American Politics Audiobooks | Politics

Barred: Why the Innocent Can’t Get Out of Prison

A groundbreaking exposé of how our legal system makes it nearly impossible to overturn wrongful convictions Thousands of innocent people are behind bars in the United States. But proving their innocence and winning their release is nearly impossible. In Barred, legal scholar Daniel S. Medwed argues that our justice system’s stringent procedural rules are largely to blame for the ongoing punishment of the innocent. Those rules guarantee criminal defendants just one opportunity to appeal their convictions directly to a higher court. Afterward, the wrongfully convicted can pursue only a few narrow remedies. Even when there is strong evidence of a miscarriage of justice, rigid guidelines, bias, and deference toward lower courts all too often prevent exoneration. Offering clear explanations of legal procedures alongside heart-wrenching stories of their devastating impact, Barred exposes how the system is stacked against the innocent and makes a powerful call for change. “In our screwed-up legal system, it’s fairly easy to convict an innocent person and send them to prison. Tragically, and as Daniel S. Medwed explains so clearly in Barred, it is almost impossible to get them out. Punishing the innocent is not just a problem in other places. We do it every day in America.” ―John Grisham “By blending tales of real-life wrongful convictions with straightforward explanations of legal procedures, Medwed’s Barred demystifies the mysterious path for the innocent after trial. His clear and engaging writing style makes the topic accessible to anyone interested in the hazards of our criminal justice system. A must-read!”―Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking “Barred is a stunning account of the myriad procedural roadblocks that keep innocent people trapped in our nation’s prisons. With harrowing stories from his public-defense practice, Medwed reveals how prosecutors, judges, and other officials revere finality and efficiency over fairness and truth. By exposing this rampant disregard for defendants’ culpability, Barred powerfully calls into question the justice of the entire criminal punishment system and proposes urgent ways to mitigate its damage.”―Dorothy Roberts, author of Torn Apart “For every innocent prisoner we’ve freed over the past three decades, countless others remain behind bars. Barred brilliantly illustrates the absurdity of this situation: how it is far too easy to convict the innocent, and far too hard to correct those mistakes.” ―Barry Scheck, cofounder of the Innocence Project “For every newspaper photo of an innocent person exiting the prison gates, clutching the hand of their triumphant lawyer, there are uncountable others whom we will never allow to see that day—who will die in prison because our laws make it so difficult to prove their innocence in court. In Barred, Daniel S. Medwed gives us an urgent tour of the darkest corners of our judicial system, where persuasive evidence becomes trapped in a labyrinth of legal procedure. Underlying Medwed’s sharp legal analysis is a political question: Is this the country we want to be?” ―Maurice Chammah, author of Let the Lord Sort Them “A lucid and persuasive call for change.”―Publishers Weekly “Informative and poignant… [An] important addition to the literature on America’s addiction to incarceration.”―Kirkus “Eye-opening… Readers interested in criminal justice will find an elucidating look at the challenges and possibilities for the wrongfully convicted.”―Booklist

Daniel S. Medwed (Author), Jason Arnold (Narrator)

Audiobook

Profiles in Ignorance: How America's Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber

Named One of 7 Best Nonfiction Books of the Fall by Kirkus Reviews Andy Borowitz, "one of the funniest people in America" (CBS Sunday Morning), brilliantly examines the intellectual deterioration of American politics, from Ronald Reagan to Dan Quayle, from George W. Bush to Sarah Palin, to its apotheosis in Donald J. Trump. The winner of the first-ever National Press Club award for humor, Andy Borowitz has been called a "Swiftian satirist" (The Wall Street Journal) and "one of the country's finest satirists" (The New York Times). Millions of fans and New Yorker readers enjoy his satirical news column "The Borowitz Report." Now, in Profiles in Ignorance, he offers a witty, spot-on diagnosis of our country's political troubles by showing how ignorant leaders are degrading, embarrassing, and endangering our nation. Borowitz argues that over the past fifty years, American politicians have grown increasingly allergic to knowledge, and mass media have encouraged the election of ignoramuses by elevating candidates who are better at performing than thinking. Starting with Ronald Reagan's first campaign for governor of California in 1966 and culminating with the election of Donald J. Trump to the White House, Borowitz shows how, during the age of twenty-four-hour news and social media, the US has elected politicians to positions of great power whose lack of the most basic information is terrifying. In addition to Reagan, Quayle, Bush, Palin, and Trump, Borowitz covers a host of congresspersons, senators, and governors who have helped lower the bar over the past five decades. Profiles in Ignorance aims to make us both laugh and cry: laugh at the idiotic antics of these public figures, and cry at the cataclysms these icons of ignorance have caused. But most importantly, the book delivers a call to action and a cause for optimism: History doesn't move in a straight line, and we can change course if we act now.

Andy Borowitz (Author), Andy Borowitz (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Big Truth: Upholding Democracy in the Age of “The Big Lie”

When a seven-million-vote margin of victory and 306 electoral votes pointed to Joe Biden as the victor in the 2020 Presidential Election, Trump-fueled conspiracy theories exploded. In The Big Truth, CBS's Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett and the nation's foremost elections expert David Becker completely upend The Big Lie that has infected the Far Right with firsthand stories of election officials like Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Bucks County, Pennsylvania, election director Thomas Freitag. And they reveal the concrete evidence proving that 2020 may have been the most secure US election ever. But Garrett and Becker go beyond the key players from all six swing states, the pre-election litigation that clarified the rules for both parties, and the fully auditable and verifiable ballots used. They lay bare the methods being undertaken right now to undercut faith, belief, and effectiveness of elections, identifying the places where the most dire actions have been taken since 2020-where election laws have been changed; or election officials been hounded out of office, retired out of frustration/fatigue, or been replaced by pro-Trump political figures.

David Becker, Major Garrett (Author), Kent Klineman (Narrator)

Audiobook

Impeaching Joe Biden: How a New Republican Majority in the House will Impeach Joe Biden and Possibly

In the November 2022 elections, Republicans are expected to gain a majority in the House and Senate. Due to the recent impeachments of President Donald Trump, it is inevitable that the Republican House will impeach Joe Biden. In fact, legislators have already attempted impeachment several times. Find out why impeachment will likely succeed in 2023, what its basis will be, and what strategic implications it may have.

Devon Barnham (Author), Frank Block (Narrator)

Audiobook

Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism

Why originalism is a flawed, incoherent, and dangerously ideological method of constitutional interpretation Originalism, the view that the meaning of a constitutional provision is fixed when it is adopted, was once the fringe theory of a few extremely conservative legal scholars but is now a well-accepted mode of constitutional interpretation. Three of the Supreme Court's nine justices explicitly embrace the originalist approach, as do increasing numbers of judges in the lower courts. Noted legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky gives a comprehensive analysis of the problems that make originalism unworkable as a method of constitutional interpretation. He argues that the framers themselves never intended constitutional interpretation to be inflexible and shows how it is often impossible to know what the 'original intent' of any particular provision was. Perhaps worst of all, though its supporters tout it as a politically neutral and objective method, originalist interpretation tends to disappear when its results fail to conform to modern conservative ideology.

Erwin Chemerinsky (Author), Daniel Henning (Narrator)

Audiobook

Come On, Man!: The Truth About Biden's No-Good, Horrible, Very Bad Presidency, and How to Return Ame

NATIONAL BESTSELLER Open borders, record inflation, and skyrocketing crime—Joe Biden’s first term is one of the most craptastic in American history. But on Planet Brandon, it’s all going according to plan . . . He received 81 million votes. His party controlled the House and the Senate. He took office with a nearly 60 percent approval rating. His first month saw the economy recovering nicely and the new COVID-19 vaccines being distributed around the country. And, in his words, he had the awesome power to mobilize “truinernashabada pressure.” And yet, with all that and more, Joe Biden’s first term has been a spectacular failure. COVID roared back. The withdrawal from Afghanistan left thirteen U.S. service members dead and hundreds of Americans stranded as Afghans fell from airplanes. Sixteen American cities set homicide records. More than 2.3 million illegal immigrants entered the country. Inflation reached forty-year highs. And Russia invaded Ukraine. Even the Democrats are so embarrassed, they won’t invite Biden to join them on the campaign trail for the midterms. Gah. But is this hot mess, dumpster fire of a record only because Biden lost whatever fastball he had and is perpetually incompetent? In Come On, Man!, Joe Concha reminds us what’s really going on in the White House. Though Biden may seem like a doddering idiot, stumbling from one mistake to the next, his blunders always hew closely to progressive dreams for American policy. Dreams like saving the planet by attacking Elon Musk and strengthening the middle class by making gas prices higher than Hunter Biden in a motel room. Come On, Man! shows the real reason why we’re here—no malarkey, guaranteed!

Joe Concha (Author), John Pruden (Narrator)

Audiobook

Let My People Know: The Incredible Story of Middle East Peace―and What Lies Ahead

The Trump administration’s “Peace to Prosperity” vision for the Middle East was unveiled on January 28, 2020. What followed over the next eleven months was one of the most fascinating and consequential periods of US foreign policy in a generation, leading to five normalization agreements between Israel and Muslim states. The Abraham Accords achieved what had seemed impossible for decades and set the Middle East on a trajectory toward a broad regional peace. Aryeh Lightstone is uniquely positioned to tell the story. As the senior advisor to the US ambassador to Israel, he had a front-row seat on events that dramatically altered the dynamics of the Middle East. He was tasked with a complex and sensitive component of the Abraham Accords: turning them into practical action, and doing it quickly—during a pandemic, no less. In addition, he directed the Abraham Fund, led the Abraham Accords Business Summit, and served as the key contact between Israel and the other Accords nations for implementation. Let My People Know provides a behind-the-scenes account of the strategies that allowed the “Deal of the Century” to be struck, and an unvarnished look at the Middle Eastern idiosyncrasies that factored into the process. A rabbi and an enthralling storyteller, Lightstone paints a vivid picture of the varied cultures and personalities involved. He also offers a glimpse into the day-to-day activities of an embassy. Finally, he explains what the Biden administration must do better to advance America’s interests abroad. We now have a paradigm for a forward-looking Middle East policy that ultimately benefits the United States. Lightstone makes the case for strategic action to maintain the momentum.

Aryeh Lightstone (Author), Benjamin Isaac (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Breach: The Untold Story of the Investigation into January 6th

Make no mistake: modern information warfare is here and January 6th was just the first battle. That day, an unhinged mindset led to an attack on the Capitol, the most serious assault on American democracy since the end of the Civil War. And that thinking portends even darker days ahead. In The Breach, a former House Republican and the first member of Congress to sound the alarm about QAnon, Denver Riggleman, provides readers with an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the January 6th select committee's investigation. Riggleman, who joined the committee as senior technical advisor, lays out the full intent and scope of the plot to overturn the election. The book includes previously unpublished texts from key political leaders. And it also contains shocking details about the Trump White House's links to militant extremist groups?even during the almost-eight-hour period on January 6th when the White House supposedly had no phone calls. The man responsible for unearthing Mark Meadows's infamous texts shows how data analysis shapes the contours of our new war, telling how the committee uncovered many of its explosive findings and sharing revealing stories from his time in the Trump-era GOP. With unique insights from within the far-right movement and from the front lines of the courageous team investigating it, Riggleman shows how our democracy is balanced on a knife's edge between disinformation and truth. Here is a revelatory peek at the inner workings of the January 6th committee and a clear-eyed look at the existential threats facing the republic?and a blueprint for how America can fight to survive the darkest night before the dawn.

Denver Riggleman (Author), Denver Riggleman (Narrator)

Audiobook

America, a Redemption Story: Choosing Hope, Creating Unity

Read by the author. The American Dream isn't a thing of the past, but a miracle of the present. Now more than ever it's easy to focus on the divisions that plague our nation. It may seem as if our best days are behind us, but bestselling author and senator Tim Scott believes we have yet to realize the fullness of our identity. We are in the midst of a story that's still unfolding. And beautiful opportunities await. In this powerful memoir, Scott recounts formative events of his life alongside the inspiring stories of other Americans who have risen above hardship and embodied the values that make our nation great. Together these personal and inspirational accounts call readers to embrace - the mountaintops as well as the valleys on the journey to a more perfect union; - a path marked by optimism, hope, and resolve; and - a future characterized by endurance, unity, and strength. Both a clear-eyed reckoning with our nation's failures and an ode to its accomplishments, America, a Redemption Story issues a clarion call for all of us to rise courageously to the greatness within our reach. Photos are included in the audiobook companion PDF download.

Tim Scott (Author), Frances Scott, Tim Scott (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Golden Fortress: California's Border War on Dust Bowl Refugees

In February 1936, Los Angeles police officers drove hundreds of miles to California’s state borders with one mission: turn back anyone deemed too poor to enter. Myths of the Golden State’s abundance enticed thousands of Americans uprooted by the Depression, but those who created those myths saw only invading criminal “hordes” that they believed just one man could stop: James “Two-Gun” Davis, Los Angeles’ authoritarian police chief. The Golden Fortress tells the story of Davis’s audacious deployment of hand-picked armed police slamming California’s door on America’s Dust Bowl refugees and Depression-displaced migrants. It depicts the sometimes deadly consequences of law enforcement politicized and weaponized against the poor, even in remote places like Modoc County, where a sheriff’s opposition to the blockade inflamed an already smoldering feud between an itinerant newsman and a publisher obsessed with her California heritage. Davis, blessed by his city’s ruling business class and fueled by his own wild claims of communist conspiracies undermining America, deployed his “Foreign Legion” to California’s state lines, threatening democracy even as the nation’s cities and rural communities juggled the burdens of economic recovery, migrant aid, and public safety.

Bill Lascher (Author), Jay Smack (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Spy in Plain Sight: The Inside Story of the FBI and Robert Hanssen―America’s Most Damaging Russian

A legal analyst for NPR, NBC, and CNN, delves into the facts surrounding what has been called the “worst intelligence disaster in US history”: the case of Robert Hanssen—a Russian spy who was embedded in the FBI for two decades. As a federal prosecutor and the daughter of an FBI agent, Wiehl has an inside perspective. She brings her experience and the ingrained lessons of her upraising to bear on her remarkable exploration of the case, interviewing numerous FBI and CIA agents both past and present as well as the individuals closest to Hanssen. She speaks with his brother-in-law, his oldest and best friend, and even his psychiatrist. In all her conversations, Wiehl is trying to figure out how he did it—and at what cost. But she also pursues questions urgently relevant to our national security today. Could there be another spy in the system? Could the presence of a spy be an even greater threat now than ever before, with the greater prominence cyber security has taken in recent years? Wiehl explores the mechanisms and politics of our national security apparatus and how they make us vulnerable to precisely this kind of threat.

Lis Wiehl (Author), Lis Wiehl (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Suppression of Truth in the United States and the World

In today’s world we live in a culture of truth suppression. This is true in representative democracies like the United States as well as full totalitarian dictatorships like Communist China. This book covers many areas of major lies like Global Warming, perverted doctrines taught in schools, Politics, News Suppression, Communist China, limitations in Spirituality, deficit spending, and problems with globalism. There are many different types of truth suppression and as much as we would like to think that we live in an advanced culture and world, this effort by different entities to suppress truth affects our lives negatively in many ways. The most direct effect is that we live in fear of the future of our world which is a big lie. This suppression also keeps us from fully realizing our spiritual natures and that we do have the ability to accomplish amazing things when we live with full honesty in our lives. I believe that individuals are closest to a state of happiness when they live their lives in truth. (See my book “A New Paradigm of Truth and Happiness” for more information.) There are actions we can take to correct this situation but they are mass actions which need many persons involved to have a real effect. A list of these actions are given later in this book.

Martin K Ettington (Author), Martin K Ettington (Narrator)

Audiobook

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