The Wilderness
Deep Inside the Republican Party's Combative, Contentious, Chaotic Quest to Take Back the White House
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Narrated by:
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John Glouchevitch
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By:
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McKay Coppins
About this listen
The explosive story of the Republican Party's intensely dramatic and fractious efforts to find its way back to unity and national dominance.
After the 2012 election, the GOP was in the wilderness. Lost and in disarray. And doggedly determined to do whatever it took to get back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
McKay Coppins has had unparalleled access to Republican presidential candidates, power brokers, lawmakers, and Tea Party leaders. Based on more than 300 interviews, The Wilderness is the book that opens up the party like never before: the deep passions, larger-than-life personalities, and dagger-sharp power plays behind the scenes.
In wildly colorful scenes, this exclusive look into the Republican Party at a pivotal moment in its history follows a cast of its rising stars, establishment figures, and loudmouthed insurgents - Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Bobby Jindal, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Donald Trump, Scott Walker, and dozens of others - as they battle over the future of the party and its path to the presidency.
©2015 McKay Coppins (P)2015 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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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
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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.
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Fascinating. Couldn't stop listening.
- By Gregory E Benoit on 07-24-16
By: Dan Balz
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Tip and the Gipper
- When Politics Worked
- By: Chris Matthews
- Narrated by: Chris Matthews
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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I didn't want it to end
- By Jim on 10-06-13
By: Chris Matthews
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The Center Holds
- Obama and His Enemies
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Jonathan Alter
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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The Best Telling of the 2012 Campaign So Far
- By Mike on 06-11-13
By: Jonathan Alter
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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 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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The Front Runner (All the Truth Is Out Movie Tie-In)
- The Week Politics Went Tabloid
- By: Matt Bai
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In May 1987, Colorado Senator Gary Hart seemed a lock for the party’s presidential nomination and led George H. W. Bush by double digits in the polls. Then, in one tumultuous week, rumors of marital infidelity and a newspaper’s stakeout of Hart’s home resulted in a media frenzy the likes of which had never been seen. Through the spellbindingly reported story of the senator’s fall from grace, Matt Bai, Yahoo News columnist and former chief political correspondent for The New York Times Magazine, reveals the Hart affair to be far more than one man’s tragedy.
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Excellent writing and performance
- By S. on 12-06-14
By: Matt Bai
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The People Are Going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore
- A Story of American Rage
- By: Jared Yates Sexton
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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The People Are Going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore is a firsthand account of the events that shaped the 2016 presidential election and the cultural forces that powered Donald Trump into the White House. Featuring in-the-field reports as well as deep analysis, Sexton's book is not just the story of the most unexpected and divisive election in modern political history. It is also a sobering chronicle of our democracy's political polarization - a result of our self-constructed, technologically assisted echo chambers.
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Undercover in Trump's America
- By David Larson on 09-06-17
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Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero
- By: Chris Matthews
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In Chris Matthews’ extraordinary biography, we see this most beloved president in the company of friends. We see and feel him close-up, having fun and giving off that restlessness of his. We watch him navigate his life from privileged, rebellious youth to gutsy American president. We witness his bravery in war and selfless rescue of his PT boat crew. We watch JFK as a young politician learning to play hardball and watch him grow into the leader who averts a nuclear war.
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What Might Have Been?
- By Mel on 12-06-11
By: Chris Matthews
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Big Girls Don't Cry
- The Election that Changed Everything for American Women
- By: Rebecca Traister
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In the last two years, the United States - its history, assumptions, prejudices, and vocabulary - have all cracked open. A woman won a state presidential primary contest (quite a few of them, actually) for the first time in this country's history. Less than a year later, a vice-presidential candidate concluded her appearance in a national debate and immediately reached for her newborn baby. A few months after that, an African American woman moved into the White House - not as an employee but as the First Lady.
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Perfect refresher course in feminism and the media
- By Stacey on 12-16-10
By: Rebecca Traister
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Insane Clown President
- By: Matt Taibbi
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Dispatches from the 2016 election that provide an eerily prescient take on our democracy's uncertain future, by the country's most perceptive and fearless political journalist.
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Slow Motion Horror
- By Rick on 01-20-17
By: Matt Taibbi
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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
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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.
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Father and Son Presidents
- By Jean on 02-14-18
What listeners say about The Wilderness
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Collins A. Ezeanyim
- 12-26-15
A good primer for the ongoing Republican primary
I enjoyed the background info on several of the candidates... Even though some have dropped out (Walker, Jindal). Jeb really does not come off well. The central thesis regarding the GOP becoming aimless as they seek THE representative to lead then into the future and take back the White House is basically correct.
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- John S.
- 01-05-16
At first I liked it
but lost a bit of interest with emphasis on the dropped-out Jindal, and never-ran Paul Ryan. Meanwhile ... Christie, Santorum, Huckabee and Carson weren't covered at all. Rand Paul's story was the most interesting, in that I knew more about evangelicals than he did! About halfway through the author interviews Trump, with a highly unfortunate aftermath, with the book taking a nosedive in the following chapter: glossing over Fiorina's tenure as a CEO, with an implication that she was a great success, when in reality, "highly controversial" would be more accurate; that lead to a tangent on how Sarah Palin was doomed from the start by a hostile media determined to portray her as unqualified.
I got the book as I'm a political junkie, but found it overall disappointing. Narration was okay.
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- TM
- 01-30-16
Interesting and Alarming
An interesting look inside the dynamics of the early formation of the Republican field for the 2016 presidential election.
The author seems to focus on the relationships between the candidates as they cynically try to crush each other. In doing this he gives a pass to the self-idolizing backstories each of them (via political aides and themselves) have worked in to his book.
He also lets zany republican talking points spouted by the candidates go unchecked. But it was still interesting and illuminating because by sticking to the facts and even hewing to the version of events presented by each candidate's camp, it shows how cynical, damaged and delusional each and every one of these possible future presidents really is.
I would be interested in reading a part 2 that covers the primaries and the election.
Well written if perhaps a little choppy at times.
Perfectly narrated.
Recommended for lefties and right wingers alike. Oh and independents like me!
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1 person found this helpful
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- David
- 12-04-15
Fascinating Read
A unique and interesting read, chock-full of stories and interviews you can't get anywhere else. Very well done.
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- Wesley Funk
- 10-21-16
Fascinating back stories
The political drama recounted by Coppins is of the highest quality. I didn't want it to end. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to make sense of the 2016 GOP primary circus.
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- Diane
- 02-17-16
Just the facts! Great stories.
If you could sum up The Wilderness in three words, what would they be?
Neutral. Human. Fact based.
Who was your favorite character and why?
I got to know each of the Republican candidates and was most surprised by the story of Jeb Bush & Paul Ryan. Jeb, because he IS so different from his family of origin - very appealing. Paul Ryan, because he actually walks the walk, doesn't just bluster his way around on a bunch of hot air. I hope he will lead the GOP over to his way of thinking - I might even become a Republican!!
Which scene was your favorite?
When Paul Ryan worked in the "trenches" with addicts in recovery.
If you could give The Wilderness a new subtitle, what would it be?
who they are & where they come from
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1 person found this helpful