Try free for 30 days

  • After the Fall

  • Being American in the World We've Made
  • By: Ben Rhodes
  • Narrated by: Ben Rhodes
  • Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (39 ratings)

1 credit a month to use on any title, yours to keep (you’ll use your first credit on this title).
Stream or download thousands of included titles.
Access to exclusive deals and discounts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
After the Fall cover art

After the Fall

By: Ben Rhodes
Narrated by: Ben Rhodes
Try for $0.00

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $24.31

Buy Now for $24.31

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

Bloomsbury presents After the Fall by Ben Rhodes, read by Ben Rhodes.

In 2017, as Ben Rhodes was helping Barack Obama begin his next chapter, the legacy they worked to build for eight years was being taken apart. To understand what was happening in America, Rhodes decided to look outwards. Over the next three years, he travelled to dozens of countries, meeting with politicians, activists and dissidents confronting the same nationalism and authoritarianism that was tearing America apart. Along the way, a Russian opposition leader he spends time with is poisoned, the Hong Kong protesters he comes to know see their movement snuffed out, and America itself reaches the precipice of losing democracy before giving itself a second chance.

After the Fall is a hugely ambitious and essential work of discovery. Throughout, Rhodes comes to realise how much America’s fingerprints are on a world it helped to shape: through the excesses of the post-Cold War embrace of unbridled capitalism, post-9/11 nationalism and militarism, mania for technology and social media, and the racism that shaped the backlash to the Obama presidency. At the same time, he learns from a diverse set of characters - from Obama to rebels to a rising generation of leaders - how looking squarely at where America has gone wrong only makes it more essential to fight for what America is supposed to be - for itself and for the entire world.

©2021 Ben Rhodes (P)2021 Penguin Random House Audio
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

More from the same

What listeners say about After the Fall

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    31
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    25
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    28
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Serious but ultimately uplifting

The whole book was illuminating. Insider stories, personal encounters examining how the world (I'm not an American and do not live there) is leaning authoritarian. This is a topic that we must consider. But also one with which we misty gird our loins for the struggles ahead.
the final part of the book was my favourite, as it shone a light forward.
A good mind, a well written examination, and read by Ben himself, so I felt as though I was listening around a dinner table.
Recommend!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

so glad to have heard this analysis

such an essential peek into the need for national as well as individual introspection . deepest political thinking about USA that I have experienced in far too long. Rhodes is a thinker not a pundit. and his narration is superb

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Powerful

I’m an Aussie who first came across Ben Rhodes a year or two ago via Crooked Media’s Pod Save the World podcast. I’ve always enjoyed Ben’s analysis of world events and what it means from the perspective of left leaning democratic minded person who understands government and the intricacies of foreign policy.

After the Fall was a real eye opener to the increasing use of nationalism and ‘us vs them’ politics around the world. He shows how several countries are using the tried and true authoritarian playbook to gain control and power and through his interviews with many democratic activists around the world, instilled in me some hope that democracy is still a thing worth fighting for wherever we are in the world.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.