American Politics Audiobooks | Politics

Cry Havoc: Charlottesville and American Democracy Under Siege

The former mayor of Charlottesville delivers a vivid, first-person chronicle of the terror and mayhem of the August 2017 'Unite the Right' event, and shows how issues of extremism are affecting not just one city but the nation itself. The deadly invasion of Charlottesville, Virginia, by white nationalist militias in August 2017 is a microcosm of the challenges facing American democracy today. In his first-person account of one of recent American history's most polarizing events, Michael Signer, then Charlottesville's mayor, both tells the story of what really happened and draws out its larger significance. Signer's gripping, strikingly candid 'you are there' narrative sets the events on the ground-the lead-up to August's 'Unite the Right' rally, the days of the weekend itself, the aftermath-in the larger context of a country struggling to find its way in a disruptive new era. He confronts some of the most challenging questions of our moment, namely how can we: - Reconcile free speech with the need for public order? - Maintain the values of pragmatism, compromise, even simple civility, in a time of intensification of extremes on the right and the left? - Address systemic racism through our public spaces and memorials? - Provide accountability after a crisis? While Signer shows how easily our communities can be taken hostage by forces intent on destroying democratic norms and institutions, he concludes with a stirring call for optimism, revealing how the tragic events of Charlottesville are also bolstering American democracy from within.

Michael Signer (Author), Corey Carthew, Michael Signer (Narrator)

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Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy

A revelatory account by the bestselling author of Ratf**ked that will give you hope that America's fragile democracy can still be saved. Following Ratf**ked, his "extraordinary timely and undeniably important" (New York Times Book Review) expose of how a small cadre of Republican operatives rigged American elections, David Daley emerged as one of the nation's leading authorities on gerrymandering. In Unrigged, he charts a vibrant political movement that is rising in the wake of his and other reporters' revelations. With his trademark journalistic rigor and narrative flair, Daley reports on Pennsylvania's dramatic defeat of a gerrymander using the research of ingenious mathematicians and the Michigan millennial who launched a statewide redistricting revolution with a Facebook post. He tells the stories of activist groups that paved the way for 2018's historic blue wave and won crucial battles for voting rights in Florida, Maine, Utah, and nationwide. In an age of polarization, Unrigged offers a vivid portrait of a nation transformed by a new civic awakening, and provides a blueprint for what must be done to keep American democracy afloat.

David Daley (Author), L.J. Ganser (Narrator)

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The Firsts: The Inside Story of the Women Reshaping Congress

In November 2018, the greatest number of women in American history entered Congress. From Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and 'the Squad' to 'the Badasses' with national security backgrounds, from the first two Native Americans in Congress to the first two Muslim women, all were swept into office on a wave of grassroots support, diverse in background, age, professional experience, and ideology. In The Firsts, New York Times reporter Jennifer Steinhauer follows these women's first year in the 116th Congress, chronicling their transition from running trailblazing campaigns to the daily work of governance. In committee rooms, offices, and conversations on the run through the halls of the Capitol, she probed the question: Would Washington, with its hidebound traditions, change the changemakers, or would this Congress, which looked a little more like today's America, truly be the start of something new? Vivid and smart, The Firsts delivers fresh details, inside access, historical perspective, and expert analysis as these women-inspiring, controversial, talented, and rebellious-do something truly surprising: make Congress essential again.

Jennifer Steinhauer (Author), Tanya Eby (Narrator)

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Author in Chief: The Untold Story of Our Presidents and the Books They Wrote

"One of the best books on the American presidency to appear in recent years." —Thomas Mallon, The Wall Street Journal "Fun and fascinating…It's witty, charming, and fantastically learned. I loved it." —Rick Perlstein Based on a decade of research and reporting, Author in Chief tells the story of America's presidents as authors—and offers a delightful new window into the public and private lives of our highest leaders. Most Americans are familiar with Abraham Lincoln's famous words in the Gettysburg Address and the Emancipation Proclamation. Yet few can name the work that helped him win the presidency: his published collection of speeches entitled Political Debates between Hon. Abraham Lincoln and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln labored in secret to get his book ready for the 1860 election, tracking down newspaper transcripts, editing them carefully for fairness, and hunting for a printer who would meet his specifications. Political Debates sold fifty thousand copies—the rough equivalent of half a million books in today's market—and it reveals something about Lincoln's presidential ambitions. But it also reveals something about his heart and mind. When voters asked about his beliefs, Lincoln liked to point them to his book. In Craig Fehrman's groundbreaking work of history, Author in Chief, the story of America's presidents and their books opens a rich new window into presidential biography. From volumes lost to history—Calvin Coolidge's Autobiography, which was one of the most widely discussed titles of 1929—to ones we know and love—Barack Obama's Dreams from My Father, which was very nearly never published—Fehrman unearths countless insights about the presidents through their literary works. Presidential books have made an enormous impact on American history, catapulting their authors to the national stage and even turning key elections. Beginning with Thomas Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia, the first presidential book to influence a campaign, and John Adams's Autobiography, the first score-settling presidential memoir, Author in Chief draws on newly uncovered information—including never-before-published letters from Andrew Jackson, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan—to cast fresh light on the private drives and self-doubts that fueled our nation's leaders. We see Teddy Roosevelt as a vulnerable first-time author, struggling to write the book that would become a classic of American history. We see Reagan painstakingly revising Where's the Rest of Me?, a forgotten memoir in which he sharpened his sunny political image. We see Donald Trump negotiating the deal for The Art of the Deal, the volume that made him synonymous with business savvy. Alongside each of these authors, we also glimpse the everyday Americans who read them. Combining the narrative felicity of a journalist with the rigorous scholarship of a historian, Fehrman delivers a feast for history lovers, book lovers, and everybody curious about a behind-the-scenes look at our presidents.

Craig Fehrman (Author), Fred Sanders (Narrator)

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Washington's End: The Final Years and Forgotten Struggle

Popular historian and former White House speechwriter Jonathan Horn tells the astonishing true story of George Washington's forgotten last years—the personalities, plotting, and private torment that unraveled America's first post-presidency. Washington's End begins where most biographies of George Washington leave off, with the first president exiting office after eight years and entering what would become the most bewildering stage of his life. Embittered by partisan criticism and eager to return to his farm, Washington assumed a role for which there was no precedent at a time when the kings across the ocean yielded their crowns only upon losing their heads. In a different sense, Washington would lose his head, too. In this riveting read, bestselling author Jonathan Horn reveals that the quest to surrender power proved more difficult than Washington imagined and brought his life to an end he never expected. The statesman who had staked his legacy on withdrawing from public life would feud with his successors and find himself drawn back into military command. The patriarch who had dedicated his life to uniting his country would leave his name to a new capital city destined to become synonymous with political divisions. A vivid story, immaculately researched and powerfully told through the eyes not only of Washington but also of his family members, friends, and foes, Washington's End fills a crucial gap in our nation's history and will forever change the way we view the name Washington.

Jonathan Horn (Author), Arthur Morey (Narrator)

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The Ones We've Been Waiting For: How a New Generation of Leaders Will Transform America

An optimistic look at the future of American leadership by a brilliant young reporter A new generation is stepping up. There are now twenty-six millennials in Congress--a fivefold increase gained in the 2018 midterms alone. They are governing Midwestern cities and college towns, running for city councils, and serving in state legislatures. They are acting urgently on climate change (because they are going to live it); they care deeply about student debt (because they have it); they are utilizing big tech but still want to regulate it (because they understand how it works). In The Ones We've Been Waiting For, TIME correspondent Charlotte Alter defines the class of young leaders who are remaking the nation--how grappling with 9/11 as teens, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, occupying Wall Street and protesting with Black Lives Matter, and shouldering their way into a financially rigged political system has shaped the people who will govern the future. Through the experiences of millennial leaders--from progressive firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg to Republican up-and-comer Elise Stefanik--Charlotte Alter gives the big-picture look at how this generation governs differently than their elders, and how they may drag us out of our current political despair. Millennials have already revolutionized technology, commerce, and media and have powered the major social movements of our time. Now government is ripe for disruption. The Ones We've Been Waiting For is a hopeful glimpse into a bright new generation of political leaders, and what America might look like when they are in charge.

Charlotte Alter (Author), Charlotte Alter (Narrator)

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Code Red: How Progressives and Moderates Can Unite to Save Our Country

This program includes an introduction read by the author. New York Times bestselling author and Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne, Jr. sounds the alarm in Code Red, calling for an alliance between progressives and moderates to seize the moment and restore hope to America’s future for the 2020 presidential election. Will progressives and moderates feud while America burns? Or will these natural allies take advantage of the greatest opportunity since the New Deal Era to strengthen American democracy, foster social justice, and turn back the threats of the Trump Era? The United States stands at a crossroads. Broad and principled opposition to Donald Trump’s presidency has drawn millions of previously disengaged citizens to the public square and to the ballot boxes. This inspired and growing activism for social and political change hasn’t been seen since the days of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal policies and the Progressive and Civil Rights movements. But if progressives and moderates are unable—and unwilling—to overcome their differences, they could not only enable Trump to prevail again but also squander an occasion for launching a new era of reform. In Code Red, award-winning journalist E. J. Dionne, Jr., calls for a shared commitment to decency and a politics focused on freedom, fairness, and the future, encouraging progressives and moderates to explore common ground and expand the unity that brought about Democrat victories in the 2018 elections. He offers a unifying model for furthering progress with a Politics of Remedy, Dignity, and More: one that solves problems, resolve disputes, and moves forward; that sits at the heart of the demands for justice by both long-marginalized and recently-displaced groups; and that posits a positive future for Americans with more covered by health insurance, more with decent wages, more with good schools, more security from gun violence, more action to roll back climate change. Breaking through the partisan noise and cutting against conventional wisdom to provide a realistic look at political possibilities, Dionne offers a strategy for progressives and moderates to think more clearly and accept the responsibilities that history now imposes on them. Because at this point in our national story, change can’t wait. A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press “An exquisitely timed book...'Code Red' is a worthwhile exploration of the shared goals (and shared enemies) that unite moderates and progressives. But more than that, it is a sharp reminder that the common ground on which Dionne built his career has been badly eroded, with little prospect that it will soon be restored.” — New York Times Book Review “Highly engaging, intellectually sound, and morally grounded” —Washington Monthly “The Washington Post columnist and NPR commentator offers a passionately reasoned argument for why both progressive and moderate wings of the Democratic Party must put aside differences to defeat Donald Trump in 2020...A well-argued and persuasive treatise by a deeply concerned journalist and citizen.” —Kirkus Reviews

E.J. Dionne, E.J. Dionne, Jr., Jr. E.J. Dionne (Author), Adam Barr, E.J. Dionne, E.J. Dionne, Jr., Jr. E.J. Dionne (Narrator)

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Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents

"This book is an effort to shed light on the truth. . . . To the extent that our leaders embody aspects of who we are as a people, studying how each president has participated in our nation's complicated and often shameful treatment of black people is as good a place as any to start." - Margaret Kimberley from the Preface 'Margaret Kimberley gives us an intellectual gem of prophetic fire about all the U.S. presidents and their deep roots in the vicious legacy of white supremacy and predatory capitalism. Such truths seem more than most Americans can bear, though we ignore her words at our own peril!' - Cornel West, author of Race Matters PREJUDENTIAL is a concise, authoritative exploration of America's relationship with race and black Americans through the lens of the presidents who have been elected to represent all of its people. Throughout the history of the United States, numerous presidents have left their legacies as slaveholders, bigots, and inciters of racial violence, but were the ones generally regarded as more sympathetic to the plight and interests of black Americans-such as Lincoln, FDR, and Clinton-really much better? And what of all the presidents whose relationship with black America is not even considered in the pages of most history books? Over the course of 45 chapters-one for each president-Margaret Kimberley enlightens and informs readers about the attitudes and actions of the highest elected official in the country. By casting sunlight on an aspect of American history that is largely overlooked, Prejudential aims to increase awareness in a manner that will facilitate discussion and understanding.

Margaret Kimberley (Author), Margaret Kimberley (Narrator)

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Antisocial: How Online Extremists Broke America

This is a story about how the extreme became mainstream. It reveals how the truth became ‘fake news’, how fringe ideas spread, and how a candidate many dismissed as a joke was propelled to the presidency by the dark side of the internet. For several years, Andrew Marantz, a New Yorker staff writer, has been embedded with alt-right propagandists, who have become experts at using social media to advance their corrosive agenda. He also spent time with the social-media entrepreneurs who made this possible, through their naive and reckless ambition, by disrupting all of the traditional information systems. Join Marantz as some of the biggest brains in Silicon Valley teach him how to make content go viral; as he hangs out with the conspiracists, white supremacists and nihilist trolls using these ideas to make their memes, blogs and podcasts incredibly successful; and as he meets some of the people led down the rabbit hole of online radicalization. Antisocial is about how the unthinkable becomes thinkable, and then becomes reality. By telling the story of the people who hijacked the American conversation, Antisocial will help you understand the world they have created, in which we all now live.

Andrew Marantz (Author), Andrew Marantz (Narrator)

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F*ck Silence: Calling Trump Out for the Cultish, Moronic, Authoritarian Con Man He Is

Donald Trump is the exact threat our Founding Fathers feared. Joe Walsh is as rock-ribbed a conservative as they come. But he believes that no right-wing policy victory is worth the loss of our very democracy. In this clear-eyed and unsparing book, Walsh makes the case that Trump has more in common with the foreign dictators he praises publicly than a predecessor like Ronald Reagan. Trump is an existential threat to conservatism, the presidency, and national unity. He has violated the Constitution in plain sight, assaulted democratic institutions, overwhelmed the country with disinformation, erected around himself a cult of personality, and governed according to his narcissism more than any discernable political philosophy. Though Walsh agrees with Trump that the Washington elite has hung working-class America out to dry, traveling down the road to despotism is no response. And now a person who places himself above the rule of law and accountability sits in the Oval Office—all that’s missing is a big, beautiful throne behind the Resolute Desk. In F*ck Silence, Walsh challenges his countrymen, especially his fellow conservatives, to acknowledge and oppose this unpatriotic and un-American behavior before we give away what made America great in the first place: our democracy.

Joe Walsh (Author), Joe Walsh (Narrator)

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God in the White House: A History: How Faith Shaped the Presidency from John F. Kennedy to George W.

Historian Randall Balmer takes us on a tour of presidential religiosity in the last half of the twentieth century-from Kennedy's 1960 speech that proposed an almost absolute wall between American political and religious life to the soft religiosity of Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society; from Richard Nixon's manipulation of religion to fit his own needs to Gerald Ford's quiet stoicism; from Jimmy Carter's introduction of evangelicalism into the mainstream to Ronald Reagan's co-option of the same group; from Bill Clinton's covert way of turning religion into a non-issue to George W. Bush's overt Christian messages, Balmer reveals the role religion has played in the personal and political lives of these American presidents. God in the White House explores the paradox of Americans' expectation that presidents should simultaneously trumpet their religious views and relationship to God while supporting the separation of church and state. Balmer tells the story of the politicization of religion in the last half of the twentieth century, as well as the 'religionization' of our politics. He reflects on the implications of this shift, which have reverberated in both our religious and political worlds, and offers a new lens through which to see not only these extraordinary individuals, but also our current political situation.

Randall Balmer (Author), Tom Parks (Narrator)

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Fight House: Rivalries in the White House from Truman to Trump

Washington Post bestselling presidential historian and former senior White House aide Tevi Troy examines some of the juiciest, nastiest, and most consequential administration struggles in modern American history. In doing so, he not only provides context on the administrations, the players, and their in-fighting but also show how those fights shaped the administrations in question, the presidents' historical reputations, and the policy landscape of modern America. In showing these fights, the book highlights tough tactics used by sharp-elbowed operatives to prevail in bureaucratic disputes, from leaks to delays in submitting items for review to moving rivals out of cherished office spaces. Fight House also looks at the presidents' role in all of this and questions long-standing assumptions about whether creative tension is really the best method of governing. Troy employs both his historical knowledge as well as his own high-level White House experience to inform his recommendations for the best ways to staff and organize a White House to ensure the best results for the president-and the American people. Part riveting interpersonal history, part case study, and part analysis of the commanders in chief and their teams, Fight House is essential listening for students of the presidency and of the nation as a whole.

Tevi Troy, Tevi Troy, Ph.D., Tevi Troy, Phd (Author), Pat Grimes (Narrator)

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