Audiobooks narrated by Douglas Brinkley

The Highest Calling: Conversations on the American Presidency

From the New York Times bestselling author of The American Story and How to Lead and host of PBS's History with David Rubenstein—David Rubenstein interviews living American presidents and top historians and journalists who reflect on the US presidency, including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Maggie Haberman, Ron Chernow, and more. For years, bestselling author David M. Rubenstein has distilled the contours of American democracy through conversations with noted leaders and historians. In The Highest Calling, he offers an enlightening overview of arguably the single most important position in the world: the American presidency. Blending history and anecdote, Rubenstein chronicles the journeys of the presidents who have defined America as it exists now, what they envision for its future, and their legacy on the world stage. Drawing from his own experience in the Carter administration, he engages in dialogues with our nation's presidents and the historians who study them. Get exclusive access to fresh perspectives, including: -Original interviews with most of the living US presidents -Interviews with noted presidential historians like Annette Gordon-Reed, Ron Chernow, Candice Millard, and more -An original poll on the best and worst presidents Through insightful analysis, Rubenstein captures our country's most prominent leaders, the political genius and frays of the presidential role, and the wisdom that emerges from it.

David M. Rubenstein (Author), Amity Shlaes, Annette Gordon-Reed, Bill Clinton, Candice Millard, David M. Rubenstein, David Marchick, Douglas Bradburn, Douglas Brinkley, Franklin Foer, Fredrik Logevall, Hillary Rodham Clinton, James Baker III, Jeffrey Frank, Jonathan Darman, Kai Bird, Lindsey Chervinsky, Maggie Haberman, Michael Beschloss, Peter Baker, Richard Norton Smith, Ron Chernow, Stewart McLaurin, Susan Eisenhower, TBD, Ted Widmer, Timothy J. Naftali (Narrator)

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Fandango at the Wall: Creating Harmony Between the United States and Mexico

Multi-Grammy-winning producer and New York Times bestselling author Kabir Sehgal examines the relationship between the US and Mexico, accompanied by music from Grammy-winning musician Arturo O'Farrill and special guests, an extended foreword from historian Douglas Brinkley, and afterword by Ambassador Andrew Young. The US-Mexican relationship has involved periods of great friendship with robust trade and loose immigration policies. But its history has also been beset by wars, drug trade, and human trafficking. With the latest xenophobic turn toward Mexico, this book contextualizes the latest swing in the up-and-down, two-hundred-year history of these two countries. In a lyrical narrative reflecting on Fandango Fronterizo, an annual musical celebration held on both sides of the border wall, Sehgal addresses how the broken US-Mexico relationship has been repaired in the past and continues to adapt today. FANDANGO AT THE WALL provides clarity to the current debate regarding construction of the wall and America's posture toward immigration. Sehgal and his artistic collaborators brought over thirty musicians from various traditions to the San Diego-Tijuana border to record a musical repertoire composed of son jarocho songs from Veracruz, Mexico and Latin jazz. With these tunes accompanying a call-to-action narrative, FANDANGO AT THE WALL demonstrates how music can heal and provide a soundtrack for the US, Mexico, and beyond.

Kabir Sehgal (Author), Arturo O'farrill, Douglas Brinkley, Kabir Sehgal (Narrator)

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House of Earth: A Novel

Featuring the song, "House of Earth" performed by Lucinda Williams. Finished in 1947 and lost to readers until now, House of Earth is Woody Guthrie's only fully realized novel, a powerful portrait of dust bowl America. It is the story of an ordinary couple's dreams of a better life and their search for love and meaning in a corrupt world. Tike and Ella May Hamlin struggle to plant roots in the arid land of the Texas Panhandle. Living in a wooden shack, Tike yearns for a sturdy house that will protect them from the treacherous elements. He has the know-how to build a structure made from the land itself-a house of earth. Though they are one with the farm and with each other, the land on which Tike and Ella May live and work is not theirs. Thanks to larger forces, their adobe house remains painfully out of reach. House of Earth is a searing portrait of hardship and hope set against a ravaged landscape, a powerful tale of America from one of our greatest artists.

Woody Guthrie (Author), Douglas Brinkley, Will Patton (Narrator)

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The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion

Acclaimed historian and New York Times bestselling author of Tour of Duty Douglas Brinkley brings the riveting account of the brave U.S. Army Rangers who stormed the coast of Normandy on D-Day and the President, forty years later, who paid them homage. U.S. and British warships poised in the English Channel had eighteen targets on their bombardment list for D-Day morning. The 100-foot promontory known as Pointe du Hoc -- where six big German guns were ensconced -- was number one. Under the bulldoggish command of Colonel James E. Rudder of Texas, these elite forces -- "Rudder's Rangers" -- took control of the fortified cliff. The liberation of Europe was under way. Based upon recently released documents, The Boys of Pointe du Hoc is the first in-depth, anecdotal remembrance of these fearless Army Rangers. With brilliant deftness, Brinkley moves between two events four decades apart to tell the dual story of the making of Reagan's two uplifting 1984 speeches, considered by many to be among the best orations the Great Communicator ever gave.

Douglas Brinkley (Author), Douglas Brinkley (Narrator)

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Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War

Covering more than four decades, Tour of Duty is the definitive account of John Kerry\'s journey from war to peace. Written by acclaimed historian Douglas Brinkley, this is the first full-scale, intimate account of Kerry\'s naval career. In writing this riveting narrative, Brinkley has drawn on extensive interviews with virtually everyone who knew Kerry well in Vietnam, including all the men still living who served under him. Kerry also entrusted to Brinkley his letters home from Vietnam and his voluminous \"War Notes\" -- journals, notebooks, and personal reminiscences written during and shortly after the war. This material was provided without restriction, to be used at Brinkley\'s discretion, and has never before been published. John Kerry enlisted in the Navy in February 1966, months before he graduated from Yale. In December 1967 Ensign Kerry was assigned to the frigate U.S.S. Gridley; after five months of service in the Pacific, with a brief stop in Vietnam, he returned to the United States and underwent training to command a Swift boat, a small craft deployed in Vietnam\'s rivers. In June 1968 Kerry was promoted to lieutenant (junior grade), and by the end of that year he was back in Vietnam, where he commanded, over time, two Swift boats. Throughout Tour of Duty Brinkley deftly deals with such explosive issues as U.S. atrocities in Vietnam and the bombing of Cambodia. In a series of unforgettable combat-action sequences, he recounts how Kerry won the Purple Heart three times for wounds suffered in action and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Navy\'s Silver Star for gallantry in action. When Kerry returned from Southeast Asia, he joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), becoming a prominent antiwar spokesperson. He challenged the Nixon administration on Capitol Hill with the antiwar movement cheering him on. As Kerry\'s public popularity soared in April-May 1971, the FBI considered him a subversive. Brinkley -- using new information acquired from the recently released Nixon tapes -- reveals how White House aides Charles Colson and H. R. Haldeman tried to discredit Kerry. Refusing to be intimidated, Kerry started running for public office, eventually becoming a U.S. senator from Massachusetts. But he never forgot his fallen comrades. Working with his friend Senator John McCain, he returned to Vietnam numerous times looking for MIAs and POWs. By the time Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, Kerry was the leading proponent of \"normalization\" of relations with Vietnam. When President Clinton officially recognized Vietnam in 1995, Kerry\'s three-decade-long tour of duty had at long last ended.

Douglas Brinkley (Author), Douglas Brinkley (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Douglas Brinkley