Ask Not
The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America
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
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Ask Not
Buy for $14.99
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Edward Herrmann
-
By:
-
Thurston Clarke
About this listen
A close-up on one of American history's most splendid events, JFK's inaugural week, and the creation of the speech that inspired a generation and brought hope to a nation
"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." On the January morning when John F. Kennedy assumed the presidency and stood to speak those words, America was divided. Citizens around the world were torn by fears of war. Kennedy's speech—called the finest since Lincoln at Gettysburg, the most memorable of any 20th-century American politician—did more than reassure: It changed lives, marking the start of a brief, optimistic era of struggle against "tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself."
Ask Not is a beautifully detailed account of the week leading up to the inaugural which stands as one of the most moving spectacles in the history of American politics. At the heart of the narrative is Kennedy's quest to create a speech that would distill American dreams and empower a new generation. Clarke's portrait of JFK during what intimates called his happiest days is balanced, revealing the president at his most dazzlingly charismatic (and cunningly pragmatic). As the snow gradually covers Washington in a blanket of white, as statesmen and celebrities arrive for candle-lit festivities, Kennedy—an obsessed perfectionist—pushes himself, his family, and advisors to the limit—to create greatness, to find the words which captured what he most truly believed and, as it happened, which far outlasted his own life. For all who seek to understand the fascination with all things Kennedy, the answer is here. Ask Not explains the phenomenon to the heart and mind.
©2004 Thurston Clarke (P)2004 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLCListeners also enjoyed...
-
And There Was Light
- Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Jon Meacham
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 2,426
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,140
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2,131
Hated and hailed, excoriated and revered, Abraham Lincoln was at the pinnacle of American power when secessionists gave no quarter in a clash of visions bound up with money, race, identity, and faith. In him we can see the possibilities of the presidency as well as its limitations. This book tells the story of Lincoln from his birth on the Kentucky frontier to his leadership during the Civil War to his tragic assassination: his rise, his self-education, his loves, his bouts of depression, his political failures, his deepening faith, and his persistent conviction that slavery must end.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Winner
- By Diane Moore on 10-31-22
By: Jon Meacham
-
JFK
- Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956
- By: Fredrik Logevall
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 29 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 547
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 482
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 480
By the time of his assassination in 1963, John F. Kennedy stood at the helm of the greatest power the world had ever seen, a booming American nation that he had steered through some of the most perilous diplomatic standoffs of the Cold War. Born in 1917 to a striving Irish American family that had become among Boston’s wealthiest, Kennedy knew political ambition from an early age, and his meteoric rise to become the youngest elected president cemented his status as one of the most mythologized figures in American history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent Portrait of JFK & His Times
- By John David on 12-14-20
By: Fredrik Logevall
-
Churchill
- The Power of Words
- By: Sir Winston Churchill, Martin Gilbert
- Narrated by: Fraser Wilson
- Length: 18 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 101
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 80
Winston Churchill understood and wielded the power of words throughout his six decades in the public eye. His wartime writings and speeches revealed both his vision for the future and his own personal feelings, fascinating generation after generation with their powerful style and thoughtful reflection. In this book Churchill's official biographer, Martin Gilbert, has skilfully selected 200 extracts from his entire oeuvre of books, articles and speeches that reflect his life story, career and philosophy.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I wish I found this book 10 years ago when I was 21
- By Brian Schutte on 07-30-18
By: Sir Winston Churchill, and others
-
JFK's Last Hundred Days
- The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President
- By: Thurston Clarke
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 93
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 79
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 80
A revelatory, minute-by-minute account of JFK’s final days that asks what might have been. Fifty years after his assassination, President John F. Kennedy’s legend endures. Noted author and historian Thurston Clarke reexamines the last months of the president’s life to show a man in the midst of great change, both in his family and in the key issues of his day: The Cold War, Civil Rights, and Vietnam, finally on the cusp of making good on his extraordinary promise.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
In Depth and Beautifully Written
- By grace on 06-03-23
By: Thurston Clarke
-
America's Last President
- What the World Lost When It Lost John F. Kennedy
- By: Monika Wiesak
- Narrated by: Monika Wiesak
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 3
The common man around the globe lost the day John F. Kennedy died. This book details the story and the struggle, in a way never told before, of a man with the courage to repeatedly take on the most powerful forces on the globe; a man who seemingly had everything—but gave everything—including ultimately his life, in pursuit of creating a better life for us all. Along the way, it asks deep questions about what it all means for our world today.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
America's Last President
- By Rebecca M. Grant on 11-27-22
By: Monika Wiesak
-
Incomparable Grace
- JFK in the Presidency
- By: Mark K. Updegrove
- Narrated by: Robin Miles, Mark K. Updegrove
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
Nearly sixty years after his death, JFK still holds an outsize place in the American imagination. While Baby Boomers remember his dazzling presence as president, millennials more likely know him from advertisements for Omega watches or Ray Ban sunglasses. Yet his years in office were marked by more than his style and elegance. His presidency is a story of a fledgling leader forced to meet unprecedented challenges, and to rise above missteps to lead his nation into a new and hopeful era.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Nothing new
- By Grace O'Malley on 07-29-24
-
And There Was Light
- Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Jon Meacham
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 2,426
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,140
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2,131
Hated and hailed, excoriated and revered, Abraham Lincoln was at the pinnacle of American power when secessionists gave no quarter in a clash of visions bound up with money, race, identity, and faith. In him we can see the possibilities of the presidency as well as its limitations. This book tells the story of Lincoln from his birth on the Kentucky frontier to his leadership during the Civil War to his tragic assassination: his rise, his self-education, his loves, his bouts of depression, his political failures, his deepening faith, and his persistent conviction that slavery must end.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Winner
- By Diane Moore on 10-31-22
By: Jon Meacham
-
JFK
- Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956
- By: Fredrik Logevall
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 29 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 547
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 482
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 480
By the time of his assassination in 1963, John F. Kennedy stood at the helm of the greatest power the world had ever seen, a booming American nation that he had steered through some of the most perilous diplomatic standoffs of the Cold War. Born in 1917 to a striving Irish American family that had become among Boston’s wealthiest, Kennedy knew political ambition from an early age, and his meteoric rise to become the youngest elected president cemented his status as one of the most mythologized figures in American history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent Portrait of JFK & His Times
- By John David on 12-14-20
By: Fredrik Logevall
-
Churchill
- The Power of Words
- By: Sir Winston Churchill, Martin Gilbert
- Narrated by: Fraser Wilson
- Length: 18 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 101
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 80
Winston Churchill understood and wielded the power of words throughout his six decades in the public eye. His wartime writings and speeches revealed both his vision for the future and his own personal feelings, fascinating generation after generation with their powerful style and thoughtful reflection. In this book Churchill's official biographer, Martin Gilbert, has skilfully selected 200 extracts from his entire oeuvre of books, articles and speeches that reflect his life story, career and philosophy.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I wish I found this book 10 years ago when I was 21
- By Brian Schutte on 07-30-18
By: Sir Winston Churchill, and others
-
JFK's Last Hundred Days
- The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President
- By: Thurston Clarke
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 93
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 79
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 80
A revelatory, minute-by-minute account of JFK’s final days that asks what might have been. Fifty years after his assassination, President John F. Kennedy’s legend endures. Noted author and historian Thurston Clarke reexamines the last months of the president’s life to show a man in the midst of great change, both in his family and in the key issues of his day: The Cold War, Civil Rights, and Vietnam, finally on the cusp of making good on his extraordinary promise.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
In Depth and Beautifully Written
- By grace on 06-03-23
By: Thurston Clarke
-
America's Last President
- What the World Lost When It Lost John F. Kennedy
- By: Monika Wiesak
- Narrated by: Monika Wiesak
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 3
The common man around the globe lost the day John F. Kennedy died. This book details the story and the struggle, in a way never told before, of a man with the courage to repeatedly take on the most powerful forces on the globe; a man who seemingly had everything—but gave everything—including ultimately his life, in pursuit of creating a better life for us all. Along the way, it asks deep questions about what it all means for our world today.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
America's Last President
- By Rebecca M. Grant on 11-27-22
By: Monika Wiesak
-
Incomparable Grace
- JFK in the Presidency
- By: Mark K. Updegrove
- Narrated by: Robin Miles, Mark K. Updegrove
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
Nearly sixty years after his death, JFK still holds an outsize place in the American imagination. While Baby Boomers remember his dazzling presence as president, millennials more likely know him from advertisements for Omega watches or Ray Ban sunglasses. Yet his years in office were marked by more than his style and elegance. His presidency is a story of a fledgling leader forced to meet unprecedented challenges, and to rise above missteps to lead his nation into a new and hopeful era.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Nothing new
- By Grace O'Malley on 07-29-24
-
The Bully Pulpit
- Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism
- By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 36 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,335
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,896
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,888
Goodwin describes the broken friendship between Teddy Roosevelt and his chosen successor, William Howard Taft. With the help of the "muckraking" press, Roosevelt had wielded the Bully Pulpit to challenge and triumph over abusive monopolies, political bosses, and corrupting money brokers. Roosevelt led a revolution that he bequeathed to Taft only to see it compromised as Taft surrendered to money men and big business. The rupture led Roosevelt to run against Taft for president, an ultimately futile race that gave power away to the Democrats.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Makes You Forget You Live in the 21st Century Good
- By Cynthia on 01-11-14
-
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
- By: Edmund Morris
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 26 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 4,587
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,002
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 3,985
Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time. Described by the Chicago Tribune as "a classic", The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt stands as one of the greatest biographies of our time. The publication of The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt on September 14th, 2001 marks the 100th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt becoming president.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very, very good, but very, very long.
- By Mike From Mesa on 03-29-13
By: Edmund Morris
-
Truman
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 54 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 5,264
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,659
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 4,643
Hailed by critics as an American masterpiece, David McCullough's sweeping biography of Harry S. Truman captured the heart of the nation. The life and times of the 33rd president of the United States, Truman provides a deeply moving look at an extraordinary, singular American.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
That Mousy Little Man From Missouri Revisited
- By Sara on 07-23-15
By: David McCullough
-
The Path to Power
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson
- By: Robert A. Caro
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 40 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 3,634
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,227
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 3,217
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Best of all Biographies
- By David C. Daggett on 12-14-13
By: Robert A. Caro
-
In the Garden of Beasts
- Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
- By: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 9,036
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7,637
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 7,624
The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the “New Germany,” she has one affair after another....
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I loved it ... and hated it ... simultaneously
- By History on 11-21-11
By: Erik Larson
-
No Ordinary Time
- Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II
- By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 39 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,283
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,003
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1,995
No Ordinary Time describes how the isolationist and divided United States of 1940 was unified under the extraordinary leadership of Franklin Roosevelt to become the preeminent economic and military power in the world.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great at 1.5 speed
- By Brett on 01-04-13
-
The Presidents Club
- Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity
- By: Nancy Gibbs, Michael Duffy
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,448
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,251
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,256
The Presidents Club was born at Eisenhower’s inauguration when Harry Truman and Herbert Hoover first conceived the idea. Over the years that followed - and to this day - the presidents relied on, misunderstood, sabotaged, and formed alliances with one another that changed history. The world’s most exclusive fraternity is a complicated place: its members are bound forever because they sat in the Oval Office and know its secrets, yet they are immortal rivals for history’s favor.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Engaging subject, but fact-checking needed
- By loix on 04-25-12
By: Nancy Gibbs, and others
-
Reagan
- By: Brett Harper
- Narrated by: Stephen Bowlby
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 254
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 233
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 234
He was the unlikeliest of presidential candidates - dismissed by opponents as a movie actor, a right-winger trying to undo the work of liberals stretching back to Franklin Roosevelt. Yet Ronald Reagan made it to the White House, taking office in a time of economic turmoil, waning prestige abroad, and a general dampening of the American spirit. Reagan's patriotism, wit, and optimism lifted the nation and brought it through several crises.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Are political leaders like this extinct?
- By Don Rood, Jr. on 03-25-21
By: Brett Harper
-
Three Days in Moscow
- Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire
- By: Bret Baier, Catherine Whitney
- Narrated by: Bret Baier
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 846
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 773
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 769
In Three Days in Moscow, Baier explores the dramatic endgame of America’s long struggle with the Soviet Union and President Ronald Reagan’s central role in shaping the world we live in today. On May 31, 1988, Reagan stood on Russian soil and addressed a packed audience at Moscow State University, delivering a remarkable - yet now largely forgotten - speech that capped his first visit to the Soviet capital.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing!
- By Brian W. Barton on 05-20-18
By: Bret Baier, and others
-
Franklin and Winston
- An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 730
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 514
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 506
Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were the greatest leaders of “the Greatest Generation.” In Franklin and Winston, Jon Meacham explores the fascinating relationship between the two men who piloted the free world to victory in World War II.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Franklin and Winston Review
- By Ronald Hull on 01-29-04
By: Jon Meacham
-
Lincoln at Cooper Union
- The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President
- By: Harold Holzer
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 230
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 203
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 203
Lincoln at Cooper Union explores Lincoln’s most influential and widely reported pre-presidential address—an extraordinary appeal by the western politician to the eastern elite that propelled him toward the Republican nomination for president. Delivered in New York in February 1860, the Cooper Union speech dispelled doubts about Lincoln’s suitability for the presidency and reassured conservatives of his moderation while reaffirming his opposition to slavery to Republican progressives.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Important Book, Poor Narrator
- By Eric Kolvig, PhD on 10-23-20
By: Harold Holzer
-
Going Home to Glory
- A Memoir of Life with Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961-1969
- By: David Eisenhower, Julie Nixon Eisenhower
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 64
After President Dwight D. Eisenhower left office in 1961, he retired to a farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Living next door was his teenage grandson, David; they would be neighbors for the rest of the decade. Based on personal stories, letters, diaries, and the reminiscences of Eisenhower’s closest friends, Going Home to Glory is both an intimate chronicle of the elder statesman’s final years and a coming of age story.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wow - Living History - Right Before Our Eyes
- By Amazon Customer on 12-16-11
By: David Eisenhower, and others
Critic reviews
Audie Award Finalist, Non-Fiction (Abridged), 2005
"Clarke offers an excellent reconstruction of the details of that frigid, snow-encrusted day in January 1961....A valuable book worth making room for on the crowded Kennedy shelf." (Publishers Weekly)
Related to this topic
-
JFK's Last Hundred Days
- The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President
- By: Thurston Clarke
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 93
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 79
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 80
A revelatory, minute-by-minute account of JFK’s final days that asks what might have been. Fifty years after his assassination, President John F. Kennedy’s legend endures. Noted author and historian Thurston Clarke reexamines the last months of the president’s life to show a man in the midst of great change, both in his family and in the key issues of his day: The Cold War, Civil Rights, and Vietnam, finally on the cusp of making good on his extraordinary promise.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
In Depth and Beautifully Written
- By grace on 06-03-23
By: Thurston Clarke
-
Lincoln at Cooper Union
- The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President
- By: Harold Holzer
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 230
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 203
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 203
Lincoln at Cooper Union explores Lincoln’s most influential and widely reported pre-presidential address—an extraordinary appeal by the western politician to the eastern elite that propelled him toward the Republican nomination for president. Delivered in New York in February 1860, the Cooper Union speech dispelled doubts about Lincoln’s suitability for the presidency and reassured conservatives of his moderation while reaffirming his opposition to slavery to Republican progressives.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Important Book, Poor Narrator
- By Eric Kolvig, PhD on 10-23-20
By: Harold Holzer
-
Going Home to Glory
- A Memoir of Life with Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961-1969
- By: David Eisenhower, Julie Nixon Eisenhower
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 64
After President Dwight D. Eisenhower left office in 1961, he retired to a farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Living next door was his teenage grandson, David; they would be neighbors for the rest of the decade. Based on personal stories, letters, diaries, and the reminiscences of Eisenhower’s closest friends, Going Home to Glory is both an intimate chronicle of the elder statesman’s final years and a coming of age story.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wow - Living History - Right Before Our Eyes
- By Amazon Customer on 12-16-11
By: David Eisenhower, and others
-
Grace and Power
- The Private World of the Kennedy White House
- By: Sally Bedell Smith
- Narrated by: Lee Adams
- Length: 20 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 175
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 128
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 129
In Grace and Power, New York Times best-selling author Sally Bedell Smith takes us inside the Kennedy White House with unparalleled access and insight. Having interviewed scores of Kennedy intimates, including many who have never spoken before, and drawing on letters and personal papers made available for the first time, Smith paints a richly detailed picture of the personal relationships behind the high purpose and poiltical drama of the 20th century's most storied presidency.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
More detail than I wanted
- By R. Jones on 12-24-05
-
Three Days in Moscow
- Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire
- By: Bret Baier, Catherine Whitney
- Narrated by: Bret Baier
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 846
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 773
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 769
In Three Days in Moscow, Baier explores the dramatic endgame of America’s long struggle with the Soviet Union and President Ronald Reagan’s central role in shaping the world we live in today. On May 31, 1988, Reagan stood on Russian soil and addressed a packed audience at Moscow State University, delivering a remarkable - yet now largely forgotten - speech that capped his first visit to the Soviet capital.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing!
- By Brian W. Barton on 05-20-18
By: Bret Baier, and others
-
The Path to Power
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson
- By: Robert A. Caro
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 40 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 3,634
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,227
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 3,217
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Best of all Biographies
- By David C. Daggett on 12-14-13
By: Robert A. Caro
-
JFK's Last Hundred Days
- The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President
- By: Thurston Clarke
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 93
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 79
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 80
A revelatory, minute-by-minute account of JFK’s final days that asks what might have been. Fifty years after his assassination, President John F. Kennedy’s legend endures. Noted author and historian Thurston Clarke reexamines the last months of the president’s life to show a man in the midst of great change, both in his family and in the key issues of his day: The Cold War, Civil Rights, and Vietnam, finally on the cusp of making good on his extraordinary promise.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
In Depth and Beautifully Written
- By grace on 06-03-23
By: Thurston Clarke
-
Lincoln at Cooper Union
- The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President
- By: Harold Holzer
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 230
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 203
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 203
Lincoln at Cooper Union explores Lincoln’s most influential and widely reported pre-presidential address—an extraordinary appeal by the western politician to the eastern elite that propelled him toward the Republican nomination for president. Delivered in New York in February 1860, the Cooper Union speech dispelled doubts about Lincoln’s suitability for the presidency and reassured conservatives of his moderation while reaffirming his opposition to slavery to Republican progressives.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Important Book, Poor Narrator
- By Eric Kolvig, PhD on 10-23-20
By: Harold Holzer
-
Going Home to Glory
- A Memoir of Life with Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961-1969
- By: David Eisenhower, Julie Nixon Eisenhower
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 64
After President Dwight D. Eisenhower left office in 1961, he retired to a farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Living next door was his teenage grandson, David; they would be neighbors for the rest of the decade. Based on personal stories, letters, diaries, and the reminiscences of Eisenhower’s closest friends, Going Home to Glory is both an intimate chronicle of the elder statesman’s final years and a coming of age story.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wow - Living History - Right Before Our Eyes
- By Amazon Customer on 12-16-11
By: David Eisenhower, and others
-
Grace and Power
- The Private World of the Kennedy White House
- By: Sally Bedell Smith
- Narrated by: Lee Adams
- Length: 20 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 175
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 128
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 129
In Grace and Power, New York Times best-selling author Sally Bedell Smith takes us inside the Kennedy White House with unparalleled access and insight. Having interviewed scores of Kennedy intimates, including many who have never spoken before, and drawing on letters and personal papers made available for the first time, Smith paints a richly detailed picture of the personal relationships behind the high purpose and poiltical drama of the 20th century's most storied presidency.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
More detail than I wanted
- By R. Jones on 12-24-05
-
Three Days in Moscow
- Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire
- By: Bret Baier, Catherine Whitney
- Narrated by: Bret Baier
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 846
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 773
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 769
In Three Days in Moscow, Baier explores the dramatic endgame of America’s long struggle with the Soviet Union and President Ronald Reagan’s central role in shaping the world we live in today. On May 31, 1988, Reagan stood on Russian soil and addressed a packed audience at Moscow State University, delivering a remarkable - yet now largely forgotten - speech that capped his first visit to the Soviet capital.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing!
- By Brian W. Barton on 05-20-18
By: Bret Baier, and others
-
The Path to Power
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson
- By: Robert A. Caro
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 40 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 3,634
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,227
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 3,217
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Best of all Biographies
- By David C. Daggett on 12-14-13
By: Robert A. Caro
-
A Torch Kept Lit
- Great Lives of the Twentieth Century
- By: William F. Buckley
- Narrated by: Tony Pasqualini
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 178
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 162
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 164
In a half century on the national stage, William F. Buckley Jr. achieved unique stature as a polemicist and the undisputed godfather of modern American conservatism. He knew everybody, hosted everybody at his East 73rd Street maisonette, skewered everybody who needed skewering, and in general lived life on a scale, and in a swashbuckling manner, that captivated and inspired countless young conservatives across that half century.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent...inspiring imagery!
- By Lisa Hill on 10-14-16
-
Truman
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 54 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 5,264
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,659
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 4,643
Hailed by critics as an American masterpiece, David McCullough's sweeping biography of Harry S. Truman captured the heart of the nation. The life and times of the 33rd president of the United States, Truman provides a deeply moving look at an extraordinary, singular American.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
That Mousy Little Man From Missouri Revisited
- By Sara on 07-23-15
By: David McCullough
-
Ike and Dick
- Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage
- By: Jeffrey Frank
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 44
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 39
Richard Nixon was a young Navy officer when he first saw Dwight D. Eisenhower through a storm of tickertape as Manhattan celebrated the end of the war in Europe. Seven years later, Nixon was Eisenhower's running mate on the Republican presidential ticket-the beginning of a political and personal relationship that lasted for nearly twenty years. Despite a gulf that separated them by age and temperament, their association evolved into a collaboration that helped to shape the nation's political ideology.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
He's against NIxon
- By James A. Bretney on 01-20-14
By: Jeffrey Frank
-
Dutch
- A Memoir of Ronald Reagan
- By: Edmund Morris
- Narrated by: Edmund Morris
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 99
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 93
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 91
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.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Painful
- By john on 02-06-13
By: Edmund Morris
-
Franklin and Winston
- An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 730
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 514
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 506
Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were the greatest leaders of “the Greatest Generation.” In Franklin and Winston, Jon Meacham explores the fascinating relationship between the two men who piloted the free world to victory in World War II.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Franklin and Winston Review
- By Ronald Hull on 01-29-04
By: Jon Meacham
-
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
- By: Edmund Morris
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 26 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 4,587
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,002
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 3,985
Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time. Described by the Chicago Tribune as "a classic", The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt stands as one of the greatest biographies of our time. The publication of The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt on September 14th, 2001 marks the 100th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt becoming president.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very, very good, but very, very long.
- By Mike From Mesa on 03-29-13
By: Edmund Morris
-
The Bully Pulpit
- Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism
- By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 36 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,335
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,896
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,888
Goodwin describes the broken friendship between Teddy Roosevelt and his chosen successor, William Howard Taft. With the help of the "muckraking" press, Roosevelt had wielded the Bully Pulpit to challenge and triumph over abusive monopolies, political bosses, and corrupting money brokers. Roosevelt led a revolution that he bequeathed to Taft only to see it compromised as Taft surrendered to money men and big business. The rupture led Roosevelt to run against Taft for president, an ultimately futile race that gave power away to the Democrats.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Makes You Forget You Live in the 21st Century Good
- By Cynthia on 01-11-14
-
The Defining Moment
- FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,104
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 774
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 772
In this dramatic and fascinating account, Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter shows how Franklin Delano Roosevelt used his first 100 days in office to lift the country from the despair and paralysis of the Great Depression and transform the American presidency.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very infomative, and also refreshingly honest
- By Andy on 02-19-09
By: Jonathan Alter
-
In the Garden of Beasts
- Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
- By: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 9,036
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7,637
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 7,624
The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the “New Germany,” she has one affair after another....
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I loved it ... and hated it ... simultaneously
- By History on 11-21-11
By: Erik Larson
-
Young Titan
- The Making of Winston Churchill
- By: Michael Shelden
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
In modern memory, Winston Churchill remains the man with the cigar and the equanimity among the ruins. Few can remember that at the age of 40 he was considered washed up, his best days behind him. In Young Titan, historian Michael Shelden has produced the first biography focused on Churchill’s early career, the years between 1901 and 1915 that both nearly undid him but also forged the character that would later triumph in the Second World War.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
sorry
- By Kemper 16 on 11-14-24
By: Michael Shelden
-
Frank and Al
- FDR, Al Smith, and the Unlikely Alliance That Created the Modern Democratic Party
- By: Terry Golway
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 25
Just before the Roaring Twenties, Al Smith, a proud son of the Tammany Hall political machine, and Franklin Roosevelt, a country squire, formed an unlikely alliance that transformed the Democratic Party. Smith and FDR dominated politics in the most-powerful state in the union for a quarter-century, and in 1932, they ran against each other for the Democratic presidential nomination, setting off one of the great feuds in American history. The relationship between Smith and Roosevelt, portrayed here, is one of the most dramatic untold stories of early 20th-century American politics.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Solid and important history
- By J&L Hely on 08-27-23
By: Terry Golway
-
Guest of Honor
- Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner that Shocked a Nation
- By: Deborah Davis
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to have dinner at the executive mansion with the First Family. The next morning, news that the president had dined with a Black man-and former slave-sent shock waves through the nation. Although African Americans had helped build the White House and had worked for most of the presidents, not a single one had ever been invited to dine there. Fueled by inflammatory newspaper articles, political cartoons, and even vulgar songs, the scandal escalated.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great So
- By Maureen Monahan on 04-11-21
By: Deborah Davis
What listeners say about Ask Not
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall2 out of 5 stars
- Cheryl
- 04-13-07
fair
my expectation of the book was high but after listening, i will say it is ok
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!