Reagan
The Life
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 first 3 months
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $31.50
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Stephen Hoye
-
By:
-
H. W. Brands
About this listen
From master storyteller and New York Times best-selling biographer H. W. Brands, twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, comes the first full life of Ronald Reagan since his death.
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. Reagan sought to restore democracy by bolstering capitalism. In Brands' telling, how Reagan, who voted four times for FDR, engineered a conservative transformation of American politics is both a riveting personal journey and the story of America in the modern era.
Brands follows Reagan as his ambition for ever-larger stages compelled him from a troubled childhood in small-town Illinois to become a radio announcer and then the quintessential public figure of modern America, a movie star. In Hollywood, Reagan edged closer to public service as the president of the Screen Actors' Guild before a stalled film career led to his unlikely reinvention as the voice of General Electric and a spokesman for corporate America. Reagan follows its subject on his improbable political rise, from the 1960s, when he was first elected governor of California, to his triumphant election in 1980 as president of the United States. Brands employs archival sources not available to previous biographers and dozens of interviews with surviving members of the administration. The result is an exciting narrative and a fresh understanding of a crucially important president and his era.
©2015 H.W. Brands (P)2015 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Destiny and Power
- The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 25 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on President Bush’s personal diaries, on the diaries of his wife, Barbara, and on extraordinary access to the 41st president and his family, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham paints an intimate and surprising portrait of an intensely private man who led the nation through tumultuous times.
-
-
Fair and insightful
- By Jean on 12-02-15
By: Jon Meacham
-
An American Life
- By: Ronald Reagan
- Narrated by: Ronald Reagan
- Length: 2 hrs and 57 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ronald Reagan is an American success story. From modest beginnings in a small midwestern town to a distinguished career in films and television, he lived the American dream; as governor of California and as the centurys most popular president, he embodied and revitalized the American spirit.
-
-
Restored my hope that American can again be great!
- By Greg on 07-31-12
By: Ronald Reagan
-
An Ordinary Man
- The Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R. Ford
- By: Richard Norton Smith
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 36 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the preeminent presidential scholar and acclaimed biographer of historical figures including George Washington, Herbert Hoover, and Nelson Rockefeller comes this eye-opening life of Gerald R. Ford, whose presidency arguably set the course for post-liberal America and a post-Cold War world.
-
-
Must-read Polemic
- By allison h eid on 10-17-23
-
Richard Nixon
- The Life
- By: John A. Farrell
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 28 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Richard Nixon opens with young navy lieutenant "Nick" Nixon returning from the Pacific and setting his cap at Congress, an idealistic dreamer seeking to build a better world. Yet amid the turns of that now legendary 1946 campaign, Nixon's finer attributes quickly gave way to unapologetic ruthlessness. It is a stunning overture to John A. Farrell's magisterial portrait of a man who embodied postwar American cynicism.
-
-
Well balanced and proportioned
- By Tad Davis on 06-04-17
By: John A. Farrell
-
His Very Best
- Jimmy Carter, a Life
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Michael Boatman
- Length: 31 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in one of the meanest counties in the Jim Crow South, Carter is the only American president who essentially lived in three centuries: his early life on the farm in the 1920s without electricity or running water might as well have been in the nineteenth; his presidency put him at the center of major events in the twentieth; and his efforts on conflict resolution and global health set him on the cutting edge of the challenges of the 21st.
-
-
Unbiased biography of a complex president
- By P Willis on 10-08-20
By: Jonathan Alter
-
Traitor to His Class
- The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 37 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping, magisterial biography of the man generally considered the greatest president of the 20th century, admired by Democrats and Republicans alike. Traitor to His Class sheds new light on FDR's formative years; his remarkable willingness to champion the concerns of the poor and disenfranchised; and his combination of political genius, firm leadership, and matchless diplomacy in saving democracy during the Great Depression and the American cause of freedom in World War II.
-
-
Talented writer and narrator, but too biased/long
- By todd on 01-24-20
By: H. W. Brands
-
Destiny and Power
- The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 25 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on President Bush’s personal diaries, on the diaries of his wife, Barbara, and on extraordinary access to the 41st president and his family, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham paints an intimate and surprising portrait of an intensely private man who led the nation through tumultuous times.
-
-
Fair and insightful
- By Jean on 12-02-15
By: Jon Meacham
-
An American Life
- By: Ronald Reagan
- Narrated by: Ronald Reagan
- Length: 2 hrs and 57 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ronald Reagan is an American success story. From modest beginnings in a small midwestern town to a distinguished career in films and television, he lived the American dream; as governor of California and as the centurys most popular president, he embodied and revitalized the American spirit.
-
-
Restored my hope that American can again be great!
- By Greg on 07-31-12
By: Ronald Reagan
-
An Ordinary Man
- The Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R. Ford
- By: Richard Norton Smith
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 36 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the preeminent presidential scholar and acclaimed biographer of historical figures including George Washington, Herbert Hoover, and Nelson Rockefeller comes this eye-opening life of Gerald R. Ford, whose presidency arguably set the course for post-liberal America and a post-Cold War world.
-
-
Must-read Polemic
- By allison h eid on 10-17-23
-
Richard Nixon
- The Life
- By: John A. Farrell
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 28 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Richard Nixon opens with young navy lieutenant "Nick" Nixon returning from the Pacific and setting his cap at Congress, an idealistic dreamer seeking to build a better world. Yet amid the turns of that now legendary 1946 campaign, Nixon's finer attributes quickly gave way to unapologetic ruthlessness. It is a stunning overture to John A. Farrell's magisterial portrait of a man who embodied postwar American cynicism.
-
-
Well balanced and proportioned
- By Tad Davis on 06-04-17
By: John A. Farrell
-
His Very Best
- Jimmy Carter, a Life
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Michael Boatman
- Length: 31 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in one of the meanest counties in the Jim Crow South, Carter is the only American president who essentially lived in three centuries: his early life on the farm in the 1920s without electricity or running water might as well have been in the nineteenth; his presidency put him at the center of major events in the twentieth; and his efforts on conflict resolution and global health set him on the cutting edge of the challenges of the 21st.
-
-
Unbiased biography of a complex president
- By P Willis on 10-08-20
By: Jonathan Alter
-
Traitor to His Class
- The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 37 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping, magisterial biography of the man generally considered the greatest president of the 20th century, admired by Democrats and Republicans alike. Traitor to His Class sheds new light on FDR's formative years; his remarkable willingness to champion the concerns of the poor and disenfranchised; and his combination of political genius, firm leadership, and matchless diplomacy in saving democracy during the Great Depression and the American cause of freedom in World War II.
-
-
Talented writer and narrator, but too biased/long
- By todd on 01-24-20
By: H. W. Brands
-
Andrew Jackson
- His Life and Times
- By: H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 25 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The extraordinary story of Andrew Jackson—the colorful, dynamic, and forceful president who ushered in the Age of Democracy and set a still young America on its path to greatness—told by the bestselling author of The First American.
-
-
Very Thorough
- By Eric on 02-07-06
By: H.W. Brands
-
My Life (Complete)
- By: Bill Clinton
- Narrated by: Michael Beck
- Length: 50 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
President Bill Clinton's My Life is the strikingly candid portrait of a global leader who decided early in life to devote his intellectual and political gifts, and his extraordinary capacity for hard work, to serving the public. It shows us the progress of a remarkable American who, through his own enormous energies and efforts, made the unlikely journey from Hope, Arkansas, to the White House - a journey fueled by an impassioned interest in the political process that manifested itself at every stage of his life.
-
-
NOT "COMPLETE"
- By Dave on 08-24-16
By: Bill Clinton
-
T.R.
- The Last Romantic
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Matt Kugler
- Length: 35 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lauded as "a rip-roaring life" (Wall Street Journal), T.R. is a magisterial biography of Theodore Roosevelt by best-selling author H. W. Brands. In his time, there was no more popular national figure than Roosevelt. It was not just the energy he brought to every political office he held or his unshakable moral convictions that made him so popular, or even his status as a bona fide war hero. Most important, Theodore Roosevelt was loved by the people because this scion of a privileged New York family loved America and Americans.
-
-
Too much opinion
- By Jen Daniels on 01-26-20
By: H. W. Brands
-
FDR
- By: Jean Edward Smith
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 32 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of today's premier biographers, Jean Edward Smith, has written a modern, comprehensive, indeed ultimate book on the epic life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This is a portrait painted in broad strokes and fine details. We see how Roosevelt's restless energy, fierce intellect, personal magnetism, and ability to project effortless grace permitted him to master countless challenges throughout his life. Smith recounts FDR's personal battles and also tackles head-on and in depth the numerous failures and miscues of Roosevelt's political career.
-
-
Interesting but flawed
- By Mike From Mesa on 09-15-13
-
An Unfinished Life
- John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963
- By: Robert Dallek
- Narrated by: Richard McGonagle
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An Unfinished Life is the first authoritative single-volume life of John F. Kennedy to be written by a historian in nearly four decades. Drawing upon firsthand sources, freshly unearthed documents, and never-before-opened archives, prizewinning historian Robert Dallek reveals more than we ever knew about Jack Kennedy forever changing the way we think about his life, his presidency, and his legacy.
-
-
It’s abridged!!
- By Brad on 02-17-18
By: Robert Dallek
-
Truman
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 54 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hailed by critics as an American masterpiece, David McCullough's sweeping biography of Harry S. Truman captured the heart of the nation. The life and times of the 33rd president of the United States, Truman provides a deeply moving look at an extraordinary, singular American.
-
-
That Mousy Little Man From Missouri Revisited
- By Sara on 07-23-15
By: David McCullough
-
Team of Rivals
- The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
- By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 41 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago. When Lincoln emerged as the victor, his rivals were dismayed and angry. Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each had energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war.
-
-
Beautiful, Heartbreaking, and Informative
- By JJ on 09-10-12
-
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 24 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us - an ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose up the social ladder, from leather-aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings. In best-selling author Walter Isaacson's vivid and witty full-scale biography, we discover why Franklin turns to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind his new-fangled spectacles. In Benjamin Franklin, Isaacson shows how Franklin defines both his own time and ours. The most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself.
-
-
Good book, not crazy about the narrator
- By Cathi on 07-20-13
By: Walter Isaacson
-
The Bully Pulpit
- Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism
- By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 36 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Goodwin describes the broken friendship between Teddy Roosevelt and his chosen successor, William Howard Taft. With the help of the "muckraking" press, Roosevelt had wielded the Bully Pulpit to challenge and triumph over abusive monopolies, political bosses, and corrupting money brokers. Roosevelt led a revolution that he bequeathed to Taft only to see it compromised as Taft surrendered to money men and big business. The rupture led Roosevelt to run against Taft for president, an ultimately futile race that gave power away to the Democrats.
-
-
Makes You Forget You Live in the 21st Century Good
- By Cynthia on 01-11-14
-
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
- By: Edmund Morris
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 26 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time. Described by the Chicago Tribune as "a classic", The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt stands as one of the greatest biographies of our time. The publication of The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt on September 14th, 2001 marks the 100th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt becoming president.
-
-
Very, very good, but very, very long.
- By Mike From Mesa on 03-29-13
By: Edmund Morris
-
Wilson
- By: A. Scott Berg
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 32 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A hundred years after his inauguration, Woodrow Wilson still stands as one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, and one of the most enigmatic. And now, after more than a decade of research and writing, Pulitzer Prize-winning author A. Scott Berg has completed Wilson - the most personal and penetrating biography ever written about the 28th President. This is not just Wilson the icon - but Wilson the man.
-
-
Well Written & Narrated But Too Much Hero Worship
- By Nostromo on 11-17-13
By: A. Scott Berg
-
The Outlier
- The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter
- By: Kai Bird
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 27 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four decades after Ronald Reagan’s landslide win in 1980, Jimmy Carter’s one-term presidency is often labeled a failure; indeed, many Americans view Carter as the only ex-president to have used the White House as a stepping-stone to greater achievements. But in retrospect the Carter political odyssey is a rich and human story, marked by both formidable accomplishments and painful political adversity. In this deeply researched, brilliantly written account, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Kai Bird deftly unfolds the Carter saga as a tragic tipping point in American history.
-
-
Nice to be reminded what a GREAT narrator is
- By aaron on 06-17-21
By: Kai Bird
Related to this topic
-
Traitor to His Class
- The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 37 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping, magisterial biography of the man generally considered the greatest president of the 20th century, admired by Democrats and Republicans alike. Traitor to His Class sheds new light on FDR's formative years; his remarkable willingness to champion the concerns of the poor and disenfranchised; and his combination of political genius, firm leadership, and matchless diplomacy in saving democracy during the Great Depression and the American cause of freedom in World War II.
-
-
Talented writer and narrator, but too biased/long
- By todd on 01-24-20
By: H. W. Brands
-
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
-
Frost/Nixon
- By: David Frost
- Narrated by: David Frost
- Length: 4 hrs and 5 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is Frost's absorbing story of his pursuit of Richard Nixon and is no less revealing of his own toughness and pertinacity than of the ex-president's elusiveness. Frost's encounters with such figures as Swifty Lazar, Ron Ziegler, potential sponsors, and Nixon as negotiator are nothing short of hilarious, and his insight into the taping of the programs themselves is fascinating.
-
-
Great excerpts and interviews, just an okay book.
- By steve on 01-03-13
By: David Frost
-
The Crusader
- Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism
- By: Paul Kengor
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
God and Ronald Reagan made presidential historian Paul Kengor's name as one of the premier chroniclers of the life and career of the 40th president. With The Crusader, Kengor returns with the one book about Reagan that has not been written: the story of his lifelong crusade against communism and of his dogged and ultimately triumphant effort to overthrow the Soviet Union.
-
-
Whether you like Reagan or not....
- By Daryl on 10-20-13
By: Paul Kengor
-
Eisenhower
- The White House Years
- By: Jim Newton
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you think of our 34th president as little more than the babysitter-in-chief during the prosperous fifties, think again. Dwight Eisenhower was bequeathed an atomic bomb and was the first American president not to use it. He ground down Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism until both became, as he said, "McCarthywasm".
-
-
A simpler time?
- By Ray on 11-12-11
By: Jim Newton
-
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
-
Traitor to His Class
- The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 37 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping, magisterial biography of the man generally considered the greatest president of the 20th century, admired by Democrats and Republicans alike. Traitor to His Class sheds new light on FDR's formative years; his remarkable willingness to champion the concerns of the poor and disenfranchised; and his combination of political genius, firm leadership, and matchless diplomacy in saving democracy during the Great Depression and the American cause of freedom in World War II.
-
-
Talented writer and narrator, but too biased/long
- By todd on 01-24-20
By: H. W. Brands
-
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
-
Frost/Nixon
- By: David Frost
- Narrated by: David Frost
- Length: 4 hrs and 5 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is Frost's absorbing story of his pursuit of Richard Nixon and is no less revealing of his own toughness and pertinacity than of the ex-president's elusiveness. Frost's encounters with such figures as Swifty Lazar, Ron Ziegler, potential sponsors, and Nixon as negotiator are nothing short of hilarious, and his insight into the taping of the programs themselves is fascinating.
-
-
Great excerpts and interviews, just an okay book.
- By steve on 01-03-13
By: David Frost
-
The Crusader
- Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism
- By: Paul Kengor
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
God and Ronald Reagan made presidential historian Paul Kengor's name as one of the premier chroniclers of the life and career of the 40th president. With The Crusader, Kengor returns with the one book about Reagan that has not been written: the story of his lifelong crusade against communism and of his dogged and ultimately triumphant effort to overthrow the Soviet Union.
-
-
Whether you like Reagan or not....
- By Daryl on 10-20-13
By: Paul Kengor
-
Eisenhower
- The White House Years
- By: Jim Newton
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you think of our 34th president as little more than the babysitter-in-chief during the prosperous fifties, think again. Dwight Eisenhower was bequeathed an atomic bomb and was the first American president not to use it. He ground down Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism until both became, as he said, "McCarthywasm".
-
-
A simpler time?
- By Ray on 11-12-11
By: Jim Newton
-
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
-
The Restless Wave
- Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations
- By: John McCain, Mark Salter
- Narrated by: John McCain, Beau Bridges
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a time when Washington, DC and the country are more polarized than they have been for decades, John McCain is the rare public figure who has earned the respect of people on both sides of the aisle. He is a model for bipartisanship and political integrity. In his 40 years in politics, McCain has never been afraid to buck trends or ruffle a few feathers. His words are more important today than ever.
-
-
A true patriot
- By Diane Peresie on 05-29-18
By: John McCain, and others
-
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
-
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
-
The Netanyahu Years
- Translated by Ora Cummings
- By: Ben Caspit
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 17 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A portrait of the current Israeli prime minister, one of Israel's more noticeable leaders in recent decades. Benjamin Netanyahu is currently serving his fourth term in office as prime minister of Israel, the longest serving prime minister in the country's history. Now Israeli journalist Ben Caspit puts Netanyahu's life under a magnifying glass, focusing on his last two terms in office.
-
-
weak
- By kay on 06-11-18
By: Ben Caspit
-
Camelot's Court
- Inside the Kennedy White House
- By: Robert Dallek
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fifty years after John F. Kennedy's assassination, presidential historian Robert Dallek, whom The New York Times calls "Kennedy's leading biographer", delivers a riveting new portrait of this president and his inner circle of advisors, their rivalries, personality clashes, and political battles. In Camelot's Court, Dallek analyzes the brain trust whose contributions to the successes and failures of Kennedy's administration - including the Bay of Pigs, civil rights, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Vietnam - were indelible.
-
-
Well Researched but Critically Flawed
- By brent lloyd on 02-08-22
By: Robert Dallek
-
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
-
Reagan's Secret War
- The Untold Story of His Fight to Save the World from Nuclear Disaster
- By: Martin Anderson, Annelise Anderson
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Martin and Annelise Anderson drew upon their access to more than eight million classified documents housed within the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. What emerges from this treasure trove of material is evidence that Reagan intended from his first days in office to bring down the Soviet Union, that he considered eliminating nuclear weapons his paramount objective, and that he was the principal architect of the policies that brought the Soviets to the nuclear-arms negotiating table.
-
-
IMPORTANT HISTORICAL INFORMATION
- By Byron on 06-19-12
By: Martin Anderson, and others
-
Roosevelt's Second Act
- The Election of 1940 and the Politics of War
- By: Richard Moe
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On August 31, 1939, nearing the end of his second and presumably final term in office, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was working in the Oval Office and contemplating construction of his presidential library and planning retirement. The next day German tanks had crossed the Polish border; Britain and France had declared war. Overnight the world had changed, and FDR found himself being forced to consider a dramatically different set of circumstances.
-
-
Puts listener in the moment.
- By Jake on 05-16-14
By: Richard Moe
-
Kissinger
- A Biography
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 34 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the time Henry Kissinger was made secretary of state in 1973, he had become, according to a Gallup poll, the most admired person in America and one of the most unlikely celebrities ever to capture the world’s imagination. Yet Kissinger was also reviled by large segments of the American public, ranging from liberal intellectuals to conservative activists. Kissinger explores the relationship between this complex man's personality and the foreign policy he pursued.
-
-
A dissapointment
- By Mike From Mesa on 12-16-13
By: Walter Isaacson
-
Known and Unknown
- A Memoir
- By: Donald Rumsfeld
- Narrated by: Donald Rumsfeld
- Length: 30 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A powerful memoir from the late former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. With the same directness that defined his career in public service, Rumsfeld's memoir is filled with previously undisclosed details and insights about the Bush administration, 9/11, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It also features Rumsfeld's unique and often surprising observations on eight decades of history. Both a fascinating narrative and an unprecedented glimpse into history, Known and Unknown captures the legacy of one of the most influential men in public service.
-
-
Inside view of five decades in politics
- By Brooks on 02-19-11
By: Donald Rumsfeld
-
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
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Reaganland
- America's Right Turn 1976-1980
- By: Rick Perlstein
- Narrated by: Samantha Desz, Jonathan Todd Ross, Jacques Roy, and others
- Length: 45 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over two decades, Rick Perlstein has published three definitive works about the emerging dominance of conservatism in modern American politics. With the saga's final installment, he has delivered yet another stunning literary and historical achievement. In late 1976, Ronald Reagan was dismissed as a man without a political future: defeated in his nomination bid against a sitting president of his own party, blamed for President Gerald Ford's defeat, too old to make another run.
-
-
This Book is Censored by Audible
- By Nathan D. Backlund on 09-07-20
By: Rick Perlstein
-
Founding Partisans
- Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 16 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To the framers of the Constitution, political parties were a fatal threat to republican virtues. They had suffered the consequences of partisan politics in Britain before the American Revolution, and they wanted nothing similar for America. Yet parties emerged even before the Constitution was ratified, and they took firmer root in the following decade. In Founding Partisans, master historian H. W. Brands has crafted a fresh and lively narrative of the early years of the republic as the Founding Fathers fought one another with competing visions of what our nation would be.
-
-
Very educational
- By Mark Mears on 02-21-24
By: H. W. Brands
-
Rush
- Revolution, Madness, and Benjamin Rush, the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father
- By: Stephen Fried
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 22 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the time he was 30, Dr. Benjamin Rush had signed the Declaration of Independence, edited Common Sense, toured Europe as Benjamin Franklin’s protégé, and become John Adams’s confidant, and was soon to be appointed Washington’s surgeon general. And as with the greatest Revolutionary minds, Rush was only just beginning his role in 1776 in the American experiment.
-
-
The narration problem can be corrected
- By Sandra L. on 09-27-18
By: Stephen Fried
-
Our First Civil War
- Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Steve Hendrickson
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What causes people to forsake their country and take arms against it? What prompts their neighbors, hardly distinguishable in station or success, to defend that country against the rebels? That is the question H. W. Brands answers in his powerful new history of the American Revolution.
-
-
Not a fresh take on the Revolution
- By James on 01-05-22
By: H. W. Brands
-
Robert E. Lee
- A Life
- By: Allen C. Guelzo
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 22 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Robert E. Lee, the award-winning historian Allen Guelzo has written the definitive biography of the general, following him from his refined upbringing in Virginia high society, to his long career in the U.S. Army, his agonized decision to side with Virginia when it seceded from the Union, and his leadership during the Civil War. Above all, Guelzo captures Robert E. Lee in all his complexity--his hypocrisy and courage, his outward calm and inner turmoil, his honor and his disloyalty.
-
-
Unfortunately falls into judging Lee like CNN
- By Jeff B on 11-08-21
By: Allen C. Guelzo
-
The Warburgs
- The Twentieth-Century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Jonathan Reese
- Length: 35 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bankers, philanthropists, scholars, socialites, artists, and politicians, the Warburgs stood at the pinnacle of German (and, later, German American) Jewry. They forged economic dynasties, built mansions and estates, assembled libraries, endowed charities, and advised a German kaiser and two American presidents. But their very success made the Warburgs lightning rods for anti-Semitism, and their sense of patriotism became increasingly dangerous in a Germany that had declared Jews the enemy.
-
-
The Warburg's Dynamic Family History
- By Darwin8u on 10-22-18
By: Ron Chernow
-
Reaganland
- America's Right Turn 1976-1980
- By: Rick Perlstein
- Narrated by: Samantha Desz, Jonathan Todd Ross, Jacques Roy, and others
- Length: 45 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over two decades, Rick Perlstein has published three definitive works about the emerging dominance of conservatism in modern American politics. With the saga's final installment, he has delivered yet another stunning literary and historical achievement. In late 1976, Ronald Reagan was dismissed as a man without a political future: defeated in his nomination bid against a sitting president of his own party, blamed for President Gerald Ford's defeat, too old to make another run.
-
-
This Book is Censored by Audible
- By Nathan D. Backlund on 09-07-20
By: Rick Perlstein
-
Founding Partisans
- Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 16 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To the framers of the Constitution, political parties were a fatal threat to republican virtues. They had suffered the consequences of partisan politics in Britain before the American Revolution, and they wanted nothing similar for America. Yet parties emerged even before the Constitution was ratified, and they took firmer root in the following decade. In Founding Partisans, master historian H. W. Brands has crafted a fresh and lively narrative of the early years of the republic as the Founding Fathers fought one another with competing visions of what our nation would be.
-
-
Very educational
- By Mark Mears on 02-21-24
By: H. W. Brands
-
Rush
- Revolution, Madness, and Benjamin Rush, the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father
- By: Stephen Fried
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 22 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the time he was 30, Dr. Benjamin Rush had signed the Declaration of Independence, edited Common Sense, toured Europe as Benjamin Franklin’s protégé, and become John Adams’s confidant, and was soon to be appointed Washington’s surgeon general. And as with the greatest Revolutionary minds, Rush was only just beginning his role in 1776 in the American experiment.
-
-
The narration problem can be corrected
- By Sandra L. on 09-27-18
By: Stephen Fried
-
Our First Civil War
- Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Steve Hendrickson
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What causes people to forsake their country and take arms against it? What prompts their neighbors, hardly distinguishable in station or success, to defend that country against the rebels? That is the question H. W. Brands answers in his powerful new history of the American Revolution.
-
-
Not a fresh take on the Revolution
- By James on 01-05-22
By: H. W. Brands
-
Robert E. Lee
- A Life
- By: Allen C. Guelzo
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 22 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Robert E. Lee, the award-winning historian Allen Guelzo has written the definitive biography of the general, following him from his refined upbringing in Virginia high society, to his long career in the U.S. Army, his agonized decision to side with Virginia when it seceded from the Union, and his leadership during the Civil War. Above all, Guelzo captures Robert E. Lee in all his complexity--his hypocrisy and courage, his outward calm and inner turmoil, his honor and his disloyalty.
-
-
Unfortunately falls into judging Lee like CNN
- By Jeff B on 11-08-21
By: Allen C. Guelzo
-
The Warburgs
- The Twentieth-Century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Jonathan Reese
- Length: 35 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bankers, philanthropists, scholars, socialites, artists, and politicians, the Warburgs stood at the pinnacle of German (and, later, German American) Jewry. They forged economic dynasties, built mansions and estates, assembled libraries, endowed charities, and advised a German kaiser and two American presidents. But their very success made the Warburgs lightning rods for anti-Semitism, and their sense of patriotism became increasingly dangerous in a Germany that had declared Jews the enemy.
-
-
The Warburg's Dynamic Family History
- By Darwin8u on 10-22-18
By: Ron Chernow
-
The Quartet
- Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789
- By: Joseph J. Ellis
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian Joseph J. Ellis, the unexpected story of why the thirteen colonies, having just fought off the imposition of a distant centralized governing power, would decide to subordinate themselves anew.
-
-
bias is not good history
- By Craig on 01-24-18
By: Joseph J. Ellis
-
On Great Fields
- The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
- By: Ronald C. White
- Narrated by: Ronald C. White
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before 1862, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain had rarely left his home state of Maine, where he was a trained minister and mild-mannered professor at Bowdoin College. His colleagues were shocked when he volunteered for the Union army, but he was undeterred and later became known as one of the North’s greatest heroes: On the second day at Gettysburg, after running out of ammunition at Little Round Top, he ordered his men to wield their bayonets in a desperate charge down a rocky slope that routed the Confederate attackers.
-
-
Unknown facts on a Maine and Civil War hero. Very well written
- By Uncle Techy on 04-20-24
By: Ronald C. White
-
Accidental Presidents
- Eight Men Who Changed America
- By: Jared Cohen
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 16 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The strength and prestige of the American presidency has waxed and waned since George Washington. Accidental Presidents looks at eight men who came to the office without being elected to it. It demonstrates how the character of the man in that powerful seat affects the nation and world.
-
-
LOVE LOVE LOVE this book
- By Samuel Stephen Ross on 05-03-19
By: Jared Cohen
-
His Very Best
- Jimmy Carter, a Life
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Michael Boatman
- Length: 31 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in one of the meanest counties in the Jim Crow South, Carter is the only American president who essentially lived in three centuries: his early life on the farm in the 1920s without electricity or running water might as well have been in the nineteenth; his presidency put him at the center of major events in the twentieth; and his efforts on conflict resolution and global health set him on the cutting edge of the challenges of the 21st.
-
-
Unbiased biography of a complex president
- By P Willis on 10-08-20
By: Jonathan Alter
-
Custer's Trials
- A Life on the Frontier of a New America
- By: T.J. Stiles
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 23 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for History. In this magisterial biography, T. J. Stiles paints a portrait of Custer both deeply personal and sweeping in scope, proving how much of Custer’s legacy has been ignored. He demolishes Custer’s historical caricature, revealing a volatile, contradictory, intense person - capable yet insecure, intelligent yet bigoted, passionate yet self-destructive, a romantic individualist at odds with the institution of the military (he was court-martialed twice in six years).
-
-
Custer and his times
- By Mike From Mesa on 11-17-15
By: T.J. Stiles
-
Operation Overflight
- A Memoir of the U-2 Incident
- By: Francis Gary Powers, Curt Gentry
- Narrated by: Jon Lindstrom
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is a central character in the movie Bridge of Spies starring Tom Hanks. In his classic 1970 memoir, Powers reveals the full story behind what happened in the most sensational espionage case in Cold War history. After his U-2 reconnaissance plane was shot down, Powers was captured on May 1, 1960 and endured 61 days of rigorous interrogation by the KGB, a public trial, a conviction for espionage, and the start of a 10-year sentence.
-
-
What A TOTAL Tragedy !
- By Jacquelyn on 02-28-18
By: Francis Gary Powers, and others
-
The Rasputin File
- By: Edvard Radzinsky, Judson Rosengrant - translator
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 22 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For almost a century, historians could only speculate about the role Grigory Rasputin played in the downfall of tsarist Russia. But in 1995 a lost file from the state archives turned up, a file that contained the complete interrogations of Rasputin's inner circle. With this extensive and explicit amplification of the historical record, Edvard Radzinsky has written a definitive biography, reconstructing in full the fascinating life of an improbable holy man who changed the course of Russian history.
-
-
Good old Radzinsky
- By Babs on 03-13-18
By: Edvard Radzinsky, and others
-
Rocket Men
- The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon
- By: Robert Kurson
- Narrated by: Ray Porter, Robert Kurson
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By August 1968, the American space program was in danger of failing in its two most important objectives: to land a man on the moon by President Kennedy's end-of-decade deadline and to triumph over the Soviets in space. With its back against the wall, NASA made an almost unimaginable leap: It would scrap its usual methodical approach and risk everything on a sudden launch, sending the first men in history to the moon - in just four months.
-
-
The Men Who Saved 1968
- By Gillian on 04-04-18
By: Robert Kurson
-
The Money Kings
- The Epic Story of the Jewish Immigrants Who Transformed Wall Street and Shaped Modern America
- By: Daniel Schulman
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 22 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joseph Seligman arrived in the United States in 1837, with the equivalent of $100 sewn into the lining of his pants. Then came the Lehman brothers, who would open a general store in Montgomery, Alabama. Not far behind were Solomon Loeb and Marcus Goldman, among the “Forty-Eighters” fleeing a Germany that had relegated Jews to an underclass.
-
-
perfect context for issues of antisemitism & money
- By Marjorie on 04-01-24
By: Daniel Schulman
-
Showdown
- Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America
- By: Wil Haygood
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thurgood Marshall brought down the separate-but-equal doctrine, integrated schools, and not only fought for human rights and human dignity but also made them impossible to deny in the courts and in the streets. In this stunning new biography, award-winning author Wil Haygood surpasses the emotional impact of his inspiring best seller The Butler to detail the life and career of one of the most transformative legal minds of the past 100 years.
-
-
Haygood is master of the ticktock narrative
- By Jean on 12-12-15
By: Wil Haygood
-
The American Miracle
- Divine Providence in the Rise of the Republic
- By: Michael Medved
- Narrated by: Michael Medved
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The history of the United States displays an uncanny pattern: At moments of crisis, when the odds against success seem overwhelming and disaster looks imminent, fate intervenes to provide deliverance and progress. Historians may categorize these incidents as happy accidents, callous crimes, or the products of brilliant leadership, but the most notable leaders of the past 400 years have identified this good fortune as something else - a reflection of divine providence.
-
-
Amazing Book
- By Larry on 12-01-16
By: Michael Medved
-
Reagan
- His Life and Legend
- By: Max Boot
- Narrated by: Graham Winton
- Length: 32 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this “monumental and impressive” biography, Max Boot, the distinguished political columnist, illuminates the untold story of Ronald Reagan, revealing the man behind the mythology. Drawing on interviews with over one hundred of the fortieth president’s aides, friends, and family members, as well as thousands of newly available documents, Boot provides “the best biography of Ronald Reagan to date” (Robert Mann).
-
-
Has An Agenda
- By CC on 01-07-25
By: Max Boot
What listeners say about Reagan
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Scott
- 08-24-15
Where's the beef?
What did you like best about Reagan? What did you like least?
This bio is rich in information but scant in insight. The author had his work cut out for him – Reagan was famous for being inscrutable, even to those closest to him. Hence, this bio relies heavily on the public record as well as Reagan’s speeches and interviews for material Brands does a good job chronicling Reagan’s presidency – there is rich behind the scenes details of the Reykjavik summit in particular, but you get the sense that Reagan’s aides and confidants either weren’t interviewed for the book or weren't in the mood to talk. What you get is a detailed but superficial (though not uncritical) bio but perhaps that is the best that can be expected, especially since the right has made Reagan such a venerated, unassailable figurehead. Readers hoping for a view into what made Reagan tick, or his personal life, will likely come away disappointed.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Suzanne Murphy
- 07-02-15
FABULOUS!!!!
A life well lived! There are no coincidences. God brought America Reagan right when we needed him. Thank you, President Reagan! ♡
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Pablo
- 08-08-15
An extremely good account of an interesting life
A highly recommendable account of a most interesting life. Reagan is obe of those charming and charmed characters that inspire confidence and admiration; you want him to succeed. His optimistic outlook, his love of country and of countrymen, his ability to communicate simple principles and to navigate complex practicalities should inspire present-day politicians and, especially, their closest teams of collaborators. A wonderful book, in my opinion.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- doug
- 05-24-19
H.W. Brands does it again.
Lived througj it, but much was forgotten, and much wasn't known at the time. He was a good person for the most part. You may disagree with him sometimes, but this book is a startling reminder of what the Republican party was, and how far it has fallen 1980 to 2019 from it's ideals and convictions
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alex J. Caffarini
- 03-09-20
More about him as the president than as the person
This book should really be titled "Reagan: The Presidency," or "Reagan: The Politician," since there are few details given about his personal and family life. Reagan's enigma is no more demystified by Brands' book than any other. The Reagan mystique continues. Where Brands really excels in this book is on his coverage of major events during the Reagan presidency: Grenada, Libya, Lebanon, the Philippines, Iran-Contra, the summits with Gorbachev, and other events. However, one gets the impression that these events were pulled from secondary sources, not interviews with people who were actually there. Still, the coverage is quite thorough.
Where Brands falls short is in his coverage of Reagan's life - especially his family. We learn more about his relationship to his parents and brother (and even that is pretty scant) than we do his relationship to his children. There's no coverage, for instance, of how his daughter, Patti Davis, openly opposed many of the things Reagan stood for as president, or the activities of his other children, Maureen, Michael, and Ron; we see no glimpse of the man as a father. We get only slightly more coverage of Michael Reagan than the other Reagan children.
Finally - and I have this complaint with most biographies I have read on late 20th century presidents (like Nixon and Ford) - the book doesn't devote a lot of coverage to the post-presidency. Often, I'm fascinated by what presidents have done when they left office. This biography of Reagan, much like the biographies (written by other authors) I've read of Nixon and Ford, disappoints in this regard as well.
In all, however, a great book and a fast read (or listen). Stephen Hoye provides an excellent narration, and listening/reading is still time well spent.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jake hicks
- 08-06-18
The Life
This book perfectly captures the Life of the 40th president of the United States of America! A great book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jim Allred
- 07-16-15
Enjoyable
The context is great. A look behind the curtain. The narration is a bit annoying but anymore that loves and admires Reagan will enjoy this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Vaughan
- 07-13-17
A straight forward account of Reagon's life, his p
If you could sum up Reagan in three words, what would they be?
optimistic, principled, sincere.
Would you recommend Reagan to your friends? Why or why not?
The book is recommended to friends, because of its honesty appraisal of Reagan. It remains focused on the man himself and the issues of his time.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
I am always moved by the speech following the Space Shuttle disaster, in which all crew died.
Any additional comments?
The book discusses at length Reagan's foreign policy. As a New Zealand however, I was disappointed that it was not seen as significant the antinuclear policy which banned United States warships from visiting our ports. Fundamentlaly altered relationships throughout the South Pacific and created a long period of diplomatic and military tension.
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
- Lucie Batte
- 08-23-24
Nothing Intimate.
I am disappointed in the lack of personal details. The book is an overview of things going on/ politics/ history and Reagan was there. I would like to know more of what he was thinking and feeling and more personal details.
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
- MCSGT0341
- 05-17-21
Excellent, informative & engaging.
It’s a great book! Well written, engaging & informative. Insightful into the life & times of one our Nation’s greatest Presidents!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!