Audiobooks by Lynne Cheney

The Virginia Dynasty: Four Presidents and the Creation of the American Nation

A vivid account of leadership focusing on the first four Virginia presidents--George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe--from the bestselling historian and author of James Madison. From a small expanse of land on the North American continent came four of the nation's first five presidents--a geographic dynasty whose members led a revolution, created a nation, and ultimately changed the world. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe were born, grew to manhood, and made their homes within a sixty-mile circle east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Friends and rivals, they led in securing independence, hammering out the United States Constitution, and building a working republic. Acting together, they doubled the territory of the United States. From their disputes came American political parties and the weaponizing of newspapers, the media of the day. In this elegantly conceived and insightful new book from bestselling author Lynne Cheney, the four Virginians are not marble icons but vital figures deeply intent on building a nation where citizens could be free. Focusing on the intersecting roles these men played as warriors, intellectuals, and statesmen, Cheney takes us back to an exhilarating time when the Enlightenment opened new vistas for humankind. But even as the Virginians advanced liberty, equality, and human possibility, they held people in slavery and were slaveholders when they died. Lives built on slavery were incompatible with a free and just society; their actions contradicted the very ideals they espoused. They managed nonetheless to pass down those ideals, and they became powerful weapons for ending slavery. They inspired Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass and today undergird the freest nation on earth. Taking full measure of strengths and failures in the personal as well as the political lives of the men at the center of this book, Cheney offers a concise and original exploration of how the United States came to be.

Lynne Cheney (Author), Nan Mcnamara (Narrator)

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James Madison: A Life Reconsidered

A major new biography of the fourth president of the United States by New York Times bestselling author Lynne Cheney This majestic new biography of James Madison explores the astonishing story of a man of vaunted modesty who audaciously changed the world. Among the Founding Fathers, Madison was a true genius of the early republic. Outwardly reserved, Madison was the intellectual driving force behind the Constitution and crucial to its ratification. His visionary political philosophy and rationale for the union of states-so eloquently presented in The Federalist papers-helped shape the country Americans live in today. Along with Thomas Jefferson, Madison would found the first political party in the country's history-the Democratic Republicans. As Jefferson's secretary of state, he managed the Louisiana Purchase, doubling the size of the United States. As president, Madison led the country in its first war under the Constitution, the War of 1812. Without precedent to guide him, he would demonstrate that a republic could defend its honor and independence-and remain a republic still.

Lynne Cheney (Author), Eliza Foss (Narrator)

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Blue Skies, No Fences: A Memoir of Childhood and Family

Revisit a time when Americans felt sure of themselves and the future. Home to the Wonder Bar, the Rialto Theater, and Lloyd's Confectionary, Casper was like many small towns in the 1940s -- except it sat on mile-high Wyoming prairie stretching on as far as the eye could see. In this place so full of the sense of possibility, Lynne Cheney grew up listening to Queen for a Day on her family's Zenith radio, playing Wonder Woman with her friends, and dreaming at night that she could fly, soaring upward into the endless blue sky. In this affectionate memoir, she describes a town where little girls wore dresses, but still played rough-and-tumble games and where insightful, caring teachers knew what the children in their classes were capable of and refused to let them fall short. She recalls the resolute women in her family -- in particular, her mother -- who was determined that there would be no limits on her daughter's aspirations. And she recounts her courtship with one of the local daredevils who grew up to be the man she would marry. Drawing on a wealth of sources, Lynne interweaves in her memoir the stories of westward-moving men and women -- Puritans and Mormons, Germans and Scots Irish -- whose journeys brought her family and the vice president's to the high Wyoming plains. Evocative and enlightening, Blue Skies, No Fences recalls an era of immense appeal and sets it within the sweep of American history, reminding us that our lives are intertwined, not only with those who share our years, but with others who lived before us.

Lynne Cheney (Author), Lynne Cheney (Narrator)

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