America's Last President
What the World Lost When It Lost John F. Kennedy
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Narrated by:
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Monika Wiesak
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By:
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Monika Wiesak
About this listen
The presidency of John F. Kennedy was a unique and promising turning point in history. A young, compassionate, and independent thinker arrived on the scene with great intent to serve his country, his people, and the globe around him. He envisioned a world of decentralized power—from strong, diverse, and independent nations to thriving opportunities for America’s small businesses—a world not led by imperial forces but led by the people. He sought to keep America out of hot wars and to end the Cold War. He reached for peace not only in his time but, as he put it, “in all time” through his thoughtful pursuit of military weapons control. He fought for the rights of every American, from the civil rights struggles in the South to consumer rights and protections from industry corruption. He came up against a myriad of powerful interests with different goals. A battle ensued, and the common man around the globe lost the day John F. Kennedy died.
This book details the story and the struggle, in a way never told before, of a man with the courage to repeatedly take on the most powerful forces on the globe; a man who seemingly had everything—but gave everything—including ultimately his life, in pursuit of creating a better life for us all. Along the way, it asks deep questions about what it all means for our world today.
©2022 Monika Wiesak (P)2022 Monika WiesakListeners also enjoyed...
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Collapse
- The Fall of the Soviet Union
- By: Vladislav M. Zubok
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
In 1945, the Soviet Union controlled half of Europe and was a founding member of the United Nations. By 1991, it had an army four million strong, 5,000 nuclear-tipped missiles, and was the second biggest producer of oil in the world. But soon afterward, the union sank into an economic crisis and was torn apart by nationalist separatism. Its collapse was one of the seismic shifts of the 20th century.
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Hopefully Not Prescient
- By Joshua on 01-29-22
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Reagan
- The Life
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 31 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Ronald Reagan today is a conservative icon, celebrated for transforming the American domestic agenda and playing a crucial part in ending communism in the Soviet Union. In his masterful new biography, H. W. Brands argues that Reagan, along with FDR, was the most consequential president of the 20th century. Reagan took office at a time when the public sector, after a half century of New Deal liberalism, was widely perceived as bloated and inefficient, an impediment to personal liberty.
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Very little about Reagan
- By Jack Merritt on 07-30-15
By: H. W. Brands
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The Crusader
- Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism
- By: Paul Kengor
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
God and Ronald Reagan made presidential historian Paul Kengor's name as one of the premier chroniclers of the life and career of the 40th president. With The Crusader, Kengor returns with the one book about Reagan that has not been written: the story of his lifelong crusade against communism and of his dogged and ultimately triumphant effort to overthrow the Soviet Union.
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Whether you like Reagan or not....
- By Daryl on 10-20-13
By: Paul Kengor
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The Putin Interviews
- Oliver Stone Interviews Vladimir Putin
- By: Oliver Stone
- Narrated by: Pete Cross, Qarie Marshall
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Supplemented with referential information and culled from more than a dozen interviews with Putin over a two-year period - spanning Stone's first trip to Moscow to meet with NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden to his most recent visit after the election of President Donald Trump - The Putin Interviews is based on what journalists, news organizations, and other world leaders have long coveted: extended, unprecedented access to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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A for Effort...but I nearly puked.
- By Godson Ugochukwu on 08-13-18
By: Oliver Stone
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Reagan's Secret War
- The Untold Story of His Fight to Save the World from Nuclear Disaster
- By: Martin Anderson, Annelise Anderson
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Martin and Annelise Anderson drew upon their access to more than eight million classified documents housed within the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. What emerges from this treasure trove of material is evidence that Reagan intended from his first days in office to bring down the Soviet Union, that he considered eliminating nuclear weapons his paramount objective, and that he was the principal architect of the policies that brought the Soviets to the nuclear-arms negotiating table.
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IMPORTANT HISTORICAL INFORMATION
- By Byron on 06-19-12
By: Martin Anderson, and others
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Hopes and Prospects
- By: Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: Brian Jones
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In this urgent new book, Noam Chomsky examines the dangers and prospects of our early 21st century. Exploring challenges such as the growing gap between North and South, American exceptionalism (including under President Obama), the fiascos of Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S.-Israeli assault on Gaza, and the recent recent financial bailouts, he also sees hope for the future. Chomsky surveys the democratic wave in Latin America and the growing global solidarity movements.
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An Intellectual Wind Tunnel
- By Cellar_Door_Books on 04-23-11
By: Noam Chomsky
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Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China
- By: Ezra F. Vogel
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 33 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Once described by Mao Zedong as a "needle inside a ball of cotton", Deng was the pragmatic yet disciplined driving force behind China's radical transformation in the late 20th century. He confronted the damage wrought by the Cultural Revolution, dissolved Mao's cult of personality, and loosened the policies that had stunted China's growth. Obsessed with modernization, Deng opened trade relations with the West, which lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty. Yet he also answered to his authoritarian roots, most notably when he ordered the crackdown in 1989 at Tiananmen Square.
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Another butcher of the Chinese language
- By Jack Hanson on 09-19-21
By: Ezra F. Vogel
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Kissinger: Volume I
- 1923-1968: The Idealist
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 34 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
No American statesman has been as revered and as reviled as Henry Kissinger. Once hailed as "Super-K" - the "indispensable man" whose advice has been sought by every president from Kennedy to Obama - he has also been hounded by conspiracy theorists, scouring his every "telcon" for evidence of Machiavellian malfeasance. Yet as Niall Ferguson shows in this magisterial biography, the idea of Kissinger as the ruthless arch-realist is based on a profound misunderstanding.
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Riveting
- By Jean on 11-10-15
By: Niall Ferguson
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Camelot's Court
- Inside the Kennedy White House
- By: Robert Dallek
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifty years after John F. Kennedy's assassination, presidential historian Robert Dallek, whom The New York Times calls "Kennedy's leading biographer", delivers a riveting new portrait of this president and his inner circle of advisors, their rivalries, personality clashes, and political battles. In Camelot's Court, Dallek analyzes the brain trust whose contributions to the successes and failures of Kennedy's administration - including the Bay of Pigs, civil rights, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Vietnam - were indelible.
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Well Researched but Critically Flawed
- By brent lloyd on 02-08-22
By: Robert Dallek
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The End of the Cold War 1985-1991
- By: Robert Service
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 21 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Drawing on new archival research, Robert Service's gripping new investigation of the final years of the Cold War - the first to give equal attention to the internal deliberations from both sides of the Iron Curtain - opens a window onto the dramatic years that would irrevocably alter the world's geopolitical landscape and the men at their fore.
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Behind the scenes look at a pivotal period of time
- By Mike From Mesa on 09-20-16
By: Robert Service
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The Battle of Bretton Woods
- John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White, and the Making of a New World Order
- By: Benn Steil
- Narrated by: Philip Rose
- Length: 15 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
When turmoil strikes world monetary and financial markets, leaders invariably call for "a new Bretton Woods" to prevent catastrophic economic disorder and defuse political conflict. The name of the remote New Hampshire town where representatives of 44 nations gathered in July 1944, in the midst of the century's second great war, has become shorthand for enlightened globalization.
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Is this a mystery, a history or an economics book?
- By Neil on 04-23-13
By: Benn Steil
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Fear Itself
- The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time
- By: Ira Katznelson
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 22 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Redefining our traditional understanding of the New Deal, Fear Itself finally examines this pivotal American era through a sweeping international lens that juxtaposes a struggling democracy with enticing ideologies like Fascism and Communism. Ira Katznelson, "a towering figure in the study of American and European history" (Cornel West), boldly asserts that, during the 1930s and 1940s, American democracy was rescued yet distorted by a unified band of southern lawmakers who safeguarded racial segregation as they built a new national state to manage capitalism and assert global power.
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History in Context of Political Science Analysis
- By zsuzsanna on 08-27-15
By: Ira Katznelson
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The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution: 1763-1789
- By: Robert Middlekauff
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 26 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic.
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Strong History Rich With Behind The Scenes Details
- By John on 10-06-11
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Hard Choices
- By: Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Narrated by: Kathleen Chalfant, Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Length: 26 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Hillary Rodham Clinton's inside account of the crises, choices, and challenges she faced during her four years as America's 67th Secretary of State, and how those experiences drive her view of the future. In the aftermath of her 2008 presidential run, she expected to return to representing New York in the United States Senate. To her surprise, her former rival for the Democratic Party nomination, newly elected President Barack Obama, asked her to serve in his administration as Secretary of State. This memoir is the story of the four extraordinary and historic years that followed.
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Senior Stateswoman in need of Editor
- By Cynthia on 07-20-14
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What listeners say about America's Last President
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- Rebecca M. Grant
- 11-27-22
America's Last President
As a "child of the Kennedy Administration", I was just 10 when he was assassinated. I remember everything about that day, the worst day of my life. His murder changed my entire life. I understood we had lost the greatest gift ever given to us, he had us believing in ourselves. We gave everything we had because he encouraged it. We were singing, dancing, writing beautiful music, painting, drawing and loving life and each other. We are so lost now and I dream of the day this cloud will lift. There was nothing like the era of JFK, RFK, and Martin Luther King and we emulated their hopes and dreams. Along with these great men (and many brilliant women too) went their visionary spirits and our lovely country. It was pretty telling when a 10 year old felt this loss so profoundly.
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