Speechwright
An Insider's Take on Political Rhetoric
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Speechwright
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Narrated by:
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Scott R. Pollak
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By:
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William F. Gavin
About this listen
For almost 30 years, William F. Gavin wrote speeches at the highest levels of government. Speechwright is his insider's view of politics, a shrewd critique of presidential and congressional rhetoric, and a personal look at the political leaders for whom he wrote speeches. While serving President Richard Nixon and candidate Ronald Reagan, Gavin advocated for "working rhetoric" - well-crafted, clear, hard-hitting arguments that did not offer visions of the unattainable, but instead limited political discourse to achievable ends reached through practical means. Filled with hard-earned wisdom about politics and its discontents, Speechwright describes Gavin's successes, his failures, and his call for political rhetoric built on strong argument rather than the mere search for eloquence.
©2011 William F. Gavin (P)2016 Redwood AudiobooksListeners also enjoyed...
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-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 123
Everyone knows this kind of politician: a charismatic maverick who goes up against the system and its ways, but thinks he doesn't have to live by the rules. Using his experience as a speechwriter, Barton Swaim tells the story of a band of believers who attach themselves to this sort of ambitious narcissist.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A well-written complainers guide
- By Kindle Customer on 08-03-15
By: Barton Swaim
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The Front Runner (All the Truth Is Out Movie Tie-In)
- The Week Politics Went Tabloid
- By: Matt Bai
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 146
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 135
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 136
In May 1987, Colorado Senator Gary Hart seemed a lock for the party’s presidential nomination and led George H. W. Bush by double digits in the polls. Then, in one tumultuous week, rumors of marital infidelity and a newspaper’s stakeout of Hart’s home resulted in a media frenzy the likes of which had never been seen. Through the spellbindingly reported story of the senator’s fall from grace, Matt Bai, Yahoo News columnist and former chief political correspondent for The New York Times Magazine, reveals the Hart affair to be far more than one man’s tragedy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent writing and performance
- By S. on 12-06-14
By: Matt Bai
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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 3,638
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,231
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Story5 out of 5 stars 3,221
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 Briefing
- Politics, the Press, and the President
- By: Sean Spicer
- Narrated by: Sean Spicer
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 255
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 228
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Story4 out of 5 stars 225
For more than two decades, Sean Spicer had been a respected political insider, working as a campaign and communications strategist. But in December 2016, he got the call of a lifetime. President-elect Donald J. Trump had chosen him to be the White House press secretary. And life hasn’t been the same since. When he accepted the job, Spicer was far from a household name. But then he walked into the bright lights of the briefing room, and the cameras started rolling. His every word was scrutinized. Every movement was parodied. Every detail became a meme. And that’s just the public side.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I did not expect to like this non-fiction book!
- By Wayne on 07-30-18
By: Sean Spicer
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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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Rush Limbaugh
- An Army of One
- By: Zev Chafets
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 211
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 119
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 119
Do you remember your first time? People tend to remember the moment they first heard The Rush Limbaugh Show on the radio. For Zev Chafets, it was in a car in Detroit, driving down Woodward Avenue. Limbaugh's braggadocio, the outrageous satire, the slaughtering of liberal sacred cows performed with the verve of a rock-n-roll DJ-it seemed fresh, funny and completely subversive.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyed it, despite poor narration
- By David on 06-02-10
By: Zev Chafets
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Write It When I'm Gone
- Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations with Gerald R. Ford
- By: Thomas M. DeFrank
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 165
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 97
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 96
In an extraordinary series of private interviews, conducted over 16 years with the stipulation that they not be released until after Gerald Ford's death, the 38th president of the United States reveals a profoundly different side of himself: funny, reflective, gossipy, strikingly candid, and the stuff of headlines.
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4 out of 5 stars
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An easy historical listen...
- By Darrell Rupe on 05-26-08
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Believer
- My Forty Years in Politics
- By: David Axelrod
- Narrated by: David Axelrod
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 637
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 552
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 553
The man behind some of the greatest political changes of the last decade, David Axelrod has devoted a lifetime to questioning political certainties and daring to bring fresh thinking into the political landscape. Whether as a child hearing John F. Kennedy stump in New York or as a strategist guiding the first African American to the White House, Axelrod shows in Believer how his own life stands at the center of the tumultuous American century.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Love letter to Obama
- By DaWoolf on 03-15-15
By: David Axelrod
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Three Days in January
- Dwight Eisenhower's Final Mission
- By: Bret Baier, Catherine Whitney
- Narrated by: Bret Baier, Danny Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 929
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 832
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 825
In this debut history from one of America's most influential political journalists, Bret Baier casts the three days between Dwight Eisenhower's prophetic "farewell address" on the evening of January 17, 1961, and his successor John F. Kennedy's inauguration on the afternoon of January 20 as the final mission of one of modern America's greatest leaders.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Gently In Manner, Strongly In Deed...
- By Gillian on 01-20-17
By: Bret Baier, and others
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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 Time of Our Lives
- Collected Writings
- By: Peggy Noonan
- Narrated by: Betsy Foldes Meiman, Rena-Marie Villano, Peggy Noonan
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 101
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 86
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 88
Peggy Noonan is one of the most brilliant and influential political thinkers and writers of our time. The author of five best-selling books ( What I Saw at the Revolution is now a classic), her column in The Wall Street Journal is a must-read for millions of Americans. Witty, incisive, and always original, Peggy Noonan is a conservative intellectual with wide-reaching appeal across the political spectrum. Now, for the first time, the best of Noonan's writing will be collected in one indispensable volume.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Ronald Reagan is God. Who knew?
- By Rick on 11-20-15
By: Peggy Noonan
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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 Presidents Club
- Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity
- By: Nancy Gibbs, Michael Duffy
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,448
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,251
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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.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Engaging subject, but fact-checking needed
- By loix on 04-25-12
By: Nancy Gibbs, and others
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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