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Blind Ambition

The White House Years

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Blind Ambition

By: John W. Dean
Narrated by: George Newbern
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This New York Times best seller is an insider's account of the fall of Richard Nixon, and has remained an indispensable source into Nixon's presidency. Blind Ambition is an autobiographical account of a young lawyer who accelerated to the top of the Federal power structure to become Counsel to the President at 30 years of age, only to discover that when reaching the top, he had touched the bottom. Most striking in this chronicle is its honesty. Dean spares no one, including himself. But, as Time noted, Dean survived, despite the opposition of powerful foe, because he had no false story to protect and he had an amazing ability to recall the truth.

©1979 John Dean (P)2016 Dreamscape Media, LLC Americas History & Theory Law Political Science Politicians Politics & Activism Politics & Government Professionals & Academics United States Vietnam War Richard Nixon

Featured Article: Watergate, 50 Years Later—Essential Listening on the Political Scandal and Its Aftermath


Watergate's significant and lasting effects on American politics cannot be denied. While there were kernels of distrust in the government before this time, the Watergate Scandal drove American citizens to become even more critical and distrusting of people in positions of power. Here are some essential listens about Nixon, Watergate, and everything else you need to know.

Featured Article Watergate 50 Years Later Essential Listening on the Political Scandal and Its Aftermath

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Preoccupied, just getting my footing asvan adult, Watergate settled in my memory as a national tragedy. Names of key players were a jumble of familiar sounds and, oh, there are so many names. While listening, I found it helpful to pause and quickly search the Internet to learn a person's significance. The Reader's vocal variety made this production engaging and worthy of my investment.

Insightful Historical Window

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Required reading to understand what happened during the Watergate era. Dirty tricks were afoot back then, too.

Watergate Memoir

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Answered a lot of my questions about Watergate. Narrator did a good job, especially in reading conversations between multiple people.

Loved it

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I'm hooked on learning more about the Pentagon Papers and Daniel Ellsberg, listening on YouTube to John Dean's Watergate Hearings Testimony, and now that I'm finished with this book, I'm looking forward to reading his other book, The Nixon Defense.

[I'm also trying to weigh in on the Nixon Conspiracy, which is trying to cause its own conspiracy. As authors, I have not found Geoff Shepard as authoritative, knowledgeable or as well-written as John Dean. Seems like his goal is to punch holes in the Watergate story, which he hasn't done very convincingly, but he's entitled to his opinion.]

I was elated listening to the end of this book and was disappointed when it suddenly was over.
Gotta get my next Watergate fix!

A Good Watergate Fix

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Would you consider the audio edition of Blind Ambition to be better than the print version?

It's a great book, but unfortunately the narrator doesn't know how to pronounce the names of some of the principal characters - for instance, Judge John Sirica he pronounces as "CYR-i-cuh" rather than the proper "sur-IH-cuh". Gets very distracting.

Great book, unfortunate narration

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For many years after Watergate, I refused to buy this book as I did not want to give any money to anyone involved in the Watergate scandal. I was a young man when Watergate happened and I watched all the hearings and read multiple histories. However, several years ago, I decided, after listening to John Dean on TV, that I didn't care if he made a buck or two from my purchasing the book. So, I finally read it. I really liked the narrative, and I actually liked him. Not because what he did was admirable, at all, but rather because I felt he was honest about his own drives and flaws that led to his own downfall and the downfall of the Nixon Presidency. And again recently, I decided to download it from Audible and read it one more time. Wow! It really is a great book and I recommend it highly to anyone who loves a good history, and I recommend it to anyone trying to make sense of the years between 2016 and 2023. History is a show that does seem to repeat itself. I recommend this book to folks who want to understand how absolute power really can absolutely corrupt. Thank you, Mister Dean for an important book.

Even Better The Second Time

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I've read a few Dean books and I like the way he processes reality, and explains it. I could see an actual lawyer at each of these junctures making similar calls and ending up in this particular alley-with-no-exit. But of course there was, and is, an exit -- throwing oneself into the arms of prosecutors and, after some touch-and-go incarceration time, the classic DC exit: a book contract. Dean played it pretty well at every point, all things considered. He was a cat in a very wild jungle that landed on cat feet, if a little erratically mid-air on the way.
I like his admission of alcohol overuse, though I think he soft-played the early playboy life discussed by other authors (all being hearsay, from here). This is Dean's brief on his own behalf, as half a dozen other players were to produce. (Only in the parallax of several can I hope to glean some ultimate factual record.) Meanwhile, this is a masterclass on life at the political top as perceived by a sharp-eyed lawyer. My own lawyer-litigation experience, including the portraits of various personalities found there and various tactics of all players, rang true. I like Dean's appraisals of the motives and strategies behind the words and gestures of the (now infamous) characters. For the cool-as-iced-tea Dean, bits sound perhaps whiny and self-pitying, until one immerses in the scenes and uncertainties where he found himself. Even he could be shaken and stirred.
Unexpected bits include: (1) Chuck Colson as a funny, clever guy, even after being caught, jailed, and having his Christian conversion (I'm not sure in what precise order; I'll have to catch his memoirs next; no wonder Nixon liked him so much!); and (2) half-coincidentally, as I've been checking out the later Howard Hughes story, a wrap-up with Dean's conjecture on why the break-in happened, involving Howard Hughes. USA keeps generating indelible colorful/errant personalities and linking them oh so weirdly! We have always had wild disparities in outcomes and unexpected second acts, and we still do.

Pitch-perfect as a lawyer's eye-view

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John Dean’s account of his own role in Watergate is interesting, if pretty self-serving. To his credit, he paces the book really well and writes in a straightforward style that moves the narrative along effectively. Intentionally or unintentionally, his tendency to explain and justify his motives for doing what he did (as evidenced by the title), cause you to root for and against him from chapter to chapter. If there is one thing I could point out about this book that stands out to me, and is the reason I am writing this, it's the reader. Readers seem to be a very subjective part of audiobook reviews but this one is exemplary, in my opinion. I would give him 6 stars if I could: logical, measured, and a little sanctimonious, he owns the voice of John Dean. For fans of watergate history and 20th century American history I would argue this is a must read (or listen).

Dean Testifies, But the Reader Steals the Show

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My mom was somewhat obsessed with the Watergate Scandal, and I am intrigued to learn the facts associated with these names that have rattled around my brain since childhood. This book is very detailed and satisfying. It is, of course, all from John W Dean's perspective, and therein lie both the strengths and weaknesses. On one hand, the book is coherent and emotionally rooted in the experiences of one person. On the other, of course, we see John Dean through his own lens (and our views of ourselves are rarely accurate in the empirical sense). However, I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. For a book written 40 years ago, the details and framing do not feel dated in the least. An interesting aspect of any history of Watergate is the technology, and this book has an efficient approach to descriptions of the phone, recording, and documentation tech that speak of the age but are not mysterious to the listener in the digital era. In addition, the way momentous events just tumble after one another (Pentagon Papers, Third Rate Burglary, Saturday Night Massacre, etc) make it quite the page turner. A contemporary viewer knows what happens next, but it's still suspenseful in the telling.
The narrator's performance is somewhat without affect, and I differed numerous times with his choice of sentence emphasis. But it definitely grew on me and I think it is fine; especially in view of the famously monotone delivery of John Dean's senate testimony. Ultimately, this was a great listening experience, and if you are remotely interested in political history, it will be time well spent.

Very Good, Appropriate for this Era

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I read the book many years ago, and listened to it after years of reading many other Watergate-related books. It was written at a time when access to the Nixon tapes was not yet available. Dean's memory proves extraordinary and the decades of research since only prove it. His account was contemporaneous and reads as such.

Hero to some, villain to others, Dean has rehabilitated himself as an astute observer of US politics. His more recent books are well worth reading, too.

A must listen for all Watergate students

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