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America's War for the Greater Middle East
- A Military History
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro, Andrew J. Bacevich
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
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Publisher's summary
Retired army colonel and New York Times best-selling author Andrew J. Bacevich provides a searing reassessment of US military policy in the Middle East over the past four decades.
From the end of World War II until 1980, virtually no American soldiers were killed in action while serving in the Greater Middle East. Since 1990, virtually no American soldiers have been killed in action anywhere else. What caused this shift? Andrew J. Bacevich, one of the country's most respected voices on foreign affairs, offers an incisive critical history of this ongoing military enterprise - now more than 30 years old and with no end in sight.
During the 1980s, Bacevich argues, a great transition occurred. As the Cold War wound down, the United States initiated a new conflict - a war for the Greater Middle East - that continues to the present day. The long twilight struggle with the Soviet Union had involved only occasional and sporadic fighting. But as this new war unfolded, hostilities became persistent. From the Balkans and East Africa to the Persian Gulf and Central Asia, US forces embarked upon a seemingly endless series of campaigns across the Islamic world. Few achieved anything remotely like conclusive success. Instead, actions undertaken with expectations of promoting peace and stability produced just the opposite. As a consequence, phrases like permanent war and open-ended war have become part of everyday discourse.
Connecting the dots in a way no other historian has done before, Bacevich weaves a compelling narrative out of episodes as varied as the Beirut bombing of 1983, the Mogadishu firefight of 1993, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the rise of ISIS in the present decade. Understanding what America's costly military exertions have wrought requires seeing these seemingly discrete events as parts of a single war. It also requires identifying the errors of judgment made by political leaders in both parties and by senior military officers who share responsibility for what has become a monumental march to folly. This Bacevich unflinchingly does.
A 20-year army veteran who served in Vietnam, Andrew J. Bacevich brings the full weight of his expertise to this vitally important subject. America's War for the Greater Middle East is a bracing after-action report from the front lines of history. It will fundamentally change the way we view America's engagement in the world's most volatile region.
Read by Rob Shapiro, with a Prologue and Note read by the author.
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- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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The relationship between military leaders and political leaders has always been a complicated one, especially in times of war. When the chips are down, who should run the show, the politicians or the generals? In Supreme Command, Eliot Cohen examines four great democratic war statesmen - Abraham Lincoln, Georges Clemenceau, Winston Churchill, and David Ben-Gurion - to reveal the surprising answer - the politicians. The generals may think they know how to win, but the statesmen are the ones who see the big picture.
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Dated material
- By Charlotte R. Shover on 11-21-20
By: Eliot A. Cohen
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The Vietnam War: History in an Hour
- By: Neil Smith
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 1 hr and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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History for busy people. Listen to a concise history of the Vietnam War in just one hour. War, what is it good for? The Vietnam War: History In an Hour gives a gripping account of the most important Cold War-era conflict, fought between the United States and the Viet Cong, the Vietnam People’s Army and their Communist allies. It was one of the most traumatic military conflicts America has ever been involved in – and provoked a backlash of anti-war protests at home.
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Garbage
- By Michael on 08-06-12
By: Neil Smith
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The Vietnam War
- A Concise International History
- By: Mark Atwood Lawrence
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Hailed as a "pithy and compelling account of an intensely relevant topic" ( Kirkus Reviews), this wide-ranging volume offers a superb account of a key moment in modern U.S. and world history. Drawing upon the latest research in archives in China, Russia, and Vietnam, Mark Lawrence creates an extraordinary, panoramic view of all sides of the war.
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Politically Slanting But Enjoyable Narrative
- By Jonathan Hoyle on 04-11-14
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Road to Disaster
- A New History of America’s Descent into Vietnam
- By: Brian VanDeMark
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 23 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Many books have been written on the tragic decisions regarding Vietnam made by the stars of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Yet despite many words of analysis and reflection, no historian has been able to explain why such decent and previously successful men stumbled so badly. That changes with Road to Disaster. Historian Brian VanDeMark draws upon decades of archival research, his own interviews with many of those involved, and a wealth of previously unheard recordings by Robert McNamara and Clark Clifford, who served as Defense Secretaries for Kennedy and Johnson.
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Vietnam Veteran
- By Jim Rollins on 04-02-19
By: Brian VanDeMark
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The Iraq War
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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John Keegan, whom the New York Review of Books calls "the best historian of our day", now brings his extraordinary expertise to bear on perhaps the most controversial war of our time. In exclusive interviews with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and General Tommy Franks, John Keegan has gathered information about the war that adds immeasurably to our grasp of its causes, complications, costs, and consequences.
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A Solid, Quick Overview
- By Charles on 12-08-04
By: John Keegan
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House of War
- The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power
- By: James Carroll
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 26 hrs and 28 mins
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This landmark, myth-shattering work chronicles the most powerful institution in America, the people who created it, and the pathologies it has spawned. Carroll proves a controversial thesis: The Pentagon has, since its founding, operated beyond the control of any force in government or society. It is the biggest, loosest cannon in American history, and no institution has changed this country more.
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A Biased Account
- By GoTravel1385a on 09-06-07
By: James Carroll
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A Better War
- The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam
- By: Lewis Sorley
- Narrated by: Basil Sands
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Neglected by scholars and journalists alike, the years of conflict in Vietnam from 1968 to 1975 offer surprises not only about how the war was fought, but about what was achieved. Drawing on authoritative materials not previously available, including thousands of hours of tape-recorded allied councils of war, award-winning military historian Lewis Sorley has given us what has long been needed - an insightful, factual, and superbly documented history of these important years.
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A thought-provoking history of the war 68-75
- By Rodney W. Schmisseur on 02-05-14
By: Lewis Sorley
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The Cold War
- A New History
- By: John Lewis Gaddis
- Narrated by: Jay Gregory, Alan Sklar
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
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Drawing on new and often startling information from newly opened Soviet, Eastern European, and Chinese archives, this thrilling account explores the strategic dynamics that drove the Cold War, provides illuminating portraits of its major personalities, and offers much fresh insight into its most crucial events. Riveting, revelatory, and wise, it tells a story whose lessons it is vitally necessary to understand as America once more faces an implacable ideological enemy.
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WOW
- By Cordell eddings on 10-13-07
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JFK's War with the National Security Establishment: Why Kennedy Was Assassinated
- By: Douglas Horne
- Narrated by: Larry Wayne
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Ever since researchers and commentators began questioning the conclusions of the Warren Report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the response has been: Why would the US national-security establishment - that is, the military and the CIA - kill Kennedy? As Douglas P. Horne details in this audiobook, JFK's War with the National Security Establishment: Why Kennedy Was Assassinated, the answer is because Kennedy's ideas about foreign policy collided with those of the US national-security establishment during the height of the Cold War.
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FINALLY THE TRUTH!
- By Helen Williamson on 05-28-16
By: Douglas Horne
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The Future of War
- A History
- By: Lawrence Freedman
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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The Future of War - which covers civil wars to as yet unknown nuclear conflicts, proxy wars (real) to the Cold War (not), fashionably small wars to the War to End All Wars (it didn't) - is filled with insight and fascinating nuggets of military history and culture from one of the most brilliant military and strategic historians of his generation.
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A good historical review of the progression of war
- By Ian R. Graham on 06-14-18
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The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Vietnam War
- By: Phillip Jennings
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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The mainstream media and history books would have you believe that the Vietnam War was tragic and a dismal failure. But Phillip Jennings is here to set the record straight, about one of the bright spots in U.S. military history. In this latest Politically Incorrect Guide, Jennings shatters culturally accepted myths and busts politically incorrect lies that liberal pundits and leftist professors have been telling you for years.
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Politically incorrect is right.
- By Joe Dunckel on 09-29-20
By: Phillip Jennings
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Six Days of War
- June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East
- By: Michael B. Oren
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 17 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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In Israel and the West, it is called the Six Day War. In the Arab world, it is known as the June War or, simply, as "the Setback". Never has a conflict so short, unforeseen, and largely unwanted by both sides so transformed the world. The Yom Kippur War, the war in Lebanon, the Camp David accords, the controversy over Jerusalem and Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the intifada, and the rise of Palestinian terror are all part of the outcome of those six days.
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Great overview of Middle East troubles
- By Patrick Marstall on 07-23-06
By: Michael B. Oren
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What listeners say about America's War for the Greater Middle East
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Darwin8u
- 05-01-16
A Key to Understanding the US Need for Perp. War
"To be sure, Bush's Second Inaugural qualifies as a thoroughly American text, the president reiterating sentiments voiced by more than a few of his predecessors. Yet the speech also bears the unmistakable imprint of self-indulgent fantasy, of sobriety overtaken by fanaticism. Bush's expectations of ending tyranny by spreading American ideals mirrored Osama Bin Laden's dream of establishing a new caliphate based on Islamic principals. When put to the test, the president's vision of peace gained by waging preventative war had proven to be just as fanciful as bin Laden's and harry less pernicious. As adversaries, truly they were made for each other."
-- Andrew J. Bacevich, America's War for the Greater Middle East.
Dr. Andrew "Skip" Bacevich is a national treasure. He is fairly unassuming in person. He would pass for a conservative banker, a thoughtful pastor, or reserved high school principal if you just happened to see him sitting across from you on the Amtrak from North Station to DuPont. But step out of line, and just his gaze alone would stop you in your tracks. He could stare down a bear, perhaps stop a shark in Hawaii with just his gaze. Obviously, I exaggerate. I'm not sure how wildlife would react to a retired Colonel Bacevich, but the couple times I met him when he was commanding the 11th ACR in Fulda, Germany ... well, let's be honest ... he scared the sh!t out of me. And I don't intimidate easily. Even the 17-year-old version of me.
Anyway, I've read many of Bacevich's previous books like: (The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism, Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War, Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country). I still have two other Bacevich books: (The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced by War, American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy) sitting stoically on the shelf right behind me (between a Gary Wills and a Steve Coll) waiting patiently to be read. I would consider myself to be a hyper-Bacevich-acolyte. I will read them soon.
Enough wind-up. This book isn't flashy. It isn't full of new revelations. It is just solid military and historical scholarship and probably one of the key historical pieces on the military adventurism of the United States in the Middle East since the Carter Administration. Bacevich isn't a lawyer, but this book seemed to me basically an airtight legal brief exploring: 1) what motivated the United States to act as it has in the Middle East? 2) what both the civilians an the military tried to accomplish there? 3) Regardless of what US policy makers and military planners wanted to do, what actually happened there? 4) What are the consequences of US policy towards the Middle East? What have our wars wrought?
This is a book everyone needs to read. If our military adventurism has continued to roll on, not just in the Middle East but Africa and to a smaller degree in South America and Asia, we need to understand why we constantly seem to screw it up. How are we as citizens going to hold our leaders (both in the Military and in political office) to account if we don't seem to really give a shit. Less than one percent of our citizens have been involved directly in these wars, but the wars have affected all of us. We all pay the monetary debt and burden of the Billions and even Trillions wasted in stupid wars, we pay the moral debt for the blood left on the battlefield, the wounds brought home, and the citizens killed to further American interests when we have no sense any longer exactly what that interest is.
We are trapped in generational, perpetual wars in the Middle East and to what end? Most of the Neo-Con arguments should have been put to bed with the absolute failure of America's longest two wars. We seem to have left both Afghanistan and Iraq and Syria and Libya less stable than we found them. We keep sending our damn military bulls into foreign Pottery Barns and we don't seem to grasp WHY exactly we are doing it or HOW the hell we can get out.
Anyway, this is a must read from a philosopher/historian of the highest order. It is his masterpiece. Read it, and weep.
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28 people found this helpful
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- Madeleine
- 05-12-16
Outstanding history of US involvement
Any presidential candidate who cares to make wise decisions in the Middle East should have this book on their nightstand.
Sadly, none of them will.
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9 people found this helpful
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- S. Johnson
- 07-18-16
Oversimplification of challenges
I guess a little too soon to have an unbiased history on this subject. He basically goes on how the U.S. leadership has been a bunch of idiots on how they've handled the Middle East for several decades. It unfortunately comes across as a rant instead of a fair analysis of the subject.
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- angela wheeler
- 04-29-16
A detailed account of what got us in trouble
A great summary of the last 30+ years spent trying to find a positive outcome in the Middle East. Some assertions go unsupported and I really wish the narrator framed the quotes to help understand where the person quoted stopped and the author continued, but overall I really enjoyed the lesson it provided. That's said, it does leave you feeling hope for the future of the conflict, but maybe that lack of hope is realistic.
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- Hazem R Bata
- 08-02-18
Good read
Very thorough book. Generally objective in perspective. A few instances where he glosses over US atrocities.
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- Andrew L
- 09-21-16
America needs to dispense with futile war
Bacevich's book provides a broad survey and clear analysis of 40-year U.S. military involvement in the greater Middle East, and highlights the shifting strategic objectives and ultimate futility of the effort to impose American purposes on the region. Involvement that initially focused on access to Persian Gulf oil in the 1970s later morphed into efforts to introduce American-style democracy, freedom, and consumerism, cloaked in good vs. evil rhetoric and vainly serving as false justification of U.S. intervention worldwide. Bacevich shows that the military's pursuit of this war has become a perpetual motion machine without achievement but lacking domestic political opposition, which has the effect of distracting attention and resources from the greater and more solvable national security challenges stemming from the effects of climate change.
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- James
- 08-26-16
Now you will know why we are in such a mess.
First things first I am an total fan boy of Andrew J. Bacevich. It's rare that a man so thoroughly inside the military machine will defect from the home team, will provide a counter narrative to out interventionist foreign policy, but Bacevich will. It helps that he was never fully engulfed by the beast, and clocked out as a full colonel, not bad, but not all that great either in the scheme of things.
So what does this undistinguished veteran have to say about "The War for the Greater Middle East"? Well it's safe to say he is not entirely happy about how it's worked out since Jimmy Carter laid out the "Carter Doctrine" that has been our underlying philosophy about how to do business in a rather dangerous corner of the world.
More to the point the old peanut farmer is raked over the coals by the author for his feckless formulations and his even more feckless execution. But it's all good when Ronald Regan, Don Reynaldo the Great, the old Gipper steps to the plate, right? Hardly, Regan does not make the same mistakes Carter does, he makes bigger and better ones. All this is laid out in excruciating details with pride of place given to the double dealing done during Iran-Contra and how that managed to infuriate both the Iranians and the Saudis.
Democrats zero for one, ditto for Republicans. Next up is George H. Bush, can he at least tie up the board for Team Republican? Swing and a miss. Bacevich once more goes into the weeds to show that we very much need to pay attention to the man behind the curtain. Gulf War One was less the spectacular win it was presented and more of the ambiguous no decision that our author presents it as.
Team Republican 0-1-1 Next up the sleazy, morally easy Bill Clinton and once more into the breach dear friends with a policy which seems designed to not only fail, but fail spectacularly, which it did. Team Democrat zero for two, Team USA 0-1-2. Can Bush the younger finally put a win on the board?
We know the answer to that question. We are living in the big, nasty, complete failure of W. Bush's attempt to finish the job in Iraq. 0-1-3 Team USA with the war now metastasizing to the bad lands of the Hindu Kush.
Which leads us to the present day and Team Democrat up at the plate again. The war has further spread to not only the Horn of Africa but to Africa proper. Obama is less a commander in chief and more of a fire fighter in chief attempting to put out flash fires all over the world but never asking how all that kindling got there in the first place.
With the end of the book and the present election before us it really does not look like Obama will chalk up a win for the "War for the Greater Middle East" If Hillary gets to sit in the big desk of 1600 Pennsylvania maybe she might right this battered and sinking ship of state. However, if Bacevich is correct in his interpretations and opinion, it does not look like either Team Hillary nor team USA will pull the win. Team Trump? It's not the personalities as Bacevich makes painfully clear. It is the policy, a policy that Trump seems to have no interest in studying, never mind changing.
Bacevich has not written a happy book, more of a j'accuse, but it should be a requirement of any thoughtful citizen to read or listen to this effort. Only by learning the awful errors of the past do we have any chance of finding a correct path out of our disastrous Carter Doctrine in the Near East and beyond.
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- Carlos
- 05-10-16
Great Historical Tie-in
It provided a great historical tie-in as it relates to US Mil activities and involvement in the middle east. Author is able to explain connection of events and rational for action within a greater political context in an easy to digest way.
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- cavmpc
- 04-28-16
And exceptional an excellent book
This book should be required reading for anyone holding national public office and anyone aspiring to do so. It should be mandatory reading for any voter in a national election. It is at once a clear eyed view of the last 35 years of America's abortive interventions in the greater Middle East and an accurate recounting of the military's involvement. It is a brilliant attempt to expose the need for a re-examination of America's policies and objectives. I highly recommend it.
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- Harry Angel
- 12-02-19
Repetitive...so repetitive
Repetitive...so repetitive. So much time spent rehashing same arguments that have been popularly debated for a long time. No revelations of any sort. Pretty disappointing. Excellent narration
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