-
The Good American
- The Epic Life of Bob Gersony, the U.S. Government's Greatest Humanitarian
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 17 hrs and 13 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $35.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Return of Marco Polo's World
- War, Strategy, and American Interests in the Twenty-First Century
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on decades of firsthand experience as a foreign correspondent and military embed for The Atlantic, as well as encounters with preeminent realist thinkers, Kaplan outlines the timeless principles that should shape America's role in a turbulent world: a respect for the limits of Western-style democracy; a delineation between American interests and American values; an awareness of the psychological toll of warfare; a projection of power via a strong navy; and more.
-
-
Essays on the Region of the Silk Road
- By Jeff Beardsley on 05-19-18
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
Adriatic
- A Concert of Civilizations at the End of the Modern Age
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this insightful travelogue, Robert D. Kaplan, geopolitical expert and best-selling author of Balkan Ghosts and The Revenge of Geography, turns his perceptive eye to a region that for centuries has been a meeting point of cultures, trade, and ideas. He undertakes a journey around the Adriatic Sea, through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, and Greece, to reveal that far more is happening in the region than most news stories let on.
-
-
Good Observations and Hidden Gems
- By Delphine C. Lucas on 05-11-22
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
Soldiers of God
- With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Shawn Compton
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World affairs expert and intrepid travel journalist Robert D. Kaplan braved the dangers of war-ravaged Afghanistan in the 1980s, living among the mujahidin-the "soldiers of god"-whose unwavering devotion to Islam fueled their mission to oust the formidable Soviet invaders. In Soldiers of God, we follow Kaplan's extraordinary journey and learn how the thwarted Soviet invasion gave rise to the ruthless Taliban and the defining international conflagration of the twenty-first century.
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
The Revenge of Geography
- What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Revenge of Geography, Robert D. Kaplan builds on the insights, discoveries, and theories of great geographers and geopolitical thinkers of the near and distant past to look back at critical pivots in history and then to look forward at the evolving global scene. Kaplan traces the history of the world's hot spots by examining their climates, topographies, and proximities to other embattled lands.
-
-
Why Don't They Teach This Stuff?
- By Carole T. on 02-27-13
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
Balkan Ghosts
- A Journey Through History
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the assassination that triggered World War I to the ethnic warfare in Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia, the Balkans have been the crucible of the 20th century, the place where terrorism and genocide first became tools of policy. Chosen as one of the Best Books of the Year by the New York Times, and greeted with critical acclaim as "the most insightful and timely work on the Balkans to date" (The Boston Globe), Kaplan's prescient, enthralling, and often chilling political travelogue is already a modern classic.
-
-
Badly researched, one sided and ignorant at the times.
- By Tom Sokec on 07-02-21
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
In Europe's Shadow
- Two Cold Wars and a Thirty-Year Journey Through Romania and Beyond
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Bucharest, Romania's capital, Kaplan discovered that few Westerners were reporting on the country - one of the darkest corners of Europe during the Cold War. In an intense and cinematic travelogue, Kaplan explores the history and culture of the only country in the West where the leading intellectuals have been right-wing rather than left-wing; a country that gave rise to the dictator Ion Antonescu, Hitler's chief foreign accomplice during WWII; a country where the Latin West mixes with the Greek East, producing a fascinating fusion of cultures.
-
-
Wrestling with History
- By David on 03-07-16
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
The Return of Marco Polo's World
- War, Strategy, and American Interests in the Twenty-First Century
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on decades of firsthand experience as a foreign correspondent and military embed for The Atlantic, as well as encounters with preeminent realist thinkers, Kaplan outlines the timeless principles that should shape America's role in a turbulent world: a respect for the limits of Western-style democracy; a delineation between American interests and American values; an awareness of the psychological toll of warfare; a projection of power via a strong navy; and more.
-
-
Essays on the Region of the Silk Road
- By Jeff Beardsley on 05-19-18
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
Adriatic
- A Concert of Civilizations at the End of the Modern Age
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this insightful travelogue, Robert D. Kaplan, geopolitical expert and best-selling author of Balkan Ghosts and The Revenge of Geography, turns his perceptive eye to a region that for centuries has been a meeting point of cultures, trade, and ideas. He undertakes a journey around the Adriatic Sea, through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, and Greece, to reveal that far more is happening in the region than most news stories let on.
-
-
Good Observations and Hidden Gems
- By Delphine C. Lucas on 05-11-22
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
Soldiers of God
- With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Shawn Compton
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World affairs expert and intrepid travel journalist Robert D. Kaplan braved the dangers of war-ravaged Afghanistan in the 1980s, living among the mujahidin-the "soldiers of god"-whose unwavering devotion to Islam fueled their mission to oust the formidable Soviet invaders. In Soldiers of God, we follow Kaplan's extraordinary journey and learn how the thwarted Soviet invasion gave rise to the ruthless Taliban and the defining international conflagration of the twenty-first century.
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
The Revenge of Geography
- What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Revenge of Geography, Robert D. Kaplan builds on the insights, discoveries, and theories of great geographers and geopolitical thinkers of the near and distant past to look back at critical pivots in history and then to look forward at the evolving global scene. Kaplan traces the history of the world's hot spots by examining their climates, topographies, and proximities to other embattled lands.
-
-
Why Don't They Teach This Stuff?
- By Carole T. on 02-27-13
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
Balkan Ghosts
- A Journey Through History
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the assassination that triggered World War I to the ethnic warfare in Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia, the Balkans have been the crucible of the 20th century, the place where terrorism and genocide first became tools of policy. Chosen as one of the Best Books of the Year by the New York Times, and greeted with critical acclaim as "the most insightful and timely work on the Balkans to date" (The Boston Globe), Kaplan's prescient, enthralling, and often chilling political travelogue is already a modern classic.
-
-
Badly researched, one sided and ignorant at the times.
- By Tom Sokec on 07-02-21
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
In Europe's Shadow
- Two Cold Wars and a Thirty-Year Journey Through Romania and Beyond
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Bucharest, Romania's capital, Kaplan discovered that few Westerners were reporting on the country - one of the darkest corners of Europe during the Cold War. In an intense and cinematic travelogue, Kaplan explores the history and culture of the only country in the West where the leading intellectuals have been right-wing rather than left-wing; a country that gave rise to the dictator Ion Antonescu, Hitler's chief foreign accomplice during WWII; a country where the Latin West mixes with the Greek East, producing a fascinating fusion of cultures.
-
-
Wrestling with History
- By David on 03-07-16
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
Freezing Order
- A True Story of Russian Money Laundering, State-Sponsored Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath
- By: Bill Browder
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Browder’s young Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was beaten to death in a Moscow jail in 2009, Browder cast aside his business career and made it his life’s mission to pursue justice for Sergei. One of the first steps of that mission was to uncover who had killed Sergei and profited from the $230 million corruption scheme that he had exposed. As Browder and his team tracked the money that flowed out of Russia—through the Baltics and Cyprus and on to Western Europe and the Americas—they discovered that Vladimir Putin himself was one of the beneficiaries of the crime.
-
-
Red Notice Part II —- The Empire Struck Out
- By R. Alembik on 04-16-22
By: Bill Browder
-
Monsoon
- The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the world maps common in America, the Western Hemisphere lies front and center, while the Indian Ocean region all but disappears. This convention reveals the geopolitical focus of the now-departed 20th century, but in the 21st century, that focus will fundamentally change. In this pivotal examination of the countries known as “Monsoon Asia”—which include India, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Burma, Oman, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Tanzania—best-selling author Robert D. Kaplan explains how crucial this dynamic area has become to American power.
-
-
A map is worth a thousand words ...
- By Loren on 06-03-12
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
Earning the Rockies
- How Geography Shapes America's Role in the World
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 5 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a boy, Robert D. Kaplan listened to his truck-driver father's evocative stories about traveling across America as a young man, travels in which he learned to understand the country from a ground-level perspective. In Earning the Rockies, Kaplan undertakes his own cross-country journey to recapture an appreciation and understanding of American geography that is often lost in the jet age.
-
-
Magnificent book that found a great narrator!
- By BotakTree on 03-09-17
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
Asia's Cauldron
- The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the last decade, the center of world power has been quietly shifting from Europe to Asia. With oil reserves of several billion barrels, an estimated 900 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and several centuries' worth of competing territorial claims, the South China Sea in particular is a simmering pot of potential conflict. The underreported military buildup in the area where the Western Pacific meets the Indian Ocean means that it will likely be a hinge point for global war and peace for the foreseeable future.
-
-
Biggest Challenge for US in Next 50 Years
- By Christopher on 05-30-14
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
Lessons from the Edge
- A Memoir
- By: Marie Yovanovitch
- Narrated by: Marie Yovanovitch
- Length: 17 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the time she became US Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch had seen her share of corruption, instability, and tragedy in developing countries. But it came as a shock when, in early 2019, she was recalled from her post after a smear campaign by President Trump’s personal attorney and his associates - men operating outside of normal governmental channels, and apparently motivated by personal gain. Her courageous participation in the subsequent impeachment inquiry earned Yovanovitch the nation’s respect, and her dignified response to the president’s attacks won our hearts.
-
-
Heroic patriot's amazing story
- By Victoria Eriksson on 03-19-22
-
Do Not Disturb
- The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad
- By: Michela Wrong
- Narrated by: Michela Wrong
- Length: 18 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We think we know the story of Africa’s Great Lakes region. Following the Rwandan genocide, an idealistic group of young rebels overthrew the brutal regime in Kigali, ushering in an era of peace and stability that made Rwanda the donor darling of the West, winning comparisons with Switzerland and Singapore. But the truth was considerably more sinister.
-
-
What is true and what isn't?
- By Buretto on 11-30-21
By: Michela Wrong
-
The Education of an Idealist
- A Memoir
- By: Samantha Power
- Narrated by: Samantha Power
- Length: 21 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her memoir, Power offers an urgent response to the question "What can one person do?" and a call for a clearer eye, a kinder heart, and a more open and civil hand in our politics and daily lives. The Education of an Idealist traces Power’s distinctly American journey from immigrant to war correspondent to presidential Cabinet official. In 2005, her critiques of US foreign policy caught the eye of newly elected senator Barack Obama, who invited her to work with him on Capitol Hill and then on his presidential campaign.
-
-
Hit Home
- By Cheryl J. Petretti on 02-03-20
By: Samantha Power
-
The Last Empire
- The Final Days of the Soviet Union
- By: Serhii Plokhy
- Narrated by: Alex Wyndham
- Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Christmas, 1991, President George H. W. Bush addressed the nation to declare an American victory in the Cold War: Earlier that day Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned as the first and last Soviet president. The enshrining of that narrative, one in which the end of the Cold War was linked to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the triumph of democratic values over communism, took center stage in American public discourse immediately after Bush's speech and has persisted for decades. As Serhii Plokhy reveals, the collapse of the Soviet Union was anything but the handiwork of the US.
By: Serhii Plokhy
-
Return of the God Hypothesis
- Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe
- By: Stephen C. Meyer
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 18 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling author of Darwin’s Doubt presents groundbreaking scientific evidence of the existence of God, based on breakthroughs in physics, cosmology, and biology.
-
-
A Wonderful Culmination of Dr. Meyer’s Work
- By Trevor Rolls on 03-31-21
By: Stephen C. Meyer
-
The Economic Weapon
- The Rise of Sanctions as a Tool of Modern War
- By: Nicholas Mulder
- Narrated by: Liam Gerrard
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Economic sanctions dominate the landscape of world politics today. First developed in the early twentieth century as a way of exploiting the flows of globalization to defend liberal internationalism, their appeal is that they function as an alternative to war. This view, however, ignores the dark paradox at their core: designed to prevent war, economic sanctions are modeled on devastating techniques of warfare.
-
-
History of sanctions during the early 20th century
- By Mehdi Mollahasani on 03-05-22
By: Nicholas Mulder
-
The Avoidable War
- The Dangers of a Catastrophic Conflict between the US and Xi Jinping's China
- By: Kevin Rudd
- Narrated by: Kevin Rudd, Rafe Beckley
- Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The relationship between the US and China, the world’s two superpowers, is peculiarly volatile. Their militaries play a dangerous game of chicken, corporations steal intellectual property, intelligence satellites peer, and AI technicians plot. The capacity for either country to cross a fatal line grows daily. Kevin Rudd, a former Australian prime minister who has studied, lived in, and worked with China for more than forty years, is one of the very few people who can offer real insight into the mindsets of the leadership whose judgment will determine if a war will be fought.
-
-
By far the best book on China
- By yougang chen on 05-07-22
By: Kevin Rudd
-
There Is Nothing For You Here
- Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century
- By: Fiona Hill
- Narrated by: Fiona Hill
- Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A celebrated foreign policy expert and key impeachment witness reveals how declining opportunity has set America on the grim path of modern Russia—and draws on her personal journey out of poverty, as well as her unique perspectives as an historian and policy maker, to show how we can return hope to our forgotten places.
-
-
Excellent book on populism, Putin, Trump and us
- By Erin on 10-08-21
By: Fiona Hill
Publisher's Summary
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Revenge of Geography comes a sweeping yet intimate story of the most influential humanitarian you’ve never heard of - Bob Gersony, who spent four decades in crisis zones around the world.
“One of the best accounts examining American humanitarian pursuits over the past 50 years.... With still greater challenges on the horizon, we will need to find and empower more people like Bob Gersony - both idealistic and pragmatic - who can help make the world a more secure place.” (The Washington Post)
In his long career as an acclaimed journalist covering the “hot” moments of the Cold War and its aftermath, best-selling author Robert D. Kaplan often found himself crossing paths with Bob Gersony, a consultant for the US State Department whose quiet dedication and consequential work made a deep impression on Kaplan.
Gersony, a high school dropout later awarded a Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam, conducted on-the-ground research for the U.S. government in virtually every war and natural-disaster zone in the world. In Thailand, Central and South America, Sudan, Chad, Mozambique, Rwanda, Gaza, Bosnia, North Korea, Iraq, and beyond, Gersony never flinched from entering dangerous areas that diplomats could not reach, sometimes risking his own life. Gersony’s behind-the scenes fact-finding, which included interviews with hundreds of refugees and displaced persons from each war zone and natural-disaster area, often challenged the assumptions and received wisdom of the powers that be, on both the left and the right. In nearly every case, his advice and recommendations made American policy at once smarter and more humane - often dramatically so.
In Gersony, Kaplan saw a powerful example of how American diplomacy should be conducted. In a work that exhibits Kaplan’s signature talent for combining travel and geography with sharp political analysis, The Good American tells Gersony’s powerful life story. Set during the State Department’s golden age, this is a story about the loneliness, sweat, and tears and the genuine courage that characterized Gersony’s work in far-flung places. It is also a celebration of ground-level reporting: a page-turning demonstration, by one of our finest geopolitical thinkers, of how getting an up-close, worm’s-eye view of crises and applying sound reason can elicit world-changing results.
Critic Reviews
“One of the best accounts examining American humanitarian pursuits over the past fifty years.... With still greater challenges on the horizon, we will need to find and empower more people like Bob Gersony - both idealistic and pragmatic - who can help make the world a more secure place.” (Daniel Runde, The Washington Post)
“[Gersony’s] story is inspiring because it affirms the possibility that facts, objectively researched and dispassionately presented, can change policy for the better.... Having seen firsthand how Mr. Gersony improved policy and saved lives, I am grateful that this book will make his example better known. May it become an inspiration for others.” (Paul Wolfowitz, The Wall Street Journal)
“A book to remind us that America has been, and can be again, a force for good in the world.... Time after time, [Gersony] shows how doing good - curbing human rights abuses, aiding refugees, providing relief supplies - turned out to be in America’s interest. (Max Boot, The Washington Post)
More from the same
Author
Narrator
What listeners say about The Good American
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bradley
- 05-02-21
Outstanding
Kaplan at his best. Fascinating story. Stellar reading performance. This has it all guys - highly recommend.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Carl Hammerdorfer
- 02-21-21
Sometimes over the top
An excellent and often exciting story that might have been even better without the hagiography and too frequent stereotypes of NGOs and bureaucrats.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Elliot Jager
- 10-31-21
Kaplan fans this one is another winner
Pulling together politics, anthropology, demography, and topography this is a tour of the world America touched from the Vietnam war to Mexico via Africa and Asia and the ME ending well into the 2000s. The focus is the intersection of geo-political interest and humanitarian aid. The hero is Bob Gersony. A man who follows the evidence not any preconceived ideology.
My only quibble and it comes as no surprise is that Kaplan allows his disenchantment with israel to taint the brief section on the WB and Gaza. So, for instance, you get the a reference to Tel Aviv as a settler city. But no matter — Kaplan is almost always worth reading and this book is a gem for so is another assimilated alienated Jew, Bob Gersony . A man deserving of our admiration.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Thomas
- 09-09-21
One of Kaplan's best
I became a fan of Robert Kaplan's writing when I read "Balkan Ghosts" in 1994 while deployed with the US Navy in support of operations in the former republics of Yugoslavia. I've read almost everything he's published since then. It suffices to say I find his work important to those that the many geopolitical events that affect national security.
The Good American, includes all of the superb writing and analysis on many important world events dating back to the 1970s. what makes this book so unique is that the participant in those events is not Kaplan, rather it is Robert Gersony. Gersony, is someone I had never heard of, but after reading this book I think everyone should know of him.
Kaplan, makes a compelling case that Gersony is the US government's greatest humanitarian. Kaplan supports his writing with dozens of interviews with Gersony and the volumes of reports he generated in his work as a contractor for USAID, and DOS. Kaplan also draws from interviews with former ambassadors, State department workers, and humanitarian relief workers. More than anything, the facts on the ground in countries, to numerous to mention, where Gersony worked, speak for themselves.
Robert Gersony took great risks to discover the truth and he reported the truth to power. His life is evidence that one man dedicated to finding the truth and a deep concern for human rights can make a difference. I'm glad I got to know a little bit about Robert Gersony in the pages of Kaplan's book. Read it, and you'll be glad too.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- W. McConnell
- 09-09-21
Great biography, biased journalism
Amazing story about Robert Gersony's effort to develop a sensible American foreign policy. If the author's off-hand characterizations such as, "leftist revolutionaries and right wing death squads" don't bother you, you will love it. If you feel that a real journalist would use "leftist revolutionaries and right wing reactionaries" or "left wing murderers and right wing death squads," you might agree with me that Kaplan should go back to journalism school.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Rui Ribeiro
- 10-08-21
Compelling and interesting listen
This is a thoroughly interesting and well written book, on the humantirian missions of Bob Gersony. He led quite a interesting life, having been through some of the biggest humanitarian crisis, from the 1960s until the 1st century.
The narrative is very interesting, even if slightly stereotyped, but words are not minced, to characterize the intevenients in the situations Gersony was present throughout his very interesting career. It definitely brings more information and clarity to some of the humanitarian crisis that occurred in the last decades of the 20th century and the first of the 21st.
The narration is quite good and it helps to make this a very interesting and recommended reading.