Chums
How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK
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Chums
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Narrated by:
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Mark Elstob
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By:
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Simon Kuper
About this listen
A damning look at the university clique-turned-Commons majority that will blow the doors of Westminster wide open and change the way you look at our democracy forever.
Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, David Cameron, George Osborne, Theresa May, Dominic Cummings, Jacob Rees-Mogg: Whitehall is swarming with old Oxonians. They debated each other in tutorials, ran against each other in student elections, and attended the same balls and black tie dinners. They aren't just colleagues—they are peers, rivals, friends. And, when they walked out of the world of student debates onto the national stage, they brought their university politics with them. Eleven of the fifteen postwar British prime ministers went to Oxford. In Chums, Simon Kuper traces how the rarefied and privileged atmosphere of this narrowest of talent pools—and the friendships and worldviews it created—shaped modern Britain.
“A searing onslaught on the smirking Oxford insinuation that politics is all just a game. It isn't. It matters”—MATTHEW PARRIS
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Excellent Portrait of JFK & His Times
- By John David on 12-14-20
By: Fredrik Logevall
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The Chancellor
- By: Kati Marton
- Narrated by: Alex Allwine, Kati Marton
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 707
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 620
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 618
Angela Merkel has always been an outsider. A pastor’s daughter raised in Soviet-controlled East Germany, she spent her twenties working as a research chemist, entering politics only after the fall of the Berlin Wall. And yet within fifteen years, she had become chancellor of Germany and, before long, the unofficial leader of the West. In this “masterpiece of discernment and insight” (The New York Times Book Review), acclaimed biographer Kati Marton sets out to pierce the mystery of Merkel’s unlikely ascent.
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5 out of 5 stars
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What a remarkable leader in these trying times!
- By Doug Easterling on 11-30-21
By: Kati Marton
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The Redemption of Bobby Love
- A Story of Faith, Family, and Justice
- By: Bobby Love, Cheryl Love
- Narrated by: Harvey Reaves, Cheri VandenHeuvel
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 77
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 71
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 71
Bobby and Cheryl Love were living in Brooklyn, happily married for decades, when the FBI and NYPD appeared at their door and demanded to know from Bobby, in front of his shocked wife and children: “What is your name? No, what’s your real name?” Bobby’s thirty-eight-year secret was out. As a Black child in the Jim Crow South, Bobby found himself in legal trouble before his 14th birthday. Sparked by the desperation he felt in the face of limited options and the pull of the streets, Bobby became a master thief.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Heart Wrenching and Heart Warming
- By ArizonaBorn on 01-01-22
By: Bobby Love, and others
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One Mighty and Irresistible Tide
- The Epic Struggle over American Immigration, 1924-1965
- By: Jia Lynn Yang
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 44
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 37
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
The idea of the United States as a nation of immigrants is at the core of the American narrative. But in 1924, Congress instituted a system of ethnic quotas so stringent that it choked off large-scale immigration for decades, sharply curtailing arrivals from Southern and Eastern Europe and outright banning those from nearly all of Asia. In a riveting narrative filled with a fascinating cast of characters, Jia Lynn Yang recounts how lawmakers, activists, and presidents from Truman through LBJ worked relentlessly to abolish the 1924 law.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good overview
- By steve thomas on 10-21-20
By: Jia Lynn Yang
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The Presidents
- Noted Historians Rank America's Best - and Worst - Chief Executives
- By: Brian Lamb, Susan Swain, Douglas Brinkley - introduction, and others
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann, Grace Angela Henry
- Length: 19 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 40
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
The complete rankings of our best - and worst - presidents, based on C-SPAN's much-cited Historians Surveys of Presidential Leadership. Over a period of decades, C-SPAN has surveyed leading historians on the best and worst of America's presidents across a variety of categories - their ability to persuade the public, their leadership skills, their moral authority, and more. The crucible of the presidency has forged some of the very best and very worst leaders in our national history, along with everyone in between.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Too Much Praise
- By veronica d on 02-05-21
By: Brian Lamb, and others
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The American Story
- Conversations with Master Historians
- By: David M. Rubenstein, Carla Hayden - foreword
- Narrated by: David M. Rubenstein, David McCullough, Walter Isaacson, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Highlights
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 852
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 731
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Story5 out of 5 stars 724
Through his popular program The David Rubenstein Show, David Rubenstein has established himself as one of today’s most thoughtful interviewers. Now, in The American Story, David shares almost a dozen interviews that capture the brilliance of today’s most esteemed historians, as well as the souls of their subjects. The audiobook presents archival recordings of these interviews and features new introductions by Rubenstein as well as a foreword by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, the first woman and the first African American to lead our national library.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Stories missing
- By Judith Princz on 01-02-20
By: David M. Rubenstein, and others
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The American Experiment
- Dialogues on a Dream
- By: David M. Rubenstein
- Narrated by: David M. Rubenstein, Ken Burns, Madeleine Albright, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 80
Exploring the diverse make-up of our country’s DNA through interviews with Pulitzer Prize-winning historians, diplomats, music legends, and sports giants, The American Experiment captures the dynamic arc of a young country reinventing itself in real-time. Through these enlightening conversations, the American spirit comes alive, revealing the setbacks, suffering, invention, ingenuity, and social movements that continue to shape our vision of what America is — and what it can be.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A post graduate experience
- By Barbara or Jerold Gendler on 12-08-21
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Bannon
- Always the Rebel
- By: Keith Koffler
- Narrated by: William LeRoy
- Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 111
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 95
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 96
To understand the Trump White House, you need to understand Steve Bannon: what's driving him, what his true role is, and what he's trying to accomplish on behalf of the American middle class. White House reporter Keith Koffler penetrates the fog surrounding the mysterious senior White House advisor, tracing Bannon's wild and distinctly American path to the White House in this first-ever honest biography of the controversial figure.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The "real" Steve Bannon! Great read!
- By Amazon Customer on 12-20-17
By: Keith Koffler
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A History of Modern Britain
- By: Andrew Marr
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 29 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 23
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 21
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 21
A History of Modern Britain confronts head-on the victory of shopping over politics. It tells the story of how the great political visions of New Jerusalem or a second Elizabethan Age, rival idealisms, came to be defeated by a culture of consumerism, celebrity and self-gratification. In each decade political leaders think they know what they are doing but find themselves confounded. Every time the British people turn out to be stroppier and harder to herd than predicted.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Masterful in focus, pace, content, performance
- By Philo on 11-10-16
By: Andrew Marr
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The Fight of Our Lives
- My Time with Zelenskyy, Ukraine's Battle for Democracy, and What It Means for the World
- By: Iuliia Mendel
- Narrated by: Jennifer Jill Araya, Iuliia Mendel
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 57
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 54
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Story5 out of 5 stars 53
In this frank and moving inside account, Zelenskyy’s former press secretary tells the story of his improbable rise from popular comedian to the president of Ukraine. Mendel had a front row seat to many of the key events preceding the 2022 Russian invasion. From attending meetings between Zelenskyy and Putin and other European leaders, visiting the front lines in Donbas, to fielding press inquiries after the infamous phone calls between Donald Trump and Zelenskyy that led to Trump’s first impeachment.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Just Great!
- By Jim Kirby on 09-20-22
By: Iuliia Mendel
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The Ones We've Been Waiting For
- How a New Generation of Leaders Will Transform America
- By: Charlotte Alter
- Narrated by: Charlotte Alter
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 256
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 217
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 214
A new generation is stepping up. There are now 26 millennials in Congress - a fivefold increase gained in the 2018 midterms alone. In The Ones We've Been Waiting For, Time correspondent Charlotte Alter defines the class of young leaders who are remaking the nation - how grappling with 9/11 as teens, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, occupying Wall Street and protesting with Black Lives Matter, and shouldering their way into a financially rigged political system has shaped the people who will govern the future.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Born before the lint roller invented
- By ML Sadler on 03-05-20
By: Charlotte Alter
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Heaven on Earth
- The Rise, Fall, and Afterlife of Socialism
- By: Joshua Muravchik
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 83
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
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Story5 out of 5 stars 64
Socialism was man's most ambitious attempt to supplant religion with a doctrine claiming to ground itself in "science". Each failure to create societies of abundance or give birth to "the New Man" inspired more searching for the path to the promised land: revolution, communes, social democracy, communism, fascism, Arab socialism, African socialism. None worked, and some exacted a staggering human toll. Then, after two centuries of wishful thinking and bitter disappointment, socialism imploded in a fin de siecle drama of falling walls and collapsing regimes.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A biased yet informative masterpiece
- By CodyPeacock12349 on 04-04-21
By: Joshua Muravchik
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First Ladies
- The Ever Changing Role, from Martha Washington to Melania Trump
- By: Betty Boyd Caroli
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 20 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
Betty Boyd Caroli's engrossing and informative First Ladies is an essential resource for anyone interested in the role of America's First Ladies. Caroli observes the role as it has shifted and evolved from ceremonial backdrop to substantive world figure. This expanded and updated fifth edition presents Caroli's keen political analysis and astute observations of recent developments, including Melania Trump's reluctance to take on the mantle and former First Lady Hilary Clinton's recent run for president. Caroli here contributes a new preface and updated chapters.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Thorough
- By Kindle Customer on 10-11-20
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The Kennedys
- An American Drama
- By: Peter Collier, David Horowitz
- Narrated by: Christopher Hurt
- Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 75
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 64
Who are the Kennedys? Are they the brilliant, heroic, extraordinary people their admirers believe them to be? Or are they arrogant, competitive, self-absorbed children of a willful and immensely rich patriarch, as their detractors claim? In fact, they are all of these things, and more.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Well-written (and narrated) Kennedy history.
- By SBG on 09-17-19
By: Peter Collier, and others
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Hatemonger
- Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda
- By: Jean Guerrero
- Narrated by: Frankie Corzo
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 140
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 116
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 116
Stephen Miller is one of the most influential advisors in the White House. He has crafted Donald Trump’s speeches, designed immigration policies that ban Muslims and separate families, and outlasted such Trump stalwarts as Steve Bannon and Jeff Sessions. But he’s remained an enigma. Until now. Emmy- and PEN-winning investigative journalist and author Jean Guerrero charts the 34-year-old’s astonishing rise to power, drawing from more than 100 interviews with his family, friends, adversaries, and government officials.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Deplorable on purpose
- By M. Alice Fisher on 08-15-20
By: Jean Guerrero
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Churchill's Shadow
- The Life and Afterlife of Winston Churchill
- By: Geoffrey Wheatcroft
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 23 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 53
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 44
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Story4 out of 5 stars 42
Winston Churchill is generally considered one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century, revered for his opposition to appeasement, his defiance in the face of German bombing of England, his political prowess, and his memorable speeches. He became the savior of his country, as prime minister during the most perilous period in British history, World War II, and is now perhaps even more beloved in America than in England. This revelatory book takes on Churchill in his entirety, separating the man from the myth that he so carefully cultivated.
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1 out of 5 stars
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A few facts and a quote in context, would be nice.
- By Arlene on 01-30-22
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Dangerous Charisma
- The Political Psychology of Donald Trump and His Followers
- By: Jerrold M. Post MD, Stephanie R. Doucette
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 86
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Story4 out of 5 stars 67
Offering an in-depth psychological and political portrait of what makes Donald Trump tick, Dangerous Charisma combines psychoanalysis with an investigation into the personality of the current American president. This narrative not only examines the life and psychology of Donald Trump but also provides an analysis of the charismatic psychological tie between Trump and his supporters. In this new book, the psychiatrist who once served under five American presidents applies his expertise to profiling the current resident in the White House with surprising and revelatory results.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Must read book!!
- By Sophie U. on 03-19-20
By: Jerrold M. Post MD, and others
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A Promised Land
- By: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 29 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 54,961
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 47,475
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Story5 out of 5 stars 47,124
In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency - a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Color me grateful.
- By Angela on 11-19-20
By: Barack Obama
What listeners say about Chums
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Grankvist Per
- 03-19-23
Fascinating and gripping
Thoroughly researched and written with an insiders perspective and his signature humour, this is a fascinating and gripping account of the English elite. It gave me an new and deeper understanding of the forces and fellows that eventually led to brexit.
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