Get Your Free Audiobook
-
Embers of War
- The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 32 hrs and 15 mins
- Categories: History, Americas
Non-member price: $68.20
People who bought this also bought...
-
Dereliction of Duty
- Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam
- By: H. R. McMaster
- Narrated by: H. R. McMaster
- Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dereliction of Duty is a stunning analysis of how and why the United States became involved in an all-out and disastrous war in Southeast Asia. Fully and convincingly researched, based on transcripts and personal accounts of crucial meetings, confrontations, and decisions, it is the only book that fully re-creates what happened and why. McMaster pinpoints the policies and decisions that got the United States into the morass and reveals who made these decisions and the motives behind them, disproving the published theories of other historians and excuses of the participants.
-
Catching the Wind
- Edward Kennedy and the Liberal Hour, 1932-1975
- By: Neal Gabler
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 31 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The epic, definitive biography of Ted Kennedy - an immersive journey through the life of a complicated man and a sweeping history of the fall of liberalism and the collapse of political morality. In the tradition of the works of Robert Caro and Taylor Branch, Catching the Wind is the first volume of Neal Gabler’s magisterial two-volume biography of Edward Kennedy. It is at once a human drama, a history of American politics in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and a study of political morality and the role it played in the tortuous course of liberalism.
-
A Rumor of War
- By: Philip Caputo
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When it first appeared, A Rumor of War brought home to American readers, with terrifying vividness and honesty, the devastating effects of the Vietnam War on the soldiers who fought there. And while it is a memoir of one young man's experiences and therefore deeply personal, it is also a book that speaks powerfully to today's students about the larger themes of human conscience, good and evil, and the desperate extremes men are forced to confront in any war.
-
-
Best Vietnam war book I've read
- By Mick Rose on 18-02-2019
-
Vietnam
- An Epic History of a Divisive War 1945-1975
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Peter Noble, Max Hastings - introduction
- Length: 33 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the United States in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. He portrays the set pieces of Dienbienphu, the Tet offensive, the air blitz of North Vietnam and less familiar battles such as the bloodbath at Daido.
-
-
Very disturbing and Depressing
- By Richard on 12-11-2018
-
A Vietcong Memoir
- An Inside Account of the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath
- By: Truong Nhu Tang, David Chanoff, Doan Van Toai
- Narrated by: Trieu Tran
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When he was a student in Paris, Truong Nhu Tang met Ho Chi Minh. Later he fought in the Vietnamese jungle and emerged as one of the major figures in the "fight for liberation" - and one of the most determined adversaries of the United States. He became the Vietcong's Minister of Justice, but at the end of the war he fled the country in disillusionment and despair. He now lives in exile in Paris, the highest level official to have defected from Vietnam to the West. This is his candid, revealing, and unforgettable autobiography.
-
-
Excellent all round
- By Anonymous User on 24-06-2019
-
Gambling with Armageddon
- Nuclear Roulette from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis
- By: Martin J. Sherwin
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 18 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer comes the first effort to set the Cuban Missile Crisis, with its potential for nuclear holocaust, in a wider historical narrative of the Cold War - how such a crisis arose and why at the very last possible moment it didn't happen.
-
Dereliction of Duty
- Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam
- By: H. R. McMaster
- Narrated by: H. R. McMaster
- Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dereliction of Duty is a stunning analysis of how and why the United States became involved in an all-out and disastrous war in Southeast Asia. Fully and convincingly researched, based on transcripts and personal accounts of crucial meetings, confrontations, and decisions, it is the only book that fully re-creates what happened and why. McMaster pinpoints the policies and decisions that got the United States into the morass and reveals who made these decisions and the motives behind them, disproving the published theories of other historians and excuses of the participants.
-
Catching the Wind
- Edward Kennedy and the Liberal Hour, 1932-1975
- By: Neal Gabler
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 31 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The epic, definitive biography of Ted Kennedy - an immersive journey through the life of a complicated man and a sweeping history of the fall of liberalism and the collapse of political morality. In the tradition of the works of Robert Caro and Taylor Branch, Catching the Wind is the first volume of Neal Gabler’s magisterial two-volume biography of Edward Kennedy. It is at once a human drama, a history of American politics in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and a study of political morality and the role it played in the tortuous course of liberalism.
-
A Rumor of War
- By: Philip Caputo
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When it first appeared, A Rumor of War brought home to American readers, with terrifying vividness and honesty, the devastating effects of the Vietnam War on the soldiers who fought there. And while it is a memoir of one young man's experiences and therefore deeply personal, it is also a book that speaks powerfully to today's students about the larger themes of human conscience, good and evil, and the desperate extremes men are forced to confront in any war.
-
-
Best Vietnam war book I've read
- By Mick Rose on 18-02-2019
-
Vietnam
- An Epic History of a Divisive War 1945-1975
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Peter Noble, Max Hastings - introduction
- Length: 33 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the United States in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. He portrays the set pieces of Dienbienphu, the Tet offensive, the air blitz of North Vietnam and less familiar battles such as the bloodbath at Daido.
-
-
Very disturbing and Depressing
- By Richard on 12-11-2018
-
A Vietcong Memoir
- An Inside Account of the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath
- By: Truong Nhu Tang, David Chanoff, Doan Van Toai
- Narrated by: Trieu Tran
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When he was a student in Paris, Truong Nhu Tang met Ho Chi Minh. Later he fought in the Vietnamese jungle and emerged as one of the major figures in the "fight for liberation" - and one of the most determined adversaries of the United States. He became the Vietcong's Minister of Justice, but at the end of the war he fled the country in disillusionment and despair. He now lives in exile in Paris, the highest level official to have defected from Vietnam to the West. This is his candid, revealing, and unforgettable autobiography.
-
-
Excellent all round
- By Anonymous User on 24-06-2019
-
Gambling with Armageddon
- Nuclear Roulette from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis
- By: Martin J. Sherwin
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 18 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer comes the first effort to set the Cuban Missile Crisis, with its potential for nuclear holocaust, in a wider historical narrative of the Cold War - how such a crisis arose and why at the very last possible moment it didn't happen.
-
Nothing Ever Dies
- Vietnam and the Memory of War
- By: Viet Thanh Nguyen
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nothing Ever Dies, Viet Thanh Nguyen writes. All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory. From the author of the best-selling novel The Sympathizer comes a searching exploration of a conflict that lives on in the collective memory of both the Americans and the Vietnamese.
-
The Age of Eisenhower
- America and the World in the 1950s
- By: William I. Hitchcock
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 25 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a 2017 survey, presidential historians ranked Dwight D. Eisenhower fifth on the list of great presidents, behind the perennial top four: Lincoln, Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Teddy Roosevelt. Historian William Hitchcock shows that this high ranking is justified. Eisenhower's accomplishments were enormous and loom ever larger from the vantage point of our own tumultuous times.
-
-
Extremely good a must for lovers of modern history
- By Alison on 03-10-2020
-
A Legacy of Spies
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Tom Hollander
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Peter Guillam, staunch colleague and disciple of George Smiley of the British Secret Service, is living out his old age on the family farmstead in Brittany when a letter summons him to London. The reason? His Cold War past has come back to claim him. Intelligence operations that were once the toast of secret London and involved such characters as Alec Leamas, Jim Prideaux, George Smiley and Peter Guillam himself are to be scrutinised under disturbing criteria by a generation with no memory of the Cold War.
-
-
Another le Carre masterpiece
- By barry on 01-06-2020
-
China’s Good War
- How World War II Is Shaping a New Nationalism
- By: Rana Mitter
- Narrated by: Dennis Kleinman
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For most of its history, the People’s Republic of China limited public discussion of the war against Japan. It was an experience of victimization - and one that saw Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek fighting for the same goals. But now, as China grows more powerful, the meaning of the war is changing. Rana Mitter argues that China’s reassessment of the World War II years is central to its newfound confidence abroad and to mounting nationalism at home.
-
Blood in the Water
- The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy
- By: Heather Ann Thompson
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 22 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On September 9, 1971, nearly 1,300 prisoners took over the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York to protest years of mistreatment. Holding guards and civilian employees hostage, the prisoners negotiated with officials for improved conditions during the four long days and nights that followed. On September 13, the state abruptly sent hundreds of heavily armed troopers and correction officers to retake the prison by force. Their gunfire killed 39 men - hostages as well as prisoners.
-
The Gulf
- The Making of an American Sea
- By: Jack E. Davis
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 20 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When painter Winslow Homer first sailed into the Gulf of Mexico, he was struck by its "special kind of providence." Indeed, the Gulf presented itself as America's sea - bound by geography, culture, and tradition to the national experience - and yet, there has never been a comprehensive history of the Gulf until now. And so, in this rich and original work that explores the Gulf through our human connection with the sea, environmental historian Jack E. Davis finally places this exceptional region into the American mythos in a sweeping history that extends from the Pleistocene age to the 21st century.
-
A Promised Land
- By: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 29 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency - a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.
-
-
Fantastic
- By James M on 28-11-2020
-
Lenin's Tomb
- The Last Days of the Soviet Empire
- By: David Remnick
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 29 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the tradition of John Reed's classic Ten Days That Shook the World, this best-selling account of the collapse of the Soviet Union combines the global vision of the best historical scholarship with the immediacy of eyewitness journalism.
-
-
Fascinating Topic Well Told
- By Shane on 30-05-2016
-
American Prometheus
- The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
- By: Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 26 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
J. Robert Oppenheimer was one of the iconic figures of the 20th century, a brilliant physicist who led the effort to build the atomic bomb but later confronted the moral consequences of scientific progress. When he proposed international controls over atomic materials, opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb, and criticized plans for a nuclear war, his ideas were anathema to powerful advocates of a massive nuclear buildup during the anti-Communist hysteria of the early 1950s.
-
-
Touching
- By Anju on 16-03-2018
-
Putin's People
- How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Turned on the West
- By: Catherine Belton
- Narrated by: Dugald Bruce-Lockhart
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Putin's People, former Moscow correspondent and investigative journalist Catherine Belton tells the untold story of the rise of Vladimir Putin and the small group of KGB men surrounding him. Delving deep into the workings of Putin's Kremlin, Belton accesses key inside players to reveal how Putin replaced the free-wheeling tycoons of the Yeltsin era with a new generation of loyal oligarchs who in turn subverted their country's economy and legal system and expanded its influence in the West.
-
-
Exceptionally detailed
- By Anonymous User on 20-06-2020
-
Malcolm X
- A Life of Reinvention
- By: Manning Marable
- Narrated by: G. Valmont Thomas
- Length: 22 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Of the great figure in 20th-century American history perhaps none is more complex and controversial than Malcolm X. Constantly rewriting his own story, he became a criminal, a minister, a leader, and an icon, all before being felled by assassins' bullets at age 39. Through his tireless work and countless speeches he empowered hundreds of thousands of black Americans to create better lives and stronger communities while establishing the template for the self-actualized, independent African American man.
-
-
Great
- By KaanÇakır on 25-09-2020
-
The Invisible Bridge
- The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan
- By: Rick Perlstein
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 39 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In January of 1973 Richard Nixon announced the end of the Vietnam War and prepared for a triumphant second term - until televised Watergate hearings revealed his White House as little better than a mafia den. The next president declared upon Nixon’s resignation “our long national nightmare is over” - but then congressional investigators exposed the CIA for assassinating foreign leaders. The collapse of the South Vietnamese government rendered moot the sacrifice of some 58,000 American lives.
-
-
Fascinating and entertaining
- By RJ on 27-11-2016
Publisher's Summary
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize
Written with the style of a great novelist and the intrigue of a Cold War thriller, Embers of War is a landmark work that will forever change your understanding of how and why America went to war in Vietnam. Tapping newly accessible diplomatic archives in several nations, Fredrik Logevall traces the path that led two Western nations to tragically lose their way in the jungles of Southeast Asia. He brings to life the bloodiest battles of France’s final years in Indochina - and describes how, from an early point, a succession of American leaders made disastrous policy choices that put America on its own collision course with history.
An epic story of wasted opportunities and deadly miscalculations, Embers of War delves deep into the historical record to provide hard answers to the unanswered questions surrounding the demise of one Western power in Vietnam and the arrival of another. Eye-opening and compulsively listenable, Embers of War is a gripping, heralded work that illuminates the hidden history of the French and American experiences in Vietnam.
One of the most acclaimed works of history in recent years.
- Winner of the Francis Parkman Prize from the Society of American Historians
- Winner of the American Library in Paris Book Award
- Winner of the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award
- Finalist for the Cundill Prize in Historical Literature
Named one of the best books of the year by:
- The Washington Post
- The Christian Science Monitor
- The Globe and Mail
“A balanced, deeply researched history of how, as French colonial rule faltered, a succession of American leaders moved step by step down a road toward full-blown war.” (Pulitzer Prize citation)
“This extraordinary work of modern history combines powerful narrative thrust, deep scholarly authority, and quiet interpretive confidence.” (Francis Parkman Prize citation)
“A monumental history...a widely researched and eloquently written account of how the US came to be involved in Vietnam...certainly the most comprehensive review of this period to date.” (The Wall Street Journal)
Critic Reviews
“Fredrik Logevall’s excellent book Choosing War (1999) chronicled the American escalation of the Vietnam War in the early 1960s. With Embers of War, he has written an even more impressive book about the French conflict in Vietnam and the beginning of the American one.... It is the most comprehensive history of that time. Logevall, a professor of history at Cornell University, has drawn from many years of previous scholarship as well as his own. And he has produced a powerful portrait of the terrible and futile French war from which Americans learned little as they moved toward their own engagement in Vietnam.” (Alan Brinkley, The New York Times Book Review, editor's choice)
“Superb...penetrating...Embers of War is a product of formidable international research. It is lucidly and comprehensively composed. And it leverages a consistently potent analytical perspective.... Outstanding.” (Gordon Goldstein, The Washington Post)
“A remarkable new history.... Logevall skillfully explains everything that led up to Vietnam’s fatal partition in 1954...[and] peppers the grand sweep of his book with vignettes of remarkable characters, wise and foolish.” (The Economist)
More from the same
Author
Narrator
What listeners say about Embers of War
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mick Rose
- 04-10-2020
Great Vietnam War Book
If you keen to know why the Vietnam war stated this is the book. Heaps of Information about the French and the US involvement.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Kevin Warren
- 11-03-2019
Nothing novel - good backstory for the unfamiliar
The questionable: The author seemed like a strong French (and British) apologist and that the French were largely at the mercy of their American overlords following WWII. If you want to get the angle on how everything from maybe '48-'49 onward was America's (and not France's) fault, this book is for you. The odd thing is that he does explicitly mention that the French (and British) resisted America's anti-colonial opinions and policies so as to support their own declining empires but doesn't put together that they sold their efforts to the US as a battle against Communism when it clearly wasn't. Additionally, if you've studied Viet Nam's history at all you appreciate the problems with the Diem government. The author here specifically mentioned the increasingly "draconian" measures of the Diem government as he worked to solidify his power. This is a fair assessment. What's weird as that the increasingly draconian measures were standard policy by the North from the beginning. For example, they were executing the children of village leaders and even nailing their babies to walls & trees. Despite the horrors that were common to both sides in this the author barely even gives lip service to what the North was doing and makes them sound like noble victims for having to suffer the hardships of fighting an insurgency in that environment. Obviously, in the idealized sense, there should be no support for either government, but then that goes down the "Quiet American" path where one (like the author) can't seem to differentiate between ideality and reality. I only mention that because the author seems quite focused on Greene. It's not at the absurd level of Ward & Burns but it's there. I have always been a little puzzled about historians'/authors' position on the breaking of the '54 agreement with regards to elections. There's no doubt that Ho would've won and that not allowing the elections was a bit ironic given that the government of the South was supposed to be some flavor of Democracy. However, the same people never seem to take a step or two deeper. What happens when Ho wins and his entourage follows? Is one to think that subsequent elections would've allowed the people to steer their government? Is it even remotely conceivable that the Vietnamese people could've had "buyer's remorse" and altered the Communist government once it had taken hold? This is the same government that killed and/or imprisoned thousands or tens of thousands in the North and later did the same to upwards of a hundred thousand? The problem with the analyses that I've seen regarding the '54 agreement is that they never both to explore the consequences of having allowed that election to happen. The good: There is a lot of good information in this book and while you can get it from any other combination of books at least here it's all in one spot. There was nothing I hadn't read somewhere else but it was good to have it summarized (again). It's worth the listen.
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Mark J. Cavanagh
- 22-11-2018
Superb in Every Way
I could not stop listening to this book. The story is never boring. The narrator is perfect. I learned so much more about Vietnam and the scenes behind the war. The moral is profound. This one is easily in my top five of all time. None are better.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Chase Thompson
- 24-12-2019
Boring
Starts off very strong but after about a third of the way through it starts going downhill and remains super boring until the end. The narrator’s voice also never changes tone, ever.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Mark W. Monaghan
- 15-01-2020
clear history of Vietnam before US
Clear history of the political discussion on Vietnam. Great to listen. Well read. Thanks Mr. Sanders j
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- John
- 19-07-2019
A tremendous
A tremendous history of Vietnam from the 30s to the beginning of American "solo involvement"
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 15-07-2019
Excellent
Studied Vietnamese “insurgency” in college. This book is perfect for those in need of a primer on the French colonial experience through to the initial American commitment.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Allen Lynch
- 25-06-2019
And unbiased history of how do United States got involved in Vietnam.
This is a good history but very hard to listen to because of the many mistakes made by our government in supporting first the French that I corrupt South Vietnamese government. It is admittedly in my judgment a little biased but still very factual very well done and very well worth the read
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 03-05-2019
Vietnam; French to USA involvement
very detailed - focused on French occupation to Vietnam gorilla war to Independance. Details tragedy of Roosevelts death and the impact of Truman blowing off Ho Chi Minh - when Ho Chi Min wanted to be a Jeffersonian anti colonialist formed from an American mold.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Archana Goyal
- 18-03-2019
A wonderful book on First Vietnamese war
Loved it. A lucid narration of the first Vietnamese war. Highly recommended for students of international relations
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- cbspock
- 26-01-2019
I found this book very informative
I found this book informative. It filled in a lot of the background on why and how America got involved in VIETNAM.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Simon
- 30-12-2018
Excellent
A well written analysis of the various wars in Vietnam. From the French war to the American war. Thoughtful, insightful. And interestingly presented/narrated. Lacks much mention of Americas allies but that is a common fault
5 people found this helpful
20 Best Fantasy Audiobooks
This genre is so full of talent, it can be difficult to know what to listen to next — so look no further than this list to get you started.



20 Best Nonfiction Audiobooks
From the entire history of humanity to astrophysics, to our gut and mental health, dig into this list and learn something new.



Best Australian Podcasts on Audible
Audible Original Podcasts are free for Audible members. Check out this list of home-grown content, from binge-worthy true crime to self-help.


