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  • The Prime Ministers

  • An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership
  • By: Yehuda Avner
  • Narrated by: Derek Perkins
  • Length: 24 hrs and 20 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (9 ratings)

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The Prime Ministers

By: Yehuda Avner
Narrated by: Derek Perkins
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Editorial reviews

Yehuda Avner brings a fly-on-the-wall perspective to six decades of Israeli history. Part memoir, part multi-faceted biography, and part novelistic narrative, Avner takes listeners deep into the innermost worlds of four prime ministers, as only a former advisor can.

Derek Perkins, whose narrator rating on Audible is consistently near perfect, hails from the UK. His voice is both intimate and intellectual, immediate and poetically lofty. In short, attending his performance is a pleasure.

The audiobook opens with a helpful glossary, introducing the listener to the international cast of characters that will populate the dynamic history. If fans of The Prime Ministers still hunger for more at the end of this recording, they can check out the full-length documentary film inspired by the memoir.

Publisher's Summary

The Prime Ministers is the first and only insider account of Israeli politics from the founding of the Jewish State to the near-present day. It reveals stunning details of life-and-death decision-making, top-secret military operations and high level peace negotiations. The Prime Ministers brings listeners into the orbits of world figures, including Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Henry Kissinger, Yasser Arafat, Margaret Thatcher, Princess Diana and the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Written in a captivating literary style by a political adviser, speechwriter and diplomat, The Prime Ministers is an enthralling political memoir, and a precisely crafted prism through which to view current Middle East affairs. The Prime Ministers presents first-hand accounts of major historical events, including:

  • Menachem Begin's decision to bomb Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor
  • Yitzhak Rabin's handling of the Entebbe rescue mission
  • The Egypt-Israel peace process
  • The shelling of the Irgun arms ship, the Altalena Deir Yessin

It offers keen observations of key personalities, and unforgettable descriptions of political rivalries, diplomatic blunders, White House and Buckingham Palace banquets and more, to bring Israel's history to life in a way no book has done before.

©2010 Yehuda Avner (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

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Fascinating book but poor narration

Excellent book but narrator obviously does not speak Hebrew or Yiddish, as he mispronounced the transliterated material on many occasions, which detracted from the performance.

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