American Politics Audiobooks | Politics

Wise, rueful, candid, graceful commentaries from one of journalism's most stylish and respected writers. With his critically acclaimed best-selling memoir, This Just In, Bob Schieffer proved a natural storyteller, a gifted writer able to capture current affairs, television news - and himself - with remarkable wit and insight. It is a gift he has also been able to bring to his award-winning commentaries for Face the Nation. No one had done commentaries for CBS since Eric Sevareid's retirement in 1977, when, in April 1994, Schieffer decided his show that week on the death of Richard Nixon needed a few closing words to put the subject into context. The reaction was overwhelmingly positive, and he has been doing them ever since. Bob Schieffer's America brings together 168 of his best essays, pieces that cover a broad range: from the hard issues of today to the human stories that show us who we are; from politics and presidents and tragedy to the things that touch us, make us laugh, or reveal the small shifts in our culture that sometimes just creep up on us. Smart, humorous, pitch-perfect - sometimes bitingly critical and plainspoken, other times suffused with wonder or delight - these essays speak to us all. "My objective," says Schieffer, "has never been to convert someone to my way of thinking, but merely to provoke thought, to explain a complicated subject, or to call attention to a human foible. The greatest compliment to me is not when viewers write to say they agree with my conclusion, but when they say, 'I really never thought of it that way before.'" In addition to these outstanding essays, Schieffer has written a wealth of brand-new material - "commentaries on my commentaries" - that run throughout the book, offering further anecdotes, reflections, updates, and insights. In all, it is as Jim Lehrer described This Just In: "A delight, a joy - a treasure."

Bob Schieffer, Bob Schieffer (Author), Bob Schieffer, Bob Schieffer (Narrator)

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The Shadow Factory

Today's National Security Agency is the largest, most costly, and most technologically advanced spy organization the world has ever known. It is also the most intrusive, secretly filtering millions of phone calls and e-mails an hour in the United States and around the world. Half a million people live on its watch list, and the number grows by the thousands every month. Has America become a surveillance state?In The Shadow Factory, James Bamford, the foremost expert on the National Security Agency, charts its transformation since 9/11, as the legendary code breakers turned their ears away from outside enemies, such as the Soviet Union, and inward to enemies whose communications increasingly crisscross America. Fast-paced and riveting, The Shadow Factory is about a world unseen by Americans without the highest security clearances. But it is a world in which even their most intimate whispers may no longer be private. From the Compact Disc edition.

James Bamford (Author), Robertson Dean (Narrator)

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The Limits of Power

The Limits of Power identifies a profound triple crisis facing America: the economy, in remarkable disarray, can no longer be fixed by relying on expansion abroad; the government, transformed by an imperial presidency, is a democracy in form only; U.S. involvement in endless wars, driven by a deep infatuation with military power, has been a catastrophe for the body politic. These pressing problems threaten all of us, Republicans and Democrats. If the nation is to solve its predicament, it will need the revival of a distinctly American approach: the neglected tradition of realism. Andrew J. Bacevich, uniquely respected across the political spectrum, offers a historical perspective on the illusions that have governed American policy since 1945. The realism he proposes includes respect for power and its limits; sensitivity to unintended consequences; aversion to claims of exceptionalism; skepticism of easy solutions, especially those involving force; and a conviction that the books will have to balance. Only a return to such principles, Bacevich argues, can provide common ground for fixing America's urgent problems before the damage becomes irreparable.

Andrew Bacevich, Andrew J. Bacevich (Author), Eric Conger (Narrator)

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Mike's Election Guide

READ BY THE AUTHOR In his first audiobook in five years, Michael Moore brings us the definitive guide to the 2008 election. After a diastrous war, the failure to catch bin Laden, millions of families who have lost their homes, the Katrina debacle, soaring gas prices feeding record oil company profits, and the largest national debt caused by the biggest spending and borrowing administration in American history, the country has had it with conservatives, right-wingers and Republicans. A thrilling election season is now upon us. Obama vs. McCain. One candidate has promised a presidency different from any other, one that will take us forward to embrace the hope of the 21st century. The other candidate says he has no idea how to use a computer. Welcome to MIKE'S ELECTION GUIDE -- Michael Moore's effort to make sense of this fall's race for the White House and Congress. In it, Moore answers the nation's most pressing questions: "Why is John McCain so angry?," "Do the Democrats Still Drink from a Sippy Cup and Sleep with the Light On?," Can I get into the Electoral College with only a 2.0 gpa?" and "How many Democrats does it take to lose the most winnable election in American history?" It's a great year to be an American and a voter. Don't miss out on all the fun! And don't miss out on MIKE'S ELECTION GUIDE -- it's the indispensable voice that belongs in every American's ear this season.

Michael Moore (Author), Michael Moore (Narrator)

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Frost/Nixon

Published to satisfy the massive renewed interest in Sir David Frost's astounding feat of journalism following the huge success of the eponymous West End and Broadway play, Frost/Nixon tells the extraordinary story of how Frost pursued and landed the biggest fish of his career. When he first conceived the idea of interviewing Richard Nixon and trying to bring the ex-President to confront his past, he was told on all sides that the project would never get off the ground. Nobody believed that Nixon would agree to Frost's editorial control, or even to talk about Watergate at all. Yet in the end the project succeeded, and the series drew larger audiences than any news programme ever had in the United States, before being shown all over the world. Including hilarious tales of the people he encountered along the way and fascinating insights into the making of the television series itself, this is Sir David's own story of his pursuit of disgraced ex-President Richard Nixon - one that is no less revealing of his own toughness and pertinacity than of the ex-President's elusiveness. Frost provides an account of the only public trial that Nixon will ever have, and a revelation of the man's character as it appeared in the stress of eleven gruelling sessions before the cameras. Fully revised and updated with historical perspective, and including transcripts of the edited interviews, Frost/Nixon describes Sir David Frost's quest to produce one of the most dramatic pieces of television ever broadcast.

David Frost (Author), David Frost (Narrator)

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Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down

Sarah Palin a hockey mom and small town mayor, thought her dream of making a difference in the male-dominated realm of Alaska politics was over when she clashed with the state chairman of her Republican Party and went head to head with the powerful Republican governor. In 2006, she became a long-shot candidate for governor demanding a higher ethical standard in state government. Then, fate intervened. Her populist reform message suddenly became frontpage news when a major political scandal rocked Alaska politics, Alaskans began listening to her, and they liked what they heard. "Governor Palin is a tough executive who has demonstrated during her time in office that she is ready to be President."-Huffington Post

Kaylene Johnson (Author), Cassandra Campbell (Narrator)

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The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder

Bestselling author Vincent Bugliosi has written the most important and thought-provoking book of his prolific career. In a meticulously researched and clearly presented legal case that puts George W. Bush on trial for murder after he leaves his presidency, Bugliosi delivers a searing indictment of the president and his administration. With what he believes is overwhelming evidence that President Bush took the nation to war in Iraq under false pretenses—a war that has caused great loss of life, cost this nation close to $1 trillion, and alienated most of our allies in the Western world—Bugliosi argues that it is George W. Bush who must be held accountable for what Bugliosi considers to be monumental crimes. In this groundbreaking book, Bugliosi, in his inimitable style, presents a powerful case against the man. “This controversial book presents a searing legal indictment against the forty-third president of the United States, arguing that he must be held accountable for crimes related to the Iraq War. Meticulously researched and volatile.”--Barnes & Noble, editorial review

Vincent Bugliosi (Author), Marc Cashman (Narrator)

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Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio,

Here are the facts: —The United States has released 425 terrorists from Guantánamo, at least 50 of whom have returned to the battlefield to fight American troops. —Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both say they're fiscally responsible. But each has called for $1 trillion in tax increases over the next ten years—and dressed them up as tax cuts! —Mainstream Media has been given marching orders from the Society of Professional Journalists: never refer to "Islamic terrorists" or "Muslim terrorists." And they are obeying! Whenever our brave agents disrupt a terror plot, the media dismisses the culprits as a gang of idiots—lulling us into a false sense of security. —If the liberals win the 2008 election, they will cripple talk radio—forcing stations to give equal time to left-wing programs and insisting that liberals play a key role in station management. —Up to a quarter of all state pension funds in the United States are invested in companies that are helping Iran, Syria, North Korea, or the Sudan—for a total of nearly $200 billion. —The Do-Nothing Congress is still doing nothing—and the worst offenders are the presidential candidates Clinton, Obama, and McCain, who never show up for their day jobs as senators...except to pick up their $165,000 paychecks! Is it any wonder that Americans feel fleeced at every turn? As more and more critical problems develop that need national attention, the White House and Congress appear to be AWOL. Who's calling the shots instead? Big business, big government, big labor, and big lobbyists. And their self-serving agendas are doing nothing to help the ever-increasing number of American people who are losing their homes, paying credit card interest rates higher than 25 percent, and finding their jobs increasingly outsourced to foreign countries. In this hard-hitting call to arms, Dick Morris and Eileen McGann reveal the hundreds of ways American taxpayers are routinely fleeced—by our own government; by foreign countries like Dubai that are gobbling up American interests and spending millions to influence government decisions and American public opinion; by Washington lobbying firms that are pushing the agendas of corrupt foreign dictators on Capitol Hill; and by hedge-fund billionaires collecting huge tax breaks courtesy of the IRS. With their characteristic blend of sharp analysis and insider insight, Morris and McGann call offenders of all kinds on the carpet—and offer practical agendas we all can follow to help turn the tide.

Dick Morris, Eileen McGann (Author), Johnny Heller (Narrator)

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The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 21st-Century American Politics with an 18th-Century Bra

George Lakoff (Author), Kent Cassella (Narrator)

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What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception

In the bestselling book that provoked a media sensation, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan takes readers behind the scenes of the presidency of George W. Bush. McClellan belonged to Bush's select inner circle of trusted advisors during one of the most challenging and contentious periods of recent history. Over a period of more than seven years, he witnessed day-to-day exactly how the presidency veered off course: not only by its decision to topple Saddam Hussein but by an embrace of confrontational politics in the face of an increasingly partisan Washington and hostile media. In this refreshingly clear-eyed book, McClellan provides unique perspective on what happened and why it happened the way it did, including the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina, and two hotly contested presidential campaigns. He gives readers a candid look into who George W. Bush is and what he believes and explores the lessons this presidency offers the American people as we look to the future.

Scott Mcclellan (Author), Scott Mcclellan (Narrator)

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A Time to Fight

I'm the only person in the history of Virginia elected to statewide office with a Union card, two Purple Hearts, and three tattoos.' Jim Webb the bestselling author and now the celebrated, outspoken U.S. Senator from Virginia presents a clear-eyed, hard-hitting plan of attack for putting government to work for the people, rather than special interests, and for restoring the country's standing around the world. Infused with the intelligence, force, and firebrand style that has earned Senator Jim Webb enormous national attention from his earlest days in office, A Time to Fight offers a thorough and provocative assessment of the thorniest issues Americans face today, along with cogent solutions drawn from Webb's lifetime of experience as a much-decorated Marine, a widely traveled, award-winning journalist and novelist, a highly placed member of the Reagan administration, a Senator with a son who fought as a Marine in Iraq and, perhaps most important, a proud scion of America's vast but frequently ignored working class. Webb exposes how America has entered a dangerous, unprecedented cycle of seemingly unsolvable unknowns. Our economic policies, particularly in this age of globalization, have produced widely divergent results leading to a country calcifying along class lines. Our demographic makeup has been altered dramatically and is set to keep on changing, through both legal and illegal immigration. Our editorialists and politicians talk about the American dream, and some urge us to bring democracy to the rest of the world. But more than two million Americans are now in prison, by far the highest incarceration rate in the so-called advanced world. Our foreign policy is confused, without clear direction; increasingly vulnerable to such largely unexamined long-term threats as China's emerging power while it has become bogged down in the never-ending struggles of the Middle East. As this drift toward societal regression has taken place, America's leadership has largely been paralyzed, unable or unwilling to stop the slide. 'Where are the leaders?' Webb asks. 'Has our political process become so compromised by powerful interest groups and the threat of character assassination that even the best among us will not dare to speak honestly about the solutions that might bring us back to common sense and fundamental fairness?' Through vivid personal narratives of the struggles members of his family faced, and citing the courageous actions of presidents ranging from Andrew Jackson to Teddy Roosevelt to Dwight Eisenhower, A Time to Fight provides specific, viable ideas for restoring fairness to our economic system, correcting the direction of national security efforts, ending America's military occupation of Iraq, and developing greater government accountability. Webb brings a fresh perspective to political dynamics that have shaped our country. His stirring, populist manifesto calls upon voters to make the choices that will change America for the better in this election season.

Jim Webb (Author), Nicholas Hormann (Narrator)

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The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington

David Sirota (Author), Lloyd James, Lloyd James (Narrator)

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