Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War Audiobook

Quotes

• “A refreshingly honest memoir and a moving one.”

  — Wall Street Journal

• A 2014 New York Times Notable Book

• Probably one of the best Washington memoirs ever...Historians and policy wonks will bask in the revelations Gates provides on major decisions from late 2006 to 2011, the span of his time at the Pentagon…Gates is doing far more than just scoring points in this revealing volume. The key to reading it is understanding that he was profoundly affected by his role in sending American soldiers overseas to fight and be killed or maimed.

  — Thomas E. Ricks, The New York Times Book Review

• Touching, heartfelt...fascinating...Gates takes the reader inside the war-room deliberations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and delivers unsentimental assessments of each man’s temperament, intellect and management style...No civilian in Washington was closer to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan than Gates. As Washington and the rest of the country were growing bored with the grinding conflicts, he seemed to feel their burden more acutely.

  — Greg Jaffe, The Washington Post  

• A refreshingly honest memoir and a moving one.

  — Jack Keane, The Wall Street Journal

• A compelling memoir and a serious history…A fascinating, briskly honest account [of a] journey through the cutthroat corridors of Washington and world politics, with shrewd, sometimes eye-popping observations along the way about the nature of war and the limits of power.…Gates was a truly historic secretary of defense…precisely because he did get so much done…His descriptions of how he accomplished these feats—the mix of cooptation and coercion that he employed—should be read by every future defense secretary, and executives of all stripes, as a guide for how to command and overhaul a large institution.

  — Fred Kaplan, Slate

• A breathtakingly comprehensive and ultimately unsparing examination of the modern ways of making politics, policy, and war…Students of the nation’s two early twenty-first century wars will find the comprehensive account of Pentagon and White House deliberations riveting. General readers will be drawn to [Gates’] meditations on power and on life at the center of great political decisions…His vision is clear and his tale is sad. Gates takes ‘Duty’ as his title, but the account of his service also brings to mind the other two thirds of the West Point motto: ‘honor’ and ‘country.’

  — David M. Shribman, The Boston Globe 

• Duty…is an invaluable contribution to our understanding of what makes Washington tick.

  — Edward Luce, Financial Times

• Gates has offered…an informed and…earnest perspective, one that Americans ought to hear, reflect on and debate.

  — Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic

• Engaging and candid….Young people who want to understand and live up to the highest ideals of American statesmanship would do well to read this book carefully; Gates has much to teach about the practical idealism that represents the best kind of American leadership.

  — Foreign Affairs

• Compelling…trenchant.

  — Newsday

• This is a serious, thoughtful, illuminating, and valuable insider account of the final years of the George W. Bush administration and early years of the Obama presidency….Gates holds little back in this revealing memoir.

  — Choice

• If you read only one book by a Washington insider this year, make it this one. It should be savored by anyone who wishes to know more about the realities of decision-making in today’s federal government.

  — Library Journal

• The full story that emerges from this detailed and often deeply personal account is of a man fed up with the dysfunction of the nation’s capital.

  — The American Conservative

• “Probably one of the best Washington memoirs ever...Historians and policy wonks will bask in the revelations Gates provides on major decisions from late 2006 to 2011, the span of his time at the Pentagon…[in this] revealing volume.”

  — New York Times Book Review

• “Forthright, impassioned…highly revealing about decision making in both the Obama and Bush White Houses…[Gates’] writing is informed not only by a keen sense of historical context, but also by a longtime Washington veteran’s understanding of how the levers of government work or fail to work. Unlike many careful Washington memoirists, Gates speaks his mind on a host of issues.”

  — New York Times

• “Duty…is an invaluable contribution to our understanding of what makes Washington tick.”

  — Financial Times

• “Touching, heartfelt...fascinating...Gates takes the reader inside the war-room deliberations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and delivers unsentimental assessments of each man’s temperament, intellect, and management style.”

  — Washington Post

• “Gates has offered…an informed and…earnest perspective, one that Americans ought to hear, reflect on, and debate.”

  — Atlantic

• “A compelling memoir and a serious history…A fascinating, briskly honest account [of a] journey through the cutthroat corridors of Washington and world politics, with shrewd, sometimes eye-popping observations along the way about the nature of war and the limits of power.…Gates was a truly historic secretary of defense…precisely because he did get so much done…His descriptions of how he accomplished these feats—the mix of cooptation and coercion that he employed—should be read by every future defense secretary, and executives of all stripes, as a guide for how to command and overhaul a large institution.”

  — Slate

• “A breathtakingly comprehensive and ultimately unsparing examination of the modern ways of making politics, policy, and war…Students of the nation’s two early twenty-first century wars will find the comprehensive account of Pentagon and White House deliberations riveting. General readers will be drawn to [Gates’] meditations on power and on life at the center of great political decisions…His vision is clear and his tale is sad. Gates takes ‘duty’ as his title, but the account of his service also brings to mind the other two thirds of the West Point motto: ‘honor’ and ‘country.’”

  — Boston Globe

• “Engaging and candid….Young people who want to understand and live up to the highest ideals of American statesmanship would do well to read this book carefully; Gates has much to teach about the practical idealism that represents the best kind of American leadership.”

  — Foreign Affairs

• “Compelling…trenchant.”

  — Newsday

• “Listening to this remarkable work is akin to eavesdropping on conversations in the Oval Office and policy discussions at the Pentagon…Gates himself delivers the author’s note at the beginning, narrating in a deep, gravelly voice that exudes confidence. George Newbern delivers the rest of the work…[and] clearly articulates Gates’ arguments so they remain coherent and logical.”

  — AudioFile

• “If you read only one book by a Washington insider this year, make it this one. It should be savored by anyone who wishes to know more about the realities of decision making in today’s federal government.”

  — Library Journal