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Desk 88
- Eight Progressive Senators Who Changed America
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon, Sherrod Brown
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
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Publisher's summary
"Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown offers listeners both an insider's and a historical view of the workings of the U.S. Senate in this intriguing audiobook." (AudioFile Magazine)
Since his election to the US Senate in 2006, Ohio’s Sherrod Brown has sat on the Senate floor at a mahogany desk with a proud history. In Desk 88, he tells the story of eight of the Senators who were there before him.
Despite their flaws and frequent setbacks, each made a decisive contribution to the creation of a more just America. They range from Hugo Black, who helped to lift millions of American workers out of poverty, to Robert F. Kennedy, whose eyes were opened by an undernourished Mississippi child and who then spent the rest of his life afflicting the comfortable. Brown revives forgotten figures such as Idaho’s Glen Taylor, a singing cowboy who taught himself economics and stood up to segregationists, and offers new insights into George McGovern, who fought to feed the poor around the world even amid personal and political calamities. He also writes about Herbert Lehman of New York, Al Gore Sr. of Tennessee, Theodore Francis Green of Rhode Island, and William Proxmire of Wisconsin.
Together, these eight portraits in political courage tell a story about the triumphs and failures of the Progressive idea over the past century: in the 1930s and 1960s, and more intermittently since, politicians and the public have successfully fought against entrenched special interests and advanced the cause of economic or racial fairness. Today, these advances are in peril as employers shed their responsibilities to employees and communities, and a US president gives cover to bigotry. But the Progressive idea is not dead.
Recalling his own career, Brown dramatizes the hard work and high ideals required to renew the social contract and create a new era in which Americans of all backgrounds can know the "dignity of work".
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In the early 20th century, most African Americans still lived in the South, disenfranchised, impoverished, terrorized by white violence, and denied the basic rights of citizenship. As the Democrats swept into the White House on a wave of Black defectors from the Party of Lincoln, a group of African-American intellectuals - legal minds, social scientists, media folk - sought to get the community's needs on the table.
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Brilliant, important, and little known history
- By Barry on 06-21-20
By: Jill Watts
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We Should Have Seen It Coming
- From Reagan to Trump - A Front-Row Seat to a Political Revolution
- By: Gerald F. Seib
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The executive Washington editor of The Wall Street Journal chronicles the astonishing rise, climax, and decline of the conservative movement, from the election of Ronald Reagan to the Republican Party's takeover by Donald Trump - with a new introduction covering the 2020 election and the future of the GOP.
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Brilliant!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 11-04-20
By: Gerald F. Seib
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Outsider in the White House
- Special Audio Edition
- By: Bernie Sanders, Huck Gutman, John Nichols - afterword
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett, Brian Sutherland
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Bernie Sanders' campaign for the presidency of the United States has galvanized supporters all over the country, drawing attention to issues of economic, racial, and social justice and spotlighting one of the most interesting and unconventional candidates in decades.
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Behind the Scenes with Bernie--- WORTH it!
- By Susie on 02-23-16
By: Bernie Sanders, and others
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What It Took to Win
- A History of the Democratic Party
- By: Michael Kazin
- Narrated by: Lee Goettl
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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In What It Took to Win, the eminent historian Michael Kazin identifies and assesses the Democratic Party's long-running commitment to creating "moral capitalism" - a system that mixed entrepreneurial freedom with the welfare of workers and consumers. And yet the same party that championed the rights of the white working man also vigorously protected or advanced the causes of slavery, segregation, and Indian removal.
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Timely and informative History Book
- By Asha Sceanca on 03-24-22
By: Michael Kazin
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American Carnage
- On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump
- By: Tim Alberta
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 26 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The 2016 election was a watershed for the United States. But, as Tim Alberta explains in American Carnage, to understand Trump’s victory is to view him not as the creator of this era of polarization and bruising partisanship, but rather as its most manifest consequence. American Carnage is the story of a president’s rise based on a country’s evolution and a party’s collapse. As George W. Bush left office with record-low approval ratings and Barack Obama led a Democratic takeover of Washington, Republicans faced a moment of reckoning.
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masterpiece
- By ZZ on 07-26-19
By: Tim Alberta
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It Was All a Lie
- How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump
- By: Stuart Stevens
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Stuart Stevens spent decades electing Republicans at every level, from presidents to senators to local officials. He knows the GOP as intimately as anyone in America, and in this new book he offers a devastating portrait of a party that has lost its moral and political compass. This is not a book about how Donald J. Trump hijacked the Republican Party and changed it into something else.
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A party gone astray
- By Devin on 08-07-20
By: Stuart Stevens
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Kill Switch
- The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy
- By: Adam Jentleson
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Every major decision governing our diverse, majority-female, and increasingly liberal country bears the stamp of the US Senate, yet the Senate allows an almost exclusively White, predominantly male, and radically conservative minority of the American electorate to impose its will on the rest of us. How did we get to this point? In Kill Switch, Adam Jentleson argues that shifting demographics alone cannot explain how Mitch McConnell harnessed the Senate and turned it into a powerful weapon of minority rule.
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Don't bother, narration intolerable!
- By Joseph on 03-08-21
By: Adam Jentleson
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Every Man a King
- A Short, Colorful History of American Populists
- By: Chris Stirewalt
- Narrated by: Chris Stirewalt
- Length: 4 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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American populism has always been home to a fascinating assortment of charismatic leaders, characters, kooks, cranks, and sometimes charlatans who have led the charge of ordinary folks who have gotten wise to the ways of the swamp. Every Man a King tells the stories of America's populist leaders, from Andrew Jackson and Teddy Roosevelt to Ross Perot, Pat Buchanan, and Donald Trump. It is a rollicking history of an American attitude that has shaped not only our current moment, but also the long struggle over who gets to define the truths we hold to be self evident.
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Education delivered in a most entertaining way.
- By Snaps And Snippets on 09-17-18
By: Chris Stirewalt
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The Hidden History of the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America
- The Thom Hartmann Hidden History Series
- By: Thom Hartmann
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Taking his typically in-depth, historically informed view, Thom Hartmann asks: What if the Supreme Court didn't have the power to strike down laws? According to the Constitution, it doesn't. From the founding of the republic until 1803, the Supreme Court was the final court of appeals, as it was always meant to be. So where did the concept of judicial review start? As so much of modern American history, it began with the battle between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and with Marbury v. Madison.
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A must read to understand why voting is essential.
- By Brandon WIlliams on 10-05-19
By: Thom Hartmann
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A Promised Land
- By: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 29 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Color me grateful.
- By Angela on 11-19-20
By: Barack Obama
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Presidents of the United States of America
- A History of America's Leaders
- By: Franklin Taylor
- Narrated by: K.C. Wayman
- Length: 5 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Learn the stories and the struggles each president dealt with as we take a walk through the nation's development. Follow along as we discuss how the United States came into power, the leaders who shaped its development, and the wars that were fought to protect it. This book gives a detailed account of the United States through a look at its presidents. Each chapter takes an educational look at the life of each president, how they came to power, and what the country was like during their time in office. Never before has so much information been packed into one easy-to-listen book.
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Don’t appreciate the bias in the modern presidents
- By Daniel R. Gould on 07-25-20
By: Franklin Taylor
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Pivotal Tuesdays
- Four Elections That Shaped the Twentieth Century
- By: Margaret O'Mara
- Narrated by: James Killavey
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Pivotal Tuesdays looks back at four pivotal presidential elections of the past 100 years to show how they shaped the 20th century. During the rowdy, four-way race in 1912 between Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Eugene Debs, and Woodrow Wilson, the candidates grappled with the tremendous changes of industrial capitalism and how best to respond to them. In 1932, Franklin Roosevelt's promises to give Americans a "New Deal" to combat the Great Depression helped him beat the beleaguered incumbent, Herbert Hoover.
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Important book...especially this year.
- By Jim on 07-31-16
By: Margaret O'Mara
What listeners say about Desk 88
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Andy F. H.
- 01-29-20
“Why I’m a Democrat, Explained”
Thank you Senator Brown! I would NEVER have called myself a “Progressive” until I listened to your book. I knew I was a Democrat, who felt that, even though, as a woman, I had become wealthy through hard work (and perhaps some luck), I could never “quite” explain my political beliefs to my Republican, retired military husband. We have lived respectfully for 57 years “in a house divided.” I did tease him, that because he traveled 3-6 months out of the year, I raised two Democrats! I came from a single mom household, with four children and no child support, who, when she finally retired at 70, received more money from Social Security than she did as a career credit manager of a car dealership where the owner “praised her to the Heavens.” Of course he did! When I heard you list all of the benefits and public benefits gained under Democratic “Progressives,” I was happy to learn I’d been on the right side all along. It gets better! In the last Presidential election, I told my husband that he needed to watch the Republican debates because Donald Trump was going to be the nominee. He laughed at me...until it happened! He did NOT like Hillary Clinton (as many military do not) and never had...but he VOTED for her! My children and I were so proud. I told him I hope he will listen to your book after he finishes “Anonymous.” Your book has so clearly helped me clarify why I care so much about climate change, race relations, good public education for all, equal pay for equal work, women’s rights, and more. My husband and I are old, but we still care passionately about the world we are leaving to our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Keep up the fight! Thank you.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Barbra
- 12-16-23
A Progressive History of Hope
I loved listening to my Senator’s scratchy voice, interspersed with professional narration. The accounts of other progressive senators from Desk 88 was fascinating and gave a hopeful outlook for progress to come. I recommend this book for historical buffs and students, but also for candidates and activists seeking to bring change for the common good! Thanks, Sen. Brown!
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- Jean
- 12-17-19
Loaded with interesing information
Sherrod Brown is the democratic senior senator from Ohio. He sits at desk number 88 in the Senate. He tells about the senators who have had the seat before him, such as: Senator Hugo Black; he had the desk from 1927 to 1937. Some of the other Senators that sat at this desk were George McGovern, Al Gore, Robert F. Kennedy and Theodore Green. Brown tells about each of the eight men and he works in information about himself. I was surprised at how many decades it took to stop child labor. Apparently, business and the Republicans fought every child labor law sent to the Senate. I found the information on Senator Lehman interesting. I sort of had the feeling I was in the Senate and the desk was talking to me. The book was interesting and well worth the read.
The book was twelve hours and forty-six minutes. Sherrod Brown and Leon Nixon do a good job narrating the book. Nixon is an actor and voice-over artist.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Jeff
- 06-06-20
Hope for Progressive Politics
Excellent political history. Senator Brown reveals the hipocracy of the conservatives and their deception of 🇺🇸
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1 person found this helpful
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- Martin J Dunleavy
- 09-24-21
One of the best books I’ve ever listened to, and certainly the best book I’ve listen to during the Covid pandemic!
Wonderful politics, great history written in enjoyable style. Learned a lot about the individual senators the workings of the Senate and reaffirmed my commitment to progressive populism. Sherrod Brown’s great historian and one of the best senators this country has ever had. I hope he will strongly consider a run for the president in the future. If you call yourself a progressive, a populist, a liberal, or a democratic socialist you should read this book. And if you call yourself a conservative that are open to learning about the other side this would be a great book for you to read as well.
Thank you Senator for writing this wonderful entertaining well written and enjoyable Book. Audible ends every program with a Statement Dash “Audible hope you’ve enjoyed this program .“
I can assure you I certainly did in this case.
Reading this book makes me proud to be a former teacher, union organizer, elected official, national political party official and present employee of the Connecticut State Senate. It reaffirmed the lessons I learned at home and in union halls and in classrooms and in church that we are our brothers keeper that we have an obligation to take care of the least amongst us and governments rules to make lives better for everyone not just the wealthy and privileged.
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- K. and T. Shaw
- 11-10-19
Well written and read, love the history and lessons learned from desk 88
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book, my wife wanted me to purchase it for her and I ended up listening to it first without being able to stop unless I had to. I love politics and history so for me this was a great experience of both, plus the added lessons Sherrod learned by those who sat at his desk before him and throughout his life was fantastic.
I’ve read or listened to other political books and this is by far my favorite, but so is Sharrod! I’m an Ohioan by chance and choice and he is my favorite Senator.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Friendly Reader
- 03-17-21
Inspiring stories to build a better nation
I found this book and the stories of those who have served at Desk 88 to be so inspiring and reassuring of the notion that while progress is rarely achieved in large doses, when we persevere to enact more and more progress, eventually we will be successful in our efforts to come closer to a more perfect union. I totally enjoyed this book!
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