-
The Promise
- President Obama, Year One
- Narrated by: Jonathan Alter
- Length: 20 hrs and 59 mins
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 $26.24
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
Barack Obama’s inauguration as president on January 20, 2009, inspired the world. But the great promise of “Change We Can Believe In” was immediately tested by the threat of another Great Depression, a worsening war in Afghanistan, and an entrenched and deeply partisan system of business as usual in Washington. Despite all the coverage, the backstory of Obama’s historic first year in office has until now remained a mystery.
In The Promise, Jonathan Alter, one of the country’s most respected journalists and historians, uses his unique access to the White House to produce the first inside look at Obama’s difficult debut.
What happened in 2009 inside the Oval Office? What worked and what failed? What is the president really like on the job and in off-hours, using what his best friend called “a Rubik’s Cube in his brain"? These questions are answered here for the first time. We see how a surprisingly cunning Obama took effective charge in Washington several weeks before his election, made trillion-dollar decisions on the stimulus and budget before he was inaugurated, engineered colossally unpopular bailouts of the banking and auto sectors, and escalated a treacherous war not long after settling into office.
The Promise is a fast-paced and incisive narrative of a young risk-taking president carving his own path amid sky-high expectations and surging joblessness. Alter reveals that it was Obama alone—“feeling lucky”—who insisted on pushing major health care reform over the objections of his vice president and top advisors.
Alter takes the listener inside the room as Obama prevents a fistfight involving a congressman, coldly reprimands the military brass for insubordination, crashes the key meeting at the Copenhagen Climate Change conference, and bounces back after a disastrous Massachusetts election to redeem a promise that had eluded presidents since FDR.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Center Holds
- Obama and His Enemies
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Jonathan Alter
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
The Best Telling of the 2012 Campaign So Far
- By Mike on 06-11-13
By: Jonathan Alter
-
Romney
- A Reckoning
- By: McKay Coppins
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, McKay Coppins
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few figures in American politics have seen more and said less than Mitt Romney. An outspoken dissident in Donald Trump’s GOP, he has made headlines in recent years for standing alone against the forces he believes are poisoning the party he once led. Romney was the first senator in history to vote to remove from office a president of his own party. When that president’s supporters went on to storm the US Capitol, Romney delivered a thundering speech from the Senate floor accusing his fellow Republicans of stoking insurrection.
-
-
Political and intellectual biography at its best!
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-23
By: McKay Coppins
-
Insurgency
- How Republicans Lost Their Party and Got Everything They Ever Wanted
- By: Jeremy W. Peters
- Narrated by: Jeremy W. Peters
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An epic narrative chronicling the fracturing of the Republican Party, Jeremy Peters’s Insurgency is the story of a party establishment that believed it could control the dark energy it helped foment—right up until it suddenly couldn’t. How, Peters asks, did conservative values that Republicans claimed to cherish, like small government, fiscal responsibility, and morality in public service, get completely eroded as an unshakable faith in Donald Trump grew to define the party?
-
-
Insurgency
- By Linda Blake on 02-18-22
By: Jeremy W. Peters
-
The Long Alliance
- The Imperfect Union of Joe Biden and Barack Obama
- By: Gabriel Debenedetti
- Narrated by: Gabriel Debenedetti, Will Damron
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gabriel Debenedetti reveals an inside look at the historically close, complicated, occasionally co-dependent, and at-times uncertain relationship between Joe Biden and Barack Obama. The original mismatch between the veteran Washington traditionalist and the once-in-a-generation outsider has transformed repeatedly in ways that have molded not just four different presidential campaigns and two different political parties, but also wars, a devastating near-depression, movements for social equality, and the fight for the future of American democracy.
-
-
A brilliant summary on an unlikely alliance
- By Lutgart S. on 09-23-22
-
Days of Fire
- Bush and Cheney in the White House
- By: Peter Baker
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 29 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
A balanced account of the W and Cheney White House
- By Scott on 11-15-13
By: Peter Baker
-
Weapons of Mass Delusion
- When the Republican Party Lost Its Mind
- By: Robert Draper
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, was a terrible day for American democracy, but many people dared to hope that at least it would break the fever that had overcome the Republican Party and banish Trump's relentless lies about the stealing of the 2020 election. That is not what happened. Instead, “the big steal” has become dogma among an ever-higher percentage of American Republicans. What happened to the Republican Party, and America, during the Trump presidency is a story we more or less think we know.
-
-
If you had told me ...
- By kimberly stewart on 10-30-22
By: Robert Draper
-
The Center Holds
- Obama and His Enemies
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Jonathan Alter
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
The Best Telling of the 2012 Campaign So Far
- By Mike on 06-11-13
By: Jonathan Alter
-
Romney
- A Reckoning
- By: McKay Coppins
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, McKay Coppins
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few figures in American politics have seen more and said less than Mitt Romney. An outspoken dissident in Donald Trump’s GOP, he has made headlines in recent years for standing alone against the forces he believes are poisoning the party he once led. Romney was the first senator in history to vote to remove from office a president of his own party. When that president’s supporters went on to storm the US Capitol, Romney delivered a thundering speech from the Senate floor accusing his fellow Republicans of stoking insurrection.
-
-
Political and intellectual biography at its best!
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-23
By: McKay Coppins
-
Insurgency
- How Republicans Lost Their Party and Got Everything They Ever Wanted
- By: Jeremy W. Peters
- Narrated by: Jeremy W. Peters
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An epic narrative chronicling the fracturing of the Republican Party, Jeremy Peters’s Insurgency is the story of a party establishment that believed it could control the dark energy it helped foment—right up until it suddenly couldn’t. How, Peters asks, did conservative values that Republicans claimed to cherish, like small government, fiscal responsibility, and morality in public service, get completely eroded as an unshakable faith in Donald Trump grew to define the party?
-
-
Insurgency
- By Linda Blake on 02-18-22
By: Jeremy W. Peters
-
The Long Alliance
- The Imperfect Union of Joe Biden and Barack Obama
- By: Gabriel Debenedetti
- Narrated by: Gabriel Debenedetti, Will Damron
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gabriel Debenedetti reveals an inside look at the historically close, complicated, occasionally co-dependent, and at-times uncertain relationship between Joe Biden and Barack Obama. The original mismatch between the veteran Washington traditionalist and the once-in-a-generation outsider has transformed repeatedly in ways that have molded not just four different presidential campaigns and two different political parties, but also wars, a devastating near-depression, movements for social equality, and the fight for the future of American democracy.
-
-
A brilliant summary on an unlikely alliance
- By Lutgart S. on 09-23-22
-
Days of Fire
- Bush and Cheney in the White House
- By: Peter Baker
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 29 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
A balanced account of the W and Cheney White House
- By Scott on 11-15-13
By: Peter Baker
-
Weapons of Mass Delusion
- When the Republican Party Lost Its Mind
- By: Robert Draper
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, was a terrible day for American democracy, but many people dared to hope that at least it would break the fever that had overcome the Republican Party and banish Trump's relentless lies about the stealing of the 2020 election. That is not what happened. Instead, “the big steal” has become dogma among an ever-higher percentage of American Republicans. What happened to the Republican Party, and America, during the Trump presidency is a story we more or less think we know.
-
-
If you had told me ...
- By kimberly stewart on 10-30-22
By: Robert Draper
-
American Psychosis
- A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy
- By: David Corn
- Narrated by: Steven Jay Cohen
- Length: 17 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A fast-paced, rollicking, behind-the-scenes account of how the GOP since the 1950s has encouraged and exploited extremism, bigotry, and paranoia to gain power, American Psychosis offers listeners a brisk, can-you-believe-it journey through the netherworld of far-right irrationality and the Republican Party’s interactions with the darkest forces in America.
-
-
Important history poorly read
- By A. Hawley on 09-16-22
By: David Corn
-
The Fight of His Life
- Inside Joe Biden's White House
- By: Chris Whipple
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now prizewinning journalist Chris Whipple takes us inside the Oval Office as the critical decisions of Biden’s presidency are being made. With remarkable access to both President Biden and his inner circle—including Chief of Staff Ron Klain, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and CIA Director William Burns—Whipple pulls back the curtain on the internal power struggles and back-room compromises.
-
-
A "Fair and Balanced" look at the first two years
- By Kristin V. Johnson on 04-20-23
By: Chris Whipple
-
A Promised Land
- By: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 29 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency - a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.
-
-
Color me grateful.
- By Angela on 11-19-20
By: Barack Obama
-
Partisans
- The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Remade American Politics in the 1990s
- By: Nicole Hemmer
- Narrated by: Nicole Hemmer
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A bold new history of modern conservatism that finds its origins in the populist right-wing politics of the 1990s.
-
-
Great history of the fringe elements of the Republican party that led to Donald Trump!
- By John on 01-24-23
By: Nicole Hemmer
-
Billionaire at the Barricades
- The Populist Revolution from Reagan to Trump
- By: Laura Ingraham
- Narrated by: Laura Ingraham
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Americans didn’t just go to the polls in 2016. They joined a movement that swept the unlikeliest of candidates, Donald Trump, into the Oval Office. Can he complete his agenda? Or will his opponents in the media, protester class, and political establishment block his efforts and choke off the movement he represents?
-
-
The unlikelist US president!
- By Wayne on 11-15-17
By: Laura Ingraham
-
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
-
The Looming Tower
- Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
- By: Lawrence Wright
- Narrated by: Lawrence Wright
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America. Lawrence Wright's remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States.
-
-
Supremely thorough and interesting
- By Josh on 10-05-17
By: Lawrence Wright
-
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
-
War on Peace
- The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence
- By: Ronan Farrow
- Narrated by: Ronan Farrow
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
American diplomacy is under siege. Offices across the State Department sit empty while abroad, the military-industrial complex has assumed the work once undertaken by peacemakers. We're becoming a nation that shoots first and asks questions later. In an astonishing account ranging from Washington, DC, to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and North Korea in the years since 9/11, acclaimed journalist and former diplomat Ronan Farrow illuminates one of the most consequential and poorly understood changes in American history.
-
-
Well Timed and Authoritative:
- By JC on 04-24-18
By: Ronan Farrow
-
The World as It Is
- A Memoir of the Obama White House
- By: Ben Rhodes
- Narrated by: Ben Rhodes, Mark Deakins
- Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For nearly 10 years, Ben Rhodes saw almost everything that happened at the center of the Obama administration - first as a speechwriter, then as deputy national security advisor, and finally as a multipurpose aide and close collaborator. He started every morning in the Oval Office with the President’s Daily Brief, traveled the world with Obama, and was at the center of some of the most consequential and controversial moments of the presidency. Now, he tells the full story of his partnership with a man who also happened to be a historic president of the United States.
-
-
An immersive read; a thoughtful book; a tribute to
- By Jonathan Callies on 06-06-18
By: Ben Rhodes
-
Shattered
- Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign
- By: Jonathan Allen, Amie Parnes
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was never supposed to be this close. And of course she was supposed to win. How Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election to Donald Trump is the tragic story of a sure thing gone off the rails. For every Comey revelation or hindsight acknowledgment about the electorate, no explanation of defeat can begin with anything other than the core problem of Hillary's campaign - the candidate herself.
-
-
Hillary was too smart to win: A book of excuses
- By Kevin Tamari on 04-19-17
By: Jonathan Allen, and others
-
G-Man (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
- J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century
- By: Beverly Gage
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 36 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A major new biography of J Edgar Hoover that draws from never-before-seen sources to create a groundbreaking portrait of a colossus who dominated half a century of American history and planted the seeds for much of today's conservative political landscape.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Jessica Armas on 12-06-22
By: Beverly Gage
Related to this topic
-
The Center Holds
- Obama and His Enemies
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Jonathan Alter
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
The Best Telling of the 2012 Campaign So Far
- By Mike on 06-11-13
By: Jonathan Alter
-
Collision 2012
- Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America
- By: Dan Balz
- Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
- Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four years ago, a bright young presidential candidate named Barack Obama campaigned on a theme of hope and change, and made history. Today, he finds himself in another bitter, divisive presidential race but without the buzzwords. Instead, an embattled president struggles with a dysfunctionally divided Congress, a controversial healthcare bill, a decade-long war, and a stagnant economy.
-
-
Fascinating. Couldn't stop listening.
- By Gregory E Benoit on 07-24-16
By: Dan Balz
-
Believer
- My Forty Years in Politics
- By: David Axelrod
- Narrated by: David Axelrod
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The man behind some of the greatest political changes of the last decade, David Axelrod has devoted a lifetime to questioning political certainties and daring to bring fresh thinking into the political landscape. Whether as a child hearing John F. Kennedy stump in New York or as a strategist guiding the first African American to the White House, Axelrod shows in Believer how his own life stands at the center of the tumultuous American century.
-
-
Love letter to Obama
- By DaWoolf on 03-15-15
By: David Axelrod
-
Act of Congress
- How America's Essential Institution Works, and How It Doesn't
- By: Robert G. Kaiser
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An eye-opening account of how Congress today really works - and doesn’t - that follows the dramatic journey of the sweeping financial reform bill enacted in response to the Great Crash of 2008. The founding fathers expected Congress to be the most important branch of government and gave it the most power. When Congress is broken - as its justifiably dismal approval ratings suggest - so is our democracy.
-
-
insightful, and eye opening.
- By A&K Schneider on 10-21-17
By: Robert G. Kaiser
-
Tip and the Gipper
- When Politics Worked
- By: Chris Matthews
- Narrated by: Chris Matthews
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were the political odd couple - the two most powerful men in the country, a pair who "couldn't be more different or more the same." For six years, Matthews was on the inside, watching the evolving relationship between President Reagan and Speaker of the House O’Neill. Drawing not only on his own remarkable knowledge but on extensive interviews with those closest to his subjects, Matthews brings this unlikely friendship to life in his unique voice.
-
-
I didn't want it to end
- By Jim on 10-06-13
By: Chris Matthews
-
The Red and the Blue
- The 1990s and the Birth of Political Tribalism
- By: Steve Kornacki
- Narrated by: Steve Kornacki, Ron Butler
- Length: 17 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Red and the Blue, cable news star and acclaimed journalist Steve Kornacki follows the twin paths of Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich, two larger-than-life politicians who exploited the weakened structure of their respective parties to attain the highest offices. For Clinton, that meant contorting himself around the various factions of the Democratic party to win the presidency. Gingrich employed a scorched-earth strategy to upend the permanent Republican minority in the House, making him speaker.
-
-
Simply marvelous
- By Hector Gonzalez on 10-04-18
By: Steve Kornacki
-
The Center Holds
- Obama and His Enemies
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Jonathan Alter
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
The Best Telling of the 2012 Campaign So Far
- By Mike on 06-11-13
By: Jonathan Alter
-
Collision 2012
- Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America
- By: Dan Balz
- Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
- Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four years ago, a bright young presidential candidate named Barack Obama campaigned on a theme of hope and change, and made history. Today, he finds himself in another bitter, divisive presidential race but without the buzzwords. Instead, an embattled president struggles with a dysfunctionally divided Congress, a controversial healthcare bill, a decade-long war, and a stagnant economy.
-
-
Fascinating. Couldn't stop listening.
- By Gregory E Benoit on 07-24-16
By: Dan Balz
-
Believer
- My Forty Years in Politics
- By: David Axelrod
- Narrated by: David Axelrod
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The man behind some of the greatest political changes of the last decade, David Axelrod has devoted a lifetime to questioning political certainties and daring to bring fresh thinking into the political landscape. Whether as a child hearing John F. Kennedy stump in New York or as a strategist guiding the first African American to the White House, Axelrod shows in Believer how his own life stands at the center of the tumultuous American century.
-
-
Love letter to Obama
- By DaWoolf on 03-15-15
By: David Axelrod
-
Act of Congress
- How America's Essential Institution Works, and How It Doesn't
- By: Robert G. Kaiser
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An eye-opening account of how Congress today really works - and doesn’t - that follows the dramatic journey of the sweeping financial reform bill enacted in response to the Great Crash of 2008. The founding fathers expected Congress to be the most important branch of government and gave it the most power. When Congress is broken - as its justifiably dismal approval ratings suggest - so is our democracy.
-
-
insightful, and eye opening.
- By A&K Schneider on 10-21-17
By: Robert G. Kaiser
-
Tip and the Gipper
- When Politics Worked
- By: Chris Matthews
- Narrated by: Chris Matthews
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were the political odd couple - the two most powerful men in the country, a pair who "couldn't be more different or more the same." For six years, Matthews was on the inside, watching the evolving relationship between President Reagan and Speaker of the House O’Neill. Drawing not only on his own remarkable knowledge but on extensive interviews with those closest to his subjects, Matthews brings this unlikely friendship to life in his unique voice.
-
-
I didn't want it to end
- By Jim on 10-06-13
By: Chris Matthews
-
The Red and the Blue
- The 1990s and the Birth of Political Tribalism
- By: Steve Kornacki
- Narrated by: Steve Kornacki, Ron Butler
- Length: 17 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Red and the Blue, cable news star and acclaimed journalist Steve Kornacki follows the twin paths of Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich, two larger-than-life politicians who exploited the weakened structure of their respective parties to attain the highest offices. For Clinton, that meant contorting himself around the various factions of the Democratic party to win the presidency. Gingrich employed a scorched-earth strategy to upend the permanent Republican minority in the House, making him speaker.
-
-
Simply marvelous
- By Hector Gonzalez on 10-04-18
By: Steve Kornacki
-
The Gatekeepers
- How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency
- By: Chris Whipple
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The chiefs of staff, often referred to as "the gatekeepers", wield tremendous power in Washington and beyond; they decide who is allowed to see the president, negotiate with Congress to push POTUS's agenda, and - most crucially - enjoy unparalleled access to the leader of the free world. Through extensive, intimate interviews with 18 living chiefs (including Reince Priebus) and two former presidents, award-winning journalist and producer Chris Whipple pulls back the curtain on this unique fraternity. In doing so, he revises our understanding of presidential history.
-
-
Interesting, but lacking in political objectivity
- By Stephen Watson on 09-04-17
By: Chris Whipple
-
The Quiet Man
- The Indispensable Presidency of George H.W. Bush
- By: John H. Sununu
- Narrated by: Qarie Marshall
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this unique insider account, John H. Sununu pays tribute to his former boss - an intelligent, thoughtful, modest leader - and his overlooked accomplishments. Though George H. W. Bush is remembered for orchestrating one of the largest and most successful military campaigns in history - the Gulf War - Sununu argues that conventional wisdom misses many of Bush's other great achievements.
-
-
Outstanding Biograpy
- By Warren Brookes on 07-25-15
By: John H. Sununu
-
The Price of Politics
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Boyd Gaines
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on 18 months of reporting, Woodward's 17th book The Price of Politics is an intimate, documented examination of how President Obama and the highest profile Republican and Democratic leaders in the United States Congress attempted to restore the American economy and improve the federal government's fiscal condition over three and one half years. The Price of Politics addresses the key issue of the presidential and congressional campaigns: the condition of the American economy.
-
-
Making the Sausage
- By Graham on 10-18-12
By: Bob Woodward
-
All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain's Political Class
- By: Tim Shipman
- Narrated by: Rupert Farley
- Length: 32 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on unrivalled access to all the key politicians and their advisors - including Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, George Osborne, Nigel Farage and Dominic Cummings, the mastermind of Vote Leave - Shipman has written a political history that reads like a thriller and offers a gripping day-by-day account of what really happened behind the scenes in Downing Street, both Leave campaigns, the Labour Party, Ukip and Britain Stronger in Europe.
-
-
blow by blow, word by word
- By Christian R. Unger on 11-22-18
By: Tim Shipman
-
Days of Fire
- Bush and Cheney in the White House
- By: Peter Baker
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 29 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
A balanced account of the W and Cheney White House
- By Scott on 11-15-13
By: Peter Baker
-
Reagan
- The Life
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 31 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ronald Reagan today is a conservative icon, celebrated for transforming the American domestic agenda and playing a crucial part in ending communism in the Soviet Union. In his masterful new biography, H. W. Brands argues that Reagan, along with FDR, was the most consequential president of the 20th century. Reagan took office at a time when the public sector, after a half century of New Deal liberalism, was widely perceived as bloated and inefficient, an impediment to personal liberty.
-
-
Very little about Reagan
- By Jack Merritt on 07-30-15
By: H. W. Brands
-
Bush
- By: Jean Edward Smith
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 25 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Bush, Jean Edward Smith demonstrates that it was not Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, or Condoleezza Rice, but President Bush himself who took personal control of foreign policy. Bush drew on his deep religious conviction that important foreign-policy decisions were simply a matter of good versus evil. Domestically, he overreacted to 9/11 and endangered Americans' civil liberties.
-
-
Delusions of Competence
- By Rick on 11-18-16
-
The Briefing
- Politics, the Press, and the President
- By: Sean Spicer
- Narrated by: Sean Spicer
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
I did not expect to like this non-fiction book!
- By Wayne on 07-30-18
By: Sean Spicer
-
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
-
The Real Romney
- By: Michael Kranish, Scott Helman
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Hard to conceal resentment and feign objectvity...
- By I F Leger on 02-10-12
By: Michael Kranish, and others
-
A Promised Land
- By: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 29 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency - a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.
-
-
Color me grateful.
- By Angela on 11-19-20
By: Barack Obama
-
A Woman in Charge
- The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton
- By: Carl Bernstein
- Narrated by: Dick Rodstein
- Length: 24 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Carl Bernstein's stunning portrait of Hillary Rodham Clinton shows us, as nothing else has, the true trajectory of her life and career, with its zigzag bursts of risks taken and safety sought. Marshaling all the skills and energy that propelled his history-making Pulitzer Prize reporting on Watergate, Bernstein gives us the most detailed, sophisticated, comprehensive, and revealing account of Hilary Rodham Clinton yet.
-
-
in depth and well-written
- By Katherine on 07-20-07
By: Carl Bernstein
What listeners say about The Promise
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- Jim Cornelius
- 07-02-10
the only way to read a book like this
I loved the book. I never would have gone through it if I had to read it. but listening to it suited my life style very well. It was interesting to the end and J. Alter's voice was perfect for the book
Even though it had many details it kept my attention to the end.
I look forward to the second year.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Christopher Vogt
- 06-15-10
Best Book on Obama's Presidency
If your a tea bagger or love listening to Glenn Beck than this is not the book for you. But if you want to learn how the Obama Administration functions and what Obama's leadership style is like you will find this book endlessly fascinating. By far the best book out there on the Obama Presidency.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Andy
- 05-30-10
goes way beyond the headlines and soundbites
Jonathan Alter's latest book provides an interesting and detailed "behind the scenes" view. His terrific narration, coupled with great research, makes you feel you were actually in the room. This book delivers colorful detail into the machinations from the run-up to the election through Obama's first year in office. Best of all, it is going to help me better understand how Obama will lead us going forward.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
14 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- swatch1776
- 08-23-10
good
Personally, I think this is a fairly good narrative of the President's first year. It brings you through the journey of first year. His highs and his lows. While It does feel the author is a little partial to Obama, the author does show both good and bad. But ultimately this is chronicle of his first year. And I feel that most of the negative reviews are angry this isnt another Laura Ingram berate against Obama. If you want that, there are books you can buy, This is not it. Otherwise this is a good book to buy.
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
- Beth Alois
- 06-30-10
Good book
Good summary of the Obama's first year in office. There is an excellent chapter on Obama's character.
The narration is amateurish. His voice often sounds tired. If Alter is going to do a book per year, his publisher should hire a professional reader.
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
- Amr
- 09-18-11
A bit Biased
The fairly liberal author really likes Obama and his accomplishments in the first year, which is not surprising but it becomes very obvious sometimes (even for me, someone who favors Obama) which is not good for a book that is supposed to be a very early draft of history of the first year of the Obama presidency.
However, the book is full of details about what happened in the first year (even though they mostly favor Obama) and more importantly it offers details on Obama's management style and his attitude towards the commander-in-cheif and top executive job.
Enjoy the details of the book (especially, if you're interested in politics like I'm) but remember that it's a first somehow biased draft of history.
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
- Marty Siegel
- 06-24-10
Amazing journalism and writing
I always knew Jonathan Alter was brilliant, listening to him frequently on MSNBC, but this book is insightful work. Every story was exciting, and I'll tell you why: for many of us political junkies, we know the public stories; what we don't know are the "behind the scenes" stories of President Obama's first year. Alter gives us this, with clarity and compelling prose.
The recent events with General McChrystal's resignation is made more clear after you've learned how the President developed his Afgan policy and the way he affirmed buy-in.
Of course the bottom line is that, again and again, I am pleased that Barack Obama is our president, and Alter's book helps me feel assured how the President and his staff are likely handling current crises (like BP).
I highly recommend this book. If I had my way, it would be required reading for every American who voted for the President; it would reaffirm their choice (despite some acknowledged screw-ups and a realization that "real change," almost by definition is "slow change.").
Good listening!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 12-21-20
an incredibly honest and engaging narrative
this is one of the most honest and engaging accounts of one or the toughest first years in present has ever had in our history. Jonathan Alter holds nothing back, details the intense drama and clash of personalities that is rare a political history. this is what separates The Promise from other political histories
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Peter Cowen
- 10-25-10
Gives Great Insight
The Promise really captured the essence of Obama, his personality, his decision making ability, his managerial style. Surprisingly, the book did a superb job of analyzing the key people around him notably Rahm Emanuel, Larry Summers, and Timothy Geithner and the rationale behind his policy decisions and priorities. The discussion about his "battle" with the military complex is fascinating.
It was a riveting read, from balancing the Republican strategy of saying no, the dynamics versus each of the Clintons and the remarkable campaign he mounted to win the Democratic nomination and then the presidency. How McCain and Palin were viewed was amusing.
The best book I have read by far on Obama from his campaign through is first year in office.
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
- ivan
- 06-25-12
a decent book
The Promise provides a good summary of the firs months of the Obama presidency.
Its a decent book that succeeds in what it sets out to do.
Jonathan Alter is clearly sympathetic to Obama and his brand of pragmatic liberalism. So if you're looking for a neutral or a negative view of the president, this book will probably be an irritating disappointment.
By noting that this volume is decent I also want to highlight that it's not great.
Yes, by reading The Promise you would get a little more insider information about the young presidency than you would if you were following Obama in the pages of the New York Times. But you won't get that much more.
Most of the book consists of rehashing what any political junkie already knows (but may have forgotten).
Tidbits of novel insights are intermixed with the authors prolonged analysis and interpretations that can get redundant. They are by no means intolerable, its just that instead of having a feeling of reading a detailed history one often has a sense of consuming a vague, supportive editorial.
I don't have a problem with a liberal bias. I am a liberal and will enthusiastically support Obama in the upcoming elections. But this books lengthy and supportive psychoanalysis of Obama's character and vague support of his policies gets a little old.
Atler's transparent admiration of Obama shrouds the narrative with a blurry softness.
Basically, my problem is that instead of concrete information, after a brief and adequate summary of some event in 2009 you then get pro-Obama analysis of the event and the book moves on to something new.
Its not bad, and is pretty informative but leaves you without a sense of any great insight.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!