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The Center Holds
- Obama and His Enemies
- Narrated by: Jonathan Alter
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
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Publisher's summary
A narrative thriller about the battle royale surrounding Barack Obama's quest for a second term amid widespread joblessness and one of the most poisonous political climates in American history.
The election of 2012 will be remembered as a hinge of history. With huge victories in the 2010 midterm elections, the Republican Party had blocked President Obama at every turn and made plans to wrench the country sharply to the right. The 2012 contest offered the GOP a clear shot at controlling all three branches of government and repealing much of the social contract that dated back to the New Deal. Facing free-spending billionaires, Fox News, and a concerted effort in 19 states to rig the election by suppressing Democratic votes, Obama repelled the assault and navigated the nation back toward the center.
In The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies, Jonathan Alter uses his unmatched access and deep knowledge of politics and history to produce the first full account of America at the crossroads. He pierces the bubble of the White House and of the presidential campaigns with exclusive reporting and rare historical insight. More than a campaign book, this is the epic story of an embattled president facing a historic moment he considered more pivotal than 2008.
Alter relates the untold story behind Obama's highs and lows, from his daring decision to raid Osama bin Laden's compound to the frustration of the debt ceiling fiasco to his run-ins with black and Latino activists he expected to be his firm allies. There are fresh details about the Koch brothers, Grover Norquist, Roger Ailes, and the online haters who suffer from "Obama Derangement Syndrome". Alter takes us inside the GOP "clown car" primaries as well as Obama's disastrous preparation for the first debate. We meet Obama's analytics geeks working out of "The Cave" and the man who secretly videotaped Mitt Romney's infamous comments on the "47 percent".
The Center Holds, which follows Alter's acclaimed The Promise, will deepen our understanding of Obama's presidency, the 2012 election stakes, and the future of his second term.
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With Barack Obama's historic election in 2008, pundits proclaimed the Republicans as dead as the Whigs of yesteryear. Yet even as Democrats swooned, a small cadre of Republican operatives, including Karl Rove, Ed Gillespie, and Chris Jankowski, began plotting their comeback with a simple yet ingenious plan. These men had devised a way to take a tradition of dirty tricks - known to political insiders as "ratf**king" - to a whole new unprecedented level.
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Politicians Should Not Get to Choose their Voters
- By Anthony Diaz on 08-24-16
By: David Daley
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Outsider in the White House
- Special Audio Edition
- By: Bernie Sanders, Huck Gutman, John Nichols - afterword
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett, Brian Sutherland
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Bernie Sanders' campaign for the presidency of the United States has galvanized supporters all over the country, drawing attention to issues of economic, racial, and social justice and spotlighting one of the most interesting and unconventional candidates in decades.
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Behind the Scenes with Bernie--- WORTH it!
- By Susie on 02-23-16
By: Bernie Sanders, and others
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Game of Thorns
- The Inside Story of Hillary Clinton's Failed Campaign and Donald Trump's Winning Strategy
- By: Doug Wead
- Narrated by: Doug Wead
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Here is the first insider account of the precipitous fall of Hillary Clinton. How the scandals of a lifetime finally reached critical mass. How, in the last few days of the campaign, some on her staff saw the ghostly shroud of defeat creeping over them but were helpless to act, frozen by the self-denial of the group.
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President Donald Trump stopped that Clinton Machine
- By Paulette on 03-05-17
By: Doug Wead
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The Truth (with Jokes)
- By: Al Franken
- Narrated by: Al Franken
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Al Franken reveals the alarming story of how Bush (barely) beat Kerry with his campaign of "fear, smear, and queers", and then claimed a nonexistent mandate; Republicans decided that Terri Schiavo would make "a great political issue"; Conservatives sought to undermine Social Security by using a strategy borrowed from...Vladimir Lenin; and more.
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The Truth Hurts!
- By A. Best on 09-06-10
By: Al Franken
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The Briefing
- Politics, the Press, and the President
- By: Sean Spicer
- Narrated by: Sean Spicer
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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For more than two decades, Sean Spicer had been a respected political insider, working as a campaign and communications strategist. But in December 2016, he got the call of a lifetime. President-elect Donald J. Trump had chosen him to be the White House press secretary. And life hasn’t been the same since. When he accepted the job, Spicer was far from a household name. But then he walked into the bright lights of the briefing room, and the cameras started rolling. His every word was scrutinized. Every movement was parodied. Every detail became a meme. And that’s just the public side.
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I did not expect to like this non-fiction book!
- By Wayne on 07-30-18
By: Sean Spicer
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We've Got People
- From Jesse Jackson to AOC, the End of Big Money and the Rise of a Movement
- By: Ryan Grim
- Narrated by: Sean W. Stewart
- Length: 16 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may seem like she came from nowhere, but the movement that propelled her to office - and to global political stardom - has been building for 30 years...With the party and the nation at a crossroads, this timely and original audiobook offers new insight into how we’ve gotten where we are - and where we're headed.
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Excellent and illuminating, despite tech "issue"
- By DanoB on 08-25-19
By: Ryan Grim
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The Real Romney
- By: Michael Kranish, Scott Helman
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Mitt Romney has masterfully positioned himself as the front-runner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Even though he's become a household name, the former Massachusetts governor remains an enigma to many in America, his character and core convictions elusive, his record little known. Who is the man behind that high-wattage smile? In this definitive, unflinching biography by Boston Globe investigative reporters Michael Kranish and Scott Helman, listeners will finally discover the real Romney.
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Hard to conceal resentment and feign objectvity...
- By I F Leger on 02-10-12
By: Michael Kranish, and others
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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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American Carnage
- On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump
- By: Tim Alberta
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 26 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The 2016 election was a watershed for the United States. But, as Tim Alberta explains in American Carnage, to understand Trump’s victory is to view him not as the creator of this era of polarization and bruising partisanship, but rather as its most manifest consequence. American Carnage is the story of a president’s rise based on a country’s evolution and a party’s collapse. As George W. Bush left office with record-low approval ratings and Barack Obama led a Democratic takeover of Washington, Republicans faced a moment of reckoning.
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masterpiece
- By ZZ on 07-26-19
By: Tim Alberta
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Fault Lines
- A History of the United States Since 1974
- By: Kevin M. Kruse, Julian E. Zelizer
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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If you were asked when America became polarized, your answer would likely depend on your age: You might say during Barack Obama’s presidency, or with the post-9/11 war on terror, or the culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s, or the “Reagan Revolution” and the the rise of the New Right. How did the US become so divided? Fault Lines offers a richly told, wide-angle history view toward an answer.
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Good overview of the past 45 years
- By Adam Shields on 02-26-19
By: Kevin M. Kruse, and others
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The Road to Camelot
- Inside JFK's Five-Year Campaign
- By: Thomas Oliphant, Curtis Wilkie
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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A behind-the-scenes, revelatory account of John F. Kennedy's wily campaign for the White House, beginning with his bold failed attempt to win the vice presidential nomination in 1956. A young and undistinguished junior plots his way to the presidency and changes the way we nominate and elect presidents. John F. Kennedy and his young warriors invented modern presidential politics.
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Absolutely excellent
- By T-Ward on 08-22-20
By: Thomas Oliphant, and others
What listeners say about The Center Holds
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jeffrey
- 06-22-13
Enthralling political autopsy, a must listen!
The overall content of this book is spectacular if not an entirely unprecedented dissection of the most important election of our times to date. I agree with another reviewer who says that authors should seldom narrate their own material and even though I think Jonathan Alter is in the top five political commentators of the past twenty years, his narration was the weakest part of this audio. And yet, at the end of it, I was so pleased with what I had just listened to, I just shrug and say, "well done sir," but that still does not mean I think he should have done the narration.
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7 people found this helpful
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- LDC
- 07-02-13
Good book, even if it wanders a bit
What did you love best about The Center Holds?
It put me in the middle of the drama that was the 2012 election. Whew, what a ride!
What do you think the narrator could have done better?
The book tended to wander a bit, and it was tough to know what the central point of the story was, as he seemed to stray from that often.
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- Tim
- 09-16-13
Very entertaining and informative
This is a a great book to read after The Audacity to Win. It gives you a great foundation for this book. Both are a must read for political geeks!
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- ann
- 07-07-13
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY.
This is a great book! Could not put it down. The battle going on between two ideologies in America today is comparable to a war, with al that that implies. Jonathan Alter's description of the battle between the center and the right is riveting! There is as yet, no clear winner. Only history will tell.
Highly recommended.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Robert Macias
- 11-09-16
Masterful book for the curious and tacticians
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
This book give such a datil e account of the trials and triampus that brought Presidident Obama to the White House. Gives a detailed plan fo a successful campaign--but only campaigns that can see a passionate; driven ground force.
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Center Holds?
Last page left me feeling a happ nostalgia.
What about Jonathan Alter’s performance did you like?
This you can get a hit or miss, but Jonathan has a good voice and delivered at his performance.
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- Mike
- 06-11-13
The Best Telling of the 2012 Campaign So Far
Would you consider the audio edition of The Center Holds to be better than the print version?
By way of full disclosure, I was head writer for the Committee on Arrangements for the 2012 GOP Convention in Tampa (no, I did *NOT* write for Clint Eastwood -- or for the chair!) and have been a GOP communications operative for over two decades. I've met and spoken to Jonathan Alter several times over the years, so my opinions here might be influenced by that.Politics aside, I've always enjoyed Alter's writing in Newsweek and now Bloomberg and his frequent NBC appearances. He's thorough and has always treated me and my clients fairly. As an audio book addict, I usually prefer the spoken version, and Jonathan does an excellent job on this one.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Alter's book is a panorama of the famous and not-so-famous names of the 2012 campaign, some of whom I've been privileged to know personally. By far the most interesting individual in Alter's recounting was Scott Prouty, the bartender who secretly recorded the Romney "47 percent" video at a high-dollar fundraiser in south Florida.Alter goes into great (and, to me, previously unknown) detail about Prouty's elaborate efforts to shield his identity, explores his motivations -- and even tells us what became of him (he's working for Steelworkers' President Leo Gerard on international working conditions; not surprising since, according to Alter's telling, Prouty was angered by Romney's descriptions of conditions at a Chinese factory he'd acquired. It was this a portion of the gaffe-laden tape that Prouty thought would be most explosive - not the "47 percent" references.)
What about Jonathan Alter’s performance did you like?
His delivery this time is much better than it was in his earlier audiobook, "The Promise." He seems more at ease, there's better affect -- and he even occasionally mimics accents and speaking patterns. Most authors shouldn't try to read their own text, and non-fiction is especially challenging. I was impressed with Alter's reading this time.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
I nearly did, using it as entertainment on my two-day drive from Florida to Washington late last week. I enjoyed every minute of every one of the 800 miles!
Any additional comments?
I've recommended "The Center Holds" to a number of friends - Republicans and Democrats alike. It's a must-read for those interested in how the 2012 election was decided -- and a critical analysis of the first campaign in which detailed electronic voter data and outreach replaced old-fashioned precinct-level campaigning and fundraising. Republicans especially will benefit from it: Alter explores in great detail my party's inability to catch up with the Obama campaign's lead in technology and data, but more importantly gets to the real heart of Mitt Romney's defeat : the inability of the GOP in 2012 to communicate its concerns for the middle class and to accommodate the great demographic shifts in this country over the last 20 years. A great book, Jonathan. Congratulations!
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17 people found this helpful
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- Areader860
- 06-16-13
Interesting behind the scenes look
What did you love best about The Center Holds?
Great behind the scenes look at the 2012 campaign and the fragmentation of our politics. Really sad we have come this low. One can only hope the situation improves. Very interesting listen.
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3 people found this helpful
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- San Diego Resident
- 06-17-13
Brain candy for political junkies
This book is hard to "put down," with lots of inside information and insights into how the Obama administration functions and how the President thinks, as well as an intelligent recap of facts a well-informed reader probably already knows, but it's an interesting refresher to see it organized in one place.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Maureen
- 08-14-13
Loved It!
As an MSNBC junkie and a huge fan of Rachel Maddow I was very familiar with the author. I heard him discussing the book on NPR and it sounded like a book that I would really enjoy and I wasn't disappointed. It wasn't so much that there was anything very revolutionary about the information presented but it did clarify exactly how the President's reelection was achieved. Initially, I wasn't wowed by the author's narration but I grew to appreciate his understated presentation. This allowed the listener to focus on the historical storyline and not be distracted by the narration. I agree with others who suggested that this book would probably not hold great interest to the loyal opposition.
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- Rosemarie T.
- 07-29-13
For Obama fans
This is a followup piece to Alter's initial Obama book, The Promise. Lots of behind-the-scenes details and context that make it easier to understand the president's thinking in some of the decisions that he has made. Alter is careful to maintain some distance from his subject and analyzes the mistakes that have been made objectively. His portrayal of President Obama helps to flesh out the man that is presented through careful media staging. If you are an Obama supporter, you will like him even more. If you are one of the haters, there is not enough dirt in this book to hold your limited attention.
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4 people found this helpful