Our Man
Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century
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Narrated by:
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Joe Barrett
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By:
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George Packer
About this listen
Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Biography
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Prize for Biography
Winner of the 2019 Hitchens Prize
"Portrays Holbrooke in all of his endearing and exasperating self-willed glory.... Both a sweeping diplomatic history and a Shakespearean tragicomedy.... If you could read one book to comprehend American's foreign policy and its quixotic forays into quicksands over the past 50 years, this would be it." (Walter Isaacson, The New York Times Book Review)
"By the end of the second page, maybe the third, you will be hooked.... There never was a diplomat-activist quite like [Holbrooke], and there seldom has been a book quite like this - sweeping and sentimental, beguiling and brutal, catty and critical, much like the man himself." (David M. Shribman, The Boston Globe)
Richard Holbrooke was brilliant, utterly self-absorbed, and possessed of almost inhuman energy and appetites. Admired and detested, he was the force behind the Dayton Accords that ended the Balkan wars, America's greatest diplomatic achievement in the post-Cold War era. His power lay in an utter belief in himself and his idea of a muscular, generous foreign policy.
From his days as a young adviser in Vietnam to his last efforts to end the war in Afghanistan, Holbrooke embodied the postwar American impulse to take the lead on the global stage. But his sharp elbows and tireless self-promotion ensured that he never rose to the highest levels in government that he so desperately coveted. His story is thus the story of America during its era of supremacy: Its strength, drive, and sense of possibility, as well as its penchant for overreach and heedless self-confidence.
In Our Man, drawn from Holbrooke's diaries and papers, we are given a nonfiction narrative that is both intimate and epic in its revelatory portrait of this extraordinary and deeply flawed man and the elite spheres of society and government he inhabited.
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Critic reviews
"It is impossible to read George Packer’s new biography of Richard Holbrooke without a piercing sense of melancholy, not only that a man so supremely alive should be dead, but also because such people - Our Man, in Packer’s title, the incarnation of vanished glory, imperial hubris, exceptional Americanism - no longer walk the earth.... Extraordinary." (James Traub, Foreign Policy)
"This book is a real accomplishment; it’s hands down the best biography I have read this year.... Deeply researched and reported.... Sure to win a prize (or two or three) in the 2019 literary-awards sweepstakes." (Adam B. Kushner, Philadelphia Inquirer)
"This is the kind of biography (massive, detailed) by the kind of author (respected, experienced) reserved for great books on great men.... Packer make[s] a case for Holbrooke’s place in the pantheon, showing that there was real idealism and skill buried beneath the layers of self-regard." (Mary Ann Gwin, The Seattle Times)
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- Length: 19 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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The explosive tale of the unraveling of an American president. For six years, Ronald Reagan seemed invincible. But behind the glowing image of success was an administration courting disaster. In this spellbinding book, two top Washington reporters trace the origins of the Iran-Contra affair and the unraveling of the Reagan presidency, taking us deep inside a white house that cared more for stagecraft than statecraft and that mistook a landslide reelection for an unlimited mandate.
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Great reporting
- By daisey on 09-03-23
By: Jane Mayer, and others
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Watching Darkness Fall
- FDR, His Ambassadors, and the Rise of Adolf Hitler
- By: David McKean
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
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As German tanks rolled toward Paris in late May 1940, the US Ambassador to France, William Bullitt, was determined to stay put, holed up in the Chateau St. Firmin in Chantilly, his country residence. Bullitt told the president that he would neither evacuate the embassy nor his chateau. As German forces closed in on the French capital, Bullitt wrote the president, "In case I should get blown up before I see you again, I want you to know that it has been marvelous to work for you."
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Interesting book
- By Rodney on 05-29-24
By: David McKean
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The Assassins' Gate
- America in Iraq
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 19 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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The Assassins' Gate, so dubbed by American soldiers, is the entrance to the American zone in the city of Baghdad. In 2003, the United States blazed into Iraq to depose dictator Saddam Hussein. But after three years and unknown thousands killed, that country faces an escalating civil war and an uncertain fate. How did it get to this point?
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Highly Recommended
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By: George Packer
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Team of Five
- The Presidents Club in the Age of Trump
- By: Kate Andersen Brower
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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From the number one New York Times best-selling author of The Residence and First Women - also a New York Times best seller - comes a poignant, news-making look at the lives of the five former presidents in the wake of their White House years, including the surprising friendships they have formed through shared perspective and empathy.
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Fascinating
- By Jean on 06-18-20
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The Secretary
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- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
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In November 2008, Hillary Clinton agreed to work for her former rival. As President Barack Obama's secretary of state, she set out to repair America's image around the world - and her own. For the following four years, BBC foreign correspondent Kim Ghattas had unparalleled access to Clinton and her entourage, and she weaves a fast-paced, gripping account of life on the road with Clinton in The Secretary.
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Never got to the heart...
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The Hawk and the Dove
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Only two Americans held positions of great influence throughout the Cold War; ironically, they were the chief advocates for the opposing strategies for winning---and surviving---that harrowing conflict. Both men came to power during World War II, reached their professional peaks during the Cold War's most frightening moments, and fought epic political battles that spanned decades.
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Two outstanding people in the US Government
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The Road Not Taken
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- By: Max Boot
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- Length: 27 hrs and 33 mins
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In chronicling the adventurous life of legendary CIA operative Edward Lansdale, The Road Not Taken definitively reframes our understanding of the Vietnam War. In this epic biography of Edward Lansdale (1908-1987) best-selling historian Max Boot demonstrates how Lansdale pioneered a "hearts and mind" diplomacy, first in the Philippines, then in Vietnam. It was a visionary policy that, as Boot reveals, was ultimately crushed by America's giant military bureaucracy.
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An honest look at Vietnam Nam and USA
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The Ambassador
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Acclaimed biographer Susan Ronald reveals the truth about Joseph P. Kennedy's shockingly controversial tenure as ambassador to Great Britain on the eve of World War II.
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Needs a bit of editing
- By Mike From Mesa on 09-02-21
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Lyndon
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Best-selling presidential biographer Merle Miller has crafted a candid portrait of one of the most complex, fascinating, difficult, and colorful figures in American history. From his birth in 1908 to his death in 1973, the story of Lyndon B. Johnson is told with no sparing his personal excesses and contentious public image - while also highlighting the strength of his greatest accomplishments in Washington.
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Flawless
- By Jeffrey on 01-04-21
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Agents of Influence
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As World War II raged into its second year, Britain sought a powerful ally to join its cause - but the American public was sharply divided on the subject. The Canadian-born MI6 officer William Stephenson, with his knowledge and influence in North America, was chosen to change their minds by any means necessary.
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Shaken, not stirred.
- By Reeka on 06-21-20
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The Gatekeepers
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The chiefs of staff, often referred to as "the gatekeepers", wield tremendous power in Washington and beyond; they decide who is allowed to see the president, negotiate with Congress to push POTUS's agenda, and - most crucially - enjoy unparalleled access to the leader of the free world. Through extensive, intimate interviews with 18 living chiefs (including Reince Priebus) and two former presidents, award-winning journalist and producer Chris Whipple pulls back the curtain on this unique fraternity. In doing so, he revises our understanding of presidential history.
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Interesting, but lacking in political objectivity
- By Stephen Watson on 09-04-17
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The Washington War
- FDR's Inner Circle and the Politics of Power That Won World War II
- By: James Lacey
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The Washington War is the story of how the Second World War was fought and won in the capital’s halls of power - and how the United States, which in December 1941 had a nominal army and a decimated naval fleet, was able in only 30 months to fling huge forces onto the European continent and shortly thereafter shatter Imperial Japan’s Pacific strongholds. Three quarters of a century after the overwhelming defeat of the totalitarian Axis forces, the terrifying, razor-thin calculus on which so many critical decisions turned has been forgotten....
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interesting but tedious
- By Joey on 06-07-20
By: James Lacey
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What listeners say about Our Man
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- IBH
- 07-14-19
Haunting
I didn’t know much about Holbrooke, I’m too young to have known of him in Vietnam, and while I recall hearing about him frequently on the news about Bosnia and Pakistan after that, I never really understood who he was. That’s kind of the story the book and of Holbrooke, a man who wanted greatness, but fell short. After listening to this book, I feel that those blanks in my education have been corrected.
Packer is harsh in some ways, making it difficult to understand how Holbrooke did as well as he did, and yet it’s a sympathetic portrait too.
In the end it left me unsettled; many of us fail to achieve all our goals, but few have goals as lofty as Holbrooke. I’m not sure if that says more about him, or the rest of us.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Michael S.
- 06-24-19
Breathlessly, unrelentingly good.
This worked on so many levels: an intimate portrait of a man; an Insider's view of the making of American foreign policy. Highly recommended.
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- Tim
- 06-25-19
Lived thru it
What a great book. Grew up with all the events but now see deeper Great work George
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- Tomas A. Rio
- 06-13-19
Late 20th Century History
Richard Holbrooke was a man of talent and aspirations. He served his country and the world well. A human with both strengths and weaknesses. Well written and narrated.
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- Paul Frandano
- 11-16-21
Stupendous...
...and beautifully written by George Packer, who addresses his readers in the first person, as though sitting with us, sipping warming libations in deep library chairs before a comfy fire in an elegant lodge, The scores of photos helped tell the story, and Joe Barrett's raspy, journalistic narration navigated briskly and generally accurately through many a tricky name, foreign term, and place.
This is a story of a brilliant, cringe-worthily ambitious man who craved a greatness that would earn his place in history history. Warts and all. I'd say, on sum, the warts tip the scale. In Packer's admiring, then cringing, telling, Holbrooke was his own worst enemy. He made the Dayton Accords happen, which was seen as a prodigious achievement in 1995. But this luster, and Holbrooke's, faded quickly, and Holbrooke's own domineering, bigger-than-life, non-introspective personality blocked--like a high, thick cinderblock wall--the way to his life's ambition, the 7th Floor Secretary's Suite at the Department of State.
In sum, a ripping yarn, particularly for Boomer national security/foreign policy wonks of my age who lived, mostly vicariously via news media but sometimes in our own work, through the important public moments of Richard Holbrooke's life, work, and struggle for greatness.
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- John Nelson
- 09-02-19
Riveting Story!
Never expected such a riveting and enthralling book on modern US foreign policy. Yes Holbrooke's “bull in china shop” personality and career warrants such an interesting book though George Packer goes the extra mile in covering many aspects of US foreign policy since the Vietnam War (when Holbrooke started his career) up to the Obama administration in such a way that you just can’t stop listening / reading. Fascinating to learn about Holbrooke’s life in all the nitty-gritty details. For a man that accomplished so much in diplomacy, it's amazing to see how undiplomatic he was throughout his life. Not a surprise that he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize, though he definitely deserved it. Incredible read!
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- George
- 01-18-20
Fabulous book
Best portrait of diplomacy I’ve ever read.
Through one mans extraordinary life we get much of the back story from Vietnam Nam to Afghanistan.
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- Anonymous User
- 06-25-21
Great Book, Poor Performance
The book is fascinating. The author effortlessly weaves the personal story of Holbrooke with the larger story of US Foreign Policy in the latter half of the 20th Century. However, the narrator is tough to get past. The combination a his hoarse voice, disjointed inflections, and seemingly random emphasis really takes you out of what is a rich story(also he does weird voices for in text quotes). If you can tolerate this narrator I highly recommend this audiobook.
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- Patricia Marquez
- 05-07-23
Great
A very good story that arches ambition and achievement and failure. Worth a read anytime.
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- FTroop
- 06-19-24
He was great & obnoxiously insisted you knew it too. (and he was right)
it's hard to write about complex characters. Packer spent extra care painting the history of joining to Foreign Service to his moments, thoughts, loves, confusion, insights, writing, his humanitarianism, during his time in Vietnam. Most importantly, his early onset health neglect in the name of self sacrifice. It makes everyyhing else that happens including his desth- make sense. #RIP
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