the Tsar to the brutal life of the peasants, A People’s Tragedy follows workers, soldiers, intellectuals and villagers as their world is consumed by revolution and then degenerates into violence and dictatorship. Drawing on vast original research, Figes conveys above all the shocking experience of the revolution for those who lived it, while providing the clearest and most cogent account of how and why it unfolded.
-
-
A good guide to the repeating history of Russia
- By Mikhail Tikilyaynen on 14-02-19
-
Team of Vipers
- My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House
- By: Cliff Sims
- Narrated by: Daniel Thomas May, Cliff Sims - introduction
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After standing at Donald Trump’s side on Election Night, Cliff Sims joined him in the West Wing as special assistant to the president and director of White House message strategy. He soon found himself pulled into the president’s inner circle as a confidante, an errand boy, an advisor, a punching bag, and a friend. This is the story of what it was really like in the West Wing as a member of the president’s team. It's a story of power and palace intrigue, backstabbing and bold victories, as well as painful moral compromises, occasionally with yourself.
-
-
Bleeping out swear words? Really?
- By Adam on 05-02-19
-
A Bright Shining Lie
- John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam
- By: Neil Sheehan
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 35 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sheehan's tragic biography of John Paul Vann is also a sweeping history of America's seduction, entrapment and disillusionment in Vietnam.
-
-
Very interesting.
- By Roger on 07-05-13
-
Vietnam
- An Epic History of a Divisive War 1945-1975
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Peter Noble, Max Hastings - introduction
- Length: 33 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the United States in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. He portrays the set pieces of Dienbienphu, the Tet offensive, the air blitz of North Vietnam and less familiar battles such as the bloodbath at Daido.
-
-
Brilliant
- By Derrick on 20-10-18
-
Directorate S
- The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan
- By: Steve Coll
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 28 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Resuming the narrative of his Pulitzer Prize-winning Ghost Wars, best-selling 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.
-
-
Filled with facts and beautifully written
- By Saad on 08-05-18
-
Rollercoaster
- Europe, 1950-2017
- By: Ian Kershaw
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 26 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the overwhelming horrors of the first half of the 20th century, described by Ian Kershaw in his previous book as having gone 'to hell and back', the years from 1950 to 2017 brought peace and relative prosperity to most of Europe. Enormous economic improvements transformed the continent. The catastrophic era of the world wars receded into an ever more distant past, though its long shadow continued to shape mentalities. Europe was now a divided continent, living under the nuclear threat in a period intermittently fraught with anxiety.
-
-
Doing it for the money?
- By Jonathan on 16-02-19
-
Richard Nixon
- The Life
- By: John A. Farrell
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 28 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Richard Nixon opens with young navy lieutenant "Nick" Nixon returning from the Pacific and setting his cap at Congress, an idealistic dreamer seeking to build a better world. Yet amid the turns of that now legendary 1946 campaign, Nixon's finer attributes quickly gave way to unapologetic ruthlessness. It is a stunning overture to John A. Farrell's magisterial portrait of a man who embodied postwar American cynicism.
-
-
Outstanding biography of the man
- By Mr. E. Sheffield on 11-05-17
-
Crimea
- By: Orlando Figes
- Narrated by: Malk Williams
- Length: 20 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The terrible conflict that dominated the mid-19th century, the Crimean War, killed at least 800,000 men and pitted Russia against a formidable coalition of Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire. It was a war for territory, provoked by fear that if the Ottoman Empire were to collapse then Russia could control a huge swathe of land from the Balkans to the Persian Gulf. But it was also a war of religion, driven by a fervent, populist and ever more ferocious belief by the Tsar and his ministers that it was Russia's task to rule all Orthodox Christians and control the Holy Land.
-
-
Sheds light on a very misunderstood war
- By N. Flynn on 17-10-18
-
The House of Government
- A Saga of the Russian Revolution
- By: Yuri Slezkine, Claire Bloom - director
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 45 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the epic story of an enormous apartment building where Communist true believers lived before their destruction. The House of Government is unlike any other book about the Russian Revolution and the Soviet experiment.
-
-
Well researched but lacks structure or narrative
- By Anonymous User on 30-08-18
-
Hitler, the Germans, and the Final Solution
- By: Ian Kershaw
- Narrated by: Nick Sandys
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book is the culmination of more than three decades of meticulous historiographic research on Nazi Germany by one of the period’s most distinguished historians. The volume brings together the most important and influential aspects of Ian Kershaw’s research on the Holocaust for the first time. The writings are arranged in three sections - Hitler and the Final Solution, popular opinion and the Jews in Nazi Germany, and the Final Solution in historiography - and Kershaw provides an introduction and a closing section on the uniqueness of Nazism.
-
Fear
- Trump in the White House
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The inside story on President Trump, as only Bob Woodward can tell it. With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump’s White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents. The focus is on the explosive debates and the decision-making in the Oval Office, the Situation Room, Air Force One and the White House residence.
-
-
balanced and the text is served well by narration.
- By David W. on 12-09-18
-
Embers of War
- The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam
- By: Fredrik Logevall
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 32 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this landmark work that will forever change your understanding of how and why America went to war in Vietnam, author Fredrik Logevall taps newly accessible diplomatic archives in several nations and traces the path that led two Western nations to tragically lose their way in the jungles of Southeast Asia. He brings to life the bloodiest battles of France’s final years in Indochina - and describes how, from an early point, a succession of American leaders made disastrous policy choices that put America on its own collision course with history.
-
-
Excellent
- By PSMorris on 30-12-18
-
The Looming Tower
- Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
- By: Lawrence Wright
- Narrated by: Lawrence Wright
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America. Lawrence Wright's remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States.
-
-
Astounding
- By HashTag on 03-09-18
-
The Path to Power
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson
- By: Robert A. Caro
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 40 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the story of the rise to national power of a desperately poor young man from the Texas Hill Country. The Path to Power reveals in extraordinary detail the genesis of the almost superhuman drive, energy, and ambition that set LBJ apart. It follows him from the Hill Country to New Deal Washington, from his boyhood through the years of the Depression to his debut as Congressman, his heartbreaking defeat in his first race for the Senate, and his attainment, nonetheless, at age 31, of the national power for which he hungered.
-
-
Compelling story of a complex man
- By PauseToThink on 14-10-15
-
The War of the World
- History's Age of Hatred
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Saul Reichlin
- Length: 34 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world at the beginning of the 20th century seemed for most of its inhabitants stable and relatively benign. Globalising, booming economies married to technological breakthroughs seemed to promise a better world for most people. Instead the 20th century proved to be overwhelmingly the most violent, frightening and brutalised in history, with fanatical, often genocidal warfare engulfing most societies between the outbreak of the First World War and the end of the Cold War. What went wrong?
-
-
Brilliant
- By Frank Bowman on 07-12-17
-
Hue 1968
- A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam
- By: Mark Bowden
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 18 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By January 1968, despite an influx of half a million American troops, the fighting in Vietnam seemed to be at a stalemate. Yet General William Westmoreland, commander of American forces, announced a new phase of the war in which "the end begins to come into view". The North Vietnamese had different ideas. In mid-1967, the leadership in Hanoi had started planning an offensive intended to win the war in a single stroke.
-
-
Outstanding Military History
- By Stephen on 02-08-17
-
Churchill
- Walking with Destiny
- By: Andrew Roberts
- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
- Length: 50 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Churchill by Andrew Roberts, read by Stephen Thorne. Winston Churchill towers over every other figure in 20th-century British history. By the time of his death at the age of 90 in 1965, many thought him to be the greatest man in the world. There have been over a thousand previous biographies of Churchill. Andrew Roberts now draws on over 40 new sources, including the private diaries of King George VI, used in no previous Churchill biography, to depict him more intimately and persuasively than any of its predecessors.
-
-
GLORIOUS! ROBERT'S SPECTACULAR LIFE OF CHURCHILL
- By Leonie F on 16-11-18
Summary
David Halberstam’s masterpiece, the defining history of the making of the Vietnam tragedy, with a foreword by Senator John McCain.
"A rich, entertaining, and profound reading experience.” (The New York Times)
Using portraits of America’s flawed policy makers and accounts of the forces that drove them, The Best and the Brightest reckons magnificently with the most important abiding question of our country’s recent history: Why did America become mired in Vietnam, and why did we lose? As the definitive single-volume answer to that question, this enthralling book has never been superseded. It is an American classic.
“The most comprehensive saga of how America became involved in Vietnam.... It is also the Iliad of the American empire and the Odyssey of this nation’s search for its idealistic soul. The Best and the Brightest is almost like watching an Alfred Hitchcock thriller.” (The Boston Globe)
“Deeply moving... We cannot help but feel the compelling power of this narrative.... Dramatic and tragic, a chain of events overwhelming in their force, a distant war embodying illusions and myths, terror and violence, confusions and courage, blindness, pride, and arrogance.” (Los Angeles Times)
“A fascinating tale of folly and self-deception... [An] absorbing, detailed, and devastatingly caustic tale of Washington in the days of the Caesars.” (The Washington Post Book World)
“Seductively readable... It is a staggeringly ambitious undertaking that is fully matched by Halberstam’s performance.... This is in all ways an admirable and necessary book.” (Newsweek)
“A story every American should read.” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
More from the same
What members say
Average customer ratings
Overall
-
-
5 Stars26
-
4 Stars7
-
3 Stars0
-
2 Stars0
-
1 Stars0
Performance
-
-
5 Stars23
-
4 Stars5
-
3 Stars0
-
2 Stars0
-
1 Stars0
Story
-
-
5 Stars23
-
4 Stars4
-
3 Stars1
-
2 Stars0
-
1 Stars0
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Barry J Mooney
- 19-04-18
Wonderful read
Incredibly in depth review of US involvement in Vietnam which was always fascinating and never boring.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chiefkent
- 12-06-17
Preparation for Ken Burns
I first read this book some 45 years ago and decided that it was time for a refresher with Ken Burns' series on Vietnam coming up on PBS. Scary part was how much I'd forgotten about the LBJ period of self delusion. The historical background from WWII up the JFK period, (missed opportunities), is absolutely fascinating. FDR had no intention of allowing the French to regain possession of Indochina post-war. Sadly all his plans died with him. Even then, the US was against French reoccupation but the British were kind enough to rearm the interned French forces prior to leaving for Burma and Malaya. Instant civil war with the Viet Minh who had been fighting the Japanese. Unfortunately this war coincided with Korea and de Gaulle convinced the US that Indochina was an extension of Korea. American assistance followed.
The most interesting aspect of the book for me was the historical dichotomy that trapped JFK to even pay attention to Vietnam. The convergence of domestic political history and the historical geopolitical circumstances placed JFK in a no-win situation that he was barely juggling when he was assassinated. He was poorly served by his advisors, including RFK as the deaths of Diệm and his brother amply demonstrated. You need to listen to this tome, (and at 37 hrs., it IS a tome), but Mark Bramhall's voice makes it enjoyable, without detracting from the verbiage. Five Stars across the board!!
27 of 28 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Killian Schneider
- 01-06-17
Before there was "groupthink"
Anyone with interest in what is happening *now* would do VERY well to pick up this $56+ masterwork for a credit or free trial w Audible. The book is 37 hours long, never boring. The facts contained here are jaw dropping, literally. Halbertam's body of work is generally amazing. This book is that book where I must use the M word: MASTERWORK. The delivery is duly dry and inspired: reader lets the facts do the work. Probably the best value four a credit I've used in 14 years w Audible.
13 of 14 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Meeno
- 13-12-17
How all the Best and Bravest were lost to History.
What a marvelous tomb built out of tight and intimate character sketches. These were the men that Kennedy assembled to fill his table at Camelot. These were the same men Johnson kept on to help him shepard in his Great Society. These were the, mostly young, men with their panache and style and computer sharp minds who had ushered in a new way of thinking about bureaucracy and armament and diplomacy and helmsmanship of the American craft of State. And these were the very same men who lied their way into the barbarous and genocidal folly that was the beginning of the end of America’s greatness in the century that was otherwise hers, the Vietnam War. This huge book, so well sourced and thought through, such a rollicking tour of duty through the halls of government and all its winding back alleys, so vast in its perusal of persuasion and its insights into invective, left me with a pressingly prescient notion for our current corrosive state of affairs: when power only tells power what it wants to hear, then power often proudly makes the sagest of mistakes. McNamara’s IBM was only as wise as the lies fed into it.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Peter G
- 09-11-17
Superb
I first read this in 1973 and it has lost none of its potency or relevance. The narration is excellent and clearly evokes many of the players, especially LBJ.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kevin Warren
- 28-10-17
Outstanding summary of US involvement in Vietnam
This is a classic for a reason. It's extremely well written and provides an excellent summary of the lives and actions of the major US players in Vietnam. I've read and listened to hundreds of books on Vietnam and I don't think any single one can compare in terms of wealth of information.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 03-08-17
Shaking my head
A marvelous and tragic story of how the US stumbled into Vietnam. So many squandered opportunities to avoid the quagmire and so much dissembling and dishonesty on the part of the government.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- TL
- 12-02-18
Exceptional enlightenment
As a Vietnam combat veteran I found this book to be exceptional. The narration was outstanding.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rex Michael Dillon
- 08-02-18
The Tragic History of Where America Went Wrong
This book offers not only portraiture but deep background on the men that led the US to war in Vietnam.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- M-Lander
- 21-01-18
should be required reading for all Americans.
What is our Govt capable of? Read this book and relive the reality and tragedy of the decisions that led to our involvement in Vietnam.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- T. Anderson
- 05-08-17
A conspiracy of lies in a government gone mad.
Unfortunately, a worse situation exists in the US today. This book serves warning of what is possible in a secretive and paranoid administration.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful