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From Cold War to Hot Peace
- An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 20 hrs and 58 mins
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From Cold War to Hot Peace
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Publisher's Summary
In 2008, when Michael McFaul was asked to leave his perch at Stanford and join an unlikely presidential campaign, he had no idea that he would find himself at the beating heart of one of today's most contentious and consequential international relationships. As President Barack Obama's adviser on Russian affairs, McFaul helped craft the United States' policy known as "reset" that fostered new and unprecedented collaboration between the two countries. And then, as US ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, he had a front-row seat when this fleeting, hopeful moment crumbled with Vladimir Putin's return to the presidency. This riveting inside account combines history and memoir to tell the full story of US-Russia relations from the fall of the Soviet Union to the new rise of the hostile, paranoid Russian president. From the first days of McFaul's ambassadorship, the Kremlin actively sought to discredit and undermine him, hassling him with tactics that included dispatching protesters to his front gates, slandering him on state media, and tightly surveilling him, his staff, and his family.
From Cold War to Hot Peace is an essential account of the most consequential global confrontation of our time.
What the critics say
“This is an indispensable book for understanding the threat our country faces from Vladimir Putin’s Russia. McFaul is a candid and insightful guide to the history, personalities, and politics that continue to shape one of America’s most consequential relationships.” (Hillary Rodham Clinton, former Secretary of State under Barack Obama (2009-2013))
"Mike McFaul has lived history. In this terrific book, he recounts a pivotal time in U.S.-Russian relations, bringing the perspective of a central participant and one of America's finest scholars of Russian politics. This book will be valued by students, experts, historians and diplomats for years to come. It is a good read and an invaluable contribution at a crucial time." (Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State under George W. Bush (2005-2009))
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What listeners say about From Cold War to Hot Peace
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jennifer Gillingham
- 2020-02-25
Loved it!
Narration is fantastic and the stories are compelling and interesting. I was often excited to commute so I could put this back on. A great look at the inner workings of the political relationship between USA and Russia. Even though this is obviously bias, I felt like it wasn't "chest beatingly" American propaganda.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- elena m.
- 2018-09-23
Insightful
A complicated history presented from a unique perspective. I would recommend it to any American, who wants to understand 'what this whole Russia thing is about' beyond TV sensationalism and unnecessary vilification.
There are some parts of it where personally I found it getting boring, like the in-depth discussion of convoluted arms control negotiations - can be a bit hard to digest if you don't follow foreign politics closely. It is worth mentioning that this book is also very long for the density of material: I could never listen to more than 2 hours at a time, and with a whopping 21 hours total this can stretch it for way over a month, as it did for me. Happy I powered through nonetheless. Definitely learnt a lot.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2018-09-19
Great insight into Putin's Russia
Great content that helps to understand today's Russia. The book gets into details such as private conversations and meeting that have never been reported by media, especially Russian media. #Audible1
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kindle RBW
- 2018-12-11
Essential reading.
To understand why relations between Russia and The United States are deteriorating seriously, and why the Russian President won’t and the U.S. president can’t do anything about it, this book is essential reading.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Stix
- 2021-03-07
Engaging first hand account
An American in Russia during the rise of Putin; a sobering analysis of emerging authoritarianism.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- seth wudel
- 2023-09-29
The author is blind to so much that this will open your eyes
Sometimes you listen to what McFaul is saying, and you are blown away. Is he oblivious or just shameless? As a Stanford professor and scholar, I think he got so lost in the academic “virtues” of democracy that he truly came to believe it solves all the world’s problems. His mindset is not that different than a communist’s in that he places his ideology above all else to the point that he forgets that other people in the world were educated in completely different ideologies. For someone to have lived in Russia as a foreigner and been so ambitious towards influencing Russian politics with seemingly no clue to what he is doing wrong is a reflection of what’s wrong with the American education system than anything in my opinion. Americans are notoriously myopic, but never has it been revealed just how high up this cultural shortsightedness reaches. It’s like McFaul doesn’t understand why the Russians don’t like him, but as you listen all you can think is “Really?” Listening to this book made me think “democratic extremism” is the only way to describe American foreign policy. The irony of being the Global dictator of democracy. I think if the United States respected Russian sovereignty more, the two countries may have had a better path of convergence. USA should stop trying to make Russia into USA. Russia doesn’t try to make USA into Russia. If you want sone true insight from the horse’s mouth that reveals just how blind the democrats are to their own foreign arrogance, this book is just awesome. You have to read it to believe it.
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