Where Power Stops
The Making and Unmaking of Presidents and Prime Ministers
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Where Power Stops
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Narrated by:
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David Runciman
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By:
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David Runciman
About this listen
Lyndon Baines Johnson, Margaret Thatcher, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Barack Obama, Gordon Brown, Theresa May, and Donald Trump: each had different motivations, methods, and paths, but they all sought the highest office.
And yet when they reached their goal, they often found that the power they had imagined was illusory. Their sweeping visions of reform faltered. They faced bureaucratic obstructions, but often the biggest obstruction was their own character.
However, their personalities could help them as much as hurt them. Arguably the most successful of them, LBJ showed little indication that he supported what he is best known for - the Civil Rights Act - but his grit, resolve, and brute political skill saw him bend Congress to his will.
David Runciman tackles the limitations of high office and how the personal histories of those who achieved the very pinnacles of power helped to define their successes and failures in office. These portraits show what characters are most effective in these offices. Could this be a blueprint for good and effective leadership in an age lacking good leaders?
©2019 David Runciman (P)2019 Hachette Audio UKListeners also enjoyed...
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Story5 out of 5 stars 739
For a quarter-century, from the end of Watergate to the aftermath of the Cold War, no Republican won the presidency without his help or ran the White House without his advice. James Addison Baker III was the indispensable man for four presidents because he understood better than anyone how to make Washington work at a time when America was shaping events around the world. The Man Who Ran Washington is a pause-resisting portrait of a power broker who influenced America's destiny for generations.
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5 out of 5 stars
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We Need Baker Now More Than Ever
- By @Gazi2a on 01-08-21
By: Peter Baker, 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 54,957
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 47,471
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Story5 out of 5 stars 47,120
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
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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 Bush Tragedy
- By: Jacob Weisberg
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 95
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
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Story4 out of 5 stars 30
In this first important consideration of the George W. Bush presidency and its profound impact on the state of the world, Jacob Weisberg crafts a wide-ranging portrait that is both balanced and insightful. Weisberg traces the evolution of Bush's political philosophy from its roots in his early life and his years as governor of Texas through the events of 9/11 and his turbulent two terms in office.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Ahead of the Crowd
- By Nikoli Gogol on 02-14-08
By: Jacob Weisberg
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How Ike Led
- The Principles Behind Eisenhower's Biggest Decisions
- By: Susan Eisenhower
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne, Susan Eisenhower
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 202
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 172
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Story5 out of 5 stars 170
Few people have made decisions as momentous as Eisenhower, nor has one person had to make such a varied range of them. From D-Day to Little Rock, from the Korean War to Cold War crises, from the Red Scare to the Missile Gap controversies, he was able to give our country eight years of peace and prosperity by relying on a core set of principles. These were informed by his heritage and upbringing, his strong character and his personal discipline, but he also avoided making himself the center of things. He tried to be the calmest man in the room, not the loudest.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A President of the UNITED States
- By Happy Doc on 09-10-20
By: Susan Eisenhower
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Tip and the Gipper
- When Politics Worked
- By: Chris Matthews
- Narrated by: Chris Matthews
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 178
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 158
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 160
They were the political odd couple - the two most powerful men in the country, a pair who "couldn't be more different or more the same." For six years, Matthews was on the inside, watching the evolving relationship between President Reagan and Speaker of the House O’Neill. Drawing not only on his own remarkable knowledge but on extensive interviews with those closest to his subjects, Matthews brings this unlikely friendship to life in his unique voice.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I didn't want it to end
- By Jim on 10-06-13
By: Chris Matthews
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The Promise
- President Obama, Year One
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Jonathan Alter
- Length: 20 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 189
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 75
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 78
Barack Obama’s inauguration as president on January 20, 2009, inspired the world. But the great promise of “Change We Can Believe In” was immediately tested by the threat of another Great Depression, a worsening war in Afghanistan, and an entrenched and deeply partisan system of business as usual in Washington. Despite all the coverage, the backstory of Obama’s historic first year in office has until now remained a mystery.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Tiresome
- By Matthew on 05-21-10
By: Jonathan Alter
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JFK
- Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956
- By: Fredrik Logevall
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 29 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 547
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 482
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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.
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5 out of 5 stars
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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 Gatekeepers
- How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency
- By: Chris Whipple
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,567
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,367
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,356
The chiefs of staff, often referred to as "the gatekeepers", wield tremendous power in Washington and beyond; they decide who is allowed to see the president, negotiate with Congress to push POTUS's agenda, and - most crucially - enjoy unparalleled access to the leader of the free world. Through extensive, intimate interviews with 18 living chiefs (including Reince Priebus) and two former presidents, award-winning journalist and producer Chris Whipple pulls back the curtain on this unique fraternity. In doing so, he revises our understanding of presidential history.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Interesting, but lacking in political objectivity
- By Stephen Watson on 09-04-17
By: Chris Whipple
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All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain's Political Class
- By: Tim Shipman
- Narrated by: Rupert Farley
- Length: 32 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 59
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
Based on unrivalled access to all the key politicians and their advisors - including Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, George Osborne, Nigel Farage and Dominic Cummings, the mastermind of Vote Leave - Shipman has written a political history that reads like a thriller and offers a gripping day-by-day account of what really happened behind the scenes in Downing Street, both Leave campaigns, the Labour Party, Ukip and Britain Stronger in Europe.
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3 out of 5 stars
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blow by blow, word by word
- By Christian R. Unger on 11-22-18
By: Tim Shipman
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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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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 Best and the Brightest
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 37 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,074
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 930
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Story5 out of 5 stars 926
Using portraits of America’s flawed policy makers and accounts of the forces that drove them, The Best and the Brightest reckons magnificently with the most important abiding question of our country’s recent history: Why did America become mired in Vietnam, and why did we lose? As the definitive single-volume answer to that question, this enthralling book has never been superseded. It is an American classic.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Preparation for Ken Burns
- By Chiefkent on 06-12-17
By: David Halberstam
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31 Days
- The Crisis That Gave Us the Government We Have Today
- By: Barry Werth
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 59
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 43
In 31 Days, Barry Werth takes listeners inside the White House during the tumultuous days following Nixon's resignation and the swearing-in of America's "accidental president", Gerald Ford. The congressional hearings, Nixon's increasing paranoia, and, finally, the devastating revelations of the White House tapes had torn the country apart. Within the White House and the Republican Party, Nixon's resignation produced new fissures and battle lines and new opportunities for political advancement.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The politics of 1974
- By D. Littman on 11-27-06
By: Barry Werth