American Politics Audiobooks | Politics

Bloody Crossroads 2020: Art, Entertainment, and Resistance to Trump

Bloody Crossroads 2020 takes a deep dive into the role that mass-appeal movies, television, videos, and music played in America's political culture in the year of Donald Trump's failed reelection campaign. The book also explores the impact of entertainment celebrities in communications, fundraising, and campaigning to support the election of Joe Biden. Trump's ascension to the presidency in 2016 triggered an unprecedented level of engagement by artists and performers. Within days of the 2016 election, a critical mass of entertainers all seemed to have heard the tom-tom beat of resistance at the same moment and amplified a moral alternative to Trumpism. That level of engagement intensified with rare passion and purpose in the period of 2020 chronicled in Bloody Crossroads 2020, culminating in Trump's failed insurrection. Bloody Crossroads 2020 draws from brand-new interviews with Bruce Springsteen, John Legend, Rosanne Cash, David Simon, Adam McKay, Chuck D, David Corn, Mandy Patinkin, and many more. It also explores the important political activities of entertainers like Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, Taylor Swift, Cardi B, Alyssa Milano, Mark Ruffalo, Jane Fonda, Robert De Niro, Bette Midler, Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Ava DuVernay, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, and Wanda Sykes.

Danny Goldberg (Author), Danny Goldberg (Narrator)

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Clarissas empfindsame Reise

Road Trip Feeling, Romance & US-WahlkampfClarissa ist vor 10 Jahren nach Europa ausgewandert. Weil es mit dem russischen Ivan nicht klappte, flieht sie in ihre amerikanische Heimat, wo sie sich vom Liebeskummer erholen will. In Miami ist von Erholung allerdings keine Spur: Denn Clarissa findet sich mitten im amerikanischen Wahlkampf wieder, in den sie sich mehr und mehr (romantisch) verstrickt. Wunderbar ironisch zeichnet Irene Dische das Portrait einer jungen Emigrantin, die von sich selbst sagt: 'Sich verlieben können ist eine Begabung, und ich habe sie.'-

Irene Dische (Author), Sibylle Canonica (Narrator)

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Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The vital inside account of American democracy in its darkest hour, from the rise of autocracy unleashed by Trump to the January 6 insurrection, and a warning that those forces remain as potent as ever-from the congressman who led the first impeachment of Donald J. Trump "Engaging and informative . . . a manual for how to probe and question power, how to hold leaders accountable in a time of diminishing responsibility."-The Washington Post In the years leading up to the election of Donald Trump, Congressman Adam Schiff had already been sounding the alarm over the resurgence of autocracy around the world, and the threat this posed to the United States. But as he led the probe into Donald Trump's Russia and Ukraine-related abuses of presidential power, Schiff came to the terrible conclusion that the principal threat to American democracy now came from within. In Midnight in Washington, Schiff argues that the Trump presidency has so weakened our institutions and compromised the Republican Party that the peril will last for years, requiring unprecedented vigilance against the growing and dangerous appeal of authoritarianism. The congressman chronicles step by step just how our democracy was put at such risk, and traces his own path to meeting the crisis-from serious prosecutor, to congressman with an expertise in national security and a reputation for bipartisanship, to liberal lightning rod, scourge of the right, and archenemy of a president. Schiff takes us inside his team of impeachment managers and their desperate defense of the constitution amid the rise of a distinctly American brand of autocracy. Deepening our understanding of prominent public moments, Schiff reveals the private struggles, the internal conflicts, and the triumphs of courage that came with defending the republic against a lawless president-but also the slow surrender of people that he had worked with and admired to the dangerous immorality of a president engaged in an historic betrayal of his office. Schiff's fight for democracy is one of the great dramas of our time, told by the man who became the president's principal antagonist. It is a story that began with Trump but does not end with him, taking us through the disastrous culmination of the presidency and Schiff's account of January 6, 2021, and how the anti-democratic forces Trump unleashed continue to define his party, making the future of democracy in America more uncertain than ever.

Adam Schiff (Author), Adam Schiff (Narrator)

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I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw at the Trump White House

The most frank and intimate portrait of the Trump White House yet Stephanie Grisham rose from being a junior press wrangler on the Trump campaign in 2016 to assuming top positions in the administration as White House press secretary and communications director, while at the same time acting as First Lady Melania Trump’s communications director and eventually chief of staff. Few members of the Trump inner circle served longer or were as close to the first family as Stephanie Grisham, and few had her unique insight into the turbulent four years of the administration, especially the personalities behind the headlines.

Stephanie Grisham (Author), Stephanie Grisham (Narrator)

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A Confederacy of Dumptys: Portraits of American Scoundrels in Verse

The next book in John Lithgow's New York Times bestselling series Following the success of New York Times bestsellers Dumpty and Trumpty Dumpty Wanted a Crown, award-winning actor, author, and illustrator John Lithgow presents the third book in his runaway hit series. A Confederacy of Dumptys takes us through a history of twenty-five 'American Scoundrels' in this all-new collection of Lithgow's satirical poems and illustrations. While the Trump Era was rife with corruption and abuse of power, it was nothing new. Through Lithgow's cutting humor, you will read about a rogues' gallery of villains that came before Donald J. Trump, powerful men and women who were corrupt, venal, criminal, adulterous, racist, or just plain disgusting. With dark and lyrical stories from across American history, you will learn about long-forgotten figures and bad actors of today, including the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, the perpetrator of 19th century women's pyramid schemes, and participants in both the Watergate scandal and the Capitol insurrection. Trump and Nixon show up, of course, but also Leona Helmsley, Boss Tweed, Typhoid Mary, Newt Gingrich, Ted Cruz, and many more. Skipping through time, and delivered with classic Lithgow wit and style, A Confederacy of Dumptys is an exuberant reminder of how not to repeat history. Digital audio edition read by the author. The perfect book for: • Political satire fans-viewers of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. • American history buffs and trivia enthusiasts-readers of Jon's Stewart's America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction and Josh Clark's Stuff You Should Know: An Incomplete Compendium of Mostly Interesting Things. • Poetry, art, and illustration aficionados.

John Lithgow (Author), John Lithgow (Narrator)

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The Presidency of George W. Bush

The Presidency of George W. Bush is the first balanced academic study to analyze the entirety of his presidency-domestic, social, economic, and national security policies-as well as the administration's response to 9/11 and the subsequent War on Terror. In so doing, John Robert Greene argues persuasively that the judgment of most scholars-that the Bush administration was a complete failure-has been made in haste and without the benefit of primary sources. This book is the first scholarly work to make wide use of the documents at the George W. Bush Presidential Library, many of which have only recently been made available to researchers through the Freedom of Information Act. John Robert Greene offers a balanced assessment and nuanced conclusions supported by documentary evidence. Yet in doing so he does not absolve the Bush administration of its shortcomings. On the other side of the balance sheet, however, the evidence also makes it eminently clear that the Bush administration was responsible for many positive achievements. In sum, the actions of this presidency continue to affect the presidencies of each of his successors as well as the trajectory of world history to the present day.

John Robert Greene (Author), Christopher Grove (Narrator)

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The Justices Behind Roe V. Wade: The Inside Story, Adapted from The Brethren

A thrilling, behind-the-scenes account of the revolutionary Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling. The Justices Behind Roe V. Wade offers a front-row seat to the inner workings of the Supreme Court that led to the monumental Roe v. Wade decision. Spanning from 1969 to 1972, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Bob Woodward and coauthor Scott Armstrong report on the masterful maneuvering and politicking that affected the court's decisions and created obstacles for the landmark ruling. Abridged from the #1 bestseller The Brethren, this is an exquisite work of reporting on one of the most important rulings of the United States.

Bob Woodward, Scott Armstrong (Author), Holter Graham (Narrator)

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The Dying Citizen: How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying the Idea of A

The New York Times bestselling author of The Case for Trump explains the decline and fall of the once cherished idea of American citizenship. Human history is full of the stories of peasants, subjects, and tribes. Yet the concept of the "citizen" is historically rare-and was among America's most valued ideals for over two centuries. But without shock treatment, warns historian Victor Davis Hanson, American citizenship as we have known it may soon vanish. In The Dying Citizen, Hanson outlines the historical forces that led to this crisis. The evisceration of the middle class over the last fifty years has made many Americans dependent on the federal government. Open borders have undermined the idea of allegiance to a particular place. Identity politics have eradicated our collective civic sense of self. And a top-heavy administrative state has endangered personal liberty, along with formal efforts to weaken the Constitution. As in the revolutionary years of 1848, 1917, and 1968, 2020 ripped away our complacency about the future. But in the aftermath, we as Americans can rebuild and recover what we have lost. The choice is ours.

Victor Davis Hanson (Author), James Edward Thomas (Narrator)

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In Trump's Shadow: The Battle for 2024 and the Future of the GOP

David M. Drucker (Author), David M. Drucker (Narrator)

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The Centrist Solution: How We Made Government Work and Can Make It Work Again

In this era of extremism, our largest problems remain unsolved and our international leadership is compromised. Having two fiercely opposed political parties is what John Adams, the second President of the United States, dreaded 'as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.' If American government is to work, it must do so in the center-where open discussion, hard negotiation, and effective compromise take place. No living politician knows this better than former Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, who served for forty years in state and national government, including twenty-four in the United States Senate and a campaign for the Vice Presidency. In this vivid account of his political life, Senator Lieberman shows how legislative progress and all-inclusive government occurs when politicians reject extremism and embrace productive compromise. In The Centrist Solution, he shines a light on ten milestones of centrist success during his time in government-from the Clean Air Act of 1990 and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the repeal of the military's anti-gay 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, along with a Vice Presidential run with Presidential Candidate Al Gore, and being vetted by John McCain to be his potential running mate on the 2008 Republican Ticket.

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman (Author), Rich Miller (Narrator)

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The History of Democracy Has Yet to Be Written: How We Have to Learn to Govern All Over Again

End the filibuster. Abolish the Senate. Make everyone vote. Only if we do this (and then some), says Thomas Geoghegan, might we heal our fractured democracy. In 2008 Geoghegan?then an established labor lawyer and prolific writer?embarked on a campaign to represent Chicago's Fifth District in the U.S. House, in a special election called when the sitting congressman, Rahm Emanuel, stepped down to serve as newly elected President Barack Obama's chief of staff. For ninety days leading up to the election Geoghegan, a political neophyte at age sixty, knocked on doors and shook hands at train stations and made fundraising calls. On election night he lost, badly. But this humbling experience helped him develop a framework for re-imagining American government in a way that is truly just, fair, and Constitutional. Taking its title from Whitman, The History of Democracy Is Yet to Be Written: How We Have to Learn to Govern All Over Again, combines tales from the campaign trail with an incisive vision of how we might get there. In a polarized country, where 100 million citizens don't vote, and those who do are otherwise rarely politically engaged, he makes an impassioned and witty case for the possibility of a truly representative democracy, one built on the ideals of the House, the true chamber of the people, and inspired by the poet who gives the book its name. At once an engaging memoir and a call to arms, The History of Democracy Is Yet to Be Written will inspire and invigorate political veterans and young activists alike.

Thomas Geoghegan (Author), Donald Corren (Narrator)

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The Blockchain Government: Engineering The Future

It's obvious to many by now that our antiquated method of doing the business of government is no longer working. The two party system is a great way for politicians to establish a long, very long-lasting and very profitable positioni for themselves. They learn how to posture and pose and make tidy little speeches full of promises and age-old wisdom, but gets nothing accomplished. Is it any wonder when we know that the system was designed by people who only knew horse-and-buggy technology. When our system of government was created there was no electricity anywhere on the planet. There were no telephones and of course the INTERNET would astound them and confound them and call it the work of Satan. The best of our species at the kind, who were also slaveowners put forward a kind of government that allowed for slavery to remain in business. Even though their basic document has been altered 27 times, it is still fundamentally flawed and relies on only horse-and-buggy thinking to solve our problems. Most laws take decades to formulate and achieve a consensus and then come to a final vote in Congress, but not until it has been watered down and changed so many times, the new laws are outdated at the minute of their adoption and usually cause new problems that will also take decades to solve. As we write these words, we are on the brink of total economic collapse. Violence of all kinds rules over our streets. Six college students are murdered. Hundreds of other innocent Americans are slain every day on the streets of this country. Inflation is rampant. People are going homeless by the thousands every day. Another pandemic is raging. The forest fires in 15 states are raging out of control for months. There is a drought everywhere, except in the East where there are record floods. People are fearful. AND, 6 out of 10 people know that the Climate Crisis will greatly impact their lives. Do we have any Government at the present?

Michael Mathiesen (Author), Michael Mathiesen (Narrator)

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