We've Got to Try
How the Fight for Voting Rights Makes Everything Else Possible
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Narrated by:
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Beto O'Rourke
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By:
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Beto O'Rourke
About this listen
This program is read by the author.
“Uplifting. . . . O’Rourke gets an A-plus on both the moral frisson of the long fight and the rightness of the cause. . . . The happy warrior from Texas is inspiring.” --The Washington Post
Activist and political leader Beto O’Rourke blends history, sociology, and travelogue for a thrilling, inspiring case for how voting rights is essential to a productive and healthy democracy.
In We’ve Got To Try, O’Rourke shines a spotlight on the heroic life and work of Dr. Lawrence Aaron Nixon and the west Texas town where he made his stand. The son of an enslaved man, Nixon grew up in the Confederate stronghold of Marshall, Texas before moving to El Paso, becoming a civil rights leader, and helping to win one of the most significant civil and voting rights victories in American history: the defeat of the all-white primary. His fight for the ballot spanned 20 years and twice took him to the U.S. Supreme Court.
With heart, eloquence, and powerful storytelling, O’Rourke weaves together Nixon’s story with those of other great Texans who changed the course of voting rights and improved America’s democracy. While connecting voting rights and democracy to the major issues of our time, O’Rourke also shares what he saw, heard, and learned while on his own journey throughout the 254 counties of his home state. By telling the stories of those he met along the way and bringing us into the epicenter of the current fight against voter suppression, the former El Paso Congressman shows just how essential it is that the sacred right to vote is protected and that we each do our part to save our democracy for generations to come.
A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.
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Most Americans still see Brown v. Board of Education as a triumph - but was it? James T. Patterson shrewdly explores the provocative questions that still swirl around the case. A wide range of characters animates the story, from the little-known African-Americans who dared to challenge Jim Crow with lawsuits; to Thurgood Marshall, who later became a Justice himself; to Earl Warren, who shepherded a fractured Court to a unanimous decision.
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The Fight Against Inequality
- By Marcus on 03-05-15
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Give Us the Ballot
- The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America
- By: Ari Berman
- Narrated by: Tom Zingarelli
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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The adoption of the landmark Voting Rights Act in 1965 enfranchised millions of Americans and is widely regarded as the crowning achievement of the civil rights movement. Yet fifty years later, we are still fighting heated battles over race, representation, and political power - over the right to vote, the central pillar of our democracy. A groundbreaking narrative history of voting rights since 1965, Give Us the Ballot tells the story of what happened after the act was passed.
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In-Depth Blow by Blow Account of the VRA
- By Gillian on 10-25-16
By: Ari Berman
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The Forgotten
- How the People of One Pennsylvania County Elected Donald Trump and Changed America
- By: Ben Bradlee
- Narrated by: Kiff Vandenheuvel
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Forgotten, Ben Bradlee, Jr., reports on how voters in Luzerne County, a pivotal county in a crucial swing state, came to feel like strangers in their own land - marginalized by flat or falling wages, rapid demographic change, and a liberal culture that mocks their faith and patriotism.
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Wow
- By Walter on 11-05-18
By: Ben Bradlee
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Medgar Evers: Mississippi Martyr
- By: Michael Vinson Williams
- Narrated by: Brandon Church
- Length: 19 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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This biography of a seminal civil rights leader draws on personal interviews from Myrlie Evers-Williams (Evers's widow), his two remaining siblings, friends, grade-school-to-college schoolmates, and fellow activists to elucidate Evers as an individual, leader, husband, brother, and father. Extensive archival work in the Evers Papers, the NAACP Papers, oral history collections, FBI files, Citizen Council collections, and the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission Papers, to list a few, provides a detailed account of Evers's NAACP work and more.
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Incredible Narration
- By Estella Owoimaha on 10-02-17
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Fight Like Hell
- The Untold History of American Labor
- By: Kim Kelly
- Narrated by: Em Grosland
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Freed Black women organizing for protection in the Reconstruction-era South. Jewish immigrant garment workers braving deadly conditions for a sliver of independence. Asian American fieldworkers rejecting government-sanctioned indentured servitude across the Pacific. Incarcerated workers advocating for basic human rights and fair wages. The queer Black labor leader who helped orchestrate America’s civil rights movement. These are only some of the heroes who propelled American labor’s relentless push for fairness and equal protection under the law.
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It is an important historical cause. Well written, well performed.
- By Amazon Customer on 06-18-24
By: Kim Kelly
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Stupid Black Men
- How to Play the Race Card - and Lose
- By: Larry Elder
- Narrated by: Larry Elder
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In Stupid Black Men, Larry Elder takes on the mind-set of those people who always capture the most media attention - as well as masses of public money - people who say that racism is the root of all problems and who end up hurting precisely those they claim to be helping.
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New fan
- By Levonne Burris on 07-15-19
By: Larry Elder
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Locking Up Our Own
- Crime and Punishment in Black America
- By: James Forman Jr.
- Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Today, Americans are debating our criminal justice system with new urgency. Mass incarceration and aggressive police tactics - and their impact on people of color - are feeding outrage and a consensus that something must be done. But what if we only know half the story? In Locking Up Our Own, the Yale legal scholar and former public defender James Forman Jr. weighs the tragic role that some African Americans themselves played in escalating the war on crime.
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Outstanding Book
- By Andrew on 12-13-17
By: James Forman Jr.
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Injustices
- The Supreme Court's History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted
- By: Ian Millhiser
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Few American institutions have inflicted greater suffering on ordinary people than the Supreme Court of the United States. Since its inception the justices of the Supreme Court have shaped a nation where children toiled in coal mines, where Americans could be forced into camps because of their race, and where a woman could be sterilized against her will by state law.
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Is It HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY ? It Depends !
- By James on 04-01-15
By: Ian Millhiser
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This Child Will Be Great
- Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President
- By: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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The first elected woman president of an African country, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was also listed as one of the world’s 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes. This evocative memoir recounts Sirleaf ’s childhood upbringing and rise to political power in Liberia. More than a simple biography, Sirleaf ’s account details how she stood firm in the face of physical abuse early in life and carried that strength over into her career as a young economist in Samuel Doe’s regime.
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What a powerfully strong woman!
- By Gary on 10-18-11
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White Flight
- Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism
- By: Kevin M. Kruse
- Narrated by: Aaron Williamson
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In this reappraisal of racial politics in modern America, Kevin Kruse explains the causes and consequences of "white flight" in Atlanta and elsewhere. Seeking to understand segregationists on their own terms, White Flight moves past simple stereotypes to explore the meaning of white resistance. In the end, Kruse finds that segregationist resistance, which failed to stop the civil rights movement, nevertheless managed to preserve the world of segregation and even perfect it in subtler and stronger forms.
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Local history is important
- By Adam Shields on 10-02-19
By: Kevin M. Kruse
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Con Job
- How Democrats Gave Us Crime, Sanctuary Cities, Abortion Profiteering, and Racial Division
- By: Crystal Wright
- Narrated by: Crystal Wright
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Black voters have overwhelmingly supported the Democratic Party for the last fifty years - and for their loyalty, black Americans have been rewarded with worsening schools, collapsed families, skyrocketed incarceration rates, disappearing jobs, and rising crime. Crystal Wright, editor of the blog Conservative Black Chick, exposes how the Democratic Party has systematically betrayed black voters.
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Awesome!
- By Tracy on 05-11-16
By: Crystal Wright
What listeners say about We've Got to Try
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Stephanie Turner
- 08-26-22
Texas History I was never taught
As an only -parent, I write this review while my kiddo switches the laundry.
I’m not surprised by all of the untold history lessons Beto has experienced while traveling our state. I’m glad he has shared these experiences. Most of us would never have known.
Glad the book isn’t about him, and is more about us.
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- Teion Parker
- 11-11-22
Inspiring storytelling and Texas voting rights history
Inspiring and truthful storytelling of our Texas history and on a greater scale, our country. This will hopefully inspire more citizens to exercise their right to vote and continue to fight for the voting rights of all Americans. Thank you, Beto, for leading the way with this generation of Texans!
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- Marian C.
- 01-18-23
A sordid part of Texas history…
That should be taught in schools. White primaries, “Good Governance” councils, Loyalty Rangers, Jaybird primaries, “poll watchers”—-people need to know about these things so they can work to rid our society of these curses. An excellent story that needs to be told!
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- Casey
- 10-18-23
Truly Outstanding!
As a Texas transplant, I knew none is this history. We must have a complete grasp on the errors of our past in order to not ever, ever repeat them. Thank you, Beto! 🫶🏻
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-09-22
Powerful, Sobering Raw Truth that inspires
I love the title "We've Got to Try" because it applies to every aspect of our lives. I appreciate this book so much because it gives a straight forward history lesson for Texans that impacts the lives of all Americans in every state. I love the author's passion for tenacity and perseverance, it is truly infectious and inspiring. I am a "simple, everyday nobody" that can see that powerful changes come from people just like me. It is the will and determination to make America live up to its ideals of justice and equality that eventually win the day over long periods of time; sometimes our life times. I especially recommend this book for young people from High School to young adulthood.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Marcus
- 08-25-22
We've Got To Try
Beto is brilliant and honest. His political and historical knowledge, intelligence, sincerity, and respect for truth and democracy are inspirational and aspirational. Helps that he has a really cool voice too. Made this a very pleasant, inspiring, and motivating experience. His writing is as articulate and passionate as his speeches. His voice carries with strength, courage, compassion, and conviction. Truly a gifted and talented writer and speaker, philosopher and teacher, and overall badass.
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- Katherine
- 09-24-22
A very important book!!
The stories Beto O’Rourke has told here are vitally important messages for our current time, not only in our country as a whole, but in the state of Texas which has always been a racist state, but is currently taking an even more extreme right turn to becoming a dystopian state. Bravo Beto for this book, the inspiring and cautionary tales of the people in these stories that he retells, and for his powerful bravery of calling out the truth with a beautiful positive message as he campaigns for Governor, a campaign I am working on.
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- Juan Ramirez
- 12-30-23
Amazing
One of the best audio books I have ever listened to. I would recommend it for anyone who wants to learn about loading rights.
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- Stephanie A. Osburn
- 09-02-22
Inspiring!
The history that is told here is so inspiring. The stories give me hope that there may still be a chance to save this country.
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- M. E. Lee
- 10-19-22
Informative and Inspiring
I did not know most of the stories Beto tells in We’ve Got to Try. Everyone should be aware of the stories told in this book because they explain why we cannot give up now even though it feels so overwhelming to continue to fight for rights.
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