The Quiet Americans
Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War - a Tragedy in Three Acts
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $34.96
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Robertson Dean
-
Scott Anderson
-
Written by:
-
Scott Anderson
About this listen
From the bestselling author of Lawrence in Arabia—the gripping story of four CIA agents during the early days of the Cold War—and how the United States, at the very pinnacle of its power, managed to permanently damage its moral standing in the world.
“Enthralling … captivating reading.” —The New York Times Book Review
At the end of World War II, the United States was considered the victor over tyranny and a champion of freedom. But it was clear—to some—that the Soviet Union was already seeking to expand and foment revolution around the world, and the American government’s strategy in response relied on the secret efforts of a newly formed CIA. Chronicling the fascinating lives of four agents, Scott Anderson follows the exploits of four spies: Michael Burke, who organized parachute commandos from an Italian villa; Frank Wisner, an ingenious spymaster who directed actions around the world; Peter Sichel, a German Jew who outwitted the ruthless KGB in Berlin; and Edward Lansdale, a mastermind of psychological warfare in the Far East. But despite their lofty ambitions, time and again their efforts went awry, thwarted by a combination of ham-fisted politicking and ideological rigidity at the highest levels of the government.
©2020 Scott Anderson (P)2020 Random House AudioYou may also enjoy...
-
Metropolis
- A History of the City, Humankind's Greatest Invention
- Written by: Ben Wilson
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 17 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a captivating tour of cities famous and forgotten, acclaimed historian Ben Wilson tells the glorious, millennia-spanning story how urban living sparked humankind's greatest innovations.
-
-
Masterful!
- By Pierre Gauthier on 2021-03-29
Written by: Ben Wilson
-
First Platoon
- A Story of Modern War in the Age of Identity Dominance
- Written by: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a story that starts off close and goes very big. The initial part of the story might sound familiar at first: it is about a platoon of mostly 19-year-old boys sent to Afghanistan, and an experience that ends abruptly in catastrophe. Their part of the story folds into the next: inexorably linked to those soldiers and never comprehensively reported before is the US Department of Defense’s quest to build the world’s most powerful biometrics database, with the ability to identify, monitor, catalog, and police people all over the world.
-
-
Very interesting.
- By Christa on 2021-04-16
Written by: Annie Jacobsen
-
Frostbite
- How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves
- Written by: Nicola Twilley
- Narrated by: Nicola Twilley
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the developed world, we’ve reaped the benefits of refrigeration for more than a century, but the costs are catching up with us. We’ve eroded our connection to our food and redefined what “fresh” means. More important, refrigeration is one of the leading contributors to climate change. As the developing world races to build a US-style cold chain, Twilley asks: Can we reduce our dependence on refrigeration? Should we?
Written by: Nicola Twilley
-
Checkpoint Charlie
- The Cold War, the Berlin Wall, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth
- Written by: Iain MacGregor
- Narrated by: Dugald Bruce Lockhart
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A powerful, fascinating, and groundbreaking history of Checkpoint Charlie, the famous military gate on the border of East and West Berlin where the US confronted the USSR during the Cold War.
Written by: Iain MacGregor
-
The Berlin Wall
- August 13, 1961 - November 9, 1989
- Written by: Frederick Taylor
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 21 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the morning of August 13, 1961, the residents of East Berlin found themselves cut off from family, friends, and jobs in the West by a tangle of barbed wire that ruthlessly split a city of four million in two. Within days the barbed-wire entanglement would undergo an extraordinary metamorphosis: It became an imposing 103-mile-long wall guarded by 300 watchtowers. A physical manifestation of the struggle between Soviet Communism and American capitalism that stood for nearly 30 years, the Berlin Wall was the high-risk fault line between East and West.
Written by: Frederick Taylor
-
The Blazing World
- A New History of Revolutionary England, 1603-1689
- Written by: Jonathan Healey
- Narrated by: Oliver Hembrough
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The seventeenth century was a revolutionary age for the English. It started as they suddenly found themselves ruled by a Scotsman, and it ended in the shadow of an invasion by the Dutch. Under James I, England suffered terrorism and witch panics. Under his son Charles, state and society collapsed into civil war, to be followed by an army coup and regicide. For a short time—for the only time in history—England was a republic. There were bitter struggles over faith and Parliament asserted itself like never before. There were no boundaries to politics.
Written by: Jonathan Healey
-
Metropolis
- A History of the City, Humankind's Greatest Invention
- Written by: Ben Wilson
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 17 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a captivating tour of cities famous and forgotten, acclaimed historian Ben Wilson tells the glorious, millennia-spanning story how urban living sparked humankind's greatest innovations.
-
-
Masterful!
- By Pierre Gauthier on 2021-03-29
Written by: Ben Wilson
-
First Platoon
- A Story of Modern War in the Age of Identity Dominance
- Written by: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a story that starts off close and goes very big. The initial part of the story might sound familiar at first: it is about a platoon of mostly 19-year-old boys sent to Afghanistan, and an experience that ends abruptly in catastrophe. Their part of the story folds into the next: inexorably linked to those soldiers and never comprehensively reported before is the US Department of Defense’s quest to build the world’s most powerful biometrics database, with the ability to identify, monitor, catalog, and police people all over the world.
-
-
Very interesting.
- By Christa on 2021-04-16
Written by: Annie Jacobsen
-
Frostbite
- How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves
- Written by: Nicola Twilley
- Narrated by: Nicola Twilley
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the developed world, we’ve reaped the benefits of refrigeration for more than a century, but the costs are catching up with us. We’ve eroded our connection to our food and redefined what “fresh” means. More important, refrigeration is one of the leading contributors to climate change. As the developing world races to build a US-style cold chain, Twilley asks: Can we reduce our dependence on refrigeration? Should we?
Written by: Nicola Twilley
-
Checkpoint Charlie
- The Cold War, the Berlin Wall, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth
- Written by: Iain MacGregor
- Narrated by: Dugald Bruce Lockhart
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A powerful, fascinating, and groundbreaking history of Checkpoint Charlie, the famous military gate on the border of East and West Berlin where the US confronted the USSR during the Cold War.
Written by: Iain MacGregor
-
The Berlin Wall
- August 13, 1961 - November 9, 1989
- Written by: Frederick Taylor
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 21 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the morning of August 13, 1961, the residents of East Berlin found themselves cut off from family, friends, and jobs in the West by a tangle of barbed wire that ruthlessly split a city of four million in two. Within days the barbed-wire entanglement would undergo an extraordinary metamorphosis: It became an imposing 103-mile-long wall guarded by 300 watchtowers. A physical manifestation of the struggle between Soviet Communism and American capitalism that stood for nearly 30 years, the Berlin Wall was the high-risk fault line between East and West.
Written by: Frederick Taylor
-
The Blazing World
- A New History of Revolutionary England, 1603-1689
- Written by: Jonathan Healey
- Narrated by: Oliver Hembrough
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The seventeenth century was a revolutionary age for the English. It started as they suddenly found themselves ruled by a Scotsman, and it ended in the shadow of an invasion by the Dutch. Under James I, England suffered terrorism and witch panics. Under his son Charles, state and society collapsed into civil war, to be followed by an army coup and regicide. For a short time—for the only time in history—England was a republic. There were bitter struggles over faith and Parliament asserted itself like never before. There were no boundaries to politics.
Written by: Jonathan Healey
What the critics say
“Anderson delivers a complex, massively scaled narrative, balancing prodigious research with riveting storytelling skills...Over the course of the narrative, the author amply shows how the CIA was increasingly pushed to function as an instrument of politically charged ambitions. An engrossing history of the early days of the CIA.” (Kirkus Review [Starred])
"Anderson notes the harrowing emotional cost on his subjects…as the U.S. threw its support behind autocratic leaders and missed opportunities to aid legitimate liberation movements such as the 1956 Hungarian revolution. Such blunders, Anderson writes, recast the U.S. from WWII savior to “one more empire in the mold of all those that had come before.” Laced with vivid character sketches and vital insights into 20th-century geopolitics, this stand-out chronicle helps to make sense of the world today." (Publisher’s Weekly [Starred])
"Anderson weaves his narrative among the lives of his subjects, highlighting aspects of their livelihoods as American spies that were at times equally frustrating, ridiculous, and chillingly dangerous...A fascinating and compulsively readable account of wartime spying." (Library Journal)
What listeners say about The Quiet Americans
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- DomK
- 2022-10-13
Very hard to listen to
The narrator is very monotonous and lacks dynamics, which in turn makes it really difficult to follow along.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- fishface42
- 2021-03-25
INTERWOVEN STORIES
Ben McIntyre's excellent spy histories tell one intelligible story per book, making for gripping reading. The Quiet Americans tells 4 crucial stories of American government and CIA malfeasance, spreading chaos and destruction worldwide. I stress 4 stories. Although each is a shocking exposition of the theme, the narrative jumps from each to each intermittently so that I never got a grip on any one character and intrigue. I wish he had written a separate section for each exceptional agent, thereby focusing his life, work, and Anderson's important theme.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful