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President Carter
- The White House Years
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell, Madeleine Albright, Stuart E. Eizenstat - preface & introduction
- Length: 37 hrs and 24 mins
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Publisher's summary
This program includes a forward written and read by Madeleine Albright, with a preface and introduction read by Stuart E. Eizenstat.
The definitive history of the Carter Administration from the man who participated in its surprising number of accomplishments—drawing on his extensive and never-before-seen notes.
Stuart E. Eizenstat was at Jimmy Carter’s side from his political rise in Georgia through four years in the White House, where he served as Chief Domestic Policy Adviser. He was directly involved in all domestic and economic decisions as well as in many foreign policy ones. Famous for the legal pads he took to every meeting, he draws on more than 7500 pages of notes and 350 interviews of all the major figures of the time, to write the comprehensive history of an underappreciated president—and to give an intimate view on how the presidency works.
Eizenstat reveals the grueling negotiations behind Carter’s peace between Israel and Egypt, what led to the return of the Panama Canal, and how Carter made human rights a presidential imperative. He follows Carter’s passing of America’s first comprehensive energy policy, and his deregulation of the oil, gas, transportation, and communications industries. And he details the creation of the modern vice-presidency.
Eizenstat also details Carter’s many missteps, including the Iranian Hostage Crisis, because Carter’s desire to do the right thing, not the political thing, often hurt him and alienated Congress. His willingness to tackle intractable problems, however, led to major, long-lasting accomplishments.
This major work of history shows first-hand where Carter succeeded, where he failed, and how he set up many successes of later presidents.
Praise for President Carter:
"A comprehensive and persuasive account of Carter's presidency that stands far above the familiar confessional and reveal-all accounts by former White House officials...Eizenstat has succeeded in showing that the Carter presidency had a huge impact on American political life." — Washington Post
“This comprehensive, unflinching narrative and analytical treatment of Carter is essential for a new evaluation of an earnest, often exasperating, yet important figure in late 20th-century U.S. history.” —Library Journal
“Eizenstat’s taut behind-the-scenes narrative gives readers unexpected reasons to appreciate Carter’s stunning accomplishment in negotiating peace between Egypt and Israel. A compelling reassessment of an oft-maligned chief executive.” —Booklist
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Critic reviews
"An astute, often shocking, behind-the-scenes chronicle." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Eizenstat’s taut behind-the-scenes narrative gives readers unexpected reasons to appreciate Carter’s stunning accomplishment in negotiating peace between Egypt and Israel. A compelling reassessment of an oft-maligned chief executive." —Booklist (starred review)
"Stuart Eizenstat’s book is something we rarely see—an illuminating, vital and elegant combination of White House insider’s memoir and well-researched history. His excellent work shows us important new dimensions of Jimmy Carter and his Presidency and deserves to be widely read.” —Michael Beschloss, NBC News Presidential Historian and New York Times bestselling author of The Conquerors
"Stuart Eizenstat has produced a knowing and insightful reassessment of President Carter's administration from the perspective of a clear-eyed insider. Based on his own experiences and hundreds of interviews, he shows how Carter's moral tone and under-appreciated accomplishments offer valuable lessons for our times. It's an important contribution to history." —Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author of The Innovators and Steve Jobs
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Traitor to His Class
- The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 37 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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A sweeping, magisterial biography of the man generally considered the greatest president of the 20th century, admired by Democrats and Republicans alike. Traitor to His Class sheds new light on FDR's formative years; his remarkable willingness to champion the concerns of the poor and disenfranchised; and his combination of political genius, firm leadership, and matchless diplomacy in saving democracy during the Great Depression and the American cause of freedom in World War II.
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Talented writer and narrator, but too biased/long
- By todd on 01-24-20
By: H. W. Brands
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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
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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.
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LBJ The Greatest President of 20th century
- By David W. Goldstein on 07-28-15
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The Last Empire
- The Final Days of the Soviet Union
- By: Serhii Plokhy
- Narrated by: Alex Wyndham
- Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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On Christmas, 1991, President George H. W. Bush addressed the nation to declare an American victory in the Cold War: Earlier that day Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned as the first and last Soviet president. The enshrining of that narrative, one in which the end of the Cold War was linked to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the triumph of democratic values over communism, took center stage in American public discourse immediately after Bush's speech and has persisted for decades. As Serhii Plokhy reveals, the collapse of the Soviet Union was anything but the handiwork of the US.
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Full of Holes; Horrid Narrator
- By Donald on 03-02-23
By: Serhii Plokhy
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Days of Fire
- Bush and Cheney in the White House
- By: Peter Baker
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 29 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Theirs was the most captivating American political partnership since Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger: a bold and untested president and his seasoned, relentless vice president. Confronted by one crisis after another, they struggled to protect the country, remake the world, and define their own relationship along the way. In Days of Fire, Peter Baker chronicles the history of the most consequential presidency in modern times through the prism of its two most compelling characters, capturing the elusive and shifting alliance of George Walker Bush and Richard Bruce Cheney as no historian has done before.
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A balanced account of the W and Cheney White House
- By Scott on 11-15-13
By: Peter Baker
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Hard Choices
- By: Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Narrated by: Kathleen Chalfant, Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Length: 26 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Hillary Rodham Clinton's inside account of the crises, choices, and challenges she faced during her four years as America's 67th Secretary of State, and how those experiences drive her view of the future. In the aftermath of her 2008 presidential run, she expected to return to representing New York in the United States Senate. To her surprise, her former rival for the Democratic Party nomination, newly elected President Barack Obama, asked her to serve in his administration as Secretary of State. This memoir is the story of the four extraordinary and historic years that followed.
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Senior Stateswoman in need of Editor
- By Cynthia on 07-20-14
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Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher
- A Political Marriage
- By: Nicholas Wapshott
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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It is well known that Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were close allies and kindred political spirits. During their eight overlapping years in office, the U.S. president and the U.K. prime minister worked together to promote lower taxes, deregulation, free trade, and an aggressive stance against the Soviet Union. But according to Nicholas Wapshott, the Reagan/Thatcher relationship was much deeper than an alliance of mutual interests.
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A Better Half
- By peter on 06-01-11
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The Marshall Plan
- Dawn of the Cold War
- By: Benn Steil
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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The award-winning author of The Battle of Bretton Woods reveals the gripping history behind the Marshall Plan—told with verve, insight, and resonance for today.
In the wake of World War II, with Britain’s empire collapsing and Stalin's on the rise, US officials under new secretary of state George C. Marshall set out to reconstruct western Europe as a bulwark against communist authoritarianism. Their massive, costly, and ambitious undertaking would confront Europeans and Americans alike with a vision at odds with their history and self-conceptions. In the process, they would drive the creation of NATO, the European Union, and a Western identity that continues to shape world events.
Focusing on the critical years 1947 to 1949, Benn Steil’s thrilling account brings to life the seminal episodes marking the collapse of postwar US-Soviet relations—the Prague coup, the Berlin blockade, and the division of Germany. In each case, we see and understand like never before Stalin’s determination to crush the Marshall Plan and undermine American power in Europe.
Given current echoes of the Cold War, as Putin’s Russia rattles the world order, the tenuous balance of power and uncertain order of the late 1940s is as relevant as ever. The Marshall Plan provides critical context into understanding today’s international landscape. Bringing to bear fascinating new material from American, Russian, German, and other European archives, Steil’s account will forever change how we see the Marshall Plan and the birth of the Cold War. A polished and masterly work of historical narrative, this is an instant classic of Cold War literature.
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A Deeply Researched Narrative
- By Jean on 10-18-18
By: Benn Steil
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In My Time
- A Personal and Political Memoir
- By: Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann, Dick Cheney
- Length: 20 hrs
- Unabridged
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In his unmistakable voice and with an insider's eye on history, former Vice President Dick Cheney tells the story of his life and the nearly four decades he has spent at the center of American politics and power. In My Time is truly the last word about an incredible political era, by a man who lived it and helped define it - with courage and without compromise.
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Great Book
- By reader on 09-05-11
By: Dick Cheney, and others
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When the World Seemed New
- George H. W. Bush and the End of the Cold War
- By: Jeffrey A. Engel
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 20 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The end of the Cold War was the greatest shock to international affairs since World War II. In that perilous moment, Saddam Hussein chose to invade Kuwait, China cracked down on its own pro-democracy protesters, and regimes throughout Eastern Europe teetered between democratic change and new authoritarians. Not since FDR in 1945 had a US president faced such opportunities and challenges. As the presidential historian Jeffrey Engel reveals in this hard-to-pause history, behind closed doors, George H. W. Bush rose to the occasion brilliantly.
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The Right Man at the Right Time in the Right Job
- By A. M. on 09-12-18
By: Jeffrey A. Engel
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Camelot's Court
- Inside the Kennedy White House
- By: Robert Dallek
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifty years after John F. Kennedy's assassination, presidential historian Robert Dallek, whom The New York Times calls "Kennedy's leading biographer", delivers a riveting new portrait of this president and his inner circle of advisors, their rivalries, personality clashes, and political battles. In Camelot's Court, Dallek analyzes the brain trust whose contributions to the successes and failures of Kennedy's administration - including the Bay of Pigs, civil rights, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Vietnam - were indelible.
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Well Researched but Critically Flawed
- By brent lloyd on 02-08-22
By: Robert Dallek
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The War State
- The Cold War Origins Of The Military-Industrial Complex And The Power Elite, 1945-1963
- By: Michael Swanson
- Narrated by: Larry Wayne
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Today when you factor in the interest on the national debt from past wars and total defense expenditures the United States spends almost 40% of its federal budget on the military. It accounts for over 46% of total world arms spending. Before World War II it spent almost nothing on defense and hardly anyone paid any income taxes. You can't have big wars without big government. Such big expenditures are now threatening to harm the national economy.
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Surprisingly Good
- By ohmie on 04-22-14
By: Michael Swanson
What listeners say about President Carter
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- B.A.B.
- 08-28-18
Tons of insight, but a major slog
Positives:
1. The reader was excellent, very easy to listen to.
2. Notwithstanding my criticisms below, I learned much about Carter and his presidency.
3. The inside perspective was interesting. Different from most presidential bios I've read.
Negatives:
1. OMG, it took such effort to force my way through these 37+ hours. Eizenstat said he's been writing this book for 25 years. He seems to have become so attached to every word that he couldn't cut even the most trivial details. One example among maaaany, we are told not once, but twice the names of the Shah of Iran's two French doctors? The problem with listening to a book like this is that the details can be so numbing that you lose concentration. This book should have been hosed down and put in a hot dryer.
2. The book was mostly organized topically, rather than chronologically. I can understand why the author did that. But as a result it was hard to appreciate the many simultaneous pressures on Carter.
3. The book was pretty darned self-aggrandizing. An apt subtitle might have been: An account told by his hardworking, smart-as-hell, wonderful, knew everyone in D.C., Harvard Law-educated aide, buddy and surrogate son. It was too much.
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10 people found this helpful
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- John K
- 09-12-18
Good history of the Carter presidency
Excellent audio book. Not much has been written about the Carter administration. Eizenstat did an excellent job of covering both high and low points in our history.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Doris
- 03-14-19
Biased? Not biased!
I delayed purchasing this book because some of the reviews indicated the author is too biased in favor of Carter. But Carter biographies are a bit limited on Audible, so I did finally get it. I'm so glad. It is a detailed account of Carter's years as president boy one of his highest staff advisors. It lays it all out - the successes, the failures, the flaws. I wish I'd paid more attention to what was going on politically back then, so now I understand, about forty years too late. But still - finally. Good book. Highly recommend.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-06-19
The Carter Presidency !
Mr Eisenstat thankfully kept daily detailed notes on the tumultuous Carter presidency as A Senior Domestic Policy Advisor which helped produce one of the finest in- depth looks into the inner workings of our 39th or any other President !
Wonderful narration and an honest appraisal by Mr Eisenstat of Mr Carter's foreign and domestic decisions during his four year tenure in The White House allow the listener to learn or relive a tumultuous time in our modern history that the repercussions in relations to the Middle East, especially in regards to Iran , are felt to this day.. No detail from the administrations handling of issues large or small are left out. At times the depressive events from the rise of Ayatollah , the deposure of The Shah of Iran, and the hostage crisis that lasted 444 days with the failed rescue mission may seem to overwhelm, but I gained an insight and knowledge into events that occupied my High School years.
I recommend this audiobook to any student or follower of Presidential History ! Whether a Carter critic or fan, Jimmy Carter is an admirable man whose personal convictions may have wrongly served him and the country during some of our most dire moments, but his tenacity in the Middle East peace negotiations between Anwar Sadat and Menachin Began showed the world Carter at his best.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Jean
- 09-01-18
Lots of information
I have just completed reading “When the Center Held” by Donald Rumsfeld about the presidency of Gerald Ford. I chose to follow the book by the newest biography of Jimmy Carter “President Carter: The White House Years” by Stuart E. Eizenstat. I chose to read these two books to attempt to understand how the country attempted to heal after the Presidency of Richard Nixon and the Watergate Scandal. I think the country will need to heal and re-unite itself after the Trump presidency.
The book is well written and meticulously researched. Eizenstat utilized a lot of his own materials from his time in the Carter White House. The author also accessed the National Archives as well as the President Carter’s presidential papers, and he also interviewed Carter. The book is large at 999 pages or 37 1/2 hours via audio format. The book is well documented and indexed. I do not believe this book is totally unbiased. The author did attempt to portray and analyze in an unbiased matter, but it may not have been successful enough for my scales. Eizenstat stated Carter was to liberal for the conservatives and to conservative for the liberals. After my readings I have come to consider that Ford and Carter were extremely honest men with the right personalities that were needed by the country at the time. I was surprised to learn Carter set aside more lands for parks and public use than any other president. I enjoyed this book that re-evaluates the presidency of Carter allowing for the passage of thirty-seven years. I learned a lot from this book and would recommend it my fellow readers.
Brian Troxell does a good job narrating this long book. I also enjoyed Madeleine Albright’s forward which she read herself. Troxell is an actor and audiobook narrator.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Thomas Doran
- 10-07-18
Great reminder of a great man
I was a high school student during Mr. Carter's presidency. I found this book to provide valuable insight.
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- John David
- 06-06-18
Book Like Administration: Well-Meaning But Flawed
This is an attempt at historic rehabilitation of the Carter administration by an insider. Like the administration itself, the book is well-meaning, but flawed. It needed an editor the way the Carter White House needed a Chief of Staff. There is repetition. And there is repetition. There is just enough memoir to be distracting, and occasionally annoying. By using a topical organization scheme rather than a chronological one the book never creates a good picture of what was going on at any one time and makes it difficult for the reader to synthesize the material. All this said, Eizenstat occasionally succeeds in convincing the reader that Carter's four years included more substantive achievement than is recognized. And he levels some candid and serious criticisms of his beloved boss. But, again like the administration itself, the book manifests a sometimes shocking degree of naivete and self-righteousness. There are more than a few OMG moments when it is difficult to believe that Carter believed what he believed or did what he did. The book brought back many memories, but very few of them good. America was a post-Vietnam, post-Watergate mess in many ways from 1976-1980, and Jimmy Carter was a President for the times.
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11 people found this helpful
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- luke pavlovich jr
- 04-21-20
Thorough Carter presidential history.
Very thorough, well written and well read history of the Carter presidency. I would highly recommend to anyone interested in history or presidential politics.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-25-19
amazing, ,honest insider account
this gripping book tells what it was like to be inside the white house during the tumultuous days of the late 1970s. it should do much to rehabilitate the reputation of an underrated president who is long due for a reassessment. the unspoken contrast with Trump could not be starker.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Matthew O'Neil
- 09-04-21
Better informed
I knew very little about Carter’s presidency, and wanted to know more about the man I admire and how he ran the country. I was surprised by the content; all of Carter’s accomplishments and how doing the right thing doesn’t mean everyone sees it that way. Very thorough history.
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