
An Ordinary Man
The Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R. Ford
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $25.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Fred Sanders
About this listen
"Gerald Ford is probably remembered more for how he got to the presidency than for what he did there. In this brilliant book, Richard Norton Smith tells the rest of the story. On every other page I found something I didn’t know, bringing new and important insights into how Ford kept the nation together and moved it past its most severe political crisis since the Civil War. It will become the definitive work on Ford and his presidency." -- Bob Schieffer, CBS News
From the preeminent presidential scholar and acclaimed biographer of historical figures including George Washington, Herbert Hoover, and Nelson Rockefeller comes this eye-opening life of Gerald R. Ford, whose presidency arguably set the course for post-liberal America and a post-Cold War world.
For many Americans, President Gerald Ford was the genial accident of history who controversially pardoned his Watergate-tarnished predecessor, presided over the fall of Saigon, and became a punching bag on Saturday Night Live. Yet as Richard Norton Smith reveals in a book full of surprises, Ford was an underrated leader whose tough decisions and personal decency look better with the passage of time.
Drawing on hundreds of interviews and thousands of documents, Smith recreates Ford’s hardscrabble childhood in Michigan, his early anti-establishment politics and lifelong love affair with the former Betty Bloomer, whose impact on American culture he predicted would outrank his own. As president, Ford guided the nation through its worst Constitutional crisis since the Civil War and broke the back of the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression—accomplishing both with little fanfare or credit (at least until 2001 when the JFK Library gave him its prestigious Profile in Courage Award in belated recognition of the Nixon pardon).
Less coda than curtain raiser, Ford's administration bridged the Republican pragmatism of Eisenhower and Nixon and the more doctrinaire conservatism of Ronald Reagan. His introduction of economic deregulation would transform the American economy, while his embrace of the Helsinki Accords hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union.
This definitive biography, a decade in the making, will change history’s views of a man whose warning about presidential arrogance (“God help the country”) is more relevant than ever.
©2023 Richard Norton Smith (P)2023 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
-
His Very Best
- Jimmy Carter, a Life
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Michael Boatman
- Length: 31 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in one of the meanest counties in the Jim Crow South, Carter is the only American president who essentially lived in three centuries: his early life on the farm in the 1920s without electricity or running water might as well have been in the nineteenth; his presidency put him at the center of major events in the twentieth; and his efforts on conflict resolution and global health set him on the cutting edge of the challenges of the 21st.
-
-
Unbiased biography of a complex president
- By P Willis on 10-08-20
By: Jonathan Alter
-
On His Own Terms
- A Life of Nelson Rockefeller
- By: Richard Norton Smith
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 40 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fourteen years in the making, this magisterial biography of the original Rockefeller Republican draws on thousands of newly available documents and over 200 interviews, including Rockefeller’s own unpublished reminiscences.
-
-
An Excellent biography
- By Jean on 11-19-14
-
The Peacemaker
- Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink
- By: William Inboden
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 23 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With decades of hindsight, the peaceful end of the Cold War seems a foregone conclusion. But in the early 1980s, most experts believed the Soviet Union was strong, stable, and would last into the next century. Ronald Reagan entered the White House with no certainty of what would happen next, only an overriding faith in democracy and an abiding belief that Soviet communism—and the threat of nuclear war—must end. The Peacemaker reveals how Reagan’s White House waged the Cold War while managing multiple crises around the globe.
-
-
a very good book
- By Dale Sarver on 01-09-23
By: William Inboden
-
Destiny and Power
- The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 25 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on President Bush’s personal diaries, on the diaries of his wife, Barbara, and on extraordinary access to the 41st president and his family, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham paints an intimate and surprising portrait of an intensely private man who led the nation through tumultuous times.
-
-
Fair and insightful
- By Jean on 12-02-15
By: Jon Meacham
-
The Outlier
- The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter
- By: Kai Bird
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 27 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four decades after Ronald Reagan’s landslide win in 1980, Jimmy Carter’s one-term presidency is often labeled a failure; indeed, many Americans view Carter as the only ex-president to have used the White House as a stepping-stone to greater achievements. But in retrospect the Carter political odyssey is a rich and human story, marked by both formidable accomplishments and painful political adversity. In this deeply researched, brilliantly written account, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Kai Bird deftly unfolds the Carter saga as a tragic tipping point in American history.
-
-
Nice to be reminded what a GREAT narrator is
- By aaron on 06-17-21
By: Kai Bird
-
President Garfield
- From Radical to Unifier
- By: CW Goodyear
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In “the most comprehensive Garfield biography in almost fifty years” (The Wall Street Journal), C.W. Goodyear charts the life and times of one of the most remarkable Americans ever to win the Presidency. Progressive firebrand and conservative compromiser; Union war hero and founder of the first Department of Education; Supreme Court attorney and abolitionist preacher; mathematician and canalman; crooked election-fixed and clean-government champion; Congressional chieftain and gentleman-farmer; the last president to be born in a log cabin; the second to be assassinated.
-
-
Excellent
- By Krmartin on 08-19-23
By: CW Goodyear
-
His Very Best
- Jimmy Carter, a Life
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Michael Boatman
- Length: 31 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in one of the meanest counties in the Jim Crow South, Carter is the only American president who essentially lived in three centuries: his early life on the farm in the 1920s without electricity or running water might as well have been in the nineteenth; his presidency put him at the center of major events in the twentieth; and his efforts on conflict resolution and global health set him on the cutting edge of the challenges of the 21st.
-
-
Unbiased biography of a complex president
- By P Willis on 10-08-20
By: Jonathan Alter
-
On His Own Terms
- A Life of Nelson Rockefeller
- By: Richard Norton Smith
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 40 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fourteen years in the making, this magisterial biography of the original Rockefeller Republican draws on thousands of newly available documents and over 200 interviews, including Rockefeller’s own unpublished reminiscences.
-
-
An Excellent biography
- By Jean on 11-19-14
-
The Peacemaker
- Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink
- By: William Inboden
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 23 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With decades of hindsight, the peaceful end of the Cold War seems a foregone conclusion. But in the early 1980s, most experts believed the Soviet Union was strong, stable, and would last into the next century. Ronald Reagan entered the White House with no certainty of what would happen next, only an overriding faith in democracy and an abiding belief that Soviet communism—and the threat of nuclear war—must end. The Peacemaker reveals how Reagan’s White House waged the Cold War while managing multiple crises around the globe.
-
-
a very good book
- By Dale Sarver on 01-09-23
By: William Inboden
-
Destiny and Power
- The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 25 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on President Bush’s personal diaries, on the diaries of his wife, Barbara, and on extraordinary access to the 41st president and his family, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham paints an intimate and surprising portrait of an intensely private man who led the nation through tumultuous times.
-
-
Fair and insightful
- By Jean on 12-02-15
By: Jon Meacham
-
The Outlier
- The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter
- By: Kai Bird
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 27 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four decades after Ronald Reagan’s landslide win in 1980, Jimmy Carter’s one-term presidency is often labeled a failure; indeed, many Americans view Carter as the only ex-president to have used the White House as a stepping-stone to greater achievements. But in retrospect the Carter political odyssey is a rich and human story, marked by both formidable accomplishments and painful political adversity. In this deeply researched, brilliantly written account, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Kai Bird deftly unfolds the Carter saga as a tragic tipping point in American history.
-
-
Nice to be reminded what a GREAT narrator is
- By aaron on 06-17-21
By: Kai Bird
-
President Garfield
- From Radical to Unifier
- By: CW Goodyear
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In “the most comprehensive Garfield biography in almost fifty years” (The Wall Street Journal), C.W. Goodyear charts the life and times of one of the most remarkable Americans ever to win the Presidency. Progressive firebrand and conservative compromiser; Union war hero and founder of the first Department of Education; Supreme Court attorney and abolitionist preacher; mathematician and canalman; crooked election-fixed and clean-government champion; Congressional chieftain and gentleman-farmer; the last president to be born in a log cabin; the second to be assassinated.
-
-
Excellent
- By Krmartin on 08-19-23
By: CW Goodyear
-
Romney
- A Reckoning
- By: McKay Coppins
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, McKay Coppins
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few figures in American politics have seen more and said less than Mitt Romney. An outspoken dissident in Donald Trump’s GOP, he has made headlines in recent years for standing alone against the forces he believes are poisoning the party he once led. Romney was the first senator in history to vote to remove from office a president of his own party. When that president’s supporters went on to storm the US Capitol, Romney delivered a thundering speech from the Senate floor accusing his fellow Republicans of stoking insurrection.
-
-
Political and intellectual biography at its best!
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-23
By: McKay Coppins
-
Richard Nixon
- The Life
- By: John A. Farrell
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 28 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Richard Nixon opens with young navy lieutenant "Nick" Nixon returning from the Pacific and setting his cap at Congress, an idealistic dreamer seeking to build a better world. Yet amid the turns of that now legendary 1946 campaign, Nixon's finer attributes quickly gave way to unapologetic ruthlessness. It is a stunning overture to John A. Farrell's magisterial portrait of a man who embodied postwar American cynicism.
-
-
Well balanced and proportioned
- By Tad Davis on 06-04-17
By: John A. Farrell
-
Reagan
- The Life
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 31 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
Very little about Reagan
- By Jack Merritt on 07-30-15
By: H. W. Brands
-
A Man of Iron
- The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland
- By: Troy Senik
- Narrated by: Pete Simonelli, Troy Senik
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Grover Cleveland’s political career—a dizzying journey that saw him rise from obscure lawyer to president of the United States in just three years—was marked by contradictions. A politician of uncharacteristic honesty and principle, he was nevertheless dogged by secrets from his personal life. A believer in limited government, he pushed presidential power to its limits to combat a crippling depression, suppress labor unrest, and resist the forces of American imperialism.
-
-
Worth the Wait!
- By Brian S Cunningham on 09-21-22
By: Troy Senik
-
G-Man (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
- J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century
- By: Beverly Gage
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 36 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A major new biography of J Edgar Hoover that draws from never-before-seen sources to create a groundbreaking portrait of a colossus who dominated half a century of American history and planted the seeds for much of today's conservative political landscape.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Jessica Armas on 12-06-22
By: Beverly Gage
-
Eisenhower in War and Peace
- By: Jean Edward Smith
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 28 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Author of the best-seller FDR, Jean Edward Smith is a master of the presidential biography. Setting his sights on Dwight D. Eisenhower, Smith delivers a rich account of Eisenhower’s life using previously untapped primary sources. From the military service in WWII that launched his career to the shrewd political decisions that kept America out of wars with the Soviet Union and China, Smith reveals a man who never faltered in his dedication to serving America, whether in times of war or peace.
-
-
Good, although biased, biography
- By Mike From Mesa on 10-15-12
-
Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream
- The Most Revealing Portrait of a President and Presidential Power Ever Written
- By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman, Jim Frangione
- Length: 17 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Doris Kearns Goodwin's classic life of Lyndon Johnson, who presided over the Great Society, the Vietnam War, and other defining moments in the tumultuous 1960s, is a monument in political biography. From the moment the author, then a young woman from Harvard, first encountered President Johnson at a White House dance in the spring of 1967, she became fascinated by the man - his character, his enormous energy and drive, and his manner of wielding these gifts in an endless pursuit of power.
-
-
Unfortunately simple slant.
- By Lynda Rands on 01-22-17
-
The Jazz Age President
- Defending Warren G. Harding
- By: Ryan S. Walters
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He's the butt of political jokes, frequently subjected to ridicule, and almost never absent a "Worst Presidents" list where he most often ends up at the bottom. Historians have labeled him the "Worst President Ever," "Dead Last," "Unfit," and "Incompetent," to name but a few. Many contemporaries were equally cruel. H. L. Mencken called him a "nitwit." To Alice Roosevelt Longworth, he was a "slob."
-
-
Excellent clarification
- By Scott J. Jones MD on 08-03-22
By: Ryan S. Walters
-
Reagan
- An American Journey
- By: Bob Spitz
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 32 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
More than five years in the making, based on hundreds of interviews and access to previously unavailable documents, and infused with irresistible storytelling charm, Bob Spitz's Reagan stands fair to be the first truly post-partisan biography of our 40th president, and thus a balm for our own bitterly divided times. Absorbing and richly detailed, it is a revelatory chronicle of the full arc of Ronald Reagan's epic life - giving full weight to the Hollywood years, his transition to politics and successful run as California governor, and ultimately, his iconic presidency.
-
-
Pretty obvious this was written by a Democrat
- By Amazon Customer on 11-04-19
By: Bob Spitz
-
Hoover
- An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times
- By: Kenneth Whyte
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 27 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The definitive biography of Herbert Hoover, one of the most remarkable Americans of the 20th century - a revisionist account that will forever change the way Americans understand the man, his presidency, and his battle against the Great Depression. A poor orphan who built a fortune, a great humanitarian, a president elected in a landslide and then routed in the next election, arguably the father of both New Deal liberalism and modern conservatism - Herbert Hoover is also one of our least understood presidents.
-
-
What a fascinating story!
- By Dan Ryan on 11-18-17
By: Kenneth Whyte
-
Wilson
- By: A. Scott Berg
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 32 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A hundred years after his inauguration, Woodrow Wilson still stands as one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, and one of the most enigmatic. And now, after more than a decade of research and writing, Pulitzer Prize-winning author A. Scott Berg has completed Wilson - the most personal and penetrating biography ever written about the 28th President. This is not just Wilson the icon - but Wilson the man.
-
-
Well Written & Narrated But Too Much Hero Worship
- By Nostromo on 11-17-13
By: A. Scott Berg
-
A Promised Land
- By: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 29 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency - a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.
-
-
Color me grateful.
- By Angela on 11-19-20
By: Barack Obama
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
A Man of Iron
- The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland
- By: Troy Senik
- Narrated by: Pete Simonelli, Troy Senik
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Grover Cleveland’s political career—a dizzying journey that saw him rise from obscure lawyer to president of the United States in just three years—was marked by contradictions. A politician of uncharacteristic honesty and principle, he was nevertheless dogged by secrets from his personal life. A believer in limited government, he pushed presidential power to its limits to combat a crippling depression, suppress labor unrest, and resist the forces of American imperialism.
-
-
Worth the Wait!
- By Brian S Cunningham on 09-21-22
By: Troy Senik
-
The Jazz Age President
- Defending Warren G. Harding
- By: Ryan S. Walters
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He's the butt of political jokes, frequently subjected to ridicule, and almost never absent a "Worst Presidents" list where he most often ends up at the bottom. Historians have labeled him the "Worst President Ever," "Dead Last," "Unfit," and "Incompetent," to name but a few. Many contemporaries were equally cruel. H. L. Mencken called him a "nitwit." To Alice Roosevelt Longworth, he was a "slob."
-
-
Excellent clarification
- By Scott J. Jones MD on 08-03-22
By: Ryan S. Walters
-
President Garfield
- From Radical to Unifier
- By: CW Goodyear
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In “the most comprehensive Garfield biography in almost fifty years” (The Wall Street Journal), C.W. Goodyear charts the life and times of one of the most remarkable Americans ever to win the Presidency. Progressive firebrand and conservative compromiser; Union war hero and founder of the first Department of Education; Supreme Court attorney and abolitionist preacher; mathematician and canalman; crooked election-fixed and clean-government champion; Congressional chieftain and gentleman-farmer; the last president to be born in a log cabin; the second to be assassinated.
-
-
Excellent
- By Krmartin on 08-19-23
By: CW Goodyear
-
The Outlier
- The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter
- By: Kai Bird
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 27 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four decades after Ronald Reagan’s landslide win in 1980, Jimmy Carter’s one-term presidency is often labeled a failure; indeed, many Americans view Carter as the only ex-president to have used the White House as a stepping-stone to greater achievements. But in retrospect the Carter political odyssey is a rich and human story, marked by both formidable accomplishments and painful political adversity. In this deeply researched, brilliantly written account, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Kai Bird deftly unfolds the Carter saga as a tragic tipping point in American history.
-
-
Nice to be reminded what a GREAT narrator is
- By aaron on 06-17-21
By: Kai Bird
-
Wilson
- By: A. Scott Berg
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 32 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A hundred years after his inauguration, Woodrow Wilson still stands as one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, and one of the most enigmatic. And now, after more than a decade of research and writing, Pulitzer Prize-winning author A. Scott Berg has completed Wilson - the most personal and penetrating biography ever written about the 28th President. This is not just Wilson the icon - but Wilson the man.
-
-
Well Written & Narrated But Too Much Hero Worship
- By Nostromo on 11-17-13
By: A. Scott Berg
-
On His Own Terms
- A Life of Nelson Rockefeller
- By: Richard Norton Smith
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 40 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fourteen years in the making, this magisterial biography of the original Rockefeller Republican draws on thousands of newly available documents and over 200 interviews, including Rockefeller’s own unpublished reminiscences.
-
-
An Excellent biography
- By Jean on 11-19-14
-
A Man of Iron
- The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland
- By: Troy Senik
- Narrated by: Pete Simonelli, Troy Senik
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Grover Cleveland’s political career—a dizzying journey that saw him rise from obscure lawyer to president of the United States in just three years—was marked by contradictions. A politician of uncharacteristic honesty and principle, he was nevertheless dogged by secrets from his personal life. A believer in limited government, he pushed presidential power to its limits to combat a crippling depression, suppress labor unrest, and resist the forces of American imperialism.
-
-
Worth the Wait!
- By Brian S Cunningham on 09-21-22
By: Troy Senik
-
The Jazz Age President
- Defending Warren G. Harding
- By: Ryan S. Walters
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He's the butt of political jokes, frequently subjected to ridicule, and almost never absent a "Worst Presidents" list where he most often ends up at the bottom. Historians have labeled him the "Worst President Ever," "Dead Last," "Unfit," and "Incompetent," to name but a few. Many contemporaries were equally cruel. H. L. Mencken called him a "nitwit." To Alice Roosevelt Longworth, he was a "slob."
-
-
Excellent clarification
- By Scott J. Jones MD on 08-03-22
By: Ryan S. Walters
-
President Garfield
- From Radical to Unifier
- By: CW Goodyear
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In “the most comprehensive Garfield biography in almost fifty years” (The Wall Street Journal), C.W. Goodyear charts the life and times of one of the most remarkable Americans ever to win the Presidency. Progressive firebrand and conservative compromiser; Union war hero and founder of the first Department of Education; Supreme Court attorney and abolitionist preacher; mathematician and canalman; crooked election-fixed and clean-government champion; Congressional chieftain and gentleman-farmer; the last president to be born in a log cabin; the second to be assassinated.
-
-
Excellent
- By Krmartin on 08-19-23
By: CW Goodyear
-
The Outlier
- The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter
- By: Kai Bird
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 27 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four decades after Ronald Reagan’s landslide win in 1980, Jimmy Carter’s one-term presidency is often labeled a failure; indeed, many Americans view Carter as the only ex-president to have used the White House as a stepping-stone to greater achievements. But in retrospect the Carter political odyssey is a rich and human story, marked by both formidable accomplishments and painful political adversity. In this deeply researched, brilliantly written account, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Kai Bird deftly unfolds the Carter saga as a tragic tipping point in American history.
-
-
Nice to be reminded what a GREAT narrator is
- By aaron on 06-17-21
By: Kai Bird
-
Wilson
- By: A. Scott Berg
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 32 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A hundred years after his inauguration, Woodrow Wilson still stands as one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, and one of the most enigmatic. And now, after more than a decade of research and writing, Pulitzer Prize-winning author A. Scott Berg has completed Wilson - the most personal and penetrating biography ever written about the 28th President. This is not just Wilson the icon - but Wilson the man.
-
-
Well Written & Narrated But Too Much Hero Worship
- By Nostromo on 11-17-13
By: A. Scott Berg
-
On His Own Terms
- A Life of Nelson Rockefeller
- By: Richard Norton Smith
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 40 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fourteen years in the making, this magisterial biography of the original Rockefeller Republican draws on thousands of newly available documents and over 200 interviews, including Rockefeller’s own unpublished reminiscences.
-
-
An Excellent biography
- By Jean on 11-19-14
-
Destiny and Power
- The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 25 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on President Bush’s personal diaries, on the diaries of his wife, Barbara, and on extraordinary access to the 41st president and his family, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham paints an intimate and surprising portrait of an intensely private man who led the nation through tumultuous times.
-
-
Fair and insightful
- By Jean on 12-02-15
By: Jon Meacham
-
Hoover
- An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times
- By: Kenneth Whyte
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 27 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The definitive biography of Herbert Hoover, one of the most remarkable Americans of the 20th century - a revisionist account that will forever change the way Americans understand the man, his presidency, and his battle against the Great Depression. A poor orphan who built a fortune, a great humanitarian, a president elected in a landslide and then routed in the next election, arguably the father of both New Deal liberalism and modern conservatism - Herbert Hoover is also one of our least understood presidents.
-
-
What a fascinating story!
- By Dan Ryan on 11-18-17
By: Kenneth Whyte
-
The Triumph and Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson
- The White House Years
- By: Joseph A. Califano Jr.
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
President Lyndon Johnson was bigger than life - and no one who worked for him or was subjected to the "Johnson treatment" ever forgot it. As Johnson's "Deputy President of Domestic Affairs", Joseph A. Califano's unique relationship with the president greatly enriches our understanding of our 36th president. Califano shows listeners LBJ's commitment to economic and social revolution, and his willingness to do whatever it took to achieve his goals.
-
-
LBJ The Greatest President of 20th century
- By David W. Goldstein on 07-28-15
-
His Very Best
- Jimmy Carter, a Life
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Michael Boatman
- Length: 31 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in one of the meanest counties in the Jim Crow South, Carter is the only American president who essentially lived in three centuries: his early life on the farm in the 1920s without electricity or running water might as well have been in the nineteenth; his presidency put him at the center of major events in the twentieth; and his efforts on conflict resolution and global health set him on the cutting edge of the challenges of the 21st.
-
-
Unbiased biography of a complex president
- By P Willis on 10-08-20
By: Jonathan Alter
-
The Unexpected President
- The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur
- By: Scott S. Greenberger
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite his promising start as a young man, by his early 50s Chester A. Arthur was known as the crooked crony of New York machine boss Roscoe Conkling. For years Arthur had been perceived as unfit to govern, not only by critics and the vast majority of his fellow citizens but by his own conscience. As President James A. Garfield struggled for his life, Arthur knew better than his detractors that he failed to meet the high standard a president must uphold. And yet, from the moment President Arthur took office, he proved to be not just honest but brave.
-
-
Exceptional
- By Jean on 07-30-18
-
Coolidge
- By: Amity Shlaes
- Narrated by: Terence Aselford
- Length: 21 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Calvin Coolidge, president from 1923 to 1929, never rated highly in polls, and history has remembered the decade in which he served as an extravagant period predating the Great Depression. Now Amity Shlaes provides a fresh look at the 1920s and its elusive president, showing that the mid-1920s was in fact a triumphant period that established our modern way of life: The nation electrified, Americans drove their first cars, and the federal deficit was replaced with a surplus.
-
-
Silent Cal
- By Jean on 02-19-13
By: Amity Shlaes
-
Richard Nixon
- The Life
- By: John A. Farrell
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 28 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Richard Nixon opens with young navy lieutenant "Nick" Nixon returning from the Pacific and setting his cap at Congress, an idealistic dreamer seeking to build a better world. Yet amid the turns of that now legendary 1946 campaign, Nixon's finer attributes quickly gave way to unapologetic ruthlessness. It is a stunning overture to John A. Farrell's magisterial portrait of a man who embodied postwar American cynicism.
-
-
Well balanced and proportioned
- By Tad Davis on 06-04-17
By: John A. Farrell
-
JFK
- Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956
- By: Fredrik Logevall
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 29 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the time of his assassination in 1963, John F. Kennedy stood at the helm of the greatest power the world had ever seen, a booming American nation that he had steered through some of the most perilous diplomatic standoffs of the Cold War. Born in 1917 to a striving Irish American family that had become among Boston’s wealthiest, Kennedy knew political ambition from an early age, and his meteoric rise to become the youngest elected president cemented his status as one of the most mythologized figures in American history.
-
-
Excellent Portrait of JFK & His Times
- By John David on 12-14-20
By: Fredrik Logevall
-
Bush
- By: Jean Edward Smith
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 25 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Bush, Jean Edward Smith demonstrates that it was not Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, or Condoleezza Rice, but President Bush himself who took personal control of foreign policy. Bush drew on his deep religious conviction that important foreign-policy decisions were simply a matter of good versus evil. Domestically, he overreacted to 9/11 and endangered Americans' civil liberties.
-
-
Delusions of Competence
- By Rick on 11-18-16
-
President McKinley
- Architect of the American Century
- By: Robert W. Merry
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 19 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Republican President William McKinley transformed America during his two terms as president. Although he does not register large in either public memory or in historians' rankings, in this revealing account, Robert W. Merry offers "a fresh twist on the old tale . . . a valuable education on where America has been and, possibly, where it is going" (The National Review).
By: Robert W. Merry
-
John Quincy Adams
- A Man for the Whole People
- By: Randall Woods
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 38 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this masterful biography, historian Randall B. Woods peels back the many layers of John Quincy’s long life, exposing a rich and complicated family saga and a political legacy that transformed the American Republic. This deeply researched, brilliantly written volume delves into John Quincy’s intellectual pursuits and political thought; his loving, yet at times strained, marriage to Louisa Catherine Johnson, whom he met in London; his troubling relationships with his three sons; and his fiery post-presidency rebirth in Congress as he became the chamber’s most vocal opponent of slavery.
-
-
Great Story
- By Sean Hicks on 04-17-25
By: Randall Woods
-
Being Nixon
- A Man Divided
- By: Evan Thomas
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 20 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this revelatory biography, Evan Thomas delivers a radical, unique portrait of America’s 37th president, Richard Nixon, a contradictory figure who was both determinedly optimistic and tragically flawed. One of the principal architects of the modern Republican Party and its “silent majority” of disaffected whites and conservative ex-Dixiecrats, Nixon was also deemed a liberal in some quarters for his efforts to desegregate Southern schools, create the Environmental Protection Agency, and end the draft.
-
-
Sympathetic bio
- By Scott on 07-27-15
By: Evan Thomas
What listeners say about An Ordinary Man
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 09-22-24
Amazing
Great read, factual and insightful. Loved it. We could use leadership like that today.An excellent use of your time. Give it a try.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Gene
- 07-09-23
Interesting reflection
Well done. I want him back as president of the U S. We could use his qualities
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MAC24211
- 07-24-23
Great book about an underrated man.
Very interesting and detailed about Ford’s early life and career.
The coverage of his presidential years seemed to be a bit less detailed than is typical.
Certainly a great book and a must listen to anyone interested in American history.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- PK
- 08-20-23
Terrific!
This is a fascinating in-depth exploration of an under appreciated President. Definitely worth a read!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- B W
- 05-11-24
Inspirational
It was interesting to learn about his life and his public service. He lived and served with integrity.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- copito
- 05-25-24
A New History
I was very impressed with the book in general mainly because it educated me HARD on the surprising man that is Gerald R. Ford. At once he is a genius and a jock, and emphatic civil rights advocate and a racist (by today’s standards) and at once One of our better presidents and the man who pardoned Nixon. In just two years Ford managed to leave a larger impact than presidents with quadruple his time and many had high approval ratings and a cooperative congress. Every page I turned I learned something new and shocking. My only criticism is that the writers style has a tendency to take the prose out of the moment and reflect on a different moment in Fords presidency or introduce the Authors opinion rather clunkaly. Recommend to anyone and everyone, shoulda been elected in ‘76 and thats from someone who likes Carter.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jake hicks
- 04-21-23
A wonderful insightful look at underrated POTUS
Gerald Ford only served as President for 29 months, however, those 29 months required a steady hand, and Gerald Ford provided that steadying hand. This biography will do for Ford and his legacy what Truman did for the historical legacy of Harry Truman.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- allison h eid
- 10-17-23
Must-read Polemic
Definitely appreciate Mr. Smith providing this important biography of President Ford. A long overdue topic for an understandably respected biographer. Which is why the polemical quality of the finished product is so disappointing and occasionally frustrating. For example, how can Mr. Norton laud the foresight of President Fort in supporting the Helsinki Accords when those agreements - ratifying Soviet Terrorism in Central and Eastern Europe - only achieved force and meaning after Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter, reinvigorated our military, and was able to transform Kissinger detente into a rollback of Communism? A very good book that could have been great.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lee
- 05-24-23
Under appreciated as a truly great American leader
This book is the first I’ve read (or listened to) that captures just how exceptional Gerald Ford was. In my lifetime of 14 presidents, Mr Ford very well may have been the best. Don’t believe me? Listen to this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mamma
- 09-25-23
Well done1
Well written, comprehensive look at the man and his presidency. Should be a mandatory read for all current politicians.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!