Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents
What Your Teachers Never Told you About the Men of The White House
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Robin Bloodworth
-
By:
-
Cormac O'Brien
About this listen
Your high school history teachers never gave you a book like this one! Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents features outrageous and uncensored profiles of the men in the White House - complete with hundreds of little-known, politically incorrect, and downright wacko facts. You’ll discover that:
- George Washington spent a whopping 7% of his salary on booze
- John Quincy Adams loved to skinny-dip in the Potomac River
- Gerald Ford once worked as a Cosmopolitan magazine cover model
- Warren G. Harding gambled with White House china when he ran low on cash
- Jimmy Carter reported a UFO sighting in Georgia
- And Richard Nixon . . . sheesh, don’t get us started on Nixon!
With chapters on everyone from George Washington to Barack Obama, Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents tackles all the tough questions that other history books are afraid to ask: How many of these guys were cheating on their wives? Are there really secret tunnels underneath the White House? And what was Nancy Reagan thinking when she appeared on Diff’rent Strokes? American history was never this much fun in school!
©2009 Cormac O'Brien (P)2013 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Thirty-Six Years in the White House
- By: Thomas F. Pendel
- Narrated by: Brian V. Hunt
- Length: 2 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 36 years, from Lincoln to Teddy Roosevelt, Tom Pendel saw the daily comings and goings at the center of American political life in the White House. As doorkeeper, he saw senators, congressmen, royalty, citizens, and scoundrels appear on the White House steps.
-
-
Very interesting
- By Crystal Stapleton on 06-28-22
By: Thomas F. Pendel
-
Upstairs at the White House
- My Life with the First Ladies
- By: J. B. West
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
J. B. West, chief usher of the White House, directed the operations and maintenance of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue - and coordinated its daily life - at the request of the president and his family. He directed state functions; planned parties, weddings, funerals, gardens, playgrounds, and extensive renovations; and with a large staff, supervised every activity in the presidential home.
-
-
A tasteful taste of history
- By Mark on 04-27-15
By: J. B. West
-
The Residence
- Inside the Private World of the White House
- By: Kate Andersen Brower
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America's first families are unknowable in many ways. No one has insight into their true character like the people who serve their meals and make their beds every day. Full of stories and details by turns dramatic, humorous, and heartwarming, The Residence reveals daily life in the White House as it is really lived through the voices of the maids, butlers, cooks, florists, doormen, engineers, and others who tend to the needs of the president and first family.
-
-
The White House Explored & Exposed
- By Sara on 04-15-15
-
Don't Know Much About the American Presidents
- By: Kenneth C. Davis
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, Kirby Heyborne, Mark Bramhall, and others
- Length: 23 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than 20 years since his New York Times best seller Don't Know Much About History first appeared, Davis has shown that Americans don't hate history, just the dull version dished out in school. Now Davis turns his attention to what is arguably the most important and most fascinating subject in American history: our presidents. From the heated debates over executive powers through the curious election of George Washington in 1789 and, for more than 200 years, up through the meteoric rise of Barack Obama, the presidency has been at the heart of American history.
-
-
Too Biased
- By Justin Swihart on 05-29-13
By: Kenneth C. Davis
-
White House Usher
- Stories from the Inside
- By: Christopher B. Emery
- Narrated by: Jonathan Salkoff
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than 200 years, a small office has operated on the state floor of the White House executive residence. Known as the Usher's Office, whose mission is to accommodate the personal needs of the first family, and to make the White House feel like a home. The Usher's Office is the managing office of the executive residence and its staff of 90-plus. The staff consists of butlers, carpenters, grounds personnel, electricians, painters, plumbers, florists, maids, housemen, cooks, chefs, storekeepers, curators, calligraphers, doormen, and administrative support.
-
-
Interesting. Maybe a little unfinished?
- By Crystal Stapleton on 06-25-22
-
First Women
- The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies
- By: Kate Andersen Brower
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In one of the most underestimated - and challenging - positions in the world, the first lady of the United States must be many things: an inspiring leader with a forward-thinking agenda of her own; a savvy politician, skilled at navigating the treacherous rapids of Washington; a wife and mother operating under constant scrutiny; and an able CEO responsible for the smooth operation of countless services and special events at the White House.
-
-
Who is missing?
- By Southern belle on 05-07-16
-
Thirty-Six Years in the White House
- By: Thomas F. Pendel
- Narrated by: Brian V. Hunt
- Length: 2 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 36 years, from Lincoln to Teddy Roosevelt, Tom Pendel saw the daily comings and goings at the center of American political life in the White House. As doorkeeper, he saw senators, congressmen, royalty, citizens, and scoundrels appear on the White House steps.
-
-
Very interesting
- By Crystal Stapleton on 06-28-22
By: Thomas F. Pendel
-
Upstairs at the White House
- My Life with the First Ladies
- By: J. B. West
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
J. B. West, chief usher of the White House, directed the operations and maintenance of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue - and coordinated its daily life - at the request of the president and his family. He directed state functions; planned parties, weddings, funerals, gardens, playgrounds, and extensive renovations; and with a large staff, supervised every activity in the presidential home.
-
-
A tasteful taste of history
- By Mark on 04-27-15
By: J. B. West
-
The Residence
- Inside the Private World of the White House
- By: Kate Andersen Brower
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America's first families are unknowable in many ways. No one has insight into their true character like the people who serve their meals and make their beds every day. Full of stories and details by turns dramatic, humorous, and heartwarming, The Residence reveals daily life in the White House as it is really lived through the voices of the maids, butlers, cooks, florists, doormen, engineers, and others who tend to the needs of the president and first family.
-
-
The White House Explored & Exposed
- By Sara on 04-15-15
-
Don't Know Much About the American Presidents
- By: Kenneth C. Davis
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, Kirby Heyborne, Mark Bramhall, and others
- Length: 23 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than 20 years since his New York Times best seller Don't Know Much About History first appeared, Davis has shown that Americans don't hate history, just the dull version dished out in school. Now Davis turns his attention to what is arguably the most important and most fascinating subject in American history: our presidents. From the heated debates over executive powers through the curious election of George Washington in 1789 and, for more than 200 years, up through the meteoric rise of Barack Obama, the presidency has been at the heart of American history.
-
-
Too Biased
- By Justin Swihart on 05-29-13
By: Kenneth C. Davis
-
White House Usher
- Stories from the Inside
- By: Christopher B. Emery
- Narrated by: Jonathan Salkoff
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than 200 years, a small office has operated on the state floor of the White House executive residence. Known as the Usher's Office, whose mission is to accommodate the personal needs of the first family, and to make the White House feel like a home. The Usher's Office is the managing office of the executive residence and its staff of 90-plus. The staff consists of butlers, carpenters, grounds personnel, electricians, painters, plumbers, florists, maids, housemen, cooks, chefs, storekeepers, curators, calligraphers, doormen, and administrative support.
-
-
Interesting. Maybe a little unfinished?
- By Crystal Stapleton on 06-25-22
-
First Women
- The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies
- By: Kate Andersen Brower
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In one of the most underestimated - and challenging - positions in the world, the first lady of the United States must be many things: an inspiring leader with a forward-thinking agenda of her own; a savvy politician, skilled at navigating the treacherous rapids of Washington; a wife and mother operating under constant scrutiny; and an able CEO responsible for the smooth operation of countless services and special events at the White House.
-
-
Who is missing?
- By Southern belle on 05-07-16
-
The Presidents
- Noted Historians Rank America's Best - and Worst - Chief Executives
- By: Brian Lamb, Susan Swain, Douglas Brinkley - introduction, and others
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann, Grace Angela Henry
- Length: 19 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The complete rankings of our best - and worst - presidents, based on C-SPAN's much-cited Historians Surveys of Presidential Leadership. Over a period of decades, C-SPAN has surveyed leading historians on the best and worst of America's presidents across a variety of categories - their ability to persuade the public, their leadership skills, their moral authority, and more. The crucible of the presidency has forged some of the very best and very worst leaders in our national history, along with everyone in between.
-
-
Too Much Praise
- By veronica d on 02-05-21
By: Brian Lamb, and others
-
First Ladies
- The Ever Changing Role, from Martha Washington to Melania Trump
- By: Betty Boyd Caroli
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 20 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Betty Boyd Caroli's engrossing and informative First Ladies is an essential resource for anyone interested in the role of America's First Ladies. Caroli observes the role as it has shifted and evolved from ceremonial backdrop to substantive world figure. This expanded and updated fifth edition presents Caroli's keen political analysis and astute observations of recent developments, including Melania Trump's reluctance to take on the mantle and former First Lady Hilary Clinton's recent run for president. Caroli here contributes a new preface and updated chapters.
-
-
Thorough
- By Kindle Customer on 10-11-20
-
Five Presidents
- My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford
- By: Clint Hill, Lisa McCubbin Hill
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Secret Service agent Clint Hill brings history intimately and vividly to life as he reflects on his 17 years protecting the most powerful office in the nation. Hill walked alongside Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and Gerald R. Ford, seeing them through a long, tumultuous era - the Cold War; the Cuban Missile Crisis; the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy; the Vietnam War; Watergate; and the resignations of Spiro Agnew and Richard M. Nixon.
-
-
Interesting, but....
- By Papa Charlie on 07-09-17
By: Clint Hill, and others
-
The President's House
- A First Daughter Shares the History and Secrets of the World's Most Famous Home
- By: Margaret Truman
- Narrated by: Sandra Burr
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Margaret Truman knows from firsthand experience, living in the White House can be exhilarating and maddening, alarming and exhausting, but it is certainly never dull. Part private residence, part goldfish bowl, and part national shrine, the White House is both the most important address in America and the most intensely scrutinized.
-
-
Awesome History!
- By LisaB on 02-18-20
By: Margaret Truman
-
The Bully Pulpit
- Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism
- By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 36 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Goodwin describes the broken friendship between Teddy Roosevelt and his chosen successor, William Howard Taft. With the help of the "muckraking" press, Roosevelt had wielded the Bully Pulpit to challenge and triumph over abusive monopolies, political bosses, and corrupting money brokers. Roosevelt led a revolution that he bequeathed to Taft only to see it compromised as Taft surrendered to money men and big business. The rupture led Roosevelt to run against Taft for president, an ultimately futile race that gave power away to the Democrats.
-
-
Makes You Forget You Live in the 21st Century Good
- By Cynthia on 01-11-14
-
Love, Lucy
- By: Lucille Ball
- Narrated by: Lucie Arnaz
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Love, Lucy is the valentine Lucille Ball left for her fans—a warm, wise, and witty memoir written by Lucy herself. The legendary star of the classic sitcom I Love Lucy was at the pinnacle of her success when she sat down to record the story of her life. No comedienne had made America laugh so hard, no television actress had made the leap from radio and B movies to become one of the world’s best-loved performers. This is her story—in her own words.
-
-
What a great book
- By SCOTT on 07-11-18
By: Lucille Ball
-
The First Family Detail
- Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents
- By: Ronald Kessler
- Narrated by: Michael Bybee
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From New York Times best-selling author and award-winning reporter Ronald Kessler, The First Family Detail tells eye-opening, behind-the-scenes stories from Secret Service agents about presidents and their families.
-
-
This was very, very interesting!
- By E.R. on 08-19-14
By: Ronald Kessler
-
The Matriarch
- Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty
- By: Susan Page
- Narrated by: Kate Levy
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A vivid biography of former first lady Barbara Bush, one of the most influential and underappreciated women in American political history.
-
-
Insightful
- By Jean on 04-14-19
By: Susan Page
-
The Presidents Club
- Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity
- By: Nancy Gibbs, Michael Duffy
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Presidents Club was born at Eisenhower’s inauguration when Harry Truman and Herbert Hoover first conceived the idea. Over the years that followed - and to this day - the presidents relied on, misunderstood, sabotaged, and formed alliances with one another that changed history. The world’s most exclusive fraternity is a complicated place: its members are bound forever because they sat in the Oval Office and know its secrets, yet they are immortal rivals for history’s favor.
-
-
Engaging subject, but fact-checking needed
- By loix on 04-25-12
By: Nancy Gibbs, and others
-
Don't Know Much About Geography: Revised and Updated Edition
- Everything You Need to Know About the World But Never Learned, Revised and Updated
- By: Kenneth C. Davis
- Narrated by: Kenneth C. Davis, Joe Ochman, Mark Bramhall, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kenneth C. Davis, author of Don't Know Much About® History, Don't Know Much About the Civil War and Don't Know Much About the Bible, turns his inimitable wit and wide-ranging knowledge to the subject of geography, and proves once and for all that there is a lot more to it than labeling countries on a map. From often amusing perceptions people have had through the ages about the world and the universe to the changing map of today, Davis shows how geography is really a great crossroad of many fields: biology, meteorology, astronomy, history, economics, and even politics.
-
-
Errors
- By The Product Owner on 08-29-15
By: Kenneth C. Davis
-
My Travels with Mrs. Kennedy
- By: Clint Hill, Lisa McCubbin Hill
- Narrated by: Clint Hill
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While preparing to sell his home in Alexandria, Virginia, retired Secret Service agent Clint Hill uncovers an old steamer trunk in the garage, triggering a floodgate of memories. As he and Lisa McCubbin, his coauthor on three previous books, pry it open for the first time in fifty years, they find forgotten photos, handwritten notes, personal gifts, and treasured mementos from the trips on which Hill accompanied First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy as her Secret Service agent.
-
-
Very insightful.
- By Rebecca Vaughn on 11-08-22
By: Clint Hill, and others
-
The Accidental President
- Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World
- By: A. J. Baime
- Narrated by: Tony Messano
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The dramatic, pulse-pounding story of Harry Truman's first four months in office, when this unlikely president had to take on Germany, Japan, Stalin, and the atomic bomb, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
-
-
Exceptional
- By Jean on 11-14-17
By: A. J. Baime
Editorial reviews
Looking for a grand historical drama in which great men undergo great trials in pursuit of great deeds? Well, this is not that book. The great men in Cormac O’Brien’s survey of America’s presidential pantheon are at their laziest, their craziest, and their strangest. Some of the revelations here are old news - Jefferson’s sexual dalliances with his slaves, for example, or Lincoln’s free hand with pardons for soldiers facing executions. Others are truly startling. (Next time some talk-radio pundit accuses a president of gambling away the country’s money, consider that Warren G. Harding actually bet with the presidential china in poker games!) Not Pulitzer material, but Robin Bloodworth’s sure narration makes this a great choice for a long drive.
Related to this topic
-
The Presidents
- Noted Historians Rank America's Best - and Worst - Chief Executives
- By: Brian Lamb, Susan Swain, Douglas Brinkley - introduction, and others
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann, Grace Angela Henry
- Length: 19 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The complete rankings of our best - and worst - presidents, based on C-SPAN's much-cited Historians Surveys of Presidential Leadership. Over a period of decades, C-SPAN has surveyed leading historians on the best and worst of America's presidents across a variety of categories - their ability to persuade the public, their leadership skills, their moral authority, and more. The crucible of the presidency has forged some of the very best and very worst leaders in our national history, along with everyone in between.
-
-
Too Much Praise
- By veronica d on 02-05-21
By: Brian Lamb, and others
-
1948
- Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year That Transformed America
- By: David Pietrusza
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 18 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning historian David Pietrusza unpacks the most ingloriously iconic headline in the history of presidential elections - DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN - to reveal the 1948 campaign's backstage events and recount the down-to-the-wire brawl fought against the background of an erupting Cold War, the Berlin Airlift, the birth of Israel, and a post-war America facing exploding storms over civil rights and domestic communism.
-
-
1948 Presidential election retold by Truman hater
- By The Fabulous GT on 01-21-19
By: David Pietrusza
-
One Mighty and Irresistible Tide
- The Epic Struggle over American Immigration, 1924-1965
- By: Jia Lynn Yang
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The idea of the United States as a nation of immigrants is at the core of the American narrative. But in 1924, Congress instituted a system of ethnic quotas so stringent that it choked off large-scale immigration for decades, sharply curtailing arrivals from Southern and Eastern Europe and outright banning those from nearly all of Asia. In a riveting narrative filled with a fascinating cast of characters, Jia Lynn Yang recounts how lawmakers, activists, and presidents from Truman through LBJ worked relentlessly to abolish the 1924 law.
-
-
Good overview
- By steve thomas on 10-21-20
By: Jia Lynn Yang
-
Star-Spangled Men
- America's Ten Worst Presidents
- By: Nathan Miller
- Narrated by: Andy Caploe
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Picking America's best presidents is easy. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt usually lead the list. But choosing the nation's worst presidents requires more thought. In Star-Spangled Men, respected presidential biographer Nathan Miller puts on display those leaders who were abject failures as chief executive. With pointed humor and a deft hand, he presents a rogues' gallery of the men who dropped the presidential ball, and sometimes their pants as well.
-
-
Entertaining and factual
- By Sean on 10-25-14
By: Nathan Miller
-
JFK
- Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956
- By: Fredrik Logevall
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 29 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the time of his assassination in 1963, John F. Kennedy stood at the helm of the greatest power the world had ever seen, a booming American nation that he had steered through some of the most perilous diplomatic standoffs of the Cold War. Born in 1917 to a striving Irish American family that had become among Boston’s wealthiest, Kennedy knew political ambition from an early age, and his meteoric rise to become the youngest elected president cemented his status as one of the most mythologized figures in American history.
-
-
Excellent Portrait of JFK & His Times
- By John David on 12-14-20
By: Fredrik Logevall
-
1960
- LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon--The Epic Campaign That Forged Three Presidencies
- By: David Pietrusza
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 18 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the election that would ultimately give America "Camelot" and its tragic aftermath. 1960 is a stunning recreation of the bare-knuckle politics of the primaries, the party conventions' backroom dealings, the unprecedented television debates, along with hot-button issues of race, religion, and foreign policy. And, at the center of it all, three future presidents - Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy, and Richard Nixon. In this essential work of history, David Pietrusza chronicles 1960's struggle for power by bringing to life its towering events and personalities, unlocking its secrets, and turning expert scholarship into rich, human storytelling.
-
-
No F words, but the N-word is allowed
- By Porter on 12-04-18
By: David Pietrusza
-
The Presidents
- Noted Historians Rank America's Best - and Worst - Chief Executives
- By: Brian Lamb, Susan Swain, Douglas Brinkley - introduction, and others
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann, Grace Angela Henry
- Length: 19 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The complete rankings of our best - and worst - presidents, based on C-SPAN's much-cited Historians Surveys of Presidential Leadership. Over a period of decades, C-SPAN has surveyed leading historians on the best and worst of America's presidents across a variety of categories - their ability to persuade the public, their leadership skills, their moral authority, and more. The crucible of the presidency has forged some of the very best and very worst leaders in our national history, along with everyone in between.
-
-
Too Much Praise
- By veronica d on 02-05-21
By: Brian Lamb, and others
-
1948
- Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year That Transformed America
- By: David Pietrusza
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 18 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning historian David Pietrusza unpacks the most ingloriously iconic headline in the history of presidential elections - DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN - to reveal the 1948 campaign's backstage events and recount the down-to-the-wire brawl fought against the background of an erupting Cold War, the Berlin Airlift, the birth of Israel, and a post-war America facing exploding storms over civil rights and domestic communism.
-
-
1948 Presidential election retold by Truman hater
- By The Fabulous GT on 01-21-19
By: David Pietrusza
-
One Mighty and Irresistible Tide
- The Epic Struggle over American Immigration, 1924-1965
- By: Jia Lynn Yang
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The idea of the United States as a nation of immigrants is at the core of the American narrative. But in 1924, Congress instituted a system of ethnic quotas so stringent that it choked off large-scale immigration for decades, sharply curtailing arrivals from Southern and Eastern Europe and outright banning those from nearly all of Asia. In a riveting narrative filled with a fascinating cast of characters, Jia Lynn Yang recounts how lawmakers, activists, and presidents from Truman through LBJ worked relentlessly to abolish the 1924 law.
-
-
Good overview
- By steve thomas on 10-21-20
By: Jia Lynn Yang
-
Star-Spangled Men
- America's Ten Worst Presidents
- By: Nathan Miller
- Narrated by: Andy Caploe
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Picking America's best presidents is easy. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt usually lead the list. But choosing the nation's worst presidents requires more thought. In Star-Spangled Men, respected presidential biographer Nathan Miller puts on display those leaders who were abject failures as chief executive. With pointed humor and a deft hand, he presents a rogues' gallery of the men who dropped the presidential ball, and sometimes their pants as well.
-
-
Entertaining and factual
- By Sean on 10-25-14
By: Nathan Miller
-
JFK
- Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956
- By: Fredrik Logevall
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 29 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the time of his assassination in 1963, John F. Kennedy stood at the helm of the greatest power the world had ever seen, a booming American nation that he had steered through some of the most perilous diplomatic standoffs of the Cold War. Born in 1917 to a striving Irish American family that had become among Boston’s wealthiest, Kennedy knew political ambition from an early age, and his meteoric rise to become the youngest elected president cemented his status as one of the most mythologized figures in American history.
-
-
Excellent Portrait of JFK & His Times
- By John David on 12-14-20
By: Fredrik Logevall
-
1960
- LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon--The Epic Campaign That Forged Three Presidencies
- By: David Pietrusza
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 18 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the election that would ultimately give America "Camelot" and its tragic aftermath. 1960 is a stunning recreation of the bare-knuckle politics of the primaries, the party conventions' backroom dealings, the unprecedented television debates, along with hot-button issues of race, religion, and foreign policy. And, at the center of it all, three future presidents - Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy, and Richard Nixon. In this essential work of history, David Pietrusza chronicles 1960's struggle for power by bringing to life its towering events and personalities, unlocking its secrets, and turning expert scholarship into rich, human storytelling.
-
-
No F words, but the N-word is allowed
- By Porter on 12-04-18
By: David Pietrusza
-
The American Story
- Conversations with Master Historians
- By: David M. Rubenstein, Carla Hayden - foreword
- Narrated by: David M. Rubenstein, David McCullough, Walter Isaacson, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Highlights
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through his popular program The David Rubenstein Show, David Rubenstein has established himself as one of today’s most thoughtful interviewers. Now, in The American Story, David shares almost a dozen interviews that capture the brilliance of today’s most esteemed historians, as well as the souls of their subjects. The audiobook presents archival recordings of these interviews and features new introductions by Rubenstein as well as a foreword by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, the first woman and the first African American to lead our national library.
-
-
Stories missing
- By Judith Princz on 01-02-20
By: David M. Rubenstein, and others
-
Worst. President. Ever.
- James Buchanan, the POTUS Rating Game, and the Legacy of the Least of the Lesser Presidents
- By: Robert Strauss
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Worst. President. Ever. flips the great presidential biography on its head, offering an enlightening - and highly entertaining - account of poor James Buchanan's presidency to prove once and for all that, well, few leaders could have done worse. But author Robert Strauss does much more, leading listeners out of Buchanan's terrible term in office to explore with insight and humor his own obsession with presidents, and ultimately the entire notion of ranking our presidents.
-
-
Intriguing
- By Jean on 01-14-17
By: Robert Strauss
-
Dewey Defeats Truman
- The 1948 Election and the Battle for America's Soul
- By: A. J. Baime
- Narrated by: Scott Aiello
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Accidental President comes the thrilling story of the 1948 presidential election, one of the greatest election stories of all time, as Truman mounted a history-making comeback and staked a claim for a new course for America.
-
-
Excellent account of the 1948 election
- By A. Crystal on 07-15-20
By: A. J. Baime
-
God's Hand on America
- Divine Providence in the Modern Era
- By: Michael Medved
- Narrated by: Michael Medved
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Has God withdrawn his special blessing from the United States? Americans ponder that painful question in troubled times, as we did during the devastation of the Civil War and after the assassinations of the '60s, and as we do in our present polarization. Yet, somehow - on battlefields, across western wilderness, and in raucous convention halls - astounding events have reliably advanced America, restoring faith in the Republic’s providential protection. In this provocative historical narrative, Michael Medved brings to life 10 haunting tales that reveal this purposeful pattern.
-
-
Every American is so fortunate
- By Anonymous User on 06-23-20
By: Michael Medved
-
The Man Who Ran Washington
- The Life and Times of James A. Baker III
- By: Peter Baker, Susan Glasser
- Narrated by: Michael Quinlan
- Length: 26 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a quarter-century, from the end of Watergate to the aftermath of the Cold War, no Republican won the presidency without his help or ran the White House without his advice. James Addison Baker III was the indispensable man for four presidents because he understood better than anyone how to make Washington work at a time when America was shaping events around the world. The Man Who Ran Washington is a pause-resisting portrait of a power broker who influenced America's destiny for generations.
-
-
We Need Baker Now More Than Ever
- By @Gazi2a on 01-08-21
By: Peter Baker, and others
-
Don't Know Much About the American Presidents
- By: Kenneth C. Davis
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, Kirby Heyborne, Mark Bramhall, and others
- Length: 23 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than 20 years since his New York Times best seller Don't Know Much About History first appeared, Davis has shown that Americans don't hate history, just the dull version dished out in school. Now Davis turns his attention to what is arguably the most important and most fascinating subject in American history: our presidents. From the heated debates over executive powers through the curious election of George Washington in 1789 and, for more than 200 years, up through the meteoric rise of Barack Obama, the presidency has been at the heart of American history.
-
-
Too Biased
- By Justin Swihart on 05-29-13
By: Kenneth C. Davis
-
Three Days at the Brink
- FDR’s Daring Gamble to Win World War II
- By: Bret Baier, Catherine Whitney
- Narrated by: Bret Baier
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the number-one best-selling author of Three Days in Moscow and anchor of Fox News Channel’s Special Report with Bret Baier, a gripping history of the secret meeting that set the stage for victory in World War II - the now-forgotten 1943 Tehran Conference, where Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin plotted the war's endgame, including the D-Day invasion.
-
-
A history lesson and SO much more
- By ScottG on 11-18-19
By: Bret Baier, and others
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Education delivered in a most entertaining way.
- By Snaps And Snippets on 09-17-18
By: Chris Stirewalt
-
Reaganland
- America's Right Turn 1976-1980
- By: Rick Perlstein
- Narrated by: Samantha Desz, Jonathan Todd Ross, Jacques Roy, and others
- Length: 45 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over two decades, Rick Perlstein has published three definitive works about the emerging dominance of conservatism in modern American politics. With the saga's final installment, he has delivered yet another stunning literary and historical achievement. In late 1976, Ronald Reagan was dismissed as a man without a political future: defeated in his nomination bid against a sitting president of his own party, blamed for President Gerald Ford's defeat, too old to make another run.
-
-
This Book is Censored by Audible
- By Nathan D. Backlund on 09-07-20
By: Rick Perlstein
-
Lyndon
- An Oral Biography
- By: Merle Miller
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 32 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Flawless
- By Jeffrey on 01-04-21
By: Merle Miller
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Fascinating
- By Jean on 06-18-20
-
The Last Republicans
- Inside the Extraordinary Relationship Between George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush
- By: Mark K. Updegrove
- Narrated by: Milton Jeffers
- Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this balanced, illuminating audiobook, Updegrove tells the story of the Bushes' relationship from the birth of George W. through their postpresidential years and Jeb Bush's failed candidacy. Drawing on exclusive access and interviews with both presidents and the key people in their lives, Updegrove reveals the Bushes' views on the current state of the nation and the GOP and how the party they both led and helped build is undergoing a radical transformation.
-
-
Father and Son Presidents
- By Jean on 02-14-18
What listeners say about Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Swede
- 02-20-17
Very interesting
An interesting book, although I found it a little more interesting from FDR on because they're presidents who I am familiar with ---
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Denise
- 01-14-19
lots of little know info about our Presidents
I really enjoyed this book. it was slow at first but got better in time
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cassie
- 04-06-16
Great before Ford... Heavily liberal bias towards more recent presidents.
Overall... It was enjoyable! He does give Obama, Clinton, and Carter more praise than deserved. He Raped the Bushes... And was even overly negative regarding the Reagan success saying he was abhorred by many?!?!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- holly ellinger
- 11-18-23
Wow! our presidents are human!
Enjoyed the read ,found to be humorous. Would like to read more on President Harding and his scandals in Ohio , with Harding 's cabin.aa
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Z_cochran
- 11-12-17
Incredible
This is an incredible book. The content is very funny and engaging. Also, Robin Bloodworth has the perfect voice for narrating this book. If you have any interest in the U.S. Presidents and are not a prude, then you need to buy this book!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- GradyCarter
- 09-06-16
One of my new favorite books
I love hearing about the good and the bad of significant characters in history. This book was right up my alley! I'd say more, but just do yourself a favor and read it...
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Meadow Soprano
- 09-07-23
Mostly satire
Definitely amusing. Hopefully folks will catch on that several “stories” are embellished and pure fiction.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark T Owens
- 03-07-16
A real bore nothing new in here
This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
Save your time and go to Wikipedia
Has Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents turned you off from other books in this genre?
No I love history
Would you listen to another book narrated by Robin Bloodworth?
Never again
If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents?
All this is common knowledge
Any additional comments?
No
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 52Girls
- 10-30-15
So biased.
Very little of the book was information I haven't read before. Google was definitely this author's friend. I'd have given it one more star for effort, but the tone was so over the top snarky for every Republican President. Not an objective study at all.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Scott D. Gray
- 06-25-15
Sloppy, dull, partisan
The author, O'Brien, did not make himself master of his material. Every piece of trivia recounted could be found in a quick web search, and many even more interesting things were left out.
O'Brien made the novice historian's error of presuming to speak for what his subjects wanted or thought without showing evidence that this was the motive behind the policy in question (and obviously ignoring direct evidence from the Presidents' own speeches writings and diaries that contradicts his psychoanalysis. This is compounded by an easy partisanship; partisanship is easier to forgive in a historian who recognizes her/his own biases, but O'Brien has no such sense of self, writing over and over things like "everybody agrees that . . ." or "we can all be thankful that . . ." about issues faced in the past over which reasonable people still differ today.
A good prose style can make up for sloppy history, as in Chesterton's thoroughly enjoyable if unreliable history of England. Sadly O'Brien's prose is lackluster; neither engaging, enraging, or melodious, but in the form of simple un-lyrical statements and lists.
I wanted to like the book, but I simply could not find a purchase from which I could hang any praise for it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
12 people found this helpful