Frank and Al
FDR, Al Smith, and the Unlikely Alliance That Created the Modern Democratic Party
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Frank and Al
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Narrated by:
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Danny Campbell
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By:
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Terry Golway
About this listen
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Democratic Party was bitterly split between its urban machines - representing Catholics and Jews, ironworkers and seamstresses, from the tenements of the Northeast and Midwest - and its populists and patricians, rooted in the soil and the scriptures, enforcers of cultural, political, and religious norms. The chasm between the two factions seemed unbridgeable.
But 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 in Terry Golway's Frank and Al, is one of the most dramatic untold stories of early 20th-century American politics.
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Good book, poor choice of reader
- By Amazon Customer on 05-24-18
By: Elaine Weiss
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1932
- The Rise of Hitler and FDR - Two Tales of Politics, Betrayal, and Unlikely Destiny
- By: David Pietrusza
- Narrated by: David Stifel
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
Two Depression-battered nations confronted destiny in 1932, going to the polls in their own way to anoint new leaders, to rescue their people from starvation and hopelessness. America would elect a Congress and a president - ebullient aristocrat Franklin Roosevelt or tarnished "Wonder Boy" Herbert Hoover. Decadent, divided Weimar Germany faced two rounds of bloody Reichstag elections and two presidential contests - doddering reactionary Paul von Hindenburg against rising radical hate-monger Adolf Hitler.
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1 out of 5 stars
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What a waste of time
- By Pam Sullivan on 07-06-19
By: David Pietrusza
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FDR
- By: Jean Edward Smith
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 32 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,397
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,165
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,164
One of today's premier biographers, Jean Edward Smith, has written a modern, comprehensive, indeed ultimate book on the epic life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This is a portrait painted in broad strokes and fine details. We see how Roosevelt's restless energy, fierce intellect, personal magnetism, and ability to project effortless grace permitted him to master countless challenges throughout his life. Smith recounts FDR's personal battles and also tackles head-on and in depth the numerous failures and miscues of Roosevelt's political career.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Interesting but flawed
- By Mike From Mesa on 09-15-13
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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
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,104
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 774
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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.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very infomative, and also refreshingly honest
- By Andy on 02-19-09
By: Jonathan Alter
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Master of the Senate
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson III
- By: Robert A. Caro
- Narrated by: Stephen Lang
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 298
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 143
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 142
Master of the Senate carries Lyndon Johnson's story through one of its most remarkable periods: his 12 years in the U.S. Senate. At the heart of the book is its unprecedented revelation of how legislative power works in America, how the Senate works, and how Johnson, in his ascent to the presidency, mastered the Senate as no political leader before him had ever done. "There is something uniquely mesmerizing about the wily, combative Lyndon Johnson as portrayed by Caro," says Publishers Weekly.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Abridgement bad
- By Shelly Brisbin on 09-05-04
By: Robert A. Caro
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Coolidge
- By: Amity Shlaes
- Narrated by: Terence Aselford
- Length: 21 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 929
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 819
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 811
Calvin Coolidge, president from 1923 to 1929, never rated highly in polls, and history has remembered the decade in which he served as an extravagant period predating the Great Depression. Now Amity Shlaes provides a fresh look at the 1920s and its elusive president, showing that the mid-1920s was in fact a triumphant period that established our modern way of life: The nation electrified, Americans drove their first cars, and the federal deficit was replaced with a surplus.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Silent Cal
- By Jean on 02-19-13
By: Amity Shlaes
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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
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,335
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,896
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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.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Makes You Forget You Live in the 21st Century Good
- By Cynthia on 01-11-14
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The Path to Power
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson
- By: Robert A. Caro
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 40 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 3,634
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,227
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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.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Best of all Biographies
- By David C. Daggett on 12-14-13
By: Robert A. Caro
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Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero
- By: Chris Matthews
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 488
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 425
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 422
In Chris Matthews’ extraordinary biography, we see this most beloved president in the company of friends. We see and feel him close-up, having fun and giving off that restlessness of his. We watch him navigate his life from privileged, rebellious youth to gutsy American president. We witness his bravery in war and selfless rescue of his PT boat crew. We watch JFK as a young politician learning to play hardball and watch him grow into the leader who averts a nuclear war.
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3 out of 5 stars
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What Might Have Been?
- By Mel on 12-06-11
By: Chris Matthews
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The Triumph of William McKinley
- Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters
- By: Karl Rove
- Narrated by: Karl Rove
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 223
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 205
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Story4 out of 5 stars 201
From New York Times best-selling author and political mastermind Karl Rove comes a fresh look at President William McKinley, who found a message that healed his nation, pried his party away from its bosses, and extended its reach to forge a governing majority that lasted 30 years.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Understand Modern Presidential Campaigns
- By Anon on 02-27-16
By: Karl Rove
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Whistlestop
- My Favorite Stories from Presidential Campaign History
- By: John Dickerson
- Narrated by: John Dickerson
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 201
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 182
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 181
Whistlestop tells the human story of nervous gambits hatched in first-floor hotel rooms, failures of will before the microphone, and the cross-country crack-ups of long-planned stratagems. At the bar at the end of a campaign day, these are the stories reporters rehash for themselves and embellish for newcomers. In addition to the familiar tales, Whistlestop also remembers the forgotten stories about the bruising and reckless campaigns of the 19th century.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Lovers of the podcast this is ultimate fix!
- By killerqueen on 09-06-16
By: John Dickerson
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The Woman Behind the New Deal
- The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR'S Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience
- By: Kirstin Downey
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 19 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 201
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 176
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Story5 out of 5 stars 176
Frances Perkins is no longer a household name, yet she was one of the most influential women of the 20th century. Based on extensive archival materials, new documents, and exclusive access to Perkins' family members and friends, this biography is the first complete portrait of a devoted public servant with a passionate personal life, a mother who changed the landscape of American business and society.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An Absorbing Biography
- By Jean on 08-16-17
By: Kirstin Downey
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The Greatest Comeback
- How Richard Nixon Rose from Defeat to Create the New Majority
- By: Patrick J. Buchanan
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 77
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 79
After suffering stinging defeats in the 1960 presidential election against John F. Kennedy, and in the 1962 California gubernatorial election, Nixon's career was declared dead by Washington press and politicians alike. Yet on January 20, 1969, just six years after he had said his political life was over, Nixon would stand taking the oath of office as 37th President of the United States. How did Richard Nixon resurrect a ruined career and reunite a shattered and fractured Republican Party to capture the White House?
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4 out of 5 stars
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The comeback kid
- By Jean on 07-23-14
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Leadership
- By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Beau Bridges, David Morse, Jay O. Sanders, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 4,157
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,686
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Story5 out of 5 stars 3,651
Are leaders born or made? Where does ambition come from? How does adversity affect the growth of leadership? Does the man make the times or do the times make the man? In Leadership, Goodwin draws upon four of the presidents she has studied most closely - Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson (in civil rights) - to show how they first recognized leadership qualities within themselves, and were recognized by others as leaders.
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5 out of 5 stars
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What makes a president great?
- By tru britty on 09-25-18
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Camelot's End
- Kennedy vs. Carter and the Fight That Broke the Democratic Party
- By: Jon Ward
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 205
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 188
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 189
The Carter presidency was on life support. The Democrats, desperate to keep power and yearning to resurrect former glory, turned to Ted Kennedy. Camelot's End details the incredible drama of Kennedy's challenge - what led to it, how it unfolded, and its lasting effects - with cinematic sweep. It is a story about what happened to the Democratic Party when the country's long string of successes, luck, and global dominance following World War II ran its course, and how, on a quest to recapture the magic of JFK, Democrats plunged themselves into an intra-party civil war.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Does character count in political office?
- By marwalk on 07-29-19
By: Jon Ward
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The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
- By: Edmund Morris
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 26 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 4,587
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,002
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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.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very, very good, but very, very long.
- By Mike From Mesa on 03-29-13
By: Edmund Morris
What listeners say about Frank and Al
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
- J&L Hely
- 08-27-23
Solid and important history
Well written and a good listen. Very relevant in today’s political climate. Our ethnic and cultural wars continue.
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