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King Richard
- Nixon and Watergate - An American Tragedy
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
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Publisher's summary
One of USA Today's Best Books of the Year
A riveting account of the crucial days, hours, and moments when the Watergate conspiracy consumed, and ultimately toppled, a president - from the best-selling author of One Minute to Midnight.
In January 1973, Richard Nixon had just been inaugurated after winning re-election in a historic landslide. He enjoyed an almost 70 percent approval rating. But by April 1973, his presidency had fallen apart as the Watergate scandal metastasized into what White House counsel John Dean called “a full-blown cancer.” King Richard is the intimate, utterly absorbing narrative of the tension-packed hundred days when the Watergate conspiracy unraveled as the burglars and their handlers turned on one another, exposing the crimes of a vengeful president.
Drawing on thousands of hours of newly-released taped recordings, Michael Dobbs takes us into the heart of the conspiracy, recreating these traumatic events in cinematic detail. He captures the growing paranoia of the principal players and their desperate attempts to deflect blame as the noose tightens around them. We eavesdrop on Nixon plotting with his aides, raging at his enemies, while also finding time for affectionate moments with his family. The result is an unprecedentedly vivid, close-up portrait of a president facing his greatest crisis.
Central to the spellbinding drama is the tortured personality of Nixon himself, a man whose strengths, particularly his determination to win at all costs, become his fatal flaws. Rising from poverty to become the most powerful man in the world, he commits terrible errors of judgment that lead to his public disgrace. He makes himself - and then destroys himself.
Structured like a classical tragedy with a uniquely American twist, King Richard is an epic, deeply human story of ambition, power, and betrayal.
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Critic reviews
One of USA Today's Best Books of the Year
A New York Times Critics' Top Book of the Year
"This fast-paced opus would be a rollicking fun read, a beach book even, if it weren’t so doggone real - and if it wasn’t so reminiscent of recent machinations in our nation’s capital. But fun or not, this is an important book at this moment in our tortured political history.... Crucial. Four stars out of four." (David Holahan, USA Today)
"Dobbs...has a keen sense of drama. And, by focusing on the 100 days after Nixon’s triumphant second inauguration, he provides a clever lens for viewing most all of the president’s disastrous decisions, with an intimacy - due to Dobbs’s subtle choice of extracts from the tapes - that is stunning.... The story Dobbs tells is, by turns, hilarious, pathetic and infuriating.” (Joe Klein, Washington Post)
"Vivid...King Richard [has] a better shot than most histories have at reaching younger readers. At the same time, it gives a (much) older generation of Watergate junkies a way to rediscover the dark intrigues of Nixon and his entourage - with notes of relief that we all survived, and perhaps a touch of nostalgia as well.... Dobbs achieves something of a cinematic effect.... Whether you lived through the Watergate years, or have studied them since, Dobbs' book hearkens back to an era when even a president elected in a landslide could be held to account by the system itself." (Ron Elving, NPR)
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- Length: 20 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Learn the inside scoop on Watergate, the Ford Pardon, and the 18-minute Gap. Roger Stone, The New York Times best-selling author of The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ, gives the inside scoop on Nixon’s rise and fall in Watergate in his new book Nixon’s Secrets. Stone charts Nixon’s rise from election to Congress in 1946 to the White House in 1968 after his razor-thin loss to John Kennedy in 1960, his disastrous campaign for Governor of California in 1962, and the greatest comeback in American Presidential history.
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Great book but....
- By Alan on 11-20-14
By: Roger Stone, and others
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The Gatekeepers
- How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency
- By: Chris Whipple
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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The chiefs of staff, often referred to as "the gatekeepers", wield tremendous power in Washington and beyond; they decide who is allowed to see the president, negotiate with Congress to push POTUS's agenda, and - most crucially - enjoy unparalleled access to the leader of the free world. Through extensive, intimate interviews with 18 living chiefs (including Reince Priebus) and two former presidents, award-winning journalist and producer Chris Whipple pulls back the curtain on this unique fraternity. In doing so, he revises our understanding of presidential history.
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Interesting, but lacking in political objectivity
- By Stephen Watson on 09-04-17
By: Chris Whipple
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One Man Against the World
- The Tragedy of Richard Nixon
- By: Tim Weiner
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
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Based largely on documents declassified in only the last few years, One Man Against the World paints a devastating portrait of a tortured yet brilliant man who led the country largely according to a deep-seated insecurity and distrust of not only his cabinet and Congress but the American population at large. In riveting, tick-tock prose, Weiner illuminates how the Vietnam War and the Watergate controversy that brought about Nixon's demise were inextricably linked.
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A worthy listen, if a bit sensationalized.
- By Reza on 06-20-15
By: Tim Weiner
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The Man Who Killed Kennedy
- The Case Against LBJ
- By: Roger Stone
- Narrated by: David Rapkin
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Lyndon Baines Johnson was a man of great ambition and enormous greed, both of which, in 1963, would threaten to destroy him. In the end, President Johnson would use power from his personal connections in Texas and from the underworld and from the government to escape an untimely end in politics and to seize even greater power. President Johnson, the thirty-sixth president of the United States, was the driving force behind a conspiracy to murder President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. In The Man Who Killed Kennedy, you will find out how and why he did it. Political consultant, strategist, and Libertarian Roger Stone has gathered documents and used his firsthand knowledge to construct the ultimate tome to prove that LBJ was not only involved in JFK's assassination, but was in fact the mastermind. With 2013 being the fiftieth anniversary of JFK's assassination, this is the perfect time for The Man Who Killed Kennedy to be available to readers. The research and information in this book is unprecedented, and as Roger Stone lived through it, he's the perfect person to bring it to everyone's attention.
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COMPELLING BOOK - THE CROOKS ARE IN POWER
- By Theo Tsourdalakis on 12-01-13
By: Roger Stone
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The Last of the President's Men
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Campbell Scott
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Bob Woodward exposes one of the final pieces of the Richard Nixon puzzle in his new book, The Last of the President's Men. Woodward reveals the untold story of Alexander Butterfield, the Nixon aide who disclosed the secret White House taping system that changed history and led to Nixon's resignation.
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A Disturbing portrayal of Nixon
- By Jean on 11-17-15
By: Bob Woodward
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Lyndon
- An Oral Biography
- By: Merle Miller
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 32 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Best-selling presidential biographer Merle Miller has crafted a candid portrait of one of the most complex, fascinating, difficult, and colorful figures in American history. From his birth in 1908 to his death in 1973, the story of Lyndon B. Johnson is told with no sparing his personal excesses and contentious public image - while also highlighting the strength of his greatest accomplishments in Washington.
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Flawless
- By Jeffrey on 01-04-21
By: Merle Miller
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Guilty as Sin
- Uncovering New Evidence of Corruption and How Hillary Clinton and the Democrats Derailed the FBI Investigation
- By: Edward Klein
- Narrated by: Lars Mikaelson
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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In his astonishing new book, Edward Klein uncovers the real story behind Hillary's email scandals and the dirty political games that have kept her one step ahead of the law - for now. Klein reveals what the FBI's team of 150+ investigators really found on Clinton's server. How Comey originally threatened to resign over White House attempts to intervene in the investigation, and his secret plan to go around the Justice Department if needed.
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such corruption
- By agriplex on 10-26-16
By: Edward Klein
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Nine Days
- The Race to Save Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life and Win the 1960 Election
- By: Paul Kendrick, Stephen Kendrick
- Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Less than three weeks before the 1960 presidential election, 31-year-old Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested at a sit-in at Rich's Department Store in Atlanta. That day would lead to the first night King had ever spent in jail - and the time that King's family most feared for his life. Based on fresh interviews, newspaper accounts, and extensive archival research, Nine Days is the first full recounting of an event that changed the course of one of the closest elections in American history.
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a fascinating, detailed, blow-by-blow approach
- By D. Littman on 01-29-21
By: Paul Kendrick, and others
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Bobby Kennedy
- The Making of a Liberal Icon
- By: Larry Tye
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 19 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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History remembers Robert F. Kennedy as a racial healer, a tribune for the poor, and the last progressive knight of a bygone era of American politics. But Kennedy's enshrinement in the liberal pantheon was actually the final stage of a journey that had its beginnings in the conservative 1950s. In Bobby Kennedy, Larry Tye peels away layers of myth and misconception to paint a complete portrait of this singularly fascinating figure.
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Absorbing
- By Jean on 01-18-17
By: Larry Tye
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Team of Five
- The Presidents Club in the Age of Trump
- By: Kate Andersen Brower
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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From the number one New York Times best-selling author of The Residence and First Women - also a New York Times best seller - comes a poignant, news-making look at the lives of the five former presidents in the wake of their White House years, including the surprising friendships they have formed through shared perspective and empathy.
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Fascinating
- By Jean on 06-18-20
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The Education of an Idealist
- A Memoir
- By: Samantha Power
- Narrated by: Samantha Power
- Length: 21 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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In her memoir, Power offers an urgent response to the question "What can one person do?" and a call for a clearer eye, a kinder heart, and a more open and civil hand in our politics and daily lives. The Education of an Idealist traces Power’s distinctly American journey from immigrant to war correspondent to presidential Cabinet official. In 2005, her critiques of US foreign policy caught the eye of newly elected senator Barack Obama, who invited her to work with him on Capitol Hill and then on his presidential campaign.
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Sam's Power: Privilege in U.S. Politics
- By RelizzScholar27 on 11-09-19
By: Samantha Power
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Washington Journal
- Reporting Watergate and Richard Nixon's Downfall
- By: Elizabeth Drew
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 22 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Unfolding over the course of a single year, from September 1973 to August 1974, Washington Journal is the record of the near-dissolution of a nation's political conscience - told from within. In this book, we see corruption in its most prosaic and grandest forms, along with occasional flashes of decency, ethics, and humanity, and other sights rarely witnessed in the wilds of the capital.
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Brilliant reporting
- By Tad Davis on 10-01-14
By: Elizabeth Drew
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All the President's Men
- By: Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Beginning with the story of a simple burglary at Democratic headquarters and then continuing with headline after headline, Bernstein and Woodward kept the tale of conspiracy and the trail of dirty tricks coming - delivering the stunning revelations and pieces in the Watergate puzzle that brought about Nixon's scandalous downfall. Their explosive reports won a Pulitzer Prize for The Washington Post and toppled the president. This is the book that changed America.
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THE FUMBLING OF AN ASSUAGED
- By Dudley H. Williams on 08-17-13
By: Bob Woodward, and others
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Totally Outstanding. Bravo !
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What listeners say about King Richard
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- SB
- 07-19-21
Excellent
I was born after Nixon's resignation and knew only the basics of the Watergate scandal before listening to this audiobook. I learned a great deal and enjoyed the listening experience. I liked the excerpts with Nixon speaking, but I especially enjoyed the outstanding performance by the narrator. I appreciated all the background and detail that other listeners who lived it may have found tiresome. This is a truly outstanding audiobook. Kudos to the author and narrator!
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3 people found this helpful
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- John T.
- 10-06-21
First rate, I learned a lot and was entertained
Great narrative of the first hundred-ish days of Nixon's 2nd term. It's a tragedy from the highs of a landslide re-election victory to his downfall from the bungled cover-up. The author is skilled at assembling the story and the characters in such a way that it feels like a movie or TV show, very dramatic. The end of chapter excerpts from the tapes are amazing, this is a must-listen vs. read IMHO.
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- W Henderson
- 11-13-21
Fascinating story (in spite of annoying narration)
Nixon is the most interesting US president, in my opinion, so naturally I'm a fan of this book. It does a very good job of recounting the tragedy of the Nixon presidency. Nixon failed because of his personal insecurities, and because he surrounded himself with sycophants who were not willing to look him in the eye and tell him when he was wrong.. The tapes make the second point very clear.
Unfortunately, the narrator tries to imitate the voices of the people in the story, and that rarely works well for non-fiction works. His Nixon voice is 100% gruff (not accurate) and his Kissinger voice is laughable (sorry!). Please note that this audiobook includes recordings of Nixon, Kissinger, et al., so the listeners do not need to hear a poor imitation.
Audiobook narrators, when reading the quotations of persons in non-fiction works, you do not need to (try to) imitate voices or accents. Simon Vance does not, and if you try, you will likely fail, which does not serve the author of the work that you are reading.
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- TS
- 06-07-22
Excellent!
Really enjoyed this title. It brought back a nostalgic feel from the early 70's and I learned new things about Nixon I'd not known before!
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- Martin
- 01-08-22
Absence of morals in leadership
King Richard does an excellent job of explaining Watergate.
Any good or moral acts from the Nixon Whitehouse are tainted by an administration steeped in corruption. The more you look, the more corruption you find. Nixon is an example of a lifetime of incremental acceptance of immoral and illegal means to achieve ends. To Nixon, dirty tricks funded by campaign cortributions, obstruction of justice, selling ambassadorships, using The IRS against his "enemies", and political spin anchored in fantasy was politics - plain and simple. He surrounded himself with sycophants who enabled deeper plunges into self-deception. Richard Nixon entertained epic levels of self-pity, self-deception and half-truth justifications, while his aides were fired and sent to prison to take the fall. In the end, the proverb "there is no honor among thieves" was prescient. Nixon's legacy is a wake of distruction and defenders backed by flawed justifications.
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3 people found this helpful
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- RCC
- 03-31-22
an ideal audiobook experience
ive always been into kennedy, the 60s, vietnam, the 68 election, etc--but never nixon. never watergate. just wasnt interested. this book reads like a novel constructed of journal entries. its a thriller and a tragedy. and you know what strikes me most, is that nixon was a bad guy--but he was wasnt bad enough to do what he wouldve had to do--and couldve done--to get away with it. compared to the bad guys today, nixon is a boy scout. he couldve stopped the investigation. he couldve burned the tapes. he couldve fired dean, erlichmann and haldeman much sooner. he couldve done a lot of things but he didnt because, in the end, he wasnt that bad. for his time, sure, he was a bad guy. but for our time, in a world of donald trump, devin nunes, roger stone, paul manafort, vladimir putin, mitch mcconnell, roger ailes, tucker carlson... as i said, compared to those guys, nixon was a boy scout. the beautiful thing about this book is that it uses the actual nixon tapes, so you can hear him talking to kissinger, to his aides, to everyone... and what you hear is a guy worrying about how his people will make ends meet once he fires them. you hear a guy who feels tremendous guilt. a guy who puts on a brave and loving face for his daughter. a guy who, when facing the choice to go further and block or render impossible the investigation into his misdeeds, decides not to. this is a guy who loved america, who believed in what he was doing for our country, a guy who was deeply loyal to his own people and yes a guy who made some mistakes. honestly, g gordon liddy, howard hunt and john dean screwed him. hard. and like so many great men before him, caught in a web of his own making, nixon is tragically late in realizing how serious the trouble really is. not only did i learn a lot about watergate, i grew fond of richard nixon--much less so, the cast of sycophants around him. but nixon? absolutely. he is a sympathetic guy. a father, a brilliant foreign policy guy, and yes, a patriot. im glad he had a full state burial with all five living presidents attending his funeral in 94. he deserved it. unlike the criminals running our country today, he actually loved and cared about this country. these republicans today only care about getting on fox news and getting rich. thats it. and to do that, they get more and more extreme and less connected to reality. with these schmucks in charge we're really screwed. if only we could go back to a time when this countrys worst problem was a third-rate burglary into the dnc hq and a bungled coverup. look around today and youll, like me, be longing for the good old days of honest men like richard nixon and the good old days of watergate.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Magyar
- 07-01-21
Excellant Account
Based on the tape transcripts, this book is by far the best on Watergate, Organizing the text around the daily recorded transcripts, the account has a dramatic structure that is compelling. Although the author helpfully provides sections that give context, the main focus is on the actual words of Nixon and those others involved in the coverup. Also provided are snippets of the actual conversations. While sometimes these break the flow of the narrative, they nonetheless gives the reader a sense of the people, their tone, their emotions and their character. Unfortunately the book ends in the summer of 1973 when the taping system was removed. It would have been great to ahem this continue to the resignation of Nixon.
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- R. A. Steele
- 07-13-21
I don't need to hear Nixon's voice.
...although it's preservation here serves a greater purpose. the inclusion of the clips makes the text tiresome and repetitive. for those who want or need to hear Nixon indict himself, this is the version of the book to buy.
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- Philo
- 07-24-21
Lays out details to make superb sense
I have read at least a half-dozen books on this. Nixon is a sort of hobby to me. Only now, with this one, did I feel a sense, in the round, of what moved the various participants from within: what the situation looked and felt like to them. So, the flow of events suddenly makes more sense. It was good to focus on what propelled people. This telling is vivid, flows well, is sad, and is poignant, weird, and hilarious, at turns. I can go from being moved by a player's plight (even Nixon's), in an instant to imagining the scenes as a tinny, cheap sitcom with a laugh track after every pratfall. The pinnacles of power and ego stumble over their own absurdities. Several times I busted out with a sharp laugh, which I did not expect. The tone goes from subdued to garish and back, as the moments depicted did. I found the narrator listenable and competent but a bit too often wistful-sounding. His voice characterizations are in general inoffensive, with only the Henry Kissinger voice a bit overdone: this is apparently irresistible for various narrators.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Stanner
- 06-21-22
50 Years Ago….
I absolutely loved this audiobook. I was in High School during the events detailed, and followed in the papers and TV news but, in honesty, can’t say I really understood the details. Of coarse, I remembered the big names and events, when they occurred, but this book really laid it all out clearly. Much more valuable as an audiobook, with brief clips from the White House tapes. Really really good. Get it!
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