The Presidents
Noted Historians Rank America's Best - and Worst - Chief Executives
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Narrated by:
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Gary Tiedemann
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Grace Angela Henry
About this listen
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.
Based on interviews conducted over the years with a variety of presidential biographers, this book provides not just a complete ranking of our presidents, but stories and analyses that capture the character of the men who held the office. From Abraham Lincoln's political savvy and rhetorical gifts to James Buchanan's indecisiveness, this book teaches much about what makes a great leader - and what does not.
As America looks ahead to our next election, this book offers perspective and criteria to help us choose our next leader wisely.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Brian Lamb, Susan Swain (P)2019 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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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.
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Excellent Portrait of JFK & His Times
- By John David on 12-14-20
By: Fredrik Logevall
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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
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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.
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1948 Presidential election retold by Truman hater
- By The Fabulous GT on 01-21-19
By: David Pietrusza
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Dangerous Charisma
- The Political Psychology of Donald Trump and His Followers
- By: Jerrold M. Post MD, Stephanie R. Doucette
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Offering an in-depth psychological and political portrait of what makes Donald Trump tick, Dangerous Charisma combines psychoanalysis with an investigation into the personality of the current American president. This narrative not only examines the life and psychology of Donald Trump but also provides an analysis of the charismatic psychological tie between Trump and his supporters. In this new book, the psychiatrist who once served under five American presidents applies his expertise to profiling the current resident in the White House with surprising and revelatory results.
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Must read book!!
- By Sophie U. on 03-19-20
By: Jerrold M. Post MD, and others
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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
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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.
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No F words, but the N-word is allowed
- By Porter on 12-04-18
By: David Pietrusza
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Piety & Power
- Mike Pence and the Taking of the White House
- By: Tom LoBianco
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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A revealing, in-depth biography of Mike Pence, the most secretive and ingratiating vice president in modern history, from a reporter with remarkable access. Piety & Power cuts to the core of the nation’s most enigmatic politician and unearths new, important, and fascinating anecdotes about Pence’s faith, his marriage to Karen Pence, his bizarre, obsequious relationship with Trump, his deeply buried personality, his ascent to power under John Boehner, and his presidential aspirations and plans for America’s future.
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Scary he's so close to the top job
- By John S. on 10-15-19
By: Tom LoBianco
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The Hardest Job in the World
- The American Presidency
- By: John Dickerson
- Narrated by: John Dickerson
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
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The American presidency is in trouble. It has become overburdened, misunderstood, almost impossible to do. “The problems in the job unfolded before Donald Trump was elected, and the challenges of governing today will confront his successors”, writes John Dickerson. After all, the founders never intended for our system of checks and balances to have one superior Chief Magistrate, with Congress demoted to “the little brother who can’t keep up”.
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Couldn’t wait for this book!
- By David H. Lawrence XVII on 06-17-20
By: John Dickerson
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Lincoln's Mentors
- The Education of a Leader
- By: Michael J. Gerhardt
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
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A novel and brilliant look at how Abraham Lincoln mastered the art of leadership: acclaimed historian Michael J. Gerhardt, who appeared during the impeachment proceedings of President Trump, reveals how a group of five men mentored an obscure lawyer with no executive experience to become American’s greatest leader
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Interesting book
- By Brian on 03-07-21
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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
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Overall
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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.
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This Book is Censored by Audible
- By Nathan D. Backlund on 09-07-20
By: Rick Perlstein
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Team of Five
- The Presidents Club in the Age of Trump
- By: Kate Andersen Brower
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
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From the number one New York Times best-selling author of The Residence and First Women - also a New York Times best seller - comes a poignant, news-making look at the lives of the five former presidents in the wake of their White House years, including the surprising friendships they have formed through shared perspective and empathy.
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Fascinating
- By Jean on 06-18-20
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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
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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.
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Excellent account of the 1948 election
- By A. Crystal on 07-15-20
By: A. J. Baime
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The Kennedys
- An American Drama
- By: Peter Collier, David Horowitz
- Narrated by: Christopher Hurt
- Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Who are the Kennedys? Are they the brilliant, heroic, extraordinary people their admirers believe them to be? Or are they arrogant, competitive, self-absorbed children of a willful and immensely rich patriarch, as their detractors claim? In fact, they are all of these things, and more.
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Well-written (and narrated) Kennedy history.
- By SBG on 09-17-19
By: Peter Collier, and others
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What listeners say about The Presidents
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Joe Petrini
- 10-08-21
Best Presidential audiobook.
Enjoyed the diverse and very knowledgeable contributors. I like how they reviewed all the Presidents in non-chronological order. I definitely learned a lot
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- Skyjwill
- 01-24-23
Get to know the Presidents
Good book that walks you through a little bit of each presidents life. Definitely makes me want to read more memoirs and biographies about the presidents.
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- veronica d
- 02-05-21
Too Much Praise
While the presidents are ranked, there is no real critique of them. Each president is given a very short biography which in most cases ignores each president's faults, regardless of their ranking. With the exception of contributions by Robert Strauss and a few others, the information isn't much more insightful than one could find in a middle-school textbook. Don't bother, if you want to know why the presidents were ranked as they were.
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4 people found this helpful