After the Fall
Being American in the World We've Made
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Narrated by:
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Ben Rhodes
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By:
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Ben Rhodes
About this listen
Bloomsbury presents After the Fall written and read by Ben Rhodes.
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
'A dystopian odyssey through the dark authoritarian landscape of the modern world’
The Times
To be born American in the late twentieth century was to take the fact of a particular kind of American exceptionalism as granted – a state of nature arrived at after all else had failed. In the span of just thirty years, this assumption would come crashing down.
After the fall, we must determine what it means to be American again.
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 realize 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.
What listeners say about After the Fall
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Karla
- 17-06-2021
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!!
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- Christine
- 01-08-2021
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
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- Jeremy Plaisance
- 25-11-2021
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.
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- JayD
- 06-12-2024
A unique perspective
A very interesting, frank insight into the role the US has played in recent decades in the rise of authoritarianism around the world. His direct involvement in unwittingly contributing to and helping to combat these forces is delivered with a candour that is both refreshing and chilling.
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