The Shame of the Cities
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Narrated by:
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Peter Lerman
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By:
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Lincoln Steffens
About this listen
Lincoln Steffens tells of historic corruption scandals in the major cities of the United States: St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, New York City. Houses of prostitution were called "disorderly houses" back in 1903. They were illegal, but if you ran one and you paid the right people in the government, the law would look the other way. If you were the landlord and rented a building for a brothel, you paid, too. And the "working girls" had to buy their clothes and such from a specified shop, also kicking back money to the police. The money all flowed back to city hall.
If you wanted to run a trolley car line, you had to pay for a "right of way", and much of this payment went into the pockets of the persons who ran city hall. City contracts for roads, bridges, buildings, and schools all were rigged to favor the politicians' favored suppliers and contractors who were overpaid for their goods and services. Then they split the loot with the civil "servants".
Patronage also applied to the people employed by the city. If you "donated" enough money or delivered enough votes on election day you (or your brother, uncle, etc.) could become a policeman, fireman, clerk, school teacher.
Tough guys roughed up "unfriendly" voters on their way to the polls to discourage them. Then they assisted their friends in voting multiple times for their favorite candidate.
Steffens was the towering figure in journalism of the early 20th century. This is a series of articles he wrote uncovering the graft and corruption at the highest levels of municipal governments across the country: the "Boodlers" stealing money from public piggy banks through a wide variety of schemes and plans made in smoke-filled rooms; trading power for profit; selling rights and property that belonged to the public and putting the money in their own pockets.
The stories are real. The facts were uncovered by Steffens in a long series of in-depth investigations. The public was shocked and pledges for "good government" followed.
This is the birth of investigative journalism. It made a difference.
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Coolidge: An American Enigma
- By: Robert Sobel
- Narrated by: Charles Bice
- Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Sobel instead exposes the real Coolidge, whose legacy as the most Jeffersonian of all twentieth-century presidents still reverberates today. Sobel delves into the record to show how Coolidge cut taxes four times, had a budget surplus every year in office, and cut the national debt by a third in a period of unprecedented economic growth.
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A Book Exciting As It's Subject!!!
- By Ted on 08-28-12
By: Robert Sobel
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Theodore Roosevelt for the Defense
- The Courtroom Battle to Save His Legacy
- By: Dan Abrams, David Fisher
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne, Dan Abrams
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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"No more dramatic courtroom scene has ever been enacted," reported the Syracuse Herald on May 22, 1915, as it covered "the greatest libel suit in history", a battle fought between former President Theodore Roosevelt and the leader of the Republican party. Roosevelt, the boisterous and mostly beloved legendary American hero, had accused his former friend and ally, now turned rival, William Barnes of political corruption. The furious Barnes responded by suing Roosevelt for an enormous sum that could have financially devastated him.
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What is For the Polity What is for the Politician
- By J.B. on 05-27-19
By: Dan Abrams, and others
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The New Deal
- A Modern History
- By: Michael Hiltzik
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 19 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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As America struggles with an economic debacle akin to the Great Depression, nothing could be timelier than an authoritative account of the New Deal, masterfully written by Michael Hiltzik, author of the acclaimed history of the Hoover Dam, Colossus.
In this richly peopled, vividly rendered narrative, Hiltzik describes how the urgent short-term relief measures of Franklin Roosevelt’s Hundred Days evolved into a transformative concept of the federal role in American life.
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Another Excellent New Deal History
- By R.S. on 12-19-11
By: Michael Hiltzik
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The Impeachers
- The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation
- By: Brenda Wineapple
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and Vice-President Andrew Johnson became "the Accidental President", it was a dangerous time in America. Devastated by war and resorting to violence, many white Southerners hoped to restore a pre-Civil War society, if without slavery, and the pugnacious Andrew Johnson seemed to share their goals. With profound insights and making use of extensive research, Brenda Wineapple dramatically evokes this pivotal period in American history, when the country was rocked by the first-ever impeachment of a sitting American president.
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Forgotten American History Revitalized
- By Leslie Dillingham Freyberg on 06-19-19
By: Brenda Wineapple
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The Forgotten Man
- By: Amity Shlaes
- Narrated by: Terence Aselford
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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It's difficult today to imagine how America survived the Great Depression. Only through the stories of the common people who struggled during that era can we really understand how the nation endured. In The Forgotten Man, Amity Shlaes offers a striking reinterpretation of the Great Depression. Rejecting the old emphasis on the New Deal, she turns to the neglected and moving stories of individual Americans, and shows how they helped establish the steadfast character we developed as a nation.
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a story of forgotten times
- By Debb Robinson on 10-11-07
By: Amity Shlaes
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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
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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.
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Education delivered in a most entertaining way.
- By Snaps And Snippets on 09-17-18
By: Chris Stirewalt
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Kleptopia
- How Dirty Money Is Conquering the World
- By: Tom Burgis
- Narrated by: Tom Burgis
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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In this real-life thriller packed with jaw-dropping revelations, award-winning investigative journalist Tom Burgis weaves together stories that reveal a terrifying global web of corruption. Glimpses of this shadowy world have emerged over the years. In Kleptopia, Burgis connects the dots. He follows the dirty money that is flooding the global economy, emboldening dictators, and poisoning democracies. From the Kremlin to Beijing, Harare to Riyadh, Paris to the White House, the trail shows something even more sinister: the thieves are uniting. And the human cost will be great.
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Lazy Journalism in long narrative form
- By Jeremy on 02-14-21
By: Tom Burgis
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Justice Corrupted
- How the Left Weaponized Our Legal System
- By: Ted Cruz
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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The left has corrupted the U.S. legal system. Wielding the law as a weapon, arrogant judges and lawless prosecutors are intimidating, silencing, and even imprisoning Americans who stand in the way of their radical agenda. Their "enemies list" even includes parents who dare to speak up for their children at school board meetings. In this shocking new book, Senator Ted Cruz takes listeners inside the justice system, showing how the wrong hands on the levers of power can strangle liberty, crush opposition, and wreck lives.
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Very Informative
- By Michael Screws on 01-03-23
By: Ted Cruz
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The Plot to Seize the Whitehouse
- The Shocking True Story of the Conspiracy to Overthrow FDR
- By: Jules Archer
- Narrated by: Ken Maxon
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Most people will be shocked to learn that in 1933 a cabal of wealthy industrialists - in league with groups like the K.K.K. and the American Liberty League - planned to overthrow the U.S. government in a fascist coup. Their plan was to turn discontented veterans into American "brown shirts," depose F.D.R., and stop the New Deal. They clandestinely asked Medal of Honor recipient and Marine Major General Smedley Darlington Butler to become the first American Caesar. He, though, was a true patriot and revealed the plot to journalists and to Congress.
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Good storytelling, poor voice-over
- By Wayne Hughes on 02-12-13
By: Jules Archer
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Lincoln on Leadership for Today
- Abraham Lincoln's Approach to Twenty-First-Century Issues
- By: Donald T. Phillips
- Narrated by: Donald T. Phillips
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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The author of the classic best seller Lincoln on Leadership answers the question: How would President Lincoln handle the pressing crises of our modern world? Abraham Lincoln is recognized as one of history's finest leaders, a great president when the United States was under tremendous strain. But suppose he were alive today. How would Lincoln deal with today's high-pressure issues, from politics to business?
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Leveraging Lincoln to drive a personal agenda
- By J on 07-18-17
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Machine Made
- Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics
- By: Terry Golway
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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For decades, history has considered Tammany Hall, New York's famous political machine, shorthand for the worst of urban politics: graft, crime, and patronage personified by notoriously corrupt characters. Infamous crooks like William "Boss" Tweed dominate traditional histories of Tammany, distorting our understanding of a critical chapter of American political history. In Machine Made, historian and New York City journalist Terry Golway convincingly dismantles these stereotypes.
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A missed opportunity
- By Kathy on 05-27-15
By: Terry Golway