AuthorDarren Acemoglu, James A. Robinson
NarratorDan Woren
Duration17h 55m
CategoriesAdult Non-Fiction, Politics
PublisherPenguin Random House Audio Publishing
VersionUnabridged
Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?
Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of what the right policies are?
Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Otherwise, how to explain why Botswana has become one of the fastest growing countries in the world, while other African nations, such as Zimbabwe, the Congo, and Sierra Leone, are mired in poverty and violence?
Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). Korea, to take just one of their fascinating examples, is a remarkably homogeneous nation, yet the people of North Korea are among the poorest on earth while their brothers and sisters in South Korea are among the richest. The south forged a society that created incentives, rewarded innovation, and allowed everyone to participate in economic opportunities. The economic success thus spurred was sustained because the government became accountable and responsive to citizens and the great mass of people. Sadly, the people of the north have endured decades of famine, political repression, and very different economic institutions—with no end in sight. The differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created these completely different institutional trajectories. Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson marshall extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, including:
- China has built an authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed and overwhelm the West?
- Are America's best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and empowers a small minority?
- What is the most effective way to help move billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity? More philanthropy from the wealthy nations of the West? Or learning the hard-won lessons of Acemoglu and Robinson's breakthrough ideas on the interplay between inclusive political and economic institutions?
Author: Niall Ferguson
Author Niall Ferguson
Narrator Roy Mcmillan
Duration 33h 13m
No American statesman has been as revered and as reviled as Henry Kissinger. Hailed by some as the "indispensable man", whose advice has been sought by every president from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush, Kissinger has also attracted immense hostility from critics who have cast him as an amoral Machiavellian - the ultimate cold-blooded "realist"...
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Summary of Grant By Ron Chernow
Author: Abbey Beathan
Author Abbey Beathan
Narrator Peter Prova
Duration 2h 55m
Disclaimer: This is NOT the original book. The life and work of the magnificent general and President Ulysses Grant. Ulysses Grant must be one of the most misunderstood characters of United States' history. The majority of people have a polarized but incorrect impression of him as a loser and a bad businessman or as the triumphant but vicious gener...
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Theodore Roosevelt For the Defense
Author: Dan Abrams
Author Dan Abrams
Narrator Dan Abrams
Duration 12h 4m
"No more dramatic courtroom scene has ever been enacted," reported the Syracuse Herald on May 22, 1915 as it covered "the greatest libel suit in history," a battle fought between former President Theodore Roosevelt and the leader of the Republican party. Roosevelt , the boisterous and mostly beloved legendary American hero, had accused his former f...
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Author: David Cameron
Author David Cameron
Narrator David Cameron
Duration 30h
David Cameron was Conservative Party leader during the largest financial crash in living memory. The Arab Spring and the Eurozone crisis both started during his first year as prime minister. The backdrop to his time in office included the advent of ISIS, surging migration and a rapidly changing EU. He sets out how he helped turn around Britain's ec...
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Author: James O'Brien
Author James O'Brien
Narrator James O'Brien
Duration 5h
Every day, James O'Brien listens to people blaming benefits scroungers, the EU, Muslims, feminists and immigrants. But what makes James's daily LBC show such essential listening - and has made James a standout social media star - is the careful way he punctures their assumptions and dismantles their arguments live on air, every single morning. In H...
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Author: Toni Morrison
Author Toni Morrison
Narrator Bahni Turpin
Duration 16h 8m
Spanning four decades, these essays, speeches and meditations interrogate the world around us. They are concerned with race, gender and globalisation. The sweep of American history and the current state of politics. The duty of the press and the role of the artist. Throughout A Mouth Full of Blood our search for truth, moral integrity and expertise...
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Author: Naomi Klein
Author Naomi Klein
Narrator Liza Ross
Duration 21h 55m
We seem to have given up on any serious effort to prevent catastrophic climate change. Exposing the work of ideologues on the right who know the challenge this poses to the free market all too well, Naomi Klein also challenges the failing strategies of environmental groups. It's time to stop running from the full implications of the crisis and begi...
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Author: Naomi Klein
Author Naomi Klein
Narrator Katherine Fenton
Duration 22h 17m
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein, read by Katherine Fenton. Around the world in Britain, the United States, Asia and the Middle East, there are people with power who are cashing in on chaos; exploiting bloodshed and catastrophe to brutally remake our world in their image. They are the shock doctors. Exposi...
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Author: Michael Wolff
Author Michael Wolff
Narrator Holter Graham
Duration 11h 45m
With Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff defined the first phase of the Trump administration; now, in Siege, he has written an equally essential and explosive book about a presidency that is under fire from almost every side. A stunningly fresh narative that begins just as Trump's second year as president is getting underway and ends with the delivery of...
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Author: Naomi Klein
Author Naomi Klein
Narrator Brit Marling
Duration 8h
Penguin presents the unabridged downloadable audiobook edition of No Is Not Enough by Naomi Klein, read by Brit Marling. Naomi Klein - award-winning journalist, bestselling author of No Logo, The Shock Doctrine and This Changes Everything, scourge of brand bullies and corporate liars - gives us the toolkit we need to survive our surreal, shocking a...
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