Asia's Reckoning
China, Japan, and the Fate of U.S. Power in the Pacific Century
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Narrated by:
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Steve West
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By:
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Richard Mcgregor
About this listen
A history of the combative military, diplomatic, and economic relations among China, Japan, and the United States since the 1970s - and the potential crisis that awaits them.
Richard McGregor's Asia's Reckoning is a compelling account of the widening geopolitical cracks in a region that has flourished under an American security umbrella for more than half a century. The toxic rivalry between China and Japan, two Asian giants consumed with endless history wars and ruled by entrenched political dynasties, is threatening to upend the peace underwritten by Pax Americana since World War II. Combined with Donald Trump's disdain for America's old alliances and China's own regional ambitions, East Asia is entering a new era of instability and conflict. If the United States laid the postwar foundations for modern Asia, now the anchor of the global economy, Asia's Reckoning reveals how that structure is falling apart.
With unrivaled access to archives in the United States and Asia, as well as to many of the major players in all three countries, Richard McGregor has written a tale that blends the tectonic shifts in diplomacy with bitter domestic politics and the personalities driving them. It is a story not only of an overstretched America but also of the rise and fall and rise of the great powers of Asia. The about-turn of Japan - from a colossus seemingly poised for world domination to a nation in inexorable decline in the space of two decades - has few parallels in modern history, as does the rapid rise of China - a country whose military is now larger than those of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Southeast Asia's combined.
The confrontational course on which China and Japan are set is no simple spat between neighbors: the United States would be involved on the side of Japan in any military conflict between the two countries. The fallout would be an economic tsunami, affecting manufacturing centers, trade routes, and political capitals on every continent. Richard McGregor's book takes us behind the headlines of his years reporting as the Financial Times' Beijing and Washington bureau chief to show how American power will stand or fall on its ability to hold its ground in Asia.
©2017 Richard McGregor (P)2017 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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- Unabridged
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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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Richly told and entertaining.
- By John Kaiser on 06-20-15
By: Michael Neiberg
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The Brothers
- John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: David Cochran Heath
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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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?
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A duel biography
- By Jean on 09-26-14
By: Stephen Kinzer
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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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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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Tightly Argued
- By Jean on 01-10-17
By: Michael Doran
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Bibi
- By: Anshel Pfeffer
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 18 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Benjamin Netanyahu is embroiled in numerous scandals, all of his own making, and may soon be ousted from the office he has held longer than any prior Israeli prime minister outside of David Ben Gurion. But Bibi, as he is known by friend and foe alike, is no stranger to controversy. For many in Israel and elsewhere, he is an embarrassment, a threat to democracy, even a precursor to Donald Trump. He nevertheless continues to dominate Israeli public life - and he may yet survive his current crises, the most challenging of his career.
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Very biased.
- By Anonymous User on 10-14-22
By: Anshel Pfeffer
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The Last Empire
- The Final Days of the Soviet Union
- By: Serhii Plokhy
- Narrated by: Alex Wyndham
- Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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On Christmas, 1991, President George H. W. Bush addressed the nation to declare an American victory in the Cold War: Earlier that day Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned as the first and last Soviet president. The enshrining of that narrative, one in which the end of the Cold War was linked to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the triumph of democratic values over communism, took center stage in American public discourse immediately after Bush's speech and has persisted for decades. As Serhii Plokhy reveals, the collapse of the Soviet Union was anything but the handiwork of the US.
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Full of Holes; Horrid Narrator
- By Donald on 03-02-23
By: Serhii Plokhy
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All the Kremlin's Men
- Inside the Court of Vladimir Putin
- By: Mikhail Zygar
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 16 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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All the Kremlin's Men is a gripping narrative of an accidental king and a court out of control. Based on an unprecedented series of interviews with Vladimir Putin's inner circle, this book presents a radically different view of power and politics in Russia. The image of Putin as a strongman is dissolved. In its place is a weary figurehead buffeted - if not controlled - by the men who at once advise and deceive him. The regional governors and bureaucratic leaders are immovable objects, far more powerful in their fiefdoms than the president himself.
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Enough with the Russian accents!
- By Emma Jane Top on 12-17-17
By: Mikhail Zygar
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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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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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Riveting
- By Jean on 11-10-15
By: Niall Ferguson
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The New Tsar
- The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin
- By: Steven Lee Myers
- Narrated by: René Ruiz
- Length: 22 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The epic tale of the rise to power of Russia's current president—the only complete biography in English–that fully captures his emergence from shrouded obscurity and deprivation to become one of the most consequential and complicated leaders in modern history, by the former New York Times Moscow bureau chief.
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A retelling of facts without much added info
- By A. M. on 03-07-16
By: Steven Lee Myers
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Putin's World
- Russia Against the West and with the Rest
- By: Angela Stent
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Putin's World examines the country's turbulent past, how it has influenced Putin, the Russians' understanding of their position on the global stage and their future ambitions—and their conviction that the West has tried to deny them a seat at the table of great powers since the USSR collapsed.
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More like The West against the world
- By Felis N on 01-18-20
By: Angela Stent
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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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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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A Rehash of Rehashes...nothing new
- By A. M. on 10-06-19
By: Greg Grandin
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Hard Choices
- By: Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Narrated by: Kathleen Chalfant, Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Length: 26 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Hillary Rodham Clinton's inside account of the crises, choices, and challenges she faced during her four years as America's 67th Secretary of State, and how those experiences drive her view of the future. In the aftermath of her 2008 presidential run, she expected to return to representing New York in the United States Senate. To her surprise, her former rival for the Democratic Party nomination, newly elected President Barack Obama, asked her to serve in his administration as Secretary of State. This memoir is the story of the four extraordinary and historic years that followed.
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Senior Stateswoman in need of Editor
- By Cynthia on 07-20-14
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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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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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Focus on the Top Leadership
- By Augustus T. White on 08-13-10
By: Vladimir Zubok
What listeners say about Asia's Reckoning
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- John
- 10-13-17
Great foreboding
I really liked the recent historical summary which. Mcgregor provided. An Excellent primer for Trump.
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- Thomas Rasmussen
- 01-13-18
Very well done.
A wide ranging examination that sifts through decades of minutiae to present you with a clear and interesting storyline.
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- Frequent shopper!
- 05-21-24
Still keenly relevant and insightful 7 years later.
Indispensable reading to better understanding of the complex relationship between the US, Japan and China.
Written in a compelling style. I could not put it down or stop taking notes.
Cons—being a western reader it was at times hard to keep the leaders and others separate and distinct. That is easier when reading, harder on audible. I wish there was a way to have a glossary attached to audible books.
But that’s a small note in an otherwise excellent book. I don’t view events in Asia the same way from this day forward.
Bravo Richard.
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- Neal
- 02-24-18
Good info to learn, but...
For some reason this author just couldn't stick to what took over 15 hours of talking in a near monotone, blasé speech style reading. It was like listening to someone read the dictionary and mispronouncing many words. Then in the final few minutes of the afterward,. This author decides to throw on so,emTrump bashing since Trump wants to make better trade deals for the USA instead of continuing to let China and Japan build EVERYTHING!! He mentioned how Trump was upset at all the Japanese auto imports. Sad to say this has been true for decades since American auto worker unions got too much money time and time again. Can anyone tell me when ANY UNION went on strike since before the turn of the cent??
American businesses GAVE AWAY AMERICAN JOBS BECAUSE THE QUALITY IN THE 1980s had become garbage. Japan produced MUCH better vehicles for the same or less money. And for those of us who wanted to buy American and bought garbage only to get no help with the Lemon Laws. We the people had no choice but to buy Japanese imports. Now, everything has switched from Japan to China. China has NO law against copyright violations and the ONLY REASON China has become so powerful in the world market is because American businesses made deals there to build OUR products cheaper and lobbied to keep import taxes low incoming. While export taxes from USA to China are too high for the Chinese people to buy OUR products. Same goes for Japan and Korea.
Even in Japan they get our steak for less than we do, but they don't even want it. Supposedly Kobe beef is the best in the world? Huh? Gee, Angus beef was the best when I was growing up. Did cattlemen forget how to grow cows too?!?! Honestly, I hope someone in charge of this country decides to finally put and end to EVERYTHING! Not by bombs or wars. But by closing our borders. Kicking out ALL illegals regardless of origin. And go back to isolationist behavior! It's insane, but it will take something this drastic to have ANY chance at getting the USA back on top in the world. Stop sending aide to other countries and spend all those resources HERE to fix THIS country's problems! Stop fighting for other countries who never fight for us! Buy back our country from China, Japan, and the Arab Empirate then become the ONLY 100% SELF CONTAINED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. No other country COULD do this, but America can. Then bring salaries and prices of EVERYTHING in line so that within ONE decade. A SINGLE INCOME family can exist again. This will also bring back the middle class that has been nearly wiped out since Clinton, Bush, & Obama!
And for gods sake...GET RID OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS BULLSHIT...HOMOSEXUAL BRAINWASHING BY THE MEDIA...SPANISH LANGUAGE ON ANY PRODUCT NOT SPECIALIZED FOR THE SPANISH. NO MORE SPANISH DRIVING TESTS OR PUSHING BUTTONS FOR ENGLISH...PUT THE EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS BACK TO WHERE THEY WERE IN THE 1970s BEFORE THEY WERE LOWERED TO PUSH THROUGH CHILDREN NOT SMART ENOUGH TO LEARN. HABE BETTER TEACHERS BY GIVING THEM BETTER PAY BASED ON GRADE SCORES AND NATIONAL TEST SCORES...STOP ALLOWING COMPUTERS IN CLASSROOMS EXCEPT TO TEACH ABOUT THEM...STOP ALL MEDIA DEVICES TO THOSE UNDER THE AGE OF 21...LOWER LEGAL DRINKING AGE BACK TO 18 OR INCREASE THE LEGAL AGE TO DRIVE OR SERVE IN THE MILITARY TO 21.
Just a few of what needs to happen if this country is ever 'To be great again' as promised. And if you don't like this country, can't speak its native language, etc. GET OUT AND GO ELSEWHERE. I SUGGEST GOING BACK TO CUBA, MEXICO, AFRICA, INDIA, CHINA, JAPAN, AND ALL COUNTRIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST REGION. Which essentially is Africa, but who ever thinks that? Last thing which has been bothering me all my life just as something quite strange. Can somebody please explain to me when someone of Jewish faith is asked their nationality, they say they are Jewish? Judaism is NOT a nationality, but a religious belief and doctrine. Jewish people come from nearly every country and nationality on the planet. So what's with Jewish as a nationality? Is there a country called 'JEW' I've not been aware all these years? I know Israel wasn't a recognized country until AFTER WWII when the USA and its allies made it an official country for military strategic purposes in a hostile area of Northern Africa.
So let the haters begin sending me hate mail! But deep down...ya know I'm correct 100% across the board on all topics mentioned.
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6 people found this helpful
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- David
- 12-26-20
Demographics, demographics, DEMOGRAPHICS
He USA not only reproduces itself, unlike just about everyone else, we can recrueit more then we need. China has already started to deably evaporate from the bottom up.
China is little more then a blustering stage set. I think they even gave up building a replica Boing 707, or whatever the thing really is. Four years ago I could find it on line. Perhaps its still ther someplace.
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- Kindle Customer
- 09-02-20
good contents, uncomfortable narration
I could not listen more than half an hour, in spite of wanting very much to hear the book. the narrator monotonously uses the same tonal structure on every sentence. no variety. no emphasis. it became grating
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