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Reagan
- The Life
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 31 hrs and 41 mins
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Publisher's summary
From master storyteller and New York Times best-selling biographer H. W. Brands, twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, comes the first full life of Ronald Reagan since his death.
Ronald Reagan today is a conservative icon, celebrated for transforming the American domestic agenda and playing a crucial part in ending communism in the Soviet Union. In his masterful new biography, H. W. Brands argues that Reagan, along with FDR, was the most consequential president of the 20th century. Reagan took office at a time when the public sector, after a half century of New Deal liberalism, was widely perceived as bloated and inefficient, an impediment to personal liberty. Reagan sought to restore democracy by bolstering capitalism. In Brands' telling, how Reagan, who voted four times for FDR, engineered a conservative transformation of American politics is both a riveting personal journey and the story of America in the modern era.
Brands follows Reagan as his ambition for ever-larger stages compelled him from a troubled childhood in small-town Illinois to become a radio announcer and then the quintessential public figure of modern America, a movie star. In Hollywood, Reagan edged closer to public service as the president of the Screen Actors' Guild before a stalled film career led to his unlikely reinvention as the voice of General Electric and a spokesman for corporate America. Reagan follows its subject on his improbable political rise, from the 1960s, when he was first elected governor of California, to his triumphant election in 1980 as president of the United States. Brands employs archival sources not available to previous biographers and dozens of interviews with surviving members of the administration. The result is an exciting narrative and a fresh understanding of a crucially important president and his era.
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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.
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Painful
- By john on 02-06-13
By: Edmund Morris
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Andrew Jackson
- His Life and Times
- By: H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 25 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The extraordinary story of Andrew Jackson—the colorful, dynamic, and forceful president who ushered in the Age of Democracy and set a still young America on its path to greatness—told by the bestselling author of The First American.
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Very Thorough
- By Eric on 02-07-06
By: H.W. Brands
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Destiny and Power
- The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 25 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Drawing on President Bush’s personal diaries, on the diaries of his wife, Barbara, and on extraordinary access to the 41st president and his family, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham paints an intimate and surprising portrait of an intensely private man who led the nation through tumultuous times.
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Fair and insightful
- By Jean on 12-02-15
By: Jon Meacham
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An Ordinary Man
- The Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R. Ford
- By: Richard Norton Smith
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 36 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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From the preeminent presidential scholar and acclaimed biographer of historical figures including George Washington, Herbert Hoover, and Nelson Rockefeller comes this eye-opening life of Gerald R. Ford, whose presidency arguably set the course for post-liberal America and a post-Cold War world.
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Must-read Polemic
- By allison h eid on 10-17-23
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Heirs of the Founders
- The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In the early 1800s, three young men strode onto the national stage, elected to Congress at a moment when the Founding Fathers were beginning to retire to their farms. Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, a champion orator known for his eloquence, spoke for the North and its business class. Henry Clay of Kentucky, as dashing as he was ambitious, embodied the hopes of the rising West. South Carolina's John Calhoun, with piercing eyes and an even more piercing intellect, defended the South and slavery.
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Excellent
- By Jean on 12-04-18
By: H. W. Brands
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American Colossus
- The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 23 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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In a grand-scale narrative history, the bestselling author of two finalists for the Pulitzer Prize now captures the decades when capitalism was at its most unbridled and a few breathtakingly wealthy businessmen utterly transformed America from an agrarian economy to a world power.
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8 Thoughts on 'American Colossus'
- By Joshua Kim on 06-10-12
By: H. W. Brands
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When Character Was King
- A Story of Ronald Reagan
- By: Peggy Noonan
- Narrated by: Peggy Noonan
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Abridged
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No one has ever captured Ronald Reagan like Peggy Noonan. In When Character Was King, Noonan brings her own reflections on Reagan to bear, as well as new stories - from President George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, his Secret Service men and White House colleagues, his wife, his daughter Patti Davis, and his close friends - to reveal the true nature of a man even his opponents now view as a maker of big history.
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5 Star Book
- By Peter on 03-04-03
By: Peggy Noonan
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The Man Who Saved the Union
- Ulysses Grant in War and Peace
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 27 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Ulysses Grant rose from obscurity to discover he had a genius for battle, and he propelled the Union to victory in the Civil War. After Abraham Lincoln's assassination and the disastrous brief presidency of Andrew Johnson, America turned to Grant again to unite the country, this time as president. In Brands' sweeping, majestic full biography, Grant emerges as a heroic figure who was fearlessly on the side of right.
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Underrated hero
- By Tad Davis on 12-22-12
By: H. W. Brands
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Dreams of El Dorado
- A History of the American West
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Matt Kugler
- Length: 17 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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In Dreams of El Dorado, H. W. Brands tells the thrilling, panoramic story of the settling of the American West. He takes us from John Jacob Astor's fur trading outpost in Oregon to the Texas Revolution, from the California gold rush to the Oklahoma land rush. He shows how the migrants' dreams drove them to feats of courage and perseverance that put their stay-at-home cousins to shame - and how those same dreams also drove them to outrageous acts of violence against indigenous peoples and one another. El Dorado was at least as elusive in the West as it ever was in the East.
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Dreadful narration
- By Fredmo on 12-09-19
By: H. W. Brands
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The Zealot and the Emancipator
- John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, and the Struggle for American Freedom
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 16 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Master storyteller and best-selling historian H. W. Brands narrates the epic struggle over slavery as embodied by John Brown and Abraham Lincoln - two men moved to radically different acts to confront our nation’s gravest sin. The Zealot and the Emancipator is acclaimed historian H. W. Brands' thrilling account of how two American giants shaped the war for freedom.
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I Never Knew That!
- By William G. Stuart on 10-19-20
By: H. W. Brands
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Speeches by Ronald Reagan: The Ultimate Collection
- By: Ronald Reagan
- Narrated by: Ronald Reagan
- Length: 21 hrs and 29 mins
- Original Recording
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Introducing… Ronald Reagan Live! Listen to live radio broadcast recordings of former President Ronald Reagan at his political best. Spanning several historical decades, Reagan's 1,000+ radio deliveries offered commentary on the spectrum of domestic, national, and international events that occurred throughout his lifetime, both prior to and during his unprecedented three-term presidency.
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This Audio Book is a collection of speeches.
- By Greg Slater on 09-17-11
By: Ronald Reagan
What listeners say about Reagan
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Vaughan
- 07-13-17
A straight forward account of Reagon's life, his p
If you could sum up Reagan in three words, what would they be?
optimistic, principled, sincere.
Would you recommend Reagan to your friends? Why or why not?
The book is recommended to friends, because of its honesty appraisal of Reagan. It remains focused on the man himself and the issues of his time.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
I am always moved by the speech following the Space Shuttle disaster, in which all crew died.
Any additional comments?
The book discusses at length Reagan's foreign policy. As a New Zealand however, I was disappointed that it was not seen as significant the antinuclear policy which banned United States warships from visiting our ports. Fundamentlaly altered relationships throughout the South Pacific and created a long period of diplomatic and military tension.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jim Allred
- 07-16-15
Enjoyable
The context is great. A look behind the curtain. The narration is a bit annoying but anymore that loves and admires Reagan will enjoy this book.
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- MCSGT0341
- 05-17-21
Excellent, informative & engaging.
It’s a great book! Well written, engaging & informative. Insightful into the life & times of one our Nation’s greatest Presidents!
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- Lucie Batte
- 08-23-24
Nothing Intimate.
I am disappointed in the lack of personal details. The book is an overview of things going on/ politics/ history and Reagan was there. I would like to know more of what he was thinking and feeling and more personal details.
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- Scott
- 08-24-15
Where's the beef?
What did you like best about Reagan? What did you like least?
This bio is rich in information but scant in insight. The author had his work cut out for him – Reagan was famous for being inscrutable, even to those closest to him. Hence, this bio relies heavily on the public record as well as Reagan’s speeches and interviews for material Brands does a good job chronicling Reagan’s presidency – there is rich behind the scenes details of the Reykjavik summit in particular, but you get the sense that Reagan’s aides and confidants either weren’t interviewed for the book or weren't in the mood to talk. What you get is a detailed but superficial (though not uncritical) bio but perhaps that is the best that can be expected, especially since the right has made Reagan such a venerated, unassailable figurehead. Readers hoping for a view into what made Reagan tick, or his personal life, will likely come away disappointed.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Suzanne Murphy
- 07-02-15
FABULOUS!!!!
A life well lived! There are no coincidences. God brought America Reagan right when we needed him. Thank you, President Reagan! ♡
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2 people found this helpful
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- Pablo
- 08-08-15
An extremely good account of an interesting life
A highly recommendable account of a most interesting life. Reagan is obe of those charming and charmed characters that inspire confidence and admiration; you want him to succeed. His optimistic outlook, his love of country and of countrymen, his ability to communicate simple principles and to navigate complex practicalities should inspire present-day politicians and, especially, their closest teams of collaborators. A wonderful book, in my opinion.
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- doug
- 05-24-19
H.W. Brands does it again.
Lived througj it, but much was forgotten, and much wasn't known at the time. He was a good person for the most part. You may disagree with him sometimes, but this book is a startling reminder of what the Republican party was, and how far it has fallen 1980 to 2019 from it's ideals and convictions
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- Alex J. Caffarini
- 03-09-20
More about him as the president than as the person
This book should really be titled "Reagan: The Presidency," or "Reagan: The Politician," since there are few details given about his personal and family life. Reagan's enigma is no more demystified by Brands' book than any other. The Reagan mystique continues. Where Brands really excels in this book is on his coverage of major events during the Reagan presidency: Grenada, Libya, Lebanon, the Philippines, Iran-Contra, the summits with Gorbachev, and other events. However, one gets the impression that these events were pulled from secondary sources, not interviews with people who were actually there. Still, the coverage is quite thorough.
Where Brands falls short is in his coverage of Reagan's life - especially his family. We learn more about his relationship to his parents and brother (and even that is pretty scant) than we do his relationship to his children. There's no coverage, for instance, of how his daughter, Patti Davis, openly opposed many of the things Reagan stood for as president, or the activities of his other children, Maureen, Michael, and Ron; we see no glimpse of the man as a father. We get only slightly more coverage of Michael Reagan than the other Reagan children.
Finally - and I have this complaint with most biographies I have read on late 20th century presidents (like Nixon and Ford) - the book doesn't devote a lot of coverage to the post-presidency. Often, I'm fascinated by what presidents have done when they left office. This biography of Reagan, much like the biographies (written by other authors) I've read of Nixon and Ford, disappoints in this regard as well.
In all, however, a great book and a fast read (or listen). Stephen Hoye provides an excellent narration, and listening/reading is still time well spent.
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- Jake hicks
- 08-06-18
The Life
This book perfectly captures the Life of the 40th president of the United States of America! A great book
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