-
Watergate
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 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 $21.28
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
From one of our most esteemed historical novelists comes a remarkable retelling of the Watergate scandal, as seen through a kaleidoscope of its colorful perpetrators and investigators.
For all the monumental documentation that Watergate generated - uncountable volumes of committee records, court transcripts, and memoirs - it falls at last to a novelist to perform the work of inference (and invention) that allows us to solve some of the scandal’s greatest mysteries - who did erase those eighteen-and-a-half minutes of tape? - and to see this gaudy American catastrophe in its human entirety. In Watergate, Thomas Mallon conveys the drama and high comedy of the Nixon presidency through the urgent perspectives of seven characters we only thought we knew before now. Praised by Christopher Hitchens for his “splendid evocation of Washington,” Mallon achieves with Watergate a scope and historical intimacy which surpasses even that attained in his previous novels and turns a “third-rate burglary” into tumultuous, first-rate entertainment.
Thomas Mallon is the author of the novels Henry and Clara, Dewey Defeats Truman, and Fellow Travelers, among others. He has been literary editor of Gentleman’s Quarterly and is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker and the Atlantic, as well as other publications.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Landfall
- A Novel
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set during the tumultuous middle of the George W. Bush years - amid the twin catastrophes of the Iraq insurgency and Hurricane Katrina - Landfall brings Thomas Mallon's cavalcade of contemporary American politics, which began with Watergate and continue with Finale, to a vivid and emotional climax.
-
-
Wonderful Read! Especially for Texans
- By Aus10BirdLover on 11-06-19
By: Thomas Mallon
-
Fellow Travelers
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Christian Barillas
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a world of bare-knuckled ideology and secret dossiers, Timothy Laughlin, a recent college graduate and devout Catholic, is eager to join the crusade against Communism. An encounter with a handsome State Department official, Hawkins Fuller, leads to Tim's first job and, after Fuller's advances, his first love affair.
-
-
The tying together of the story threads at the end.
- By Oscar Davila on 12-29-23
By: Thomas Mallon
-
Up with the Sun
- A Novel
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Lowell Byers
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dick Kallman was an up-and-coming actor in the fifties and sixties—until he wasn’t. A costar on Broadway, a member of Lucille Ball’s historic Desilu workshop, and finally a primetime TV actor, Dick had hustled to get his big break. But just as soon as his star began to rise, his roles began to dry up and he faded from the spotlight, his name out of tabloids and newspapers until his sensational murder in 1980.
-
-
hysterical fiction?
- By keneth on 03-17-24
By: Thomas Mallon
-
All the President's Men
- By: Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beginning with the story of a simple burglary at Democratic headquarters and then continuing with headline after headline, Bernstein and Woodward kept the tale of conspiracy and the trail of dirty tricks coming - delivering the stunning revelations and pieces in the Watergate puzzle that brought about Nixon's scandalous downfall. Their explosive reports won a Pulitzer Prize for The Washington Post and toppled the president. This is the book that changed America.
-
-
THE FUMBLING OF AN ASSUAGED
- By Dudley H. Williams on 08-17-13
By: Bob Woodward, and others
-
Watergate
- By: Garrett M. Graff
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy, Garrett M. Graff
- Length: 25 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early hours of June 17, 1972, a security guard named Frank Wills enters six words into the log book of the Watergate office complex that will change the course of history: 1:47 AM Found tape on doors; call police. The subsequent arrests of five men seeking to bug and burgle the Democratic National Committee offices—three of them Cuban exiles, two of them former intelligence operatives—quickly unravels a web of scandal that ultimately ends a presidency and forever alters views of moral authority and leadership.
-
-
Elucidating
- By J.B. on 02-23-22
By: Garrett M. Graff
-
The Path to Power
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson
- By: Robert A. Caro
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 40 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the story of the rise to national power of a desperately poor young man from the Texas Hill Country. The Path to Power reveals in extraordinary detail the genesis of the almost superhuman drive, energy, and ambition that set LBJ apart. It follows him from the Hill Country to New Deal Washington, from his boyhood through the years of the Depression to his debut as Congressman, his heartbreaking defeat in his first race for the Senate, and his attainment, nonetheless, at age 31, of the national power for which he hungered.
-
-
The Best of all Biographies
- By David C. Daggett on 12-14-13
By: Robert A. Caro
-
Landfall
- A Novel
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set during the tumultuous middle of the George W. Bush years - amid the twin catastrophes of the Iraq insurgency and Hurricane Katrina - Landfall brings Thomas Mallon's cavalcade of contemporary American politics, which began with Watergate and continue with Finale, to a vivid and emotional climax.
-
-
Wonderful Read! Especially for Texans
- By Aus10BirdLover on 11-06-19
By: Thomas Mallon
-
Fellow Travelers
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Christian Barillas
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a world of bare-knuckled ideology and secret dossiers, Timothy Laughlin, a recent college graduate and devout Catholic, is eager to join the crusade against Communism. An encounter with a handsome State Department official, Hawkins Fuller, leads to Tim's first job and, after Fuller's advances, his first love affair.
-
-
The tying together of the story threads at the end.
- By Oscar Davila on 12-29-23
By: Thomas Mallon
-
Up with the Sun
- A Novel
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Lowell Byers
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dick Kallman was an up-and-coming actor in the fifties and sixties—until he wasn’t. A costar on Broadway, a member of Lucille Ball’s historic Desilu workshop, and finally a primetime TV actor, Dick had hustled to get his big break. But just as soon as his star began to rise, his roles began to dry up and he faded from the spotlight, his name out of tabloids and newspapers until his sensational murder in 1980.
-
-
hysterical fiction?
- By keneth on 03-17-24
By: Thomas Mallon
-
All the President's Men
- By: Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beginning with the story of a simple burglary at Democratic headquarters and then continuing with headline after headline, Bernstein and Woodward kept the tale of conspiracy and the trail of dirty tricks coming - delivering the stunning revelations and pieces in the Watergate puzzle that brought about Nixon's scandalous downfall. Their explosive reports won a Pulitzer Prize for The Washington Post and toppled the president. This is the book that changed America.
-
-
THE FUMBLING OF AN ASSUAGED
- By Dudley H. Williams on 08-17-13
By: Bob Woodward, and others
-
Watergate
- By: Garrett M. Graff
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy, Garrett M. Graff
- Length: 25 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early hours of June 17, 1972, a security guard named Frank Wills enters six words into the log book of the Watergate office complex that will change the course of history: 1:47 AM Found tape on doors; call police. The subsequent arrests of five men seeking to bug and burgle the Democratic National Committee offices—three of them Cuban exiles, two of them former intelligence operatives—quickly unravels a web of scandal that ultimately ends a presidency and forever alters views of moral authority and leadership.
-
-
Elucidating
- By J.B. on 02-23-22
By: Garrett M. Graff
-
The Path to Power
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson
- By: Robert A. Caro
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 40 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the story of the rise to national power of a desperately poor young man from the Texas Hill Country. The Path to Power reveals in extraordinary detail the genesis of the almost superhuman drive, energy, and ambition that set LBJ apart. It follows him from the Hill Country to New Deal Washington, from his boyhood through the years of the Depression to his debut as Congressman, his heartbreaking defeat in his first race for the Senate, and his attainment, nonetheless, at age 31, of the national power for which he hungered.
-
-
The Best of all Biographies
- By David C. Daggett on 12-14-13
By: Robert A. Caro
-
The Secret Hours
- By: Mick Herron
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two years ago, a hostile Prime Minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating "historical over-reaching" by the British Secret Service “to investigate historical over-reaching.” Monochrome’s mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officer—and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, unfettered access to any and all confidential information in the Service archives in order to do so. But MI5’s formidable First Desk did not become Britain’s top spy by accident, and she has successfully thwarted the inquiry at every turn.
-
-
Just about perfect
- By June Lapidow on 09-28-23
By: Mick Herron
-
Mr. Texas
- A Novel
- By: Lawrence Wright
- Narrated by: Steven Weber, Lawrence Wright
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sonny Lamb is an affable, if floundering, rancher with the unfortunate habit of becoming a punchline in his Texas hometown. Most recently, to everyone’s headshaking amusement, he bought his own bull at an auction. But when a fire breaks out at a neighbor’s farm, Sonny makes headlines in another way: not waiting for help, he bolts to the farm where his heroic actions make the evening news.
-
-
Fun listen and a great story
- By Roberta Weadley on 10-12-23
By: Lawrence Wright
-
The Breach
- The Untold Story of the Investigation into January 6th
- By: Denver Riggleman, Hunter Walker - contributor
- Narrated by: Denver Riggleman
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Breach, a former House Republican and the first member of Congress to sound the alarm about QAnon, Denver Riggleman, provides listeners with an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the January 6th select committee’s investigation. With unique insights from within the far-right movement and from the front lines of the courageous team investigating it, Riggleman shows how our democracy is balanced on a knife’s edge between disinformation and truth.
-
-
Extremely important book by a Former Republican Congressman
- By Steven Hassan PhD on 09-29-22
By: Denver Riggleman, and others
-
The Nixon Defense
- What He Knew and When He Knew It
- By: John W. Dean
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 26 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on Nixon’s overlooked recordings, New York Times best-selling author John W. Dean connects the dots between what we’ve come to believe about Watergate and what actually happened Watergate forever changed American politics, and in light of the revelations about the NSA’s widespread surveillance program, the scandal has taken on new significance. Yet remarkably, four decades after Nixon was forced to resign, no one has told the full story of his involvement in Watergate.
-
-
Nixon HAD no defense
- By Tad Davis on 08-22-14
By: John W. Dean
-
The Fall
- The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty
- By: Michael Wolff
- Narrated by: Michael Wolff - introduction, Holter Graham
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For almost three decades, Fox News has not only made political careers (see: President Donald J. Trump) but also fundamentally altered the political landscape of the United States. It is a truism: as Fox goes, so goes the nation—into further divisiveness and awash in fake news, a gleefully polarizing company. But just as Fox has pushed America apart, now it too is coming apart. As is the family dynasty behind it.
-
-
Terrific rundown of Fox
- By Iread on 10-05-23
By: Michael Wolff
-
Killing Jesus
- A History
- By: Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard
- Narrated by: Bill O'Reilly
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Millions of people have thrilled to best-selling authors Bill O'Reilly and historian Martin Dugard's Killing Kennedy and Killing Lincoln, works of nonfiction that have changed the way we view history. Now the anchor of The O'Reilly Factor details the events leading up to the murder of the most influential man in history: Jesus of Nazareth. Nearly 2,000 years after this beloved and controversial young revolutionary was brutally killed by Roman soldiers, more than 2.2 billion human beings attempt to follow his teachings and believe he is God.
-
-
The Jesus story in context
- By Kimberly on 10-01-13
By: Bill O'Reilly, and others
-
A Spy Among Friends
- Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal
- By: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Who was Kim Philby? Those closest to him—like his fellow MI6 officer and best friend since childhood, Nicholas Elliot, and the CIA’s head of counterintelligence, James Jesus Angleton—knew him as a loyal confidant and an unshakeable patriot. Philby was a brilliant and charming man who rose to head Britain’s counterintelligence against the Soviet Union. Together with Elliott and Angleton he stood on the front lines of the Cold War, holding Communism at bay. But he was secretly betraying them both: He was working for the Russians the entire time.
-
-
The narrator is incorrectly identified.
- By Greenlake DD on 07-30-14
By: Ben Macintyre
-
Blind Ambition
- The White House Years
- By: John W. Dean
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Blind Ambition is an autobiographical account of a young lawyer who accelerated to the top of the Federal power structure to become Counsel to the President at 30 years of age, only to discover that when reaching the top, he had touched the bottom. Most striking in this chronicle is its honesty. Dean spares no one, including himself. But, as Time noted, Dean survived, despite the opposition of powerful foe, because he had no false story to protect and he had an amazing ability to recall the truth.
-
-
Pitch-perfect as a lawyer's eye-view
- By Philo on 09-25-17
By: John W. Dean
-
The Partly Cloudy Patriot
- By: Sarah Vowell
- Narrated by: Sarah Vowell, Conan O'Brien, Seth Green, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sarah Vowell travels through the American past and investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. Her essays confront a wide range of subjects, icons, and historical moments: Ike, Teddy Roosevelt, and Bill Clinton; Canadian Mounties and German Filmmakers; Tom Cruise and Buffy the Vampire Slayer; twins and nerds; the Gettysburg Address, the State of the Union, and George W. Bush's inauguration. The result is an engrossing audiobook, capturing Vowell's memorable wit and her keen social commentary.
-
-
One of the best surprises on AUDIBLE.COM!!
- By Doggy Bird on 04-14-04
By: Sarah Vowell
-
The Orphan Master's Son
- A Novel
- By: Adam Johnson
- Narrated by: Tim Kang, Josiah D. Lee, James Kyson Lee, and others
- Length: 19 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pak Jun Do is the haunted son of a lost mother - a singer “stolen” to Pyongyang - and an influential father who runs Long Tomorrows, a work camp for orphans. There the boy is given his first taste of power, picking which orphans eat first and which will be lent out for manual labor. Recognized for his loyalty and keen instincts, Jun Do comes to the attention of superiors in the state, rises in the ranks, and starts on a road from which there will be no return.
-
-
The most compelling listen I've ever owned
- By Lisa on 01-27-12
By: Adam Johnson
-
Oliver Twist
- By: Charles Dickens
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 16 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After escaping from the dark and dismal workhouse where he was born, Oliver finds himself on the mean streets of Victorian-era London and is unwittingly recruited into a scabrous gang of scheming urchins. In this band of petty thieves, Oliver encounters the extraordinary and vibrant characters who have captured audiences' imaginations for more than 150 years.
-
-
Amazing narration!
- By Karen on 12-11-08
By: Charles Dickens
-
Game Change
- Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime
- By: John Heilemann, Mark Halperin
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story, Game Change is a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel. Character driven and dialogue rich, replete with extravagantly detailed scenes, this is the occasion-ally shocking, often hilarious, ultimately definitive account of the campaign of a lifetime.
-
-
Compelling & frank
- By Michael on 01-15-10
By: John Heilemann, and others
Critic reviews
Related to this topic
-
Finale
- A Novel of the Reagan Years
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of the acclaimed novel Watergate comes a galvanizing new novel about the tumultuous administration of the most consequential and enigmatic president of modern times - Ronald Reagan. Finale takes listeners to the political gridiron of Washington in 1986, the wealthiest enclaves of Southern California, and the volcanic landscape of Iceland, where the president engages in two almost apocalyptic days of negotiation with Mikhail Gorbachev.
-
-
Gore Vidal for the 21st Century
- By philip on 10-31-15
By: Thomas Mallon
-
Chiefs
- By: Stuart Woods
- Narrated by: Mark Hammer
- Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1919, Delano, Georgia, appoints its first chief of police. Honest and hardworking, the new chief is puzzled when young men start to disappear. But his investigation is ended by the fatal blast from a shotgun. Delano's second chief-of-police is no hero, yet he is also disturbed by what he sees in the missing-persons bulletins. In 1969, when Delano's third chief takes over, the unsolved disappearances still haunt the police files.
-
-
In my 'Top Ten' books of all time!
- By karen on 09-17-13
By: Stuart Woods
-
Murder at the Kennedy Center
- By: Margaret Truman
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kenneth Ewald has what it takes to win the presidency: the support of his party, a lovely wife, a dynamic campaign. What neither he nor any candidate needs is a corpse. He knows only one man capable of solving a crime, clearing his son, putting his campaign back on track and catching a killer: his best friend Mac Smith. Oddly enough, it was Mac and his dog Rufus who found the body in the first place.
-
-
Truman
- By Barbra on 01-01-08
By: Margaret Truman
-
Eighteen Acres
- A Novel
- By: Nicolle Wallace
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the former communications director for the White House and current political media strategist comes a suspenseful and smart novel about the first female president and all dramas and deceptions she faces both in politics and in love. Eighteen Acres, a description used by political insiders when referring to the White House complex, follows the first female President of the United States, Charlotte Kramer, and her staff as they take on dangerous threats.
-
-
Biased and Oh So Boring
- By Sara on 10-03-14
By: Nicolle Wallace
-
Back Channel
- By: Stephen L. Carter
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
October, 1962, in Cuba: Soviet ships off-load what intelligence reveals to be nuclear missiles. In Washington, President Kennedy and his advisers are in furious debate over how long they can wait to discover what the Soviets intend before dropping the first bomb. And, in Ithaca, New York, Margo Jensen - a 19-year-old Cornell sophomore - is swept up in a bizarre concatenation of circumstances that will make of her the back-channel liaison between Soviet Premier Khrushchev and Kennedy.
-
-
GREAT spy thriller!
- By Mark on 12-04-16
-
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
- By: Sloan Wilson
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is the story of Tom and Betsy Rath, a young couple with everything going for them: three healthy children, a nice home, a steady income. They have every reason to be happy, but for some reason they are not. Like so many young men of the day, Tom finds himself caught up in the corporate rat race - what he encounters there propels him on a voyage of self-discovery that will turn his world inside out.
-
-
great read/listen
- By BBJ on 09-26-16
By: Sloan Wilson
-
Finale
- A Novel of the Reagan Years
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of the acclaimed novel Watergate comes a galvanizing new novel about the tumultuous administration of the most consequential and enigmatic president of modern times - Ronald Reagan. Finale takes listeners to the political gridiron of Washington in 1986, the wealthiest enclaves of Southern California, and the volcanic landscape of Iceland, where the president engages in two almost apocalyptic days of negotiation with Mikhail Gorbachev.
-
-
Gore Vidal for the 21st Century
- By philip on 10-31-15
By: Thomas Mallon
-
Chiefs
- By: Stuart Woods
- Narrated by: Mark Hammer
- Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1919, Delano, Georgia, appoints its first chief of police. Honest and hardworking, the new chief is puzzled when young men start to disappear. But his investigation is ended by the fatal blast from a shotgun. Delano's second chief-of-police is no hero, yet he is also disturbed by what he sees in the missing-persons bulletins. In 1969, when Delano's third chief takes over, the unsolved disappearances still haunt the police files.
-
-
In my 'Top Ten' books of all time!
- By karen on 09-17-13
By: Stuart Woods
-
Murder at the Kennedy Center
- By: Margaret Truman
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kenneth Ewald has what it takes to win the presidency: the support of his party, a lovely wife, a dynamic campaign. What neither he nor any candidate needs is a corpse. He knows only one man capable of solving a crime, clearing his son, putting his campaign back on track and catching a killer: his best friend Mac Smith. Oddly enough, it was Mac and his dog Rufus who found the body in the first place.
-
-
Truman
- By Barbra on 01-01-08
By: Margaret Truman
-
Eighteen Acres
- A Novel
- By: Nicolle Wallace
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the former communications director for the White House and current political media strategist comes a suspenseful and smart novel about the first female president and all dramas and deceptions she faces both in politics and in love. Eighteen Acres, a description used by political insiders when referring to the White House complex, follows the first female President of the United States, Charlotte Kramer, and her staff as they take on dangerous threats.
-
-
Biased and Oh So Boring
- By Sara on 10-03-14
By: Nicolle Wallace
-
Back Channel
- By: Stephen L. Carter
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
October, 1962, in Cuba: Soviet ships off-load what intelligence reveals to be nuclear missiles. In Washington, President Kennedy and his advisers are in furious debate over how long they can wait to discover what the Soviets intend before dropping the first bomb. And, in Ithaca, New York, Margo Jensen - a 19-year-old Cornell sophomore - is swept up in a bizarre concatenation of circumstances that will make of her the back-channel liaison between Soviet Premier Khrushchev and Kennedy.
-
-
GREAT spy thriller!
- By Mark on 12-04-16
-
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
- By: Sloan Wilson
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is the story of Tom and Betsy Rath, a young couple with everything going for them: three healthy children, a nice home, a steady income. They have every reason to be happy, but for some reason they are not. Like so many young men of the day, Tom finds himself caught up in the corporate rat race - what he encounters there propels him on a voyage of self-discovery that will turn his world inside out.
-
-
great read/listen
- By BBJ on 09-26-16
By: Sloan Wilson
-
Manhattans and Murder
- The Murder, She Wrote Mysteries, Book 2
- By: Jessica Fletcher, Donald Bain
- Narrated by: Beth Porter
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Promoting her latest books brings best-selling mystery writer Jessica Fletcher to New York for Christmas. Her schedule includes book signings, chat-show appearances, department store shopping...and murder. But it all begins with a sidewalk Santa staring at Jessica with fear and recognition.
-
-
A release of an older Donald Bain book in the series, thank goodness
- By Dorise on 02-01-19
By: Jessica Fletcher, and others
-
Philomena
- A Mother, Her Son, and a Fifty-Year Search
- By: Martin Sixsmith
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now a major motion picture directed by Stephen Frears ( The Queen, High Fidelity) and starring Judi Dench ( Skyfall, Notes on a Scandal) and Steve Coogan ( The Trip, Hamlet 2): the heartbreaking true story of an Irishwoman and the secret she kept for 50 years. When she became pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena Lee was sent to a convent to be looked after as a "fallen woman". Then the nuns took her baby from her and sold him, like thousands of others, to America for adoption. Fifty years later, Philomena decided to find him.
-
-
Very Moving Story
- By Cariola on 02-09-14
By: Martin Sixsmith
-
The Submission
- A Novel
- By: Amy Waldman
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Claire Harwell hasn't settled into grief; events haven't let her. Cool, eloquent, raising two fatherless children, Claire has emerged as the most visible of the 9/11 widows who became a potent political force in the aftermath of the catastrophe. She longs for her husband, but she has found her mission: she sits on a jury charged with selecting a fitting memorial for the victims of the attack.
-
-
Some books were meant to be read...
- By Barbara on 02-24-12
By: Amy Waldman
-
Mortal Friends
- By: Jane Stanton Hitchcock
- Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the latest victim of the "Beltway Basher" is found in the woods of Montrose Park, Reven Lynch's favorite jogging spot, her crime-loving antenna goes up. The murder makes Reven and her best friend, Violet Bolton, reconsider their running route - but that's not the only change in Reven's routine.
-
-
Kept me guessing
- By Anonymous User on 12-30-21
-
Mistress of Justice
- By: Jeffery Deaver
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Taylor Lockwood spends her days working as a paralegal in one of New York's preeminent Wall Street law firms and her nights playing jazz piano anyplace she can. But the rhythm of her life is disrupted when attorney Mitchell Reece requests her help in locating a stolen document that could cost him not only the multimillion-dollar case he's defending but his career as well.
-
-
Pathetic! I wasted a credit!
- By Wayne on 06-28-18
By: Jeffery Deaver
-
Weekend Warriors
- Sisterhood, Book 1
- By: Fern Michaels
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the surface, these seven women are as different as can be - but each has had her share of bad luck, from cheating husbands to sexist colleagues to a legal system that often doesn't do its job. Now, drawn together by tragedy, they're forging a bond that will help them right the wrongs committed against them and discover an inner strength they didn't know they had. The Sisterhood is learning that when bad things happen, you can roll over and play dead...or you can get up fighting...
-
-
Weekend Warriors
- By Ms Mare on 04-04-09
By: Fern Michaels
-
The Immigrants
- By: Howard Fast
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a love story of great beauty and great tenderness, the kind of love story that entangles the listener in the lives of the characters, so that after the story is over, one continues to live with those characters. And fortunately, the listener will not have to say farewell to these characters, since it is the first in a series that will tell the story of three Californian families over the course of the 20th century.
-
-
Narration style kills the story.
- By Glynis on 11-27-14
By: Howard Fast
-
Left Behind
- A Novel of the Earth's Last Days
- By: Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What would happen if millions of people around the world suddenly disappeared one day? In this fascinating apocalyptic thriller, best-selling Christian inspirational authors LaHaye and Jenkins pool their considerable talents to answer that question. Narrator Richard Ferrone's unusually deep and hypnotic voice will keep you right in the middle of this not-unimaginable end of the world nightmare.
-
-
Great series!
- By Shannon L Hendon on 08-03-04
By: Tim LaHaye, and others
-
Babylon Sisters
- By: Pearl Cleage
- Narrated by: Pearl Cleage
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Catherine, busy working with refugee and immigrant women through her small firm, Babylon Sisters, has taken on a powerful new client. She doesn't have much time for Phoebe's complicated questions of paternity - that is, until Phoebe's real father, B. J., a renowned investigative reporter, shows up in town to work on a story connected to Catherine.
-
-
Sister Love
- By Florence Graydon on 03-26-21
By: Pearl Cleage
-
Goodnight, Irene
- An Irene Kelly Novel
- By: Jan Burke
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The morning after Irene says goodnight to her old journalist friend O'Connor, he is killed suddenly upon opening a letter bomb. As the smoke clears, a devastated Irene determines to find the mail-bomber by tracing threads of an unsolved crime from 1955 - the same cold case O'Connor had been obsessed with.
-
-
Welcome Irene
- By Anonymous User on 04-29-08
By: Jan Burke
-
Dutch
- A Memoir of Ronald Reagan
- By: Edmund Morris
- Narrated by: Edmund Morris
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book, the only biography ever authorized by a sitting President - yet written with complete interpretive freedom - is as revolutionary in method as it is formidable in scholarship. When Ronald Reagan moved into the White House in 1981, one of his first literary guests was Edmund Morris, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of Theodore Roosevelt. Morris developed a fascination for the genial yet inscrutable President and, after Reagan's landslide reelection in 1984, put aside the second volume of his life of Roosevelt to become an observing eye and ear at the White House.
-
-
Painful
- By john on 02-06-13
By: Edmund Morris
-
Primary Colors
- By: Anonymous
- Narrated by: Peter Francis James
- Length: 16 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Primary Colors offers a richly detailed look at life on the political stump. As former congressional aide Henry Burton is dazzled and lured into presidential hopeful Jack Stanton's fledgling campaign, he becomes a cog in Stanton's unstoppable political machine. Burton illuminates, through his actions and observations, the sometimes seamy, sometimes steamy and sometimes surprisingly noble ascent to the presidency.
-
-
N
- By Laurie on 10-15-08
By: Anonymous
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Fellow Travelers
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Christian Barillas
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a world of bare-knuckled ideology and secret dossiers, Timothy Laughlin, a recent college graduate and devout Catholic, is eager to join the crusade against Communism. An encounter with a handsome State Department official, Hawkins Fuller, leads to Tim's first job and, after Fuller's advances, his first love affair.
-
-
The tying together of the story threads at the end.
- By Oscar Davila on 12-29-23
By: Thomas Mallon
-
Finale
- A Novel of the Reagan Years
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of the acclaimed novel Watergate comes a galvanizing new novel about the tumultuous administration of the most consequential and enigmatic president of modern times - Ronald Reagan. Finale takes listeners to the political gridiron of Washington in 1986, the wealthiest enclaves of Southern California, and the volcanic landscape of Iceland, where the president engages in two almost apocalyptic days of negotiation with Mikhail Gorbachev.
-
-
Gore Vidal for the 21st Century
- By philip on 10-31-15
By: Thomas Mallon
-
Up with the Sun
- A Novel
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Lowell Byers
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dick Kallman was an up-and-coming actor in the fifties and sixties—until he wasn’t. A costar on Broadway, a member of Lucille Ball’s historic Desilu workshop, and finally a primetime TV actor, Dick had hustled to get his big break. But just as soon as his star began to rise, his roles began to dry up and he faded from the spotlight, his name out of tabloids and newspapers until his sensational murder in 1980.
-
-
hysterical fiction?
- By keneth on 03-17-24
By: Thomas Mallon
-
Henry and Clara
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Mia Barron
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the evening of Good Friday, 1865, Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris joined the Lincolns in the presidential box at Ford’s Theater, becoming eyewitnesses to one of the great tragedies of American history. In this riveting novel, Thomas Mallon re-creates the unusual love story of this young engaged couple whose fateful encounter with history profoundly affects the remainder of their lives.
By: Thomas Mallon
-
Landfall
- A Novel
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set during the tumultuous middle of the George W. Bush years - amid the twin catastrophes of the Iraq insurgency and Hurricane Katrina - Landfall brings Thomas Mallon's cavalcade of contemporary American politics, which began with Watergate and continue with Finale, to a vivid and emotional climax.
-
-
Wonderful Read! Especially for Texans
- By Aus10BirdLover on 11-06-19
By: Thomas Mallon
-
Watergate
- By: Garrett M. Graff
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy, Garrett M. Graff
- Length: 25 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early hours of June 17, 1972, a security guard named Frank Wills enters six words into the log book of the Watergate office complex that will change the course of history: 1:47 AM Found tape on doors; call police. The subsequent arrests of five men seeking to bug and burgle the Democratic National Committee offices—three of them Cuban exiles, two of them former intelligence operatives—quickly unravels a web of scandal that ultimately ends a presidency and forever alters views of moral authority and leadership.
-
-
Elucidating
- By J.B. on 02-23-22
By: Garrett M. Graff
-
Fellow Travelers
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Christian Barillas
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a world of bare-knuckled ideology and secret dossiers, Timothy Laughlin, a recent college graduate and devout Catholic, is eager to join the crusade against Communism. An encounter with a handsome State Department official, Hawkins Fuller, leads to Tim's first job and, after Fuller's advances, his first love affair.
-
-
The tying together of the story threads at the end.
- By Oscar Davila on 12-29-23
By: Thomas Mallon
-
Finale
- A Novel of the Reagan Years
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of the acclaimed novel Watergate comes a galvanizing new novel about the tumultuous administration of the most consequential and enigmatic president of modern times - Ronald Reagan. Finale takes listeners to the political gridiron of Washington in 1986, the wealthiest enclaves of Southern California, and the volcanic landscape of Iceland, where the president engages in two almost apocalyptic days of negotiation with Mikhail Gorbachev.
-
-
Gore Vidal for the 21st Century
- By philip on 10-31-15
By: Thomas Mallon
-
Up with the Sun
- A Novel
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Lowell Byers
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dick Kallman was an up-and-coming actor in the fifties and sixties—until he wasn’t. A costar on Broadway, a member of Lucille Ball’s historic Desilu workshop, and finally a primetime TV actor, Dick had hustled to get his big break. But just as soon as his star began to rise, his roles began to dry up and he faded from the spotlight, his name out of tabloids and newspapers until his sensational murder in 1980.
-
-
hysterical fiction?
- By keneth on 03-17-24
By: Thomas Mallon
-
Henry and Clara
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Mia Barron
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the evening of Good Friday, 1865, Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris joined the Lincolns in the presidential box at Ford’s Theater, becoming eyewitnesses to one of the great tragedies of American history. In this riveting novel, Thomas Mallon re-creates the unusual love story of this young engaged couple whose fateful encounter with history profoundly affects the remainder of their lives.
By: Thomas Mallon
-
Landfall
- A Novel
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set during the tumultuous middle of the George W. Bush years - amid the twin catastrophes of the Iraq insurgency and Hurricane Katrina - Landfall brings Thomas Mallon's cavalcade of contemporary American politics, which began with Watergate and continue with Finale, to a vivid and emotional climax.
-
-
Wonderful Read! Especially for Texans
- By Aus10BirdLover on 11-06-19
By: Thomas Mallon
-
Watergate
- By: Garrett M. Graff
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy, Garrett M. Graff
- Length: 25 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early hours of June 17, 1972, a security guard named Frank Wills enters six words into the log book of the Watergate office complex that will change the course of history: 1:47 AM Found tape on doors; call police. The subsequent arrests of five men seeking to bug and burgle the Democratic National Committee offices—three of them Cuban exiles, two of them former intelligence operatives—quickly unravels a web of scandal that ultimately ends a presidency and forever alters views of moral authority and leadership.
-
-
Elucidating
- By J.B. on 02-23-22
By: Garrett M. Graff
What listeners say about Watergate
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Pklinkne
- 07-11-16
Excellent reimagining of Watergate
Mallon does a good job of getting into the heads of the various players in and around the Watergate scandal.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tad Davis
- 03-29-12
A great listen
An intriguing tour-de-force. Mallon retraces the path of the Watergate conspiracy, but at a somewhat oblique angle. Most of the characters are based on (or at least named after!) real people, many of them major players in the burglary or the coverup. The novel is written from multiple points of view; the most extensive POV characters are all safely dead and beyond the reach of their lawyers, but I'm not sure they would care - Mallon applies an even-handed and deeply compassionate brush to everyone. Even Nixon comes off as a human being, and Pat Nixon is given an especially sympathetic treatment.
The obliqueness of the narrative becomes more obvious as it progresses. Time and again, we see the lead-up to important milestones in the coverup, or the aftermath, but we don't see the actual events themselves. The only direct contact we have with the Senate Watergate hearings is when Alice Roosevelt Longworth - Teddy's daughter and one of the major POV characters - attends a morning of John Dean's testimony. At another point, late in the unfolding crisis, we see Nixon listening to the tape of the infamous June 23rd meeting with Haldeman, but it's a retrospective moment: the "real-time" narrative of that date, earlier in the book, skips the meeting entirely.
The effectiveness of this depends on what you were hoping to find. As an old hand at Watergate lore, I was hoping for a more dramatic rendition of the key events. I was initially disappointed, but Mallon gradually won me over with his attention to detail and his provocative and totally believable characterizations. The main POV characters - Longworth, Howard Hunt, Fred LaRue, Rose Mary Woods, Pat Nixon, and Nixon himself - would be fascinating even they weren't, however tangentially, caught up in one of the biggest scandals ever to engulf the US government. Hunt's life in particular has the makings of a real tragedy.
Joe Barrett's gravelly narration is perfectly adapted to the quiet introspection of much of the novel. And yes, his impression of Nixon is spot on.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
15 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Micah
- 06-03-13
My favorite car read in a long time.
Just wonderful. Very historically accurate as far as I can tell (except of course for, well, you'll know what is questionable) and really brings the period and issues to life. absolute page turner so to speak. great narration too.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Curt
- 05-13-12
An Outstanding Read
For those skimming the reader reviews, here's the bottom line: This is a terrific read.
Very few books motivate me to buy multiple copies for friends / colleagues. Fewer still cause me to insist that they actually read and subsequently discuss the book. This is one of them.
Though I keep telling myself that this was "only" fiction, my perception of Watergate has been forever changed. (Others upon whom I have imposed the book express the same sentiment.)
Yet, this is NOT a political book.
It is a character study. The events of Watergate are there in the same way that the walls of a room define a certain space. The book's hallmark is its singular focus on people -- their thoughts and emotions, their ambitions, their petty rivalries, their fears. Every character becomes human.
The known events of Watergate suddenly make sense -- almost inevitable, really -- because we come to understand the people behind those events.
And, therein, lies Watergate's brilliance. You have to keep telling yourself, "Wait a second, this is a novel." The book is not judgmental, it is not an apology, it is simply a fictional character study.
And it is remarkable.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 12-01-18
A good look at Watergate.
I think this a book that explains what happened in the Watergate Scandal pretty well.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kristi R.
- 03-08-12
Arlo Guthrie's Presidential Rag updated
Where does Watergate rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
One of the best. Highlighted all the many things I had forgotten. I was married on the day of the Watergate break in, so I have always been interested in Watergate. This book is a novel told from the inside not like All The President's Men which was told by outsiders.
Wonderful narration, great voices without caricature.
Great characters, humanizes the people involved without forgiving them their sins.
What did you like best about this story?
The great characterizations. Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Mrs. Dorothy Hunt, and Fred LaRue are probably my favorites. A great refresher course on the craziness of Watergate.
Which character – as performed by Joe Barrett – was your favorite?
Fred LaRue was a tragic figure. He lived with the knowledge that he had accidently killed his father and was a true Southern gentleman. He was loyal and did his best to help
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes, but it was way too long to listen to in one sitting. I did listen to the last 4 hours in one sitting though.
Any additional comments?
Presidential Rag by Arlo Guthrie
You said you didn't know,
that the cats with the bugs were there,
and you never go along with that kind of stuff no where,
but that just isn't the point man,
that's the wrong wrong way to go,
if you didn't know about that one, well then what else don't you know,
You said that you were lied to,
well that aint hard too see,
but you must have been fooled again by your friends across the sea,
and maybe you were fooled again by your people here at home,
because nobody could talk like you,
and know what's going on,
Nobody elected your family,
and we didn't elect your friends,
no one voted for your advisors,
and nobody wants amends,
You're the one we voted for, so you must take the blame,
For handing out authority to men who were insane,
You say its all fixed up now, you've got new guys on the line,
but you had better remember this while you still got the time,
Mothers still are weeping for their boys that went to war,
father still are asking what the whole damn thing was for,
and People still are hungry and people still are poor,
And an honest week of work these days don't feed the kids no more,
Schools are still like prisons,
cuz we don't learn how to live,
and everybody wants to take, nobody wants to give,
Yes you will be remembered, be remembered very well,
and if I live a long life, all the stories I could tell,
A many who are in in poverty of sickness and of grief,
hell yes,
you will be remembered, be remembered very well,
You said you didn't know,
that the that the cats with the bugs were there,
You'd never go along with that kind of stuff no where
But that just isn't the point man,
That's the wrong ,wrong way to go,
You didn't know about that one,
well then what else don't you know.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ellis J. Andras
- 07-30-12
amazing reader!
What did you love best about Watergate?
It brought recent history alive.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Nixon's secretary Rose Woods - a real human being.
What about Joe Barrett???s performance did you like?
He did the voices of Nixon, Kissinger, etc. incredibly well.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kate
- 12-25-12
INTERESTING APPROACH
What made the experience of listening to Watergate the most enjoyable?
I had forgotten the chronology of the Watergate scandal and how all the people involved were connected. Though much of the dialogue is "best guess" stuff, it did explain a lot to me about the possible motivations for all of the participants, including Nixon and rosemary Woods. There were a few surprises!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- connie
- 02-26-12
very funny and not at all pedantic
Unlike most comedic novels, this one doesn't wear thin in parts OR go "over the top" to get laughs --it's a consistently good narrative and consistently funny.
It's not pretending to be history, but the author transmits the history of the events effortlessly - I would listen to any historical fiction he writes, no matter the topic. Some will dislike or dispute the portrait of historical characters, but they are all so human, I just want to read their biographies after his playful introduction to their roles in the tragicomedy - and I had absolutely no interest in Watergate before this listen.
The Alice Longworth Roosevelt character is remarkable - She could stare down The Right Honourable Violet Crawley, Countess of Grantham! Whatever truth to her portrait in this novel, she will be my first biographical follow-up project.
The narrator is excellent, toeing the line between impersonation and lively narration without going overboard.
I downloaded this for the social history of the period but am now interested in Watergate itself. Laugh while you learn!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Philo
- 11-26-16
Fleshes out the story brilliantly
I've never been one for historical novels. I'm suspicious of fiction in general (allowing as how, granted, much non-fiction is quite fictive). Why make up a story, especially cribbing others' names and situations halfway truthfully, instead of going with the record? It seems a counter-productive enterprise. For example, I think Oliver Stone often simply muddied people's thoughts of events and people, with his pyrotechnics and conspiracy insertions. How could a made-up story be useful, or efficiently useful? After all, nothing in such a genre reliably happened. Every event is suspect. (I guess my lawyer side is showing.)
But here, at least with this novel, my eyes have been opened. This novel and performance have lent much color to a pretty well-known record, as if punching it up an extra dimension. (I suggest the listener first know the story, and not use this as a first entry point). Imagine a very well-schooled author can reanimate the characters we see in those (mostly) black and white press photos, thrust a hand into them like sock puppets, and bring them to life, in all dimensions of their characters and plights, not merely the ones a camera or interview captured. The nonfiction author has hands tied in this. (Allowing, of course, that each historian takes different latitudes of license to inject non-documented bits to fill the spaces in the record -- as Tom Holland does so colorfully with Roman history.) Further, the fiction author can take us into the minds of each participant, without the awkwardness of labeling everything as a guess. I can see the requisite discipline involved, and here, well done, this gives credibility to the thoughts imputed to real people in real time. My hat is off to this author who has great intuition and psychological insight. Except for a few clearly invented bits (Pat Nixon's affair), the thoughts here ring true to the record I know, systematically. It is a kind of fiction I can respect, as it adds value, if nothing else enhancing our speculative imaginings about the true story.
I appreciate the clarity of labeling as a novel -- our public life seems full of unscrupulous authors who are blurring fabrication and fact, sourcing and all these traditions, horrendously. New media isn't helping, so far, but maybe the AI gods will give us a fact-checking assist in that.
In this narrative performance by Joe Barrett (a favorite of mine), he has outdone himself. I hope he was as delighted doing this as I am listening to it. It joins the author's work seamlessly to bring all these moments vividly to life.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful