
The Brothers
John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War
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Narrated by:
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David Cochran Heath
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By:
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Stephen Kinzer
About this listen
A joint biography of John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles, who led the United States into an unseen war that decisively shaped today's world
During the 1950s, when the Cold War was at its peak, two immensely powerful brothers led the United States into a series of foreign adventures whose effects are still shaking the world.
John Foster Dulles was secretary of state while his brother, Allen Dulles, was director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In this book, Stephen Kinzer places their extraordinary lives against the backdrop ofAmerican culture and history. He uses the framework of biography to ask: Why does the United States behave as it does in the world?
The Brothers explores hidden forces that shape the national psyche, from religious piety to Western movies - many of which are about a noble gunman who cleans up a lawless town by killing bad guys. This is how the Dulles brothers saw themselves, and how many Americans still see their country's role in the world.
Propelled by a quintessentially American set of fears and delusions, the Dulles brothers launched violent campaigns against foreign leaders they saw as threats to the United States. These campaigns helped push countries from Guatemala to the Congo into long spirals of violence, led the United States into the Vietnam War, and laid the foundation for decades of hostility between the United States and countries such as Cuba and Iran.
The story of the Dulles brothers is the story of America. It illuminates and helps explain the modern history of the United States and the world.
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- By: William I. Hitchcock
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 25 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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In a 2017 survey, presidential historians ranked Dwight D. Eisenhower fifth on the list of great presidents, behind the perennial top four: Lincoln, Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Teddy Roosevelt. Historian William Hitchcock shows that this high ranking is justified. Eisenhower's accomplishments were enormous and loom ever larger from the vantage point of our own tumultuous times.
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A Very Thorough and Balanced Biography
- By John on 05-28-18
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The Pentagon's Brain
- An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 18 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Discover the definitive history of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, in this Pulitzer Prize finalist from the author of the New York Times best seller Area 51. No one has ever written the history of the Defense Department's most secret, most powerful, and most controversial military science R&D agency. In the first-ever history about the organization, New York Times best-selling author Annie Jacobsen draws on inside sources, exclusive interviews, private documents, and declassified memos to paint a picture of DARPA, or "the Pentagon's brain".
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Scientia Est Potentia/Knowledge is Power
- By Cynthia on 10-08-15
By: Annie Jacobsen
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The Soviet Century
- Archaeology of a Lost World
- By: Karl Schlogel, Rodney Livingstone - translator
- Narrated by: Ciaran Saward
- Length: 29 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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The Soviet Union is gone, but its ghostly traces remain, not least in the material vestiges left behind in its turbulent wake. What was it really like to live in the USSR? What did it look, feel, smell, and sound like? In The Soviet Century, Karl Schlögel, one of the world's leading historians of the Soviet Union, presents a spellbinding epic that brings to life the everyday world of a unique lost civilization. A museum of—and travel guide to—the Soviet past, The Soviet Century explores in evocative detail both the largest and smallest aspects of life in the USSR.
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Great work
- By J. H. Robinson on 07-28-24
By: Karl Schlogel, and others
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Legacy of Ashes
- The History of the CIA
- By: Tim Weiner
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 21 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the book the CIA does not want you to read. For the last 60 years, the CIA has maintained a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, never disclosing its blunders to the American public. It spun its own truth to the nation while reality lay buried in classified archives. Now, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Tim Weiner offers a stunning indictment of the CIA, a deeply flawed organization that has never deserved America's confidence.
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Flawed but Important
- By Michael on 07-18-08
By: Tim Weiner
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Wild Bill Donovan
- The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage
- By: Douglas Waller
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 14 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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He was one of America's most exciting and secretive generals - the man Franklin Roosevelt made his top spy in World War II. A mythic figure whose legacy is still intensely debated, "Wild Bill" Donovan was director of the Office of Strategic Services (the country's first national intelligence agency) and the father of today's CIA. Donovan introduced the nation to the dark arts of covert warfare on a scale it had never seen before.
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Birth of the Spyworks Industry
- By Diane on 04-23-12
By: Douglas Waller
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The Ghost
- The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton
- By: Jefferson Morley
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Ghost, investigative reporter Jefferson Morley tells Angleton's dramatic story, from his friendship with the poet Ezra Pound through the underground gay milieu of mid-century Washington to the Kennedy assassination to the Watergate scandal. From the agency's MKULTRA mind-control experiments to the wars of the Mideast, Angleton wielded far more power than anyone knew.
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Flawed Superpatriot
- By Bubblehog on 11-23-17
By: Jefferson Morley
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Dutch Girl
- Audrey Hepburn and World War II
- By: Robert Matzen, Luca Dotti - foreword
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Twenty-five years after her passing, Audrey Hepburn remains the most beloved of all Hollywood stars, known as much for her role as UNICEF ambassador as for films like Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany's. Several biographies have chronicled her stardom, but none has covered her intense experiences through five years of Nazi occupation in the Netherlands. According to her son, Luca Dotti, "The war made my mother who she was."
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Good story, poor narration
- By sas on 07-09-19
By: Robert Matzen, and others
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Enemies
- A History of the FBI
- By: Tim Weiner
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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We think of the FBI as America’s police force. But secret intelligence is the Bureau’s first and foremost mission. Enemies is the story of how presidents have used the FBI as the most formidable intelligence force in American history. This is the first definitive history of the FBI’s secret intelligence operations, from an author whose work on the Pentagon and the CIA won him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
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Good book, just not for me
- By a on 11-12-12
By: Tim Weiner
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Mary's Mosaic
- The CIA Conspiracy to Murder John F. Kennedy, Mary Pinchot Meyer, and Their Vision for World Peace
- By: Peter Janney
- Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
- Length: 17 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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A shocking expos on the life and death of political peace activist Mary Pinchot Meyer, whose relationship with John F. Kennedy sheds new light on the circumstances surrounding his assassination. Who really murdered Mary Pinchot Meyer in the fall of 1964? Why was there a mad rush by CIA counterintelligence chief James Angleton to immediately locate and confiscate her diary? What in that diary was so explosive and revealing?
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A must read to understand the real power brokers of this country
- By barry Lowe on 02-12-16
By: Peter Janney
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Stalin, Volume I
- Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928
- By: Stephen Kotkin
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 38 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Volume One of Stalin begins and ends in January 1928 as Stalin boards a train bound for Siberia, about to embark upon the greatest gamble of his political life. He is now the ruler of the largest country in the world, but a poor and backward one, far behind the great capitalist countries in industrial and military power, encircled on all sides. In Siberia, Stalin conceives of the largest program of social reengineering ever attempted.
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Excellent Book But First Time Listener Beware
- By Nostromo on 03-23-15
By: Stephen Kotkin
What listeners say about The Brothers
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- jeremy
- 04-03-17
The story every American should read
This is a basically faultless history of American imperialism in the 20th century. My only criticism is that the offer is so strong throughout the book and so weak in the last few minutes
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- Marty
- 09-23-16
That's a lot of power!
I enjoyed this book because this is not a time period I normally study (my interests lie in the holocaust, medieval Europe, Irish history, Russian imperial history and Jewish history). I was aware these men existed and knew they were influential but had no idea the power they wielded. It's a wonder America survived with these two in government at the same time Hoover was in office.
Very interesting book
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- Leslie W. Stewart III
- 06-19-16
Great book and Audio
This was one of the most interesting and informative books I've listen to all this year. Being born in 1949 I came up during the Dulles reign and except for the Viet Nam debacle I was ignorant of what really was going on. Now I clearly understand the magnitude of the US use of smoke and mirrors to bring democracy and order to waning colonial countries and assumed menacing powers.
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- Angel grimston
- 11-21-20
allen dulles coups hound
these guys dont get anywhere near the credit they deserve for the irreparable harm they've done to the world
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- Will B
- 12-25-21
A walk through 20th century historical events
A great walk through historical events that shaped the 20th century and the 21st so far. History repeats itself and we are living through the same old thinking that the Dulles prescribed to. Right makes right corporate power is everything US taking the same myopic approach to the world.
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- Anonymous User
- 03-27-22
a must read
a must read for all those who have any hope of understanding history an our place in it.
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- Wayne B. Norris
- 08-17-24
A very well written piece that did not cover Eastern Europe or direct US Soviet relationships as deeply as it should have
I realize it this book was about the Dulles brothers, but given the context, it should certainly have covered Stalin to his death in 1953 and the nuanced outreaches by Mahlenkov and Khrushchev.
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- Wayne A. Keup
- 11-23-15
A Must Read
This is one of the most well-written and interesting books on modern history I have ever read. Don't pass it up.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Nathan Gough
- 12-28-16
Why the world is in the state it is today
I like history and this book explains in part why the world is the way it is today. It is a great listen if you are interested in U.S. history or want to understand the blunder of the Cold War and dominion theory.
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- Lance
- 11-07-14
History of key players filling imperialism's void
I really enjoyed the book. Easy read. Clear writing style. It largely focuses on the careers and activities of the Dulles brothers as Secretary of State and CIA director.
I did have some concerns regarding bias from the author. He talks about several areas with implied disdain that I find to be incredibly naive. For instance, he speaks about how deal makers catered their pitches to the biases of the other side. Of course anyone interested in getting the deal done will do this and not feel bad about it. Each side has to do their own due diligence and negotiate on the basis of their findings. The religious mocking is also a bit grating to me. The author should have focused on how the professional actions of the brothers were contrary to fundamental religious tenets. But the reality is that people do and say what they have to in order to gain acceptance by the public for their plan of action.
This is all addressed in the last chapter, where the author reveals his beliefs and biases, which is both refreshing and worrisome. I really enjoy history when it is presented as just the facts. Clearly this author tried to do that in his book, but was not 100 percent successful. Slapping a last chapter on that then answers the big questions addressed by the book is cheating in my view. That last chapter could have been the basis for the next book while allowing the current book to become a less biased "just the facts" history book. Then he could have done his point of view justice in the new book.
Anyway, the book may be a bit biased, but is highly recommended to see how corporations, the US, Russia, nationalism stepped into the void left by the fall of British imperialism. The focus in the book is on the US side of this, but the reader gets valuable glimpses into how all the players were playing in a brand new sandbox. I find the author's belief's chapter to be a bit naive, but since it was just slapped on at the end, I don't find it to diminish the value of the book.
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