Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq [Audiobook, Abridged] [Audio CD]

Thomas E. Ricks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 25, 2006

From the Washington Post's two-time Pulitzer-winning senior Pentagon reporter, the definitive military chronicle of the Iraq War-and a searing judgment of its gross strategic blindness-drawing on the accounts of senior military officers giving voice to their anger for the first time.

Unabridged CDs - 20 CDs, 24 hours

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Lurie has that wonderful ability to disappear into the text. His voice is low and steady, with just enough variation to emphasize points, highlight irony and make every sentence eminently clear. You don't need a dramatic reading here-there's plenty of drama in this smoothly wrought abridgment. Ricks minutely examines each stage of the Iraq war through hundreds of interviews with senior and junior officers, and reviews of untold numbers of documents. The result is a portrait of tragedy he lays at the feet of an administration that went into Iraq to overthrow Hussein, but had no strategy to handle an occupation. Ricks exposes the failures emerging from civilian and military leadership's inability to plan beyond today. The U.S. military's disbanding of the former Iraqi army and civilian corps morphed into an insurgency when tens of thousands of angry, unemployed men were unable to feed their families. In a few areas, good leaders make friends with local religious and civilian leaders, but in most the administration's go-get-'em mentality creates more enemies. Simultaneous release with the Penguin Press hardcover (reviewed online).
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile

This is an important audiobook; unfortunately, it was a bad decision to have James Lurie read it. Ricks's exposé on the invasion and botched occupation of Iraq is grim enough, so there is no need for a reader with a voice so gravelly and droning that the end result is like a funeral dirge. A listener may have the urge to shout, "Clear your throat!" after listening for a couple hours. Also, expect to ride the volume control in a car since Lurie's voice does not cut clearly through road noise. To his credit, Lurie pronounces names correctly and keeps a steady pace, but overall this audiobook is not up to the high standards of Ricks's writing and research. T.F. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Penguin Audio (July 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143059068
• ISBN-13: 978-0143059066
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 5.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,435,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a rave from the author of the book, May 18, 2007

By 

Thomas E. Ricks - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq (Audio CD)

I wrote 'Fiasco' and was pleasantly surprised by how well it was done as an audiobook. I actually listened to it on my commute and enjoyed it. I recommend it highly.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent CD; Well Read; Fascinating but grim story., August 6, 2007

By 

Anne Sumers (Montrose, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq (Audio CD)

I commute 64 miles a day by car and this CD made my commute fly by. The narrator helped me keep all the general straight-- all of whom were saying in one way or another: "This isn't going to work" or "What is Plan B once Plan A fails?". I sat in my office driveway listening to "Fiasco"!
I highly recomend it..........now I need to buy something else.....or wait for Tom Ricks to write a follow-up.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very informative, May 31, 2008

By 

Fred (cape cod) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq (Audio CD)

What a shame. This book gives a good outline of the events of the war and what happens when politics, not military know how runs a war.