
The Gatekeepers
How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $18.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Mark Bramhall
-
By:
-
Chris Whipple
About this listen
Now with a chapter on the chaos in the Trump administration, The New York Times best-selling, behind-the-scenes look at the White House Chiefs of Staff, whose actions - and inactions - have defined the course of our country.
What do Dick Cheney and Rahm Emanuel have in common? Aside from polarizing personalities, both served as chief of staff to the president of the United States - as did Donald Rumsfeld, Leon Panetta, and a relative handful of others. The chiefs of staff, often referred to as "the gatekeepers", wield tremendous power in Washington and beyond; they decide who is allowed to see the president, negotiate with Congress to push POTUS's agenda, and - most crucially - enjoy unparalleled access to the leader of the free world. Each chief can make or break an administration, and each president reveals himself by the chief he picks.
Through extensive, intimate interviews with 18 living chiefs (including Reince Priebus) and two former presidents, award-winning journalist and producer Chris Whipple pulls back the curtain on this unique fraternity. In doing so, he revises our understanding of presidential history, revealing to us how James Baker’s expert managing of the White House, the press, and Capitol Hill paved the way for the Reagan Revolution - and, conversely, how Watergate, the Iraq War, and even the bungled Obamacare rollout might have been prevented by a more effective chief.
Filled with shrewd analysis and never-before-reported details, The Gatekeepers offers an essential portrait of the toughest job in Washington.
©2017 Chris Whipple (P)2017 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Spymasters
- How the CIA's Directors Shape History and Guard the Future
- By: Chris Whipple
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With unprecedented access to more than a dozen individuals who have made the life-and-death decisions that come with running the world’s most powerful and influential intelligence service, Chris Whipple tells the story of an agency that answers to the United States president alone, but whose activities — spying, espionage, and covert action — take place on every continent. At pivotal moments, the CIA acts as a counterforce against rogue presidents, starting in the mid-70s with DCI Richard Helms’s refusal to conceal Richard Nixon’s criminality.
-
-
Just HORRIBLE
- By Joe Rensin on 01-11-21
By: Chris Whipple
-
The Man Who Ran Washington
- The Life and Times of James A. Baker III
- By: Peter Baker, Susan Glasser
- Narrated by: Michael Quinlan
- Length: 26 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a quarter-century, from the end of Watergate to the aftermath of the Cold War, no Republican won the presidency without his help or ran the White House without his advice. James Addison Baker III was the indispensable man for four presidents because he understood better than anyone how to make Washington work at a time when America was shaping events around the world. The Man Who Ran Washington is a pause-resisting portrait of a power broker who influenced America's destiny for generations.
-
-
We Need Baker Now More Than Ever
- By @Gazi2a on 01-08-21
By: Peter Baker, and others
-
The World as It Is
- A Memoir of the Obama White House
- By: Ben Rhodes
- Narrated by: Ben Rhodes, Mark Deakins
- Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For nearly 10 years, Ben Rhodes saw almost everything that happened at the center of the Obama administration - first as a speechwriter, then as deputy national security advisor, and finally as a multipurpose aide and close collaborator. He started every morning in the Oval Office with the President’s Daily Brief, traveled the world with Obama, and was at the center of some of the most consequential and controversial moments of the presidency. Now, he tells the full story of his partnership with a man who also happened to be a historic president of the United States.
-
-
An immersive read; a thoughtful book; a tribute to
- By Jonathan Callies on 06-06-18
By: Ben Rhodes
-
Enough
- By: Cassidy Hutchinson
- Narrated by: Cassidy Hutchinson
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ever since a childhood visit to Washington, DC, Cassidy Hutchinson aspired to serve her country in government. Raised in a working-class family with a military background, she was the first in her immediate family to graduate from college. Despite having no ties to Washington, Hutchinson landed a vital position at the center of the Trump White House.
-
-
Painful
- By Melissa C. on 09-28-23
-
The Fight of His Life
- Inside Joe Biden's White House
- By: Chris Whipple
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now prizewinning journalist Chris Whipple takes us inside the Oval Office as the critical decisions of Biden’s presidency are being made. With remarkable access to both President Biden and his inner circle—including Chief of Staff Ron Klain, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and CIA Director William Burns—Whipple pulls back the curtain on the internal power struggles and back-room compromises.
-
-
A "Fair and Balanced" look at the first two years
- By Kristin V. Johnson on 04-20-23
By: Chris Whipple
-
The Fall
- The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty
- By: Michael Wolff
- Narrated by: Michael Wolff - introduction, Holter Graham
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For almost three decades, Fox News has not only made political careers (see: President Donald J. Trump) but also fundamentally altered the political landscape of the United States. It is a truism: as Fox goes, so goes the nation—into further divisiveness and awash in fake news, a gleefully polarizing company. But just as Fox has pushed America apart, now it too is coming apart. As is the family dynasty behind it.
-
-
Terrific rundown of Fox
- By Iread on 10-05-23
By: Michael Wolff
-
The Spymasters
- How the CIA's Directors Shape History and Guard the Future
- By: Chris Whipple
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With unprecedented access to more than a dozen individuals who have made the life-and-death decisions that come with running the world’s most powerful and influential intelligence service, Chris Whipple tells the story of an agency that answers to the United States president alone, but whose activities — spying, espionage, and covert action — take place on every continent. At pivotal moments, the CIA acts as a counterforce against rogue presidents, starting in the mid-70s with DCI Richard Helms’s refusal to conceal Richard Nixon’s criminality.
-
-
Just HORRIBLE
- By Joe Rensin on 01-11-21
By: Chris Whipple
-
The Man Who Ran Washington
- The Life and Times of James A. Baker III
- By: Peter Baker, Susan Glasser
- Narrated by: Michael Quinlan
- Length: 26 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a quarter-century, from the end of Watergate to the aftermath of the Cold War, no Republican won the presidency without his help or ran the White House without his advice. James Addison Baker III was the indispensable man for four presidents because he understood better than anyone how to make Washington work at a time when America was shaping events around the world. The Man Who Ran Washington is a pause-resisting portrait of a power broker who influenced America's destiny for generations.
-
-
We Need Baker Now More Than Ever
- By @Gazi2a on 01-08-21
By: Peter Baker, and others
-
The World as It Is
- A Memoir of the Obama White House
- By: Ben Rhodes
- Narrated by: Ben Rhodes, Mark Deakins
- Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For nearly 10 years, Ben Rhodes saw almost everything that happened at the center of the Obama administration - first as a speechwriter, then as deputy national security advisor, and finally as a multipurpose aide and close collaborator. He started every morning in the Oval Office with the President’s Daily Brief, traveled the world with Obama, and was at the center of some of the most consequential and controversial moments of the presidency. Now, he tells the full story of his partnership with a man who also happened to be a historic president of the United States.
-
-
An immersive read; a thoughtful book; a tribute to
- By Jonathan Callies on 06-06-18
By: Ben Rhodes
-
Enough
- By: Cassidy Hutchinson
- Narrated by: Cassidy Hutchinson
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ever since a childhood visit to Washington, DC, Cassidy Hutchinson aspired to serve her country in government. Raised in a working-class family with a military background, she was the first in her immediate family to graduate from college. Despite having no ties to Washington, Hutchinson landed a vital position at the center of the Trump White House.
-
-
Painful
- By Melissa C. on 09-28-23
-
The Fight of His Life
- Inside Joe Biden's White House
- By: Chris Whipple
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now prizewinning journalist Chris Whipple takes us inside the Oval Office as the critical decisions of Biden’s presidency are being made. With remarkable access to both President Biden and his inner circle—including Chief of Staff Ron Klain, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and CIA Director William Burns—Whipple pulls back the curtain on the internal power struggles and back-room compromises.
-
-
A "Fair and Balanced" look at the first two years
- By Kristin V. Johnson on 04-20-23
By: Chris Whipple
-
The Fall
- The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty
- By: Michael Wolff
- Narrated by: Michael Wolff - introduction, Holter Graham
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For almost three decades, Fox News has not only made political careers (see: President Donald J. Trump) but also fundamentally altered the political landscape of the United States. It is a truism: as Fox goes, so goes the nation—into further divisiveness and awash in fake news, a gleefully polarizing company. But just as Fox has pushed America apart, now it too is coming apart. As is the family dynasty behind it.
-
-
Terrific rundown of Fox
- By Iread on 10-05-23
By: Michael Wolff
-
Romney
- A Reckoning
- By: McKay Coppins
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, McKay Coppins
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few figures in American politics have seen more and said less than Mitt Romney. An outspoken dissident in Donald Trump’s GOP, he has made headlines in recent years for standing alone against the forces he believes are poisoning the party he once led. Romney was the first senator in history to vote to remove from office a president of his own party. When that president’s supporters went on to storm the US Capitol, Romney delivered a thundering speech from the Senate floor accusing his fellow Republicans of stoking insurrection.
-
-
Political and intellectual biography at its best!
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-23
By: McKay Coppins
-
Elon Musk
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Walter Isaacson
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
-
-
megalomania on display
- By JP on 09-12-23
By: Walter Isaacson
-
The Presidents Club
- Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity
- By: Nancy Gibbs, Michael Duffy
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Presidents Club was born at Eisenhower’s inauguration when Harry Truman and Herbert Hoover first conceived the idea. Over the years that followed - and to this day - the presidents relied on, misunderstood, sabotaged, and formed alliances with one another that changed history. The world’s most exclusive fraternity is a complicated place: its members are bound forever because they sat in the Oval Office and know its secrets, yet they are immortal rivals for history’s favor.
-
-
Engaging subject, but fact-checking needed
- By loix on 04-25-12
By: Nancy Gibbs, and others
-
Breaking History
- A White House Memoir
- By: Jared Kushner
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt, Jared Kushner
- Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jared Kushner was one of the most consequential presidential advisers in modern history. For the first time, he recounts what happened behind closed doors during the Trump presidency. Few White House advisors have had such an expansive portfolio or constant access to the president. From his office next to Trump, senior adviser Jared Kushner operated quietly behind the scenes, preferring to leave the turf wars and television sparring to others.
-
-
Proud Conservative female
- By Their Best Day Ever on 08-25-22
By: Jared Kushner
-
Days of Fire
- Bush and Cheney in the White House
- By: Peter Baker
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 29 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Theirs was the most captivating American political partnership since Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger: a bold and untested president and his seasoned, relentless vice president. Confronted by one crisis after another, they struggled to protect the country, remake the world, and define their own relationship along the way. In Days of Fire, Peter Baker chronicles the history of the most consequential presidency in modern times through the prism of its two most compelling characters, capturing the elusive and shifting alliance of George Walker Bush and Richard Bruce Cheney as no historian has done before.
-
-
A balanced account of the W and Cheney White House
- By Scott on 11-15-13
By: Peter Baker
-
Duty
- Memoirs of a Secretary at War
- By: Robert M. Gates
- Narrated by: George Newbern, Robert M. Gates
- Length: 25 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the former secretary of defense, a strikingly candid, vivid account of serving Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. When Robert M. Gates received a call from the White House, he thought he'd long left Washington politics behind: After working for six presidents in both the CIA and the National Security Council, he was happily serving as president of Texas A&M University. But when he was asked to help a nation mired in two wars and to aid the troops doing the fighting, he answered what he felt was the call of duty.
-
-
The Fighting Season
- By Cynthia on 01-28-14
By: Robert M. Gates
-
On the House
- A Washington Memoir
- By: John Boehner
- Narrated by: John Boehner
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Former Speaker of the House John Boehner shares colorful tales from the halls of power, the smoke-filled rooms around the halls of power, and his fabled tour bus....
-
-
Entertaining, and a great read on institutionalism
- By Joel on 04-15-21
By: John Boehner
-
Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?
- And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House
- By: Alyssa Mastromonaco, Lauren Oyler
- Narrated by: Alyssa Mastromonaco
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If your funny older sister were the former deputy chief of staff to President Barack Obama, her behind-the-scenes political memoir would sound something like this. Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? is an intimate and admiring portrait of a president, a candid book of advice for young women, and a promising debut from a savvy political star.
-
-
A woman works for obama
- By H. Winslow on 06-13-17
By: Alyssa Mastromonaco, and others
-
Double Down
- Game Change 2012
- By: Mark Halperin, John Heilemann
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In their runaway best seller Game Change, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann captured the full drama of Barack Obama’s improbable, dazzling victory over the Clintons, John McCain, and Sarah Palin. With the same masterly reporting, unparalleled access, and narrative skill, Double Down picks up the story in the Oval Office, where the president is beset by crises both inherited and unforeseen - facing defiance from his political foes, disenchantment from the voters, disdain from the nation’s powerful money machers, and dysfunction within the West Wing.
-
-
About HALF as good as Game Change
- By Jackie on 11-10-13
By: Mark Halperin, and others
-
Game Change
- Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime
- By: John Heilemann, Mark Halperin
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story, Game Change is a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel. Character driven and dialogue rich, replete with extravagantly detailed scenes, this is the occasion-ally shocking, often hilarious, ultimately definitive account of the campaign of a lifetime.
-
-
Compelling & frank
- By Michael on 01-15-10
By: John Heilemann, and others
-
Worthy Fights
- A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace
- By: Leon Panetta, Jim Newton
- Narrated by: Leon Panetta
- Length: 19 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It could be said that Leon Panetta has had two of the most consequential careers of any American public servant in the past 50 years. His first career, beginning as an army intelligence officer and including a distinguished run as one of Congress' most powerful and respected members, lasted 35 years and culminated in his transformational role as Clinton's budget czar and White House chief of staff.
-
-
Outstanding
- By Jean on 10-10-14
By: Leon Panetta, and others
-
Fear
- Trump in the White House
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump’s White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files, and documents. The focus is on the explosive debates and the decision-making in the Oval Office, the Situation Room, Air Force One, and the White House residence.
-
-
Extremely Depressing...
- By Pattisguilfordgardenct on 09-11-18
By: Bob Woodward
Related to this topic
-
Days of Fire
- Bush and Cheney in the White House
- By: Peter Baker
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 29 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Theirs was the most captivating American political partnership since Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger: a bold and untested president and his seasoned, relentless vice president. Confronted by one crisis after another, they struggled to protect the country, remake the world, and define their own relationship along the way. In Days of Fire, Peter Baker chronicles the history of the most consequential presidency in modern times through the prism of its two most compelling characters, capturing the elusive and shifting alliance of George Walker Bush and Richard Bruce Cheney as no historian has done before.
-
-
A balanced account of the W and Cheney White House
- By Scott on 11-15-13
By: Peter Baker
-
The Presidents Club
- Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity
- By: Nancy Gibbs, Michael Duffy
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Presidents Club was born at Eisenhower’s inauguration when Harry Truman and Herbert Hoover first conceived the idea. Over the years that followed - and to this day - the presidents relied on, misunderstood, sabotaged, and formed alliances with one another that changed history. The world’s most exclusive fraternity is a complicated place: its members are bound forever because they sat in the Oval Office and know its secrets, yet they are immortal rivals for history’s favor.
-
-
Engaging subject, but fact-checking needed
- By loix on 04-25-12
By: Nancy Gibbs, and others
-
Tip and the Gipper
- When Politics Worked
- By: Chris Matthews
- Narrated by: Chris Matthews
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were the political odd couple - the two most powerful men in the country, a pair who "couldn't be more different or more the same." For six years, Matthews was on the inside, watching the evolving relationship between President Reagan and Speaker of the House O’Neill. Drawing not only on his own remarkable knowledge but on extensive interviews with those closest to his subjects, Matthews brings this unlikely friendship to life in his unique voice.
-
-
I didn't want it to end
- By Jim on 10-06-13
By: Chris Matthews
-
State of Denial
- Bush at War, Part III
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Boyd Gaines
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bob Woodward examines how the Bush administration avoided telling the truth about Iraq to the public, to the Congress, and often to themselves in State of Denial. Woodward's third book on President Bush is a sweeping narrative from the first days George W. Bush thought seriously about running for president, through the recruitment of his national security team, the war in Afghanistan, the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and the struggle for political survival in the second term.
-
-
Concerning and hard to put down
- By Chris on 12-10-06
By: Bob Woodward
-
The Promise
- President Obama, Year One
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Jonathan Alter
- Length: 20 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Barack Obama’s inauguration as president on January 20, 2009, inspired the world. But the great promise of “Change We Can Believe In” was immediately tested by the threat of another Great Depression, a worsening war in Afghanistan, and an entrenched and deeply partisan system of business as usual in Washington. Despite all the coverage, the backstory of Obama’s historic first year in office has until now remained a mystery.
-
-
Tiresome
- By Matthew on 05-21-10
By: Jonathan Alter
-
In My Time
- A Personal and Political Memoir
- By: Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann, Dick Cheney
- Length: 20 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his unmistakable voice and with an insider's eye on history, former Vice President Dick Cheney tells the story of his life and the nearly four decades he has spent at the center of American politics and power. In My Time is truly the last word about an incredible political era, by a man who lived it and helped define it - with courage and without compromise.
-
-
Great Book
- By reader on 09-05-11
By: Dick Cheney, and others
-
Days of Fire
- Bush and Cheney in the White House
- By: Peter Baker
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 29 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Theirs was the most captivating American political partnership since Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger: a bold and untested president and his seasoned, relentless vice president. Confronted by one crisis after another, they struggled to protect the country, remake the world, and define their own relationship along the way. In Days of Fire, Peter Baker chronicles the history of the most consequential presidency in modern times through the prism of its two most compelling characters, capturing the elusive and shifting alliance of George Walker Bush and Richard Bruce Cheney as no historian has done before.
-
-
A balanced account of the W and Cheney White House
- By Scott on 11-15-13
By: Peter Baker
-
The Presidents Club
- Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity
- By: Nancy Gibbs, Michael Duffy
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Presidents Club was born at Eisenhower’s inauguration when Harry Truman and Herbert Hoover first conceived the idea. Over the years that followed - and to this day - the presidents relied on, misunderstood, sabotaged, and formed alliances with one another that changed history. The world’s most exclusive fraternity is a complicated place: its members are bound forever because they sat in the Oval Office and know its secrets, yet they are immortal rivals for history’s favor.
-
-
Engaging subject, but fact-checking needed
- By loix on 04-25-12
By: Nancy Gibbs, and others
-
Tip and the Gipper
- When Politics Worked
- By: Chris Matthews
- Narrated by: Chris Matthews
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were the political odd couple - the two most powerful men in the country, a pair who "couldn't be more different or more the same." For six years, Matthews was on the inside, watching the evolving relationship between President Reagan and Speaker of the House O’Neill. Drawing not only on his own remarkable knowledge but on extensive interviews with those closest to his subjects, Matthews brings this unlikely friendship to life in his unique voice.
-
-
I didn't want it to end
- By Jim on 10-06-13
By: Chris Matthews
-
State of Denial
- Bush at War, Part III
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Boyd Gaines
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bob Woodward examines how the Bush administration avoided telling the truth about Iraq to the public, to the Congress, and often to themselves in State of Denial. Woodward's third book on President Bush is a sweeping narrative from the first days George W. Bush thought seriously about running for president, through the recruitment of his national security team, the war in Afghanistan, the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and the struggle for political survival in the second term.
-
-
Concerning and hard to put down
- By Chris on 12-10-06
By: Bob Woodward
-
The Promise
- President Obama, Year One
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Jonathan Alter
- Length: 20 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Barack Obama’s inauguration as president on January 20, 2009, inspired the world. But the great promise of “Change We Can Believe In” was immediately tested by the threat of another Great Depression, a worsening war in Afghanistan, and an entrenched and deeply partisan system of business as usual in Washington. Despite all the coverage, the backstory of Obama’s historic first year in office has until now remained a mystery.
-
-
Tiresome
- By Matthew on 05-21-10
By: Jonathan Alter
-
In My Time
- A Personal and Political Memoir
- By: Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann, Dick Cheney
- Length: 20 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his unmistakable voice and with an insider's eye on history, former Vice President Dick Cheney tells the story of his life and the nearly four decades he has spent at the center of American politics and power. In My Time is truly the last word about an incredible political era, by a man who lived it and helped define it - with courage and without compromise.
-
-
Great Book
- By reader on 09-05-11
By: Dick Cheney, and others
-
Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero
- By: Chris Matthews
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Chris Matthews’ extraordinary biography, we see this most beloved president in the company of friends. We see and feel him close-up, having fun and giving off that restlessness of his. We watch him navigate his life from privileged, rebellious youth to gutsy American president. We witness his bravery in war and selfless rescue of his PT boat crew. We watch JFK as a young politician learning to play hardball and watch him grow into the leader who averts a nuclear war.
-
-
What Might Have Been?
- By Mel on 12-06-11
By: Chris Matthews
-
All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain's Political Class
- By: Tim Shipman
- Narrated by: Rupert Farley
- Length: 32 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on unrivalled access to all the key politicians and their advisors - including Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, George Osborne, Nigel Farage and Dominic Cummings, the mastermind of Vote Leave - Shipman has written a political history that reads like a thriller and offers a gripping day-by-day account of what really happened behind the scenes in Downing Street, both Leave campaigns, the Labour Party, Ukip and Britain Stronger in Europe.
-
-
blow by blow, word by word
- By Christian R. Unger on 11-22-18
By: Tim Shipman
-
Three Days in January
- Dwight Eisenhower's Final Mission
- By: Bret Baier, Catherine Whitney
- Narrated by: Bret Baier, Danny Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this debut history from one of America's most influential political journalists, Bret Baier casts the three days between Dwight Eisenhower's prophetic "farewell address" on the evening of January 17, 1961, and his successor John F. Kennedy's inauguration on the afternoon of January 20 as the final mission of one of modern America's greatest leaders.
-
-
Gently In Manner, Strongly In Deed...
- By Gillian on 01-20-17
By: Bret Baier, and others
-
Nixon's Secrets
- By: Roger Stone, Mike Colapietro
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 20 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Learn the inside scoop on Watergate, the Ford Pardon, and the 18-minute Gap. Roger Stone, The New York Times best-selling author of The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ, gives the inside scoop on Nixon’s rise and fall in Watergate in his new book Nixon’s Secrets. Stone charts Nixon’s rise from election to Congress in 1946 to the White House in 1968 after his razor-thin loss to John Kennedy in 1960, his disastrous campaign for Governor of California in 1962, and the greatest comeback in American Presidential history.
-
-
Great book but....
- By Alan on 11-20-14
By: Roger Stone, and others
-
The Path to Power
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson
- By: Robert A. Caro
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 40 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the story of the rise to national power of a desperately poor young man from the Texas Hill Country. The Path to Power reveals in extraordinary detail the genesis of the almost superhuman drive, energy, and ambition that set LBJ apart. It follows him from the Hill Country to New Deal Washington, from his boyhood through the years of the Depression to his debut as Congressman, his heartbreaking defeat in his first race for the Senate, and his attainment, nonetheless, at age 31, of the national power for which he hungered.
-
-
The Best of all Biographies
- By David C. Daggett on 12-14-13
By: Robert A. Caro
-
The Briefing
- Politics, the Press, and the President
- By: Sean Spicer
- Narrated by: Sean Spicer
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than two decades, Sean Spicer had been a respected political insider, working as a campaign and communications strategist. But in December 2016, he got the call of a lifetime. President-elect Donald J. Trump had chosen him to be the White House press secretary. And life hasn’t been the same since. When he accepted the job, Spicer was far from a household name. But then he walked into the bright lights of the briefing room, and the cameras started rolling. His every word was scrutinized. Every movement was parodied. Every detail became a meme. And that’s just the public side.
-
-
I did not expect to like this non-fiction book!
- By Wayne on 07-30-18
By: Sean Spicer
-
The Man Who Ran Washington
- The Life and Times of James A. Baker III
- By: Peter Baker, Susan Glasser
- Narrated by: Michael Quinlan
- Length: 26 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a quarter-century, from the end of Watergate to the aftermath of the Cold War, no Republican won the presidency without his help or ran the White House without his advice. James Addison Baker III was the indispensable man for four presidents because he understood better than anyone how to make Washington work at a time when America was shaping events around the world. The Man Who Ran Washington is a pause-resisting portrait of a power broker who influenced America's destiny for generations.
-
-
We Need Baker Now More Than Ever
- By @Gazi2a on 01-08-21
By: Peter Baker, and others
-
Camelot's End
- Kennedy vs. Carter and the Fight That Broke the Democratic Party
- By: Jon Ward
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Carter presidency was on life support. The Democrats, desperate to keep power and yearning to resurrect former glory, turned to Ted Kennedy. Camelot's End details the incredible drama of Kennedy's challenge - what led to it, how it unfolded, and its lasting effects - with cinematic sweep. It is a story about what happened to the Democratic Party when the country's long string of successes, luck, and global dominance following World War II ran its course, and how, on a quest to recapture the magic of JFK, Democrats plunged themselves into an intra-party civil war.
-
-
Does character count in political office?
- By marwalk on 07-29-19
By: Jon Ward
-
Reagan
- The Life
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 31 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ronald Reagan today is a conservative icon, celebrated for transforming the American domestic agenda and playing a crucial part in ending communism in the Soviet Union. In his masterful new biography, H. W. Brands argues that Reagan, along with FDR, was the most consequential president of the 20th century. Reagan took office at a time when the public sector, after a half century of New Deal liberalism, was widely perceived as bloated and inefficient, an impediment to personal liberty.
-
-
Very little about Reagan
- By Jack Merritt on 07-30-15
By: H. W. Brands
-
Three Days in Moscow
- Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire
- By: Bret Baier, Catherine Whitney
- Narrated by: Bret Baier
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Three Days in Moscow, Baier explores the dramatic endgame of America’s long struggle with the Soviet Union and President Ronald Reagan’s central role in shaping the world we live in today. On May 31, 1988, Reagan stood on Russian soil and addressed a packed audience at Moscow State University, delivering a remarkable - yet now largely forgotten - speech that capped his first visit to the Soviet capital.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Brian W. Barton on 05-20-18
By: Bret Baier, and others
-
Write It When I'm Gone
- Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations with Gerald R. Ford
- By: Thomas M. DeFrank
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In an extraordinary series of private interviews, conducted over 16 years with the stipulation that they not be released until after Gerald Ford's death, the 38th president of the United States reveals a profoundly different side of himself: funny, reflective, gossipy, strikingly candid, and the stuff of headlines.
-
-
An easy historical listen...
- By Darrell Rupe on 05-26-08
-
LBJ's 1968
- Power, Politics, and the Presidency in America's Year of Upheaval
- By: Kyle Longley
- Narrated by: Paul Brion
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1968 was an unprecedented year in terms of upheaval on numerous scales: political, military, economic, social, cultural. In the United States, perhaps no one was more undone by the events of 1968 than President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Kyle Longley leads his listeners on a behind-the-scenes tour of what Johnson characterized as the 'year of a continuous nightmare'. Longley explores how LBJ perceived the most significant events of 1968, including the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy, and the violent Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
-
-
Worst year in my lifetime - LBJ tragedy of his own making - but not according to this Author.
- By charles wartelle on 05-17-19
By: Kyle Longley
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Spymasters
- How the CIA's Directors Shape History and Guard the Future
- By: Chris Whipple
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With unprecedented access to more than a dozen individuals who have made the life-and-death decisions that come with running the world’s most powerful and influential intelligence service, Chris Whipple tells the story of an agency that answers to the United States president alone, but whose activities — spying, espionage, and covert action — take place on every continent. At pivotal moments, the CIA acts as a counterforce against rogue presidents, starting in the mid-70s with DCI Richard Helms’s refusal to conceal Richard Nixon’s criminality.
-
-
Just HORRIBLE
- By Joe Rensin on 01-11-21
By: Chris Whipple
-
Fatherland
- A Memoir of War, Conscience, and Family Secrets
- By: Burkhard Bilger
- Narrated by: Burkhard Bilger
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What do we owe the past? How to make peace with a dark family history? Burkhard Bilger hardly knew his grandfather growing up. His parents immigrated to Oklahoma from Germany after World War II, and though his mother was an historian, she rarely talked about her father or what he did during the war. Then one day a packet of letters arrived from Germany, yellowing with age, and a secret history began to unfold.
-
-
a window into a little-explored aspect of WWII
- By Marjorie on 09-23-23
By: Burkhard Bilger
-
Ravenous
- Otto Warburg, the Nazis, and the Search for the Cancer-Diet Connection
- By: Sam Apple
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Nobel laureate Otto Warburg was widely regarded in his day as one of the most important biochemists of the 20th century, a man whose research was integral to humanity’s understanding of cancer. He was also among the most despised figures in Nazi Germany. As a Jewish homosexual living openly with his male partner, Warburg represented all that the Third Reich abhorred. Yet Hitler and his top advisors dreaded cancer, and protected Warburg in the hope that he could cure it.
-
-
Highly recommended, a must read.
- By Joerg on 06-10-21
By: Sam Apple
-
The Curse of the Marquis de Sade
- A Notorious Scoundrel, a Mythical Manuscript, and the Biggest Scandal in Literary History
- By: Joel Warner
- Narrated by: Stephen Mendel
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Described as both “one of the most important novels ever written” and “the gospel of evil,” 120 Days of Sodom was written by the Marquis de Sade, a notorious eighteenth-century aristocrat who waged a campaign of mayhem and debauchery across France, evaded execution, and inspired the word “sadism,” which came to mean receiving pleasure from pain. Despite all his crimes, Sade considered this work to be his greatest transgression.
-
-
A very fascinating historical story
- By Jeremy on 04-27-23
By: Joel Warner
-
Enemy of All Mankind
- A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt
- By: Steven Johnson
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Henry Every was the 17th century’s most notorious pirate. The press published wildly popular - and wildly inaccurate - reports of his nefarious adventures. The British government offered enormous bounties for his capture, alive or (preferably) dead. But Steven Johnson argues that Every’s most lasting legacy was his inadvertent triggering of a major shift in the global economy. Enemy of All Mankind focuses on one key event - the attack on an Indian treasure ship by Every and his crew - and its surprising repercussions across time and space.
-
-
Slow
- By Gary V Howell on 06-07-20
By: Steven Johnson
-
MBS
- The Rise to Power of Mohammed bin Salman
- By: Ben Hubbard
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
MBS is the untold story of how a mysterious young prince emerged from Saudi Arabia’s sprawling royal family to overhaul the economy and society of the richest country in the Middle East - and gather as much power as possible into his own hands. Since his father, King Salman, ascended to the throne in 2015, Mohammed bin Salman has leveraged his influence to restructure the kingdom’s economy, loosen its strict Islamic social codes, and confront its enemies around the region, especially Iran.
-
-
Suffers from 'Objective Journalism' Syndrome
- By Anonymous User on 05-09-20
By: Ben Hubbard
-
The Spymasters
- How the CIA's Directors Shape History and Guard the Future
- By: Chris Whipple
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With unprecedented access to more than a dozen individuals who have made the life-and-death decisions that come with running the world’s most powerful and influential intelligence service, Chris Whipple tells the story of an agency that answers to the United States president alone, but whose activities — spying, espionage, and covert action — take place on every continent. At pivotal moments, the CIA acts as a counterforce against rogue presidents, starting in the mid-70s with DCI Richard Helms’s refusal to conceal Richard Nixon’s criminality.
-
-
Just HORRIBLE
- By Joe Rensin on 01-11-21
By: Chris Whipple
-
Fatherland
- A Memoir of War, Conscience, and Family Secrets
- By: Burkhard Bilger
- Narrated by: Burkhard Bilger
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What do we owe the past? How to make peace with a dark family history? Burkhard Bilger hardly knew his grandfather growing up. His parents immigrated to Oklahoma from Germany after World War II, and though his mother was an historian, she rarely talked about her father or what he did during the war. Then one day a packet of letters arrived from Germany, yellowing with age, and a secret history began to unfold.
-
-
a window into a little-explored aspect of WWII
- By Marjorie on 09-23-23
By: Burkhard Bilger
-
Ravenous
- Otto Warburg, the Nazis, and the Search for the Cancer-Diet Connection
- By: Sam Apple
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Nobel laureate Otto Warburg was widely regarded in his day as one of the most important biochemists of the 20th century, a man whose research was integral to humanity’s understanding of cancer. He was also among the most despised figures in Nazi Germany. As a Jewish homosexual living openly with his male partner, Warburg represented all that the Third Reich abhorred. Yet Hitler and his top advisors dreaded cancer, and protected Warburg in the hope that he could cure it.
-
-
Highly recommended, a must read.
- By Joerg on 06-10-21
By: Sam Apple
-
The Curse of the Marquis de Sade
- A Notorious Scoundrel, a Mythical Manuscript, and the Biggest Scandal in Literary History
- By: Joel Warner
- Narrated by: Stephen Mendel
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Described as both “one of the most important novels ever written” and “the gospel of evil,” 120 Days of Sodom was written by the Marquis de Sade, a notorious eighteenth-century aristocrat who waged a campaign of mayhem and debauchery across France, evaded execution, and inspired the word “sadism,” which came to mean receiving pleasure from pain. Despite all his crimes, Sade considered this work to be his greatest transgression.
-
-
A very fascinating historical story
- By Jeremy on 04-27-23
By: Joel Warner
-
Enemy of All Mankind
- A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt
- By: Steven Johnson
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Henry Every was the 17th century’s most notorious pirate. The press published wildly popular - and wildly inaccurate - reports of his nefarious adventures. The British government offered enormous bounties for his capture, alive or (preferably) dead. But Steven Johnson argues that Every’s most lasting legacy was his inadvertent triggering of a major shift in the global economy. Enemy of All Mankind focuses on one key event - the attack on an Indian treasure ship by Every and his crew - and its surprising repercussions across time and space.
-
-
Slow
- By Gary V Howell on 06-07-20
By: Steven Johnson
-
MBS
- The Rise to Power of Mohammed bin Salman
- By: Ben Hubbard
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
MBS is the untold story of how a mysterious young prince emerged from Saudi Arabia’s sprawling royal family to overhaul the economy and society of the richest country in the Middle East - and gather as much power as possible into his own hands. Since his father, King Salman, ascended to the throne in 2015, Mohammed bin Salman has leveraged his influence to restructure the kingdom’s economy, loosen its strict Islamic social codes, and confront its enemies around the region, especially Iran.
-
-
Suffers from 'Objective Journalism' Syndrome
- By Anonymous User on 05-09-20
By: Ben Hubbard
-
Last Witnesses
- An Oral History of the Children of World War II
- By: Svetlana Alexievich, Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky
- Narrated by: Julia Emelin, Allen Lewis Rickman
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bringing together dozens of voices in her distinctive style, Last Witnesses is Alexievich’s collection of the memories of those who were children during World War II. They had sometimes been soldiers as well as witnesses, and their generation grew up with the trauma of the war deeply embedded - a trauma that would change the course of the Russian nation. Collectively, this symphony of children’s stories, filled with the everyday details of life in combat, reveals an altogether unprecedented view of the war.
-
-
And how many years to forget?
- By Darwin8u on 09-16-21
By: Svetlana Alexievich, and others
-
Prince Albert
- The Man Who Saved the Monarchy
- By: A. N. Wilson
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawn from the Royal archives, including Prince Albert’s voluminous correspondence, this brilliant and ambitious book offers fascinating never-before-known details about the man and his time. A superb match of biographer and subject, Prince Albert, at last, gives this important historical figure the reverence and recognition that is long overdue.
-
-
Excellent Bio!
- By Nancy on 04-24-24
By: A. N. Wilson
-
Road to Surrender
- Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II
- By: Evan Thomas
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
So begins this suspenseful, impeccably researched history that draws on new access to diaries to tell the story of three men who were intimately involved with America’s decision to drop the atomic bomb—and Japan’s decision to surrender. They are Henry Stimson, the American Secretary of War, who oversaw J. Robert Oppenheimer under the Manhattan Project; Gen. Carl “Tooey” Spaatz, head of strategic bombing in the Pacific, who supervised the planes that dropped the bombs; and Japanese Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo.
-
-
Why they decided to drop the atomic bombs
- By William R. Todd-Mancillas (Name includes hyphen and capitalized M). on 08-08-23
By: Evan Thomas
-
Dispatches
- By: Michael Herr
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From its terrifying opening to its final eloquent words, Dispatches makes us see, in unforgettable and unflinching detail, the chaos and fervor of the war and the surreal insanity of life in that singular combat zone. Michael Herr’s unsparing, unorthodox retellings of the day-to-day events in Vietnam take on the force of poetry, rendering clarity from one of the most incomprehensible and nightmarish events of our time.
-
-
A remarkable performance of a remarkable book.
- By JohnB on 10-14-21
By: Michael Herr
-
The Map of Knowledge
- A Thousand-Year History of How Classical Ideas Were Lost and Found
- By: Violet Moller
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The foundations of modern knowledge - philosophy, math, astronomy, geography - were laid by the Greeks, whose ideas were written on scrolls and stored in libraries across the Mediterranean and beyond. But as the vast Roman Empire disintegrated, so did appreciation of these precious texts. Christianity cast a shadow over so-called pagan thought, books were burned, and the library of Alexandria, the greatest repository of classical knowledge, was destroyed. Yet some texts did survive and The Map of Knowledge explores the role played by seven cities around the Mediterranean....
-
-
Terrible narration.
- By nathan535 on 11-05-19
By: Violet Moller
-
The Unidentified
- Mythical Monsters, Alien Encounters, and Our Obsession with the Unexplained
- By: Colin Dickey
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a world where rational, scientific explanations are more available than ever, belief in the unprovable and irrational - in fringe - is on the rise: from Atlantis to aliens, from Flat Earth to the Loch Ness monster, the list goes on. It seems the more our maps of the known world get filled in, the more we crave mysterious locations full of strange creatures. Enter Colin Dickey, cultural historian and tour guide of the weird.
-
-
Skeptic's Analysis of Weird America
- By Adrian on 11-23-20
By: Colin Dickey
-
Blood and Fury
- The World War II Story of Tank Sergeant Lafayette "War Daddy" Pool
- By: Stephen L. Moore
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lafayette Pool provided inspiration for Brad Pitt’s character “War Daddy” Collier in the movie Fury, but his true story is less known. Here, acclaimed author Stephen L. Moore writes the first full-length narrative to honor the valiant Texan tanker. A champion Golden Gloves boxer turned U.S. Army legend, Pool was known as the “ace of tankers” for destroying more than five enemy tanks in head-to-head combat.
-
-
Outstanding work!
- By Rodney on 01-13-23
By: Stephen L. Moore
-
Love and Hate in Jamestown
- John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Start of a New Nation
- By: David A. Price
- Narrated by: Josh Innerst
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on period letters and chronicles, and on the papers of the Virginia Company - which financed the settlement of Jamestown - David Price tells a tale of cowardice and courage, stupidity and brilliance, tragedy and costly triumph. He takes us into the day-to-day existence of the English men and women whose charge was to find gold and a route to the Orient, and who found, instead, hardship and wretched misery. Death, in fact, became the settlers' most faithful companion, and their infighting was ceaseless.
-
-
Five Star History!
- By Damian on 08-13-23
By: David A. Price
-
Superior
- The Return of Race Science
- By: Angela Saini
- Narrated by: Hannah Melbourn
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Superior tells the disturbing story of the persistent thread of belief in biological racial differences in the world of science. If the vast majority of scientists and scholars disavowed these ideas and considered race a social construct, it was an idea that still managed to somehow survive in the way scientists thought about human variation and genetics. Dissecting the statements and work of contemporary scientists studying human biodiversity, Angela Saini shows us how, again and again, even mainstream scientists cling to the idea that race is biologically real.
-
-
Lots of great info, underwhelming narrative
- By Amazon Customer on 04-08-21
By: Angela Saini
-
One Square Mile of Hell
- The Battle for Tarawa
- By: John Wukovits
- Narrated by: Gregory Jones
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In November 1943, the men of the 2d Marine Division were instructed to clear out Japanese resistance on the Pacific island of Betio, a speck at the end of the Tarawa Atoll. When the Marines landed, the Japanese poured out of their underground bunkers — and launched one of the most brutal and bloody battles of World War II.
-
-
Brilliant
- By Chandler on 02-17-22
By: John Wukovits
-
Untold Power
- The Fascinating Rise and Complex Legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson
- By: Rebecca Boggs Roberts
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While this nation has yet to elect its first woman president—and though history has downplayed her role—just over a century ago a woman became the nation’s first acting president. In fact, she was born in 1872, and her name was Edith Bolling Galt Wilson. For the first time, we have a biography that takes an unflinching look at the woman whose ascent mirrors that of many powerful American women before and since, one full of the compromises and complicities women have undertaken throughout time in order to find security for themselves and make their mark on history.
-
-
Readers voice lacked Edith’s strength
- By Heidi on 08-01-24
-
The Man Who Ran Washington
- The Life and Times of James A. Baker III
- By: Peter Baker, Susan Glasser
- Narrated by: Michael Quinlan
- Length: 26 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a quarter-century, from the end of Watergate to the aftermath of the Cold War, no Republican won the presidency without his help or ran the White House without his advice. James Addison Baker III was the indispensable man for four presidents because he understood better than anyone how to make Washington work at a time when America was shaping events around the world. The Man Who Ran Washington is a pause-resisting portrait of a power broker who influenced America's destiny for generations.
-
-
We Need Baker Now More Than Ever
- By @Gazi2a on 01-08-21
By: Peter Baker, and others
What listeners say about The Gatekeepers
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Philo
- 05-15-17
Great panorama in punchy moments; laugh-out-loud
This book accomplishes so many things, so many ways. It is a flyover of familiar US history through a new lens and with a new pivot:White House Chiefs of Staff. That was a wise choice, as is proven again and again. It gives us a new template or measuring stick to compare to our own times and leadership. We get the big sweep of events and re-experience those pivotal headline moments, as culled from many witnesses and memoirs. Yet, this is all done moment by moment, with a richly "you are there" feeling. Also, this is an excellent set of case studies in top-level organizational governance, good and bad. And it is a great way to spend an afternoon or a few, being enlightened and entertained.
Though there are relatively "good guys" and bad, the author is great about giving scenes more dimensions through the words of several people present, sometimes clashing. (I always found memoirs troubling on account of the hundreds of pages of self-apologia, so I appreciate this author laboring among all those pages to stitch this together.) Here, I never felt I was having my nose rubbed too heavily in one point of view. The moments and the players are each marvelously carved out and given vibrant life. Many eyewitnesses get to roll out their best lines (often causing me to break into big smiles and laughter). I saw unknown sides of many people (such as the courtly James Baker III's repeated expression, "rat-****"). The narratives as delivered here are at once sobering, yet in the very same moment, eerily, tragicomically jarring and strange at turns. Wow, this is our country. Our way of staffing our top leadership plays out in very bizarre ways, and along weird trajectories from Day One of a term. (Some, I reflect, are more surreal than others.) We do need to refresh our leadership, and have a very open field from which to choose our leaders, but this has its costs. It is not ideal for staffing. Or maybe, in some incalculable way, it is good, somewhat like the constant disruption of economic competition and progress can be good. No facile answers are offered here; just great stories.
History rhymes, right? Well, never in whole sequences, but pieces of it do. Many of these pieces bear comparison to current events. It was interesting to consider, for example, the outsider-stance and weaknesses of team formation (and overconfident perceptions) present in Jimmy Carter's administration, and the somewhat woeful results in the view of many Americans, though Carter in other ways could not be less like Donald Trump. The clarity of this book makes these thoughts easy for me to access. Likewise the crucial Nixon traits, and indeed the whole Watergate story, is worth revisiting now, dealt up in punchy vignettes here, especially through the lens of Nixon's COS H. R. Haldeman. Despite his great skills and setting a high bar in some ways, Haldeman failed to rein in the worst instincts of Watergate cowboys like Liddy. So too Reagan's seemingly offhand agreement to install COS Donald Regan seemed to lead to big fumblings on events running off the rails with a similar character, Oliver North, in Reagan's time. It is easy amid these tales to think of possibly similar characters in Trump's orbit. Management is SO important! And it is a many-faceted art, as we see here.
This is a book I got caught up in, and burned right through. That's my best compliment.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Christina
- 01-27-18
Really enjoyed it
A wonderful book about the role of the Chief of Staff. Enjoyed it start to finish. The odd fumbled sentences regarding the Oklahoma City Bombing and the strong opinion on Benghazi and Whitewater momentarily took the wind out of its sails, but it’s only a few sentences of the book. Overall, really great.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- augustine blay
- 05-17-17
great eye opener for new chiefs of staff
Because the function of a chief of staff is difficult to define. this book provides great insight into practical aspects of the job. I loved it. Jim Baker all the way...
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Gudrun
- 06-15-17
I have recommended this to everyone I Know
This book is so well written that it is accessible to anyone you do not need to know each person in detail. I recommended this book to a friend who does not like non-fiction and lived in England most of her life, and she loved it. Do not hesitate to get this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Edwin
- 08-07-18
A Great Listen
This was a great book, discussing the history of a position that can determine the success or failure of an American President. America spends so much time focusing on the president that people forget that the staff has to execute the presidents agenda. Having a strong chief of staff is vital for a successful presidency. Mark Bramhall’s narration was calm, informative and entertaining. I’ve listed to it in full or in parts multiple times and will continue to do so. Highly recommended!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Thom Pierson
- 09-02-18
The men behind Presidents
It is impressive to realize that the American political circle is a circle made up of about the same men in the sixties, through today.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- monika
- 08-13-18
A Reminder and New Revelations
Great men understand the important of appointments. Wish we had a great man right now.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JefeHenk
- 08-23-17
Not a bad read if you like history
I enjoyed the history lessons in each administration if all true. I felt like the content and events we're presented without bias and that probably changes some of my opinions about some of the administrations that seems ineffective. There were successes and failures and it seemed each president was his own man. For sure the presidents that had the stronger chiefs of staff were more successful in accomplishing the goals of their boss.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- cesar aguilar
- 05-29-18
One for the books
This book has some of the most inside stories you can get about presidents’s terms. A great read and one that every college political science major should read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chad Yelinski
- 05-24-17
Great read
I didn't want to put it down. This is is a fantastic read and I highly recommend it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!