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Off Script
- An Advance Man's Guide to White House Stagecraft, Campaign Spectacle, and Political Suicide
- Narrated by: Josh King
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
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Publisher's summary
From a former White House presidential events production director comes an illuminating journey through the most catastrophic scenes of political stagecraft since the "age of optics" in 1988.
The responsibility of being a public figure is no walk in the park - the world highlights politicians' every mistake. "Image collapse" can befall anyone whose carefully cultivated persona is analyzed by and filtered through intermediaries in the broadcast booths of cable news networks or behind the photo desks of newspapers, magazines, and today's host of digital platforms.
As someone who orchestrates television- and photo-ready moments involving important political figures, Josh King has unique experience working with the reputations of public figures. In Off Script, King leads listeners through an entertaining behind-the-scenes journey through the most catastrophic scenes of political stagecraft since the dawn of the "age of optics" in 1988. Listeners might recall these moments as simple cases of bad luck, but King argues that they were actually symptomatic of something deeper in how we view our leaders.
We tour nearly 30 years of history to set the stage for the age of optics and then turn to the Obama administration and what King calls the "vanilla presidency". King shows how Barack Obama began his term in office as more guarded and more protective of the presidential persona than anyone in history, and as we arrive at the election of 2016 and beyond, we have to wonder: Will our future president follow Obama's example? If so, how will that influence the relationship between our nation's citizens and their leader?
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Love letter to Obama
- By DaWoolf on 03-15-15
By: David Axelrod
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Camelot's End
- Kennedy vs. Carter and the Fight That Broke the Democratic Party
- By: Jon Ward
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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The Carter presidency was on life support. The Democrats, desperate to keep power and yearning to resurrect former glory, turned to Ted Kennedy. Camelot's End details the incredible drama of Kennedy's challenge - what led to it, how it unfolded, and its lasting effects - with cinematic sweep. It is a story about what happened to the Democratic Party when the country's long string of successes, luck, and global dominance following World War II ran its course, and how, on a quest to recapture the magic of JFK, Democrats plunged themselves into an intra-party civil war.
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Does character count in political office?
- By marwalk on 07-29-19
By: Jon Ward
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Tip and the Gipper
- When Politics Worked
- By: Chris Matthews
- Narrated by: Chris Matthews
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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They were the political odd couple - the two most powerful men in the country, a pair who "couldn't be more different or more the same." For six years, Matthews was on the inside, watching the evolving relationship between President Reagan and Speaker of the House O’Neill. Drawing not only on his own remarkable knowledge but on extensive interviews with those closest to his subjects, Matthews brings this unlikely friendship to life in his unique voice.
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I didn't want it to end
- By Jim on 10-06-13
By: Chris Matthews
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Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right
- Opinionated Columns on American Life
- By: Michael Smerconish
- Narrated by: Michael Smerconish
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Opinionated talk show host and columnist Michael Smerconish has been chronicling local, state, and national events for the Philadelphia Daily News and the Philadelphia Inquirer for more than 15 years. He has sounded off on topics as diverse as the hunt for Osama bin Laden and what the color of your Christmas lights says about you. In this collection of 100 of his most memorable columns, Smerconish reflects on American political life with his characteristic feistiness.
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All about Smerc and who cares about the victims
- By Mark J. Rosen on 12-10-20
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Whistlestop
- My Favorite Stories from Presidential Campaign History
- By: John Dickerson
- Narrated by: John Dickerson
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Whistlestop tells the human story of nervous gambits hatched in first-floor hotel rooms, failures of will before the microphone, and the cross-country crack-ups of long-planned stratagems. At the bar at the end of a campaign day, these are the stories reporters rehash for themselves and embellish for newcomers. In addition to the familiar tales, Whistlestop also remembers the forgotten stories about the bruising and reckless campaigns of the 19th century.
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Lovers of the podcast this is ultimate fix!
- By killerqueen on 09-06-16
By: John Dickerson
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The Path to Power
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson
- By: Robert A. Caro
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 40 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the story of the rise to national power of a desperately poor young man from the Texas Hill Country. The Path to Power reveals in extraordinary detail the genesis of the almost superhuman drive, energy, and ambition that set LBJ apart. It follows him from the Hill Country to New Deal Washington, from his boyhood through the years of the Depression to his debut as Congressman, his heartbreaking defeat in his first race for the Senate, and his attainment, nonetheless, at age 31, of the national power for which he hungered.
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The Best of all Biographies
- By David C. Daggett on 12-14-13
By: Robert A. Caro
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Reagan at Reykjavik
- Forty-Eight Hours That Ended the Cold War
- By: Ken Adelman
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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A dramatic account of the historic 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Iceland - the turning point in the Cold War - by Ken Adelman, Reagan's arms control director and a key player in that weekend's world-changing events. In October 1986, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met for a forty-eight-hour summit in Reykjavik, Iceland. Planned as a short gathering to outline future talks, the meeting quickly turned to major international issues, including SDI ("Star Wars") and the possibility of eliminating all nuclear weapons.
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Outstanding Tribute
- By MOV on 11-17-23
By: Ken Adelman
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Unhinged
- An Insider's Account of the Trump White House
- By: Omarosa Manigault Newman
- Narrated by: Omarosa Manigault Newman
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Few have been a member of Donald Trump’s inner orbit longer than Omarosa Manigault Newman. Their relationship has spanned 15 years - through four television shows, a presidential campaign, and a year by his side in the most chaotic, outrageous White House in history. But that relationship has come to a decisive and definitive end, and Omarosa is finally ready to share her side of the story in this explosive, jaw-dropping account.
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Take if for what it's worth...
- By Clay on 08-14-18
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The People Are Going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore
- A Story of American Rage
- By: Jared Yates Sexton
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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The People Are Going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore is a firsthand account of the events that shaped the 2016 presidential election and the cultural forces that powered Donald Trump into the White House. Featuring in-the-field reports as well as deep analysis, Sexton's book is not just the story of the most unexpected and divisive election in modern political history. It is also a sobering chronicle of our democracy's political polarization - a result of our self-constructed, technologically assisted echo chambers.
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Undercover in Trump's America
- By David Larson on 09-06-17
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Dutch
- A Memoir of Ronald Reagan
- By: Edmund Morris
- Narrated by: Edmund Morris
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Abridged
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This book, the only biography ever authorized by a sitting President - yet written with complete interpretive freedom - is as revolutionary in method as it is formidable in scholarship. When Ronald Reagan moved into the White House in 1981, one of his first literary guests was Edmund Morris, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of Theodore Roosevelt. Morris developed a fascination for the genial yet inscrutable President and, after Reagan's landslide reelection in 1984, put aside the second volume of his life of Roosevelt to become an observing eye and ear at the White House.
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Painful
- By john on 02-06-13
By: Edmund Morris
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Collision 2012
- Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America
- By: Dan Balz
- Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
- Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Four years ago, a bright young presidential candidate named Barack Obama campaigned on a theme of hope and change, and made history. Today, he finds himself in another bitter, divisive presidential race but without the buzzwords. Instead, an embattled president struggles with a dysfunctionally divided Congress, a controversial healthcare bill, a decade-long war, and a stagnant economy.
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Fascinating. Couldn't stop listening.
- By Gregory E Benoit on 07-24-16
By: Dan Balz
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Killing Jesus
- A History
- By: Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard
- Narrated by: Bill O'Reilly
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Millions of people have thrilled to best-selling authors Bill O'Reilly and historian Martin Dugard's Killing Kennedy and Killing Lincoln, works of nonfiction that have changed the way we view history. Now the anchor of The O'Reilly Factor details the events leading up to the murder of the most influential man in history: Jesus of Nazareth. Nearly 2,000 years after this beloved and controversial young revolutionary was brutally killed by Roman soldiers, more than 2.2 billion human beings attempt to follow his teachings and believe he is God.
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The Jesus story in context
- By Kimberly on 10-01-13
By: Bill O'Reilly, and others
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The Kennedy Half Century
- The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy
- By: Larry J. Sabato
- Narrated by: Chris Kayser
- Length: 24 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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John F. Kennedy died half a century ago - yet because of his extraordinary promise and untimely death, his star still resonates strongly. On the anniversary of his assassination, celebrated political scientist and analyst Larry J. Sabato - himself a teenager in the early 1960s and inspired by JFK and his presidency - explores the fascinating and powerful influence he has had over five decades on the media, the general public, and especially on each of his nine presidential successors.
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Job Well Done
- By Kathy on 08-12-14
By: Larry J. Sabato
What listeners say about Off Script
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Andrew Graham
- 08-25-16
I learned a lot.
This book is a great way to learn about the art of politioptics through historical stories.
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- Charger
- 08-16-16
Great content, but authors shouldn't narrate
Very interesting content, but as an audiobook, this book fails big time. Not always, but typically authors should not read their own work. This is a perfect example why. Could have been very cool to insert the actual audio "clip" segments. At the very least, it needs a professional voice actor. Sad, because it's fascinating content.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 05-24-23
AMAZING
Great read. The author, a Democrat, gives a very fair and balanced rendition of various political failings and successes of both parties. Very well done and insightful.
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- Ellen Burke
- 05-28-16
Somewhat boring
The writer / reader gave a completely dispassionate performance. Very repetitive. Not as much insight as I had hoped.
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5 people found this helpful