Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • The Prisoner in His Palace

  • Saddam Hussein and the Twelve Americans Who Guarded Him
  • By: Will Bardenwerper
  • Narrated by: Danny Campbell
  • Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (24 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Prisoner in His Palace

By: Will Bardenwerper
Narrated by: Danny Campbell
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

A book that, in the haunting tradition of In Cold Blood and The Executioner's Song, lifts away the top layer of evil and finds complexity beneath, this is the bizarre tale of 12 young American soldiers who are deployed to Iraq in the summer of 2006. Rather than fight the enemy in combat, the men are unexpectedly assigned to guard the country's notorious leader - Saddam Hussein - in the months leading to his execution.

Living alongside and caring for their "high-value detainee" in a former palace dubbed The Rock and regularly transporting him to his raucous trial, many of the men begin questioning some of their most basic assumptions.

Thoroughly researched and provocative, The Prisoner in His Palace contrasts two very different Saddams: the defiant younger man who uses torture and murder as tools and the older man who proves affectionate, charming, and unexpectedly courageous in the face of looming death. In this artfully constructed narrative, Saddam, the "man without a conscience", manages to get everyone around him to examine theirs. Many of those who bid good-bye to Saddam will be forever changed by the experience, and we wonder if we ourselves will.

©2017 Will Bardenwerper (P)2017 Simon & Schuster Audio
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Fixing Hell cover art
Miracles and Massacres cover art
The Corps Justice Series: Books 1-3 cover art
Jonestown: "Don't Drink the Kool-Aid" cover art
Rescued from ISIS cover art
Shooting Ghosts cover art
The Generals cover art
Most Dangerous cover art
Serial Killers: The True Crime Story of Jeffery Dahmer, the Milwaukee Cannibal cover art
In Cold Blood cover art
The Lieutenants cover art
Broken Angels cover art
Brothers, Rivals, Victors cover art
Guests of the Ayatollah cover art
Panzer Commander cover art
The Last Battle cover art

What listeners say about The Prisoner in His Palace

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    15
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

insightful and captivating

Really interesting perspective on parts of the Iraq war. Dictators are often incredibly charismatic, which is how they obtain and hold onto power, and this is a pretty good insight into that. interesting to read something about the Iraq war, which isn't just Western propaganda.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Really good but…

Loved the story but the occasional jumping stories between timelines was somewhat confusing. Otherwise a brilliant insight and perspective! Really enjoyed it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!