Rigged

Kevin Free narrates this timely audiobook forcefully, clearly, and with the gravitas it deserves. He ably guides listeners through the political thickets that author David Shimer's work identifies. Free gives an authoritative tone to the many experts, former officials, and stories the text reveals. The author evenhandedly discloses the "covert election influence" of both the Russians--formerly the KGB, now the FSB--and the CIA, whose operations opposed the Russian-backed candidates in places like Italy (1948) and Chile (1964), two campaigns in which the U.S.'s preferred candidates prevailed. While the United States no longer pursues election meddling, not so the Russians. Putin, a former head of the KGB, sees sowing chaos in democracies as a strategic goal--the presidential election of 2016 being a case in point. A.D.M. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine