
First Son
The Biography of Richard M. Daley
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $23.08
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
William Coon
-
By:
-
Keith Koeneman
About this listen
"Mayor Richard M. Daley dropped the bomb at a routine news conference at City Hall on Tuesday. With no prelude or fanfare, Mr. Daley announced that he would not seek re-election when his term expires next year. 'Simply put, it's time,' he said." New York Times, September 7, 2010
With those four words, an era ended. After twenty-two years, the longest-serving and most powerful mayor in the history of Chicago - and, arguably, America-stepped down, leaving behind a city that was utterly transformed, and a complicated legacy we are only beginning to evaluate.
In First Son, Keith Koeneman chronicles the sometimes Shakespearean, sometimes Machiavellian life of an American political legend. Making deft use of unprecedented access to key players in the Daley administration, as well as Chicago's business and cultural leaders, Koeneman draws on more than one hundred interviews to tell an up-close, insider story of political triumph and personal evolution. With Koeneman as our guide, we follow young Daley from his beginnings as an average Bridgeport kid thought to lack his father's talent and charisma to his unlikely transformation into an iron-fisted leader. Daley not only escaped the giant shadow of his father but also transformed Chicago from a gritty, post-industrial Midwestern capital into a beautiful, sophisticated global city widely recognized as a model for innovative metropolises throughout the world.
But in spite of his many accomplishments, Richard M. Daley's record is far from flawless. First Son sets the dramatic improvement of certain parts of the city against the persistent realities of crime, financial stress, failing public housing, and dysfunctional schools. And it reveals that while in many ways Daley broke with the machine politics of his father, he continued to reward loyalty with favors, use the resources of city government to overwhelm opponents, and tolerate political corruption.
A nuanced portrait of a complex man, First Son shows Daley to be sensitive yet tough, impatient yet persistent, a street-smart fighter and detail-driven policy expert who not only ran Chicago, but was Chicago.
The book is published by University of Chicago Press. ©2013 Keith Koeneman (P)2013 redwood AudiobooksListeners also enjoyed...
-
City of Big Shoulders: Second Edition
- A History of Chicago
- By: Robert G. Spinney
- Narrated by: Doug McDonald
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
City of Big Shoulders links key events in Chicago's development, from its marshy origins in the 1600's to today's robust metropolis. Robert G. Spinney presents Chicago in terms of the people whose lives made the city - from the tycoons and the politicians, to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants from all over the world. In this revised and updated second edition that brings Chicago's story into the 21st century, Spinney sweeps his historian's gaze across the colorful and dramatic panorama of the city's explosive past.
-
-
Recommended
- By Adam Ploszaj on 12-20-20
-
Liar's Poker
- Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1986, before Michael Lewis became the best-selling author of The Big Short, Moneyball, and Flash Boys, he landed a job at Salomon Brothers, one of Wall Street’s premier investment firms. During the next three years, Lewis rose from callow trainee to New York- and London-based bond salesman, raking in millions for the firm and cashing in on a modern-day gold rush. Liar’s Poker is the culmination of those heady, frenzied years - a behind-the-scenes look at a unique and turbulent time in American business.
-
-
Finally!
- By Anonymous User on 02-08-22
By: Michael Lewis
-
Confidence Man
- The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America
- By: Maggie Haberman
- Narrated by: Maggie Haberman
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few journalists working today have covered Donald Trump more extensively than Maggie Haberman. And few understand him and his motivations better. Now, demonstrating her majestic command of this story, Haberman reveals in full the depth of her understanding of the 45th president himself, and of what the Trump phenomenon means.
-
-
This is the only one you have to read
- By Amazon Customer on 10-06-22
By: Maggie Haberman
-
My Life
- By: Bill Clinton
- Narrated by: Bill Clinton
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
President Bill Clinton's My Life is the strikingly candid portrait of a global leader who decided early in life to devote his intellectual and political gifts, and his extraordinary capacity for hard work, to serving the public. It is the fullest, most concretely detailed, most nuanced account of a presidency ever written, and a testament to the positive impact on America and on the world of his work and his ideals.
-
-
Absorbing -- don't believe the haters' reviews
- By D.J. Grothe on 06-22-04
By: Bill Clinton
-
All Things Possible
- Setbacks and Success in Politics and Life
- By: Andrew M. Cuomo
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this full and frank memoir - a personal story of duty, family, justice, politics and resilience - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reflects on his rise, fall, and rise in politics, and recounts his defining personal and political moments and tough but necessary lessons he has learned along the way.
-
-
I Love This Book AND the Guvnor (Governor, I Know)
- By Igi M. on 09-02-20
By: Andrew M. Cuomo
-
Blessed Experiences
- Genuinely Southern, Proudly Black
- By: James E. Clyburn
- Narrated by: James E. Clyburn
- Length: 24 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From his humble beginnings in Sumter, South Carolina, to his prominence on the Washington, D.C., political scene as the third highest-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, U.S. Congressman James E. Clyburn has led an extraordinary life. In Blessed Experiences, Clyburn tells in his own inspirational words how an African-American boy from the Jim Crow-era South was able to beat the odds to achieve great success.
-
-
Educational, insightful, and phenomena!
- By GTomlin on 12-28-22
By: James E. Clyburn
-
City of Big Shoulders: Second Edition
- A History of Chicago
- By: Robert G. Spinney
- Narrated by: Doug McDonald
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
City of Big Shoulders links key events in Chicago's development, from its marshy origins in the 1600's to today's robust metropolis. Robert G. Spinney presents Chicago in terms of the people whose lives made the city - from the tycoons and the politicians, to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants from all over the world. In this revised and updated second edition that brings Chicago's story into the 21st century, Spinney sweeps his historian's gaze across the colorful and dramatic panorama of the city's explosive past.
-
-
Recommended
- By Adam Ploszaj on 12-20-20
-
Liar's Poker
- Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1986, before Michael Lewis became the best-selling author of The Big Short, Moneyball, and Flash Boys, he landed a job at Salomon Brothers, one of Wall Street’s premier investment firms. During the next three years, Lewis rose from callow trainee to New York- and London-based bond salesman, raking in millions for the firm and cashing in on a modern-day gold rush. Liar’s Poker is the culmination of those heady, frenzied years - a behind-the-scenes look at a unique and turbulent time in American business.
-
-
Finally!
- By Anonymous User on 02-08-22
By: Michael Lewis
-
Confidence Man
- The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America
- By: Maggie Haberman
- Narrated by: Maggie Haberman
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few journalists working today have covered Donald Trump more extensively than Maggie Haberman. And few understand him and his motivations better. Now, demonstrating her majestic command of this story, Haberman reveals in full the depth of her understanding of the 45th president himself, and of what the Trump phenomenon means.
-
-
This is the only one you have to read
- By Amazon Customer on 10-06-22
By: Maggie Haberman
-
My Life
- By: Bill Clinton
- Narrated by: Bill Clinton
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
President Bill Clinton's My Life is the strikingly candid portrait of a global leader who decided early in life to devote his intellectual and political gifts, and his extraordinary capacity for hard work, to serving the public. It is the fullest, most concretely detailed, most nuanced account of a presidency ever written, and a testament to the positive impact on America and on the world of his work and his ideals.
-
-
Absorbing -- don't believe the haters' reviews
- By D.J. Grothe on 06-22-04
By: Bill Clinton
-
All Things Possible
- Setbacks and Success in Politics and Life
- By: Andrew M. Cuomo
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this full and frank memoir - a personal story of duty, family, justice, politics and resilience - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reflects on his rise, fall, and rise in politics, and recounts his defining personal and political moments and tough but necessary lessons he has learned along the way.
-
-
I Love This Book AND the Guvnor (Governor, I Know)
- By Igi M. on 09-02-20
By: Andrew M. Cuomo
-
Blessed Experiences
- Genuinely Southern, Proudly Black
- By: James E. Clyburn
- Narrated by: James E. Clyburn
- Length: 24 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From his humble beginnings in Sumter, South Carolina, to his prominence on the Washington, D.C., political scene as the third highest-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, U.S. Congressman James E. Clyburn has led an extraordinary life. In Blessed Experiences, Clyburn tells in his own inspirational words how an African-American boy from the Jim Crow-era South was able to beat the odds to achieve great success.
-
-
Educational, insightful, and phenomena!
- By GTomlin on 12-28-22
By: James E. Clyburn
-
The Contender
- Andrew Cuomo, a Biography
- By: Michael Shnayerson
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 23 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Andrew Cuomo is the protagonist of an ongoing political saga that reads like a novel. In many ways his rise, fall, and rise again is an iconic story: a young American politician of vaunting ambition, aiming for nothing less than the presidency. Building on his father's political success, a first run for governor in 2002 led to a stinging defeat and a painful, public divorce from Kerry Kennedy, scion of another political dynasty. Cuomo had to come back from seeming political death and reinvent himself.
-
-
Lived in NYC for 8 years - never knew my governor
- By Emily Del Greco on 05-15-20
-
The Fall of Wisconsin
- The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics
- By: Dan Kaufman
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Fall of Wisconsin is a deeply reported, searing account of how the state’s progressive tradition was undone and turned into a model for national conservatives bent on remaking the country. Dan Kaufman, a Wisconsin native who has been covering the story for several years, traces the history of progressivism that made Wisconsin so widely admired. Kaufman reveals how the “divide-and-conquer” strategy of Governor Scott Walker and his allies pitted Wisconsin’s citizens against one another, so powerful corporations and donors could effectively take control of state government.
-
-
Excellent story, some minor pronunciation issues.
- By MegWaltz on 01-02-19
By: Dan Kaufman
-
Believer
- My Forty Years in Politics
- By: David Axelrod
- Narrated by: David Axelrod
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Love letter to Obama
- By DaWoolf on 03-15-15
By: David Axelrod
-
Building the Great Society
- Inside Lyndon Johnson's White House
- By: Joshua Zeitz
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author of Lincoln's Boys takes us inside Lyndon Johnson's White House to show how the legendary Great Society programs were actually put into practice: Team of Rivals for LBJ. The personalities behind every burst of 1960s liberal reform - from civil rights and immigration reform, to Medicare and Head Start - and what we'll lose if those programs are dismantled.
-
-
Comprehensive but a bit too long
- By Jim on 01-28-22
By: Joshua Zeitz
-
The Shadow President
- The Truth About Mike Pence
- By: Michael D'Antonio, Peter Eisner
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this well-rounded, deeply investigated biography, the first full look at the vice president, two award-winning journalists unmask the real Mike Pence. In this landmark biography, Pulitzer Prize winner Michael D’Antonio and Emmy-nominated journalist Peter Eisner follow the path Pence followed from Catholic Democrat to conservative evangelical Republican. As The Shadow President reveals, Mike Pence is the most important and powerful Christian right politician America has ever seen.
-
-
Opinion Only
- By Valerie Delloiacono on 09-09-18
By: Michael D'Antonio, and others
-
Plenty Ladylike
- A Memoir
- By: Claire McCaskill, Terry Ganey
- Narrated by: Claire McCaskill
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Claire McCaskill reads her unapologetic memoir of how she went from Missouri mom to become the state's first female senator by embracing her ambition, surviving sexists' slings, outsmarting her enemies, and finding joy along the way.
-
-
Refreshing
- By Jean on 09-03-15
By: Claire McCaskill, and others
-
Sons of Wichita
- How the Koch Brothers Became America's Most Powerful and Private Dynasty
- By: Daniel Schulman
- Narrated by: Allen O'Reilly
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like the Rockefellers and the Kennedys, the Kochs are one of the most influential dynasties of the modern age, but they have never been the subject of a major biography... until now. Not long after the death of his father, Charles Koch, then in his early 30s, discovered a letter the family patriarch had written to his sons. "You will receive what now seems to be a large sum of money," Fred Koch cautioned. "It may either be a blessing or a curse."
-
-
Interesting family
- By Jean on 05-28-14
By: Daniel Schulman
-
So Damn Much Money
- The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government
- By: Robert G. Kaiser
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 16 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this sometimes shocking and always riveting book, Robert G. Kaiser who has covered Congress, the White House and national politics for The Washington Post since 1963, explains how and why over the last four decades, Washington became a dysfunctional capital.
-
-
Essential knowledge
- By Fernando on 06-06-16
By: Robert G. Kaiser
-
In the Shadow of Statues
- A White Southerner Confronts History
- By: Mitch Landrieu
- Narrated by: Mitch Landrieu
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Mitch Landrieu addressed the people of New Orleans in May 2017 about his decision to take down four Confederate monuments, including the statue of Robert E. Lee, he struck a nerve nationally, and his speech has now been heard or seen by millions across the country. In his first book, Mayor Landrieu discusses his personal journey on race as well as the path he took to making the decision to remove the monuments, tackles the broader history of slavery, race and institutional inequities that still bedevil America, and traces his personal relationship to this history.
-
-
Everyone should read this
- By Carol Carlson on 03-23-18
By: Mitch Landrieu
-
Joe Biden
- A Life of Trial and Redemption
- By: Jules Witcover
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 20 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Raised in the working-class towns of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware, and with lackluster grades in school and no particular goals, Joe Biden shocked the nation in 1972 when he became one of the youngest elected senators in US history. Over the course of four decades, he carved a legacy for himself as one of the most respected legislators in the country, and was a close friend and partner to President Barack Obama, who valued his vice president’s vast experience in domestic and foreign affairs.
-
-
Great Book!
- By Kindle Customer on 02-07-24
By: Jules Witcover
-
A Nation of Nations
- A Story of America After the 1965 Immigration Law
- By: Tom Gjelten
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1950, Fairfax County, Virginia, was 90 percent white, 10 percent African American, with a little more than 100 families who were "other". Currently the African American percentage of the population is about the same, but the Anglo white population is less than 50 percent, and there are families of Asian, African, Middle Eastern, and Latin American origin living all over the county. A Nation of Nations follows the lives of a few immigrants to Fairfax County over recent decades as they gradually "Americanize".
By: Tom Gjelten
-
On His Own Terms
- A Life of Nelson Rockefeller
- By: Richard Norton Smith
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 40 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fourteen years in the making, this magisterial biography of the original Rockefeller Republican draws on thousands of newly available documents and over 200 interviews, including Rockefeller’s own unpublished reminiscences.
-
-
An Excellent biography
- By Jean on 11-19-14
Critic reviews
What listeners say about First Son
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Gregory E Benoit
- 09-23-18
Must read 4 anyone who wants to understand Chicago
An almost perfect political biography. A lot of these types of books tend to focus too much on insignificant details of the subject's personal life, in my opinion. This one struck a perfect balance between Daley the man, and Daley the politician who had a tremendous impact on modern Chicago. Highly recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!