A User's Guide to Democracy
How America Works
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Narrated by:
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Hannah McCarthy
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Nick Capodice
About this listen
"An informative and appealing civics lesson for first-time voters and old hands alike." (Publishers Weekly)
From Nick Capodice and Hannah McCarthy, the hosts of New Hampshire Public Radio’s Civics 101, and New Yorker cartoonist Tom Toro, A User's Guide to Democracy is a lively crash course in everything you should know about how the US government works.
Do you know what the Secretary of Defense does all day? Are you sure you know the difference between the House and the Senate? Have you been pretending you know what Federalism is for the last 20 years? Don’t worry - you’re not alone. The American government and its processes can be dizzyingly complex and obscure.
Until now.
Within this audiobook are the keys to knowing what you’re talking about when you argue politics with the uncle you only see at Thanksgiving. It’s the audiobook you'll use for quick reference when the nightly news boggles your mind. This approachable and informative guide gives you the lowdown on everything from the three branches of government, to what you can actually do to make your vote count, to how our founding documents affect our daily lives. Now is the time to finally understand who does what, how they do it, and the best way to get them to listen to you.
A Macmillan Audio production from Celadon Books
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2020 Nick Capodice, Hannah McCarthy, and Tom Toro (P)2020 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
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.
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A must-read to uphold democracy!
- By Steve Kelem on 09-09-20
By: David Daley
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Supreme Disorder
- Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America's Highest Court
- By: Ilya Shapiro
- Narrated by: Fred Stella
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The brutal confirmation battles we saw over Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh are symptoms of a larger problem with our third branch of government, a problem that began long before Kavanaugh, Merrick Garland, Clarence Thomas, or even Robert Bork: the courts’ own self-corruption, aiding and abetting the expansion of federal power.
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Tremendous detail
- By Charles on 07-15-22
By: Ilya Shapiro
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The Embattled Vote in America
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- By: Allan J. Lichtman
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
America's political leaders have considered suffrage not a natural right but a privilege restricted by wealth, sex, race, residence, literacy, criminal conviction, and citizenship. Today, voter identification laws, political gerrymandering, registration requirements, felon disenfranchisement, and voter purges deny many millions of citizens the opportunity to express their views at the ballot box. We cannot blame the founders alone for America's embattled vote. Best-selling author Allan Lichtman notes that subsequent generations have failed to establish suffrage as a universal right.
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Old Hat ...
- By Richard D. Parker on 01-17-19
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U.S Citizenship Audio Study Guide with all questions and answers for the USCIS Naturalization test
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- Narrated by: American Prudence
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Overall
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Story
Includes all 100 civics Questions and Answers read by a professional American voice actor with a natural American accent.
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1 question has 2 answers - 1 is WRONG! BEWARE
- By Darren on 05-19-19
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The Constitution Today
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Overall
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Performance
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When the stories that lead our daily news involve momentous constitutional questions, present-minded journalists and busy citizens cannot always see the stakes clearly. In The Constitution Today, Akhil Reed Amar, America's preeminent constitutional scholar, considers the biggest and most bitterly contested debates of the last two decades. He shows how the Constitution's text, history, and structure are a crucial repository of collective wisdom, providing specific rules and grand themes relevant to every organ of the American body politic.
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Amar is a Brilliant Arguer
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By: Akhil Reed Amar
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The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Instead of the system that the Constitution intended, judges have created a system in which bureaucrats and appointed officials make most of the important policies. While the government claims to be a representative republic, somehow hot-button topics from gay marriage to the allocation of Florida's presidential electors always seem to be decided by unelected judges. What gives them the right to decide such issues? The judges say it's the Constitution.
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The best PIG to date
- By Matthew Groom on 05-16-08
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Our Lost Constitution
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- By: Mike Lee
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Overall
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Senator Mike Lee tells the dramatic, little-known stories behind six of the Constitution's most indispensable provisions. He shows their rise. He shows their fall. And he makes vividly clear how nearly every abuse of federal power today is rooted in neglect of this Lost Constitution.
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Solution is a bit naive
- By Will on 08-07-16
By: Mike Lee
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9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America
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Performance
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Story
Of the 44 presidents who have led the United States, nine made mistakes that permanently scarred the nation. Which nine? Brion McClanahan, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers and The Founding Fathers' Guide to the Constitution, will surprise listeners with his list, which he supports with exhaustive and entertaining evidence.
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Political opinion without substance.
- By Ella's Dad on 04-27-18
By: Brion McClanahan
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A People's History of the Supreme Court
- The Men and Women Whose Cases and Decisions Have Shaped Our Constitution
- By: Peter Irons, Howard Zinn - foreword
- Narrated by: David Drummond
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- Unabridged
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Performance
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A comprehensive history of the people and cases that have changed history, this is the definitive account of the nation's highest court.
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Really enjoyed this book
- By Paul on 02-19-20
By: Peter Irons, and others
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Had It Coming
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Overall
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Performance
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Doolittle brings a personal voice to what has been a turning point for most women: the #MeToo movement and its aftermath. The world is now increasingly aware of the pervasiveness of rape culture in which powerful men got away with sexual assault and harassment for years, but Doolittle looks beyond specific cases to the big picture. The issue of "consent" figures largely: not only is the public confused about what it means, but an astounding number of legal authorities are too.
By: Robyn Doolittle
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What listeners say about A User's Guide to Democracy
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- love55
- 11-10-20
Incredibly Fun And Informative!!
This is an incredibly fun and informative book! Really helpful in guiding you through the layers of the systems of US government. I already intend on listening to it a second and third time just to be able to keep the knowledge fresh in my mind. Thank you for writing this.
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