
Presidents at War
How World War II Shaped a Generation of Presidents, from Eisenhower and JFK Through Reagan and Bush
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 $24.75
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Fred Sanders
-
By:
-
Steven M. Gillon
About this listen
Steven M. Gillon, historian and New York Times bestselling author, is back with the story of how WWII shaped the characters and politics of seven American presidents.
World War II loomed over the latter half of the twentieth century, transforming every level of American society and international relationships and searing itself onto the psyche of an entire generation, including that of seven American presidents: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush.
The lessons of World War II, more than party affiliation or ideology, defined the presidencies of these seven men. They returned home determined to confront any force that threatened to undermine the war’s hard-won ideals, each with their own unique understanding of patriotism, sacrifice, and America’s role in global politics.
In Presidents at War, Gillon examines what these men took away from the war and how they then applied it to Cold War policies that proceeded to change America, and the world, forever. A nuanced and deeply researched exploration of the lives, philosophies, and legacies of seven remarkable men, Presidents at War deftly argues that the lessons learned by these postwar presidents continue to shape the landscape upon which current and future presidents stand today.
©2025 Steven M. Gillon (P)2025 Steven M. GillonListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Traitor of Arnhem
- The Untold Story of WWII’s Greatest Betrayal and the Moment That Changed History Forever
- By: Robert Verkaik
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The end of World War II is in sight. Following the overwhelming victory on D-Day, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin all seek to shape the future to their own ends by winning the race to Berlin. The British launch Operation Market Garden, the greatest airborne operation the world has ever seen. It's a bold move that, if successful, will end the war in weeks. But behind the scenes spies are working their craft, the Allies' plans are betrayed, the operation fails—and thousands of our soldiers die.
-
-
Outstanding
- By JOHN DAVIS on 04-16-25
By: Robert Verkaik
-
The Eurasian Century
- Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern Century
- By: Hal Brands
- Narrated by: Tim Fannon
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hal Brands argues that a better understanding of Eurasia's strategic geography can illuminate the contours of rivalry and conflict in today's world. The Eurasian Century explains how revolutions in technology and warfare, and the rise of toxic ideologies of conquest, made Eurasia the center of twentieth-century geopolitics—with pressing implications for the struggles that will define the twenty-first.
-
-
Worth the read.
- By Chip Eckert on 02-24-25
By: Hal Brands
-
The Ride
- Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America
- By: Kostya Kennedy
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Timed for the 250th anniversary of one of America’s most famous founding events: Paul Revere’s legendary ride, newly told with fresh research into little-known aspects of the myth that every American learns in school.
-
-
Great read on Paul Revere
- By Fred on 04-19-25
By: Kostya Kennedy
-
The JFK Conspiracy
- The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy—and Why It Failed
- By: Brad Meltzer, Josh Mensch
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kennedy, the thirty-fifth president of the United States, is often ranked among Americans’ most well-liked presidents. Yet what most Americans don’t know is that JFK’s historic presidency almost ended before it began—at the hands of a disgruntled sociopathic loner armed with dynamite. On December 11, 1960, shortly after Kennedy’s election and before his inauguration, a retired postal worker named Richard Pavlick waited in his car—a parked Buick—on a quiet street in Palm Beach, Florida.
-
-
Pretty Good But With Some Errors
- By Scott on 01-29-25
By: Brad Meltzer, and others
-
The Roads to Rome
- A History of Imperial Expansion
- By: Catherine Fletcher
- Narrated by: Catherine Fletcher
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Roads to Rome is a journey into a past that remains intimately connected to our present. Traveling from Scotland to Cádiz to Istanbul and back to Rome, the listener meanders through nations and empires that have risen and fallen. We encounter spies, bandits, innkeepers, a Byzantine noblewoman on the run, aristocrats on their Grand Tour, Napoleon, John Keats, the Shelleys, Frederick Douglass, and Mussolini.
-
The Last Manager
- How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented, and Reinvented Baseball
- By: John W. Miller
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Long before the Moneyball Era, the Earl of Baltimore reigned over baseball. History’s feistiest and most colorful manager, Earl Weaver transformed the sport by collecting and analyzing data in visionary ways, ultimately winning more games than anybody else during his time running the Orioles from 1968 to 1982. When Weaver was hired by the Orioles, managers were still seen as coaches and inspirational leaders, more teachers of the game than strategists. Weaver invented new ways of building baseball teams, prioritizing on-base average, elite defense, and strike throwing.
-
-
THE EARL OF BALTIMORE... ALWAYS A TREAT!
- By USA VETERAN on 03-21-25
By: John W. Miller
-
The Traitor of Arnhem
- The Untold Story of WWII’s Greatest Betrayal and the Moment That Changed History Forever
- By: Robert Verkaik
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The end of World War II is in sight. Following the overwhelming victory on D-Day, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin all seek to shape the future to their own ends by winning the race to Berlin. The British launch Operation Market Garden, the greatest airborne operation the world has ever seen. It's a bold move that, if successful, will end the war in weeks. But behind the scenes spies are working their craft, the Allies' plans are betrayed, the operation fails—and thousands of our soldiers die.
-
-
Outstanding
- By JOHN DAVIS on 04-16-25
By: Robert Verkaik
-
The Eurasian Century
- Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern Century
- By: Hal Brands
- Narrated by: Tim Fannon
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hal Brands argues that a better understanding of Eurasia's strategic geography can illuminate the contours of rivalry and conflict in today's world. The Eurasian Century explains how revolutions in technology and warfare, and the rise of toxic ideologies of conquest, made Eurasia the center of twentieth-century geopolitics—with pressing implications for the struggles that will define the twenty-first.
-
-
Worth the read.
- By Chip Eckert on 02-24-25
By: Hal Brands
-
The Ride
- Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America
- By: Kostya Kennedy
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Timed for the 250th anniversary of one of America’s most famous founding events: Paul Revere’s legendary ride, newly told with fresh research into little-known aspects of the myth that every American learns in school.
-
-
Great read on Paul Revere
- By Fred on 04-19-25
By: Kostya Kennedy
-
The JFK Conspiracy
- The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy—and Why It Failed
- By: Brad Meltzer, Josh Mensch
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kennedy, the thirty-fifth president of the United States, is often ranked among Americans’ most well-liked presidents. Yet what most Americans don’t know is that JFK’s historic presidency almost ended before it began—at the hands of a disgruntled sociopathic loner armed with dynamite. On December 11, 1960, shortly after Kennedy’s election and before his inauguration, a retired postal worker named Richard Pavlick waited in his car—a parked Buick—on a quiet street in Palm Beach, Florida.
-
-
Pretty Good But With Some Errors
- By Scott on 01-29-25
By: Brad Meltzer, and others
-
The Roads to Rome
- A History of Imperial Expansion
- By: Catherine Fletcher
- Narrated by: Catherine Fletcher
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Roads to Rome is a journey into a past that remains intimately connected to our present. Traveling from Scotland to Cádiz to Istanbul and back to Rome, the listener meanders through nations and empires that have risen and fallen. We encounter spies, bandits, innkeepers, a Byzantine noblewoman on the run, aristocrats on their Grand Tour, Napoleon, John Keats, the Shelleys, Frederick Douglass, and Mussolini.
-
The Last Manager
- How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented, and Reinvented Baseball
- By: John W. Miller
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Long before the Moneyball Era, the Earl of Baltimore reigned over baseball. History’s feistiest and most colorful manager, Earl Weaver transformed the sport by collecting and analyzing data in visionary ways, ultimately winning more games than anybody else during his time running the Orioles from 1968 to 1982. When Weaver was hired by the Orioles, managers were still seen as coaches and inspirational leaders, more teachers of the game than strategists. Weaver invented new ways of building baseball teams, prioritizing on-base average, elite defense, and strike throwing.
-
-
THE EARL OF BALTIMORE... ALWAYS A TREAT!
- By USA VETERAN on 03-21-25
By: John W. Miller
-
American Civil Wars
- A Continental History, 1850-1873
- By: Alan Taylor
- Narrated by: Graham Winton
- Length: 17 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The American Civil War stands at the center of the story, its military history and the drama of emancipation the highlights. Taylor relies on vivid characters to carry the story, from Joseph Hooker, whose timidity in crisis was exploited by Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson in the Union defeat at Chancellorsville, to Martin Delany and Mary Ann Shadd Cary, Black abolitionists whose critical work in Canada and the United States advanced emancipation and the enrollment of Black soldiers in Union armies.
-
-
fascinating!
- By Brandon Marken on 07-12-24
By: Alan Taylor
-
Waste Land
- A World in Permanent Crisis
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are entering a new era of global cataclysm in which the world faces a deadly mix of war, climate change, great power rivalry, rapid technological advancement, the end of both monarchy and empire, and countless other dangers. In Waste Land, Robert D. Kaplan, geopolitical expert and author of more than twenty books on world affairs, incisively explains how we got here and where we are going.
-
-
Climate / Population Alarmism in a Mask
- By ElovesK on 02-07-25
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
Propaganda Wars
- How the Global Elite Control What You See, Think, and Feel
- By: Glenn Beck, Justin Haskins
- Narrated by: Glenn Beck
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Propaganda Wars: How the Global Elite Control What You See, Think, and Feel, New York Times bestselling writers Glenn Beck and Justin Haskins uncover the secrets behind the greatest system of control and manipulation ever created.
-
-
Timely and thought provoking!
- By darin leetun on 01-01-25
By: Glenn Beck, and others
-
Plan Red
- China's Project to Destroy America
- By: Gordon G. Chang
- Narrated by: Keith David Murray
- Length: 1 hr and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chang believes it is time to take a page from Ronald Reagan’s playbook and work to bring down the enemy: the Communist Party. The Communist Party often talks about “win-win” solutions, but as its actions make clear, it believes there can be only one survivor, either the People’s Republic of China or the United States of America. China has a plan to destroy America. Does America have a plan to defend itself?
-
-
Must listen
- By Tammy Griffith on 10-31-24
By: Gordon G. Chang
-
Hero of Two Worlds
- The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution
- By: Mike Duncan
- Narrated by: Mike Duncan
- Length: 17 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the massively popular podcaster and New York Times best-selling author comes the story of the Marquis de Lafayette's lifelong quest to protect the principles of democracy, told through the lens of the three revolutions he participated in: the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Revolution of 1830.
-
-
Thrillingly storytelling — brilliant narration
- By Byron on 08-24-21
By: Mike Duncan
-
Charlie Hustle
- The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball
- By: Keith O'Brien
- Narrated by: Ellen Adair, Keith O'Brien
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pete Rose is a legend. A baseball god. He compiled more hits than anyone in the history of baseball, a record he set decades ago that still stands today. He was a working-class white guy from Cincinnati who made it; less talented than tough, and rough around the edges. He was everything that America wanted and needed him to be, the American dream personified, until he wasn’t. Charlie Hustle tells the full story of one of America’s most epic tragedies—the rise and fall of Pete Rose.
-
-
Narrator not appropriate
- By Charles C. Dean on 06-03-24
By: Keith O'Brien
-
George Washington's Secret Six
- The Spy Ring That Saved America
- By: Brian Kilmeade, Don Yaeger
- Narrated by: Brian Kilmeade
- Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the cohost of Fox & Friends, the true story of the anonymous spies who helped win the Revolutionary War. Among the pantheon of heroes of the American Revolution, six names are missing. First and foremost, Robert Townsend, an unassuming and respected businessman from Long Island, who spearheaded the spy ring that covertly brought down the British
-
-
Pretty good
- By Thomas on 09-24-15
By: Brian Kilmeade, and others
-
The Determined Spy
- The Turbulent Life and Times of CIA Pioneer Frank Wisner
- By: Douglas Waller
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 19 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An intimate and expertly researched biography of little-known early CIA leader Frank Wisner, whose behind-the-scenes influence on Cold War policy—and hundreds of highly secret anti-Soviet missions—resonates with the international crises we see today.
By: Douglas Waller
-
The Supreme Commander
- The War Years of Dwight D. Eisenhower
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 32 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this classic portrait of Dwight D. Eisenhower the soldier, best-selling historian Stephen E. Ambrose examines the Allied commander's leadership during World War II. Ambrose brings Eisenhower's experience of the Second World War to life, showing in vivid detail how the general's skill as a diplomat and a military strategist contributed to Allied successes in North Africa and in Europe and established him as one of the greatest military leaders in the world.
-
-
Very Interesting of the politics of war
- By Timothy on 06-28-17
-
On Settler Colonialism
- Ideology, Violence, and Justice
- By: Adam Kirsch
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since Hamas's attack on Israel last October 7, the term "settler colonialism" has become central to public debate in the United States. A concept new to most Americans, but already established and influential in academic circles, settler colonialism is shaping the way many people think about the history of the United States, Israel and Palestine, and a host of political issues. This short book is the first to examine settler colonialism critically for a general audience.
-
-
A surprisingly balanced perspective on the politics of ‘settler colonialism’.
- By Anonymous User on 11-25-24
By: Adam Kirsch
-
The Longest Minute
- The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906
- By: Matthew J. Davenport
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At 5:12 am on April 18, 1906, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck San Francisco, catching most of the city asleep. For approximately forty-eight seconds, shock waves buckled streets, shattered water mains, collapsed buildings, crushed hundreds of residents to death, and trapped many alive. Matthew Davenport draws on letters, diaries, unpublished memoirs, and previously unearthed archival records, as well as interviews with engineers and geologists, to combine history and science to tell the dramatic true story of one of the greatest disasters in American history.
-
-
History told from those who survived
- By BamaState on 12-26-23
-
Double Whammy
- By: Carl Hiaasen
- Narrated by: George Wilson
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A twisted tale of murder in the world of big-stakes bass fishing tournaments. Filled with ex-wives, evangelists, and an armed pit-bull, this is a story that could only be concocted by Carl Hiaasen, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, New York Times best-selling author, and czar of Florida noir fiction.
-
-
Not for dog lovers
- By Tonette on 01-21-08
By: Carl Hiaasen
Critic reviews
“Mr. Gillon’s war stories, gripping in themselves, encourage us to be skeptical of any unified theory applied to human conflict. Better, on this Presidents Day, to recognize a generation of American statesmen who demonstrated leadership long before they were entrusted with the greatest responsibilities on the planet.”—Wall Street Journal
“Political historian Gillon considers the effects of World War II on a generation of presidents … Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush … World War II shaped the political outlook of all these presidents, from Nixon’s endless grievances to JFK’s careful strategizing (and a few dirty tricks) and “bland good guy” Reagan’s hail-fellow-well-met approach to politics. War is hell—but also, this history shows, a good way to get elected.”—Kirkus
"Steven M. Gillon brilliantly blends vivid biographical sketches with astute political analysis to give us a fresh and authoritative take on the “Presidents at War.” With subtlety and grace as well as a thorough grounding in the sources, the author examines the powerful ways that World War II shaped the careers and outlooks of seven men who would go on to occupy the Oval Office. It’s an inspiring story, resonant with meaning for our own troubled age."—Fredrik Logevall, Harvard University and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Embers of War
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
American Poison
- A Deadly Invention and the Woman Who Battled for Environmental Justice
- By: Daniel Stone
- Narrated by: Daniel Stone
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At noon on October 27, 1924, a factory worker was admitted to a hospital in New York City, suffering from hallucinations and convulsions. Before breakfast the next day, he was dead. Alice Hamilton was determined to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. By the time of the accident, Hamilton had pioneered the field of industrial medicine in the United States. She specialized in workplace safety years before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was created. But this time, she was up against a formidable new foe: America’s relentless push for progress, regardless of the cost.
-
-
Great storytelling
- By Lera on 04-10-25
By: Daniel Stone
-
Presidents of War
- By: Michael Beschloss
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 26 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ten years in the research and writing, Presidents of War is a fresh, magisterial, intimate look at a procession of American leaders as they took the nation into conflict and mobilized their country for victory. It brings us into the room as they make the most difficult decisions that face any president, at times sending hundreds of thousands of American men and women to their deaths.
-
-
Heads up: Chapters are out of order
- By Barefoot on 10-18-18
-
Golden State
- The Making of California
- By: Michael Hiltzik
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Hiltzik, a definitive new history of California—from the Spanish conquistadors to the Gold Rush to the state’s meteoric rise as a tech powerhouse and bulwark of progressivism—and of its indelible mark on the United States and the world.
-
-
Fabulous human history of California
- By Broomy on 04-20-25
By: Michael Hiltzik
-
Disposable
- America's Contempt for the Underclass
- By: Sarah Jones
- Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the tradition of Matthew Desmond’s Evicted and Andrea Elliot’s Invisible Child, Disposable is a poignant exploration of America’s underclass, left vulnerable by systemic racism and capitalism. Here, Sarah Jones delves into the lives of the essential workers, seniors, and people with disabilities who were disproportionately affected by COVID-19—not due to their age or profession, but because of the systemic inequality and poverty that left them exposed.
-
-
Not comparable to Evicted but interesting
- By NMwritergal on 02-27-25
By: Sarah Jones
-
Late Ottoman Gaza
- An Eastern Mediterranean Hub in Transformation
- By: Yuval Ben-Bassat, Johann Buessow
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In contemporary public discourse, Gaza tends to be characterized solely as a theater of the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. However, little is known about Gaza's society, politics, economy, and culture during the Ottoman era. Drawing on a range of previously untapped local and imperial sources, Yuval Ben-Bassat and Johann Buessow explore the city's history from the mid-nineteenth century through WWI.
By: Yuval Ben-Bassat, and others
-
Beverly Hills Noir
- Crime, Sin, & Scandal in 90210
- By: Scott Huver
- Narrated by: Donald Corren
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beverly Hills Noir chronicles an assortment of jaw-dropping true crime stories spanning the legendary city’s history, each with oh-so-90210 twists—including a high-profile murder mystery in the city’s most extravagant mansion, the daring exploits of a handsome cat burglar with movie star looks, a toxic Tinseltown love triangle that ended in gunplay, a brazen Rodeo Drive jewelry store holdup with tragically stunning finale, an Oscar nominated actress on shoplifting spree and more—complete with major roles and countless cameos by Hollywood idols and cultural icons.
-
-
Digs deep. Maybe too deep.
- By Jenny Atkinson on 02-24-25
By: Scott Huver
-
American Poison
- A Deadly Invention and the Woman Who Battled for Environmental Justice
- By: Daniel Stone
- Narrated by: Daniel Stone
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At noon on October 27, 1924, a factory worker was admitted to a hospital in New York City, suffering from hallucinations and convulsions. Before breakfast the next day, he was dead. Alice Hamilton was determined to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. By the time of the accident, Hamilton had pioneered the field of industrial medicine in the United States. She specialized in workplace safety years before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was created. But this time, she was up against a formidable new foe: America’s relentless push for progress, regardless of the cost.
-
-
Great storytelling
- By Lera on 04-10-25
By: Daniel Stone
-
Presidents of War
- By: Michael Beschloss
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 26 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ten years in the research and writing, Presidents of War is a fresh, magisterial, intimate look at a procession of American leaders as they took the nation into conflict and mobilized their country for victory. It brings us into the room as they make the most difficult decisions that face any president, at times sending hundreds of thousands of American men and women to their deaths.
-
-
Heads up: Chapters are out of order
- By Barefoot on 10-18-18
-
Golden State
- The Making of California
- By: Michael Hiltzik
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Hiltzik, a definitive new history of California—from the Spanish conquistadors to the Gold Rush to the state’s meteoric rise as a tech powerhouse and bulwark of progressivism—and of its indelible mark on the United States and the world.
-
-
Fabulous human history of California
- By Broomy on 04-20-25
By: Michael Hiltzik
-
Disposable
- America's Contempt for the Underclass
- By: Sarah Jones
- Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the tradition of Matthew Desmond’s Evicted and Andrea Elliot’s Invisible Child, Disposable is a poignant exploration of America’s underclass, left vulnerable by systemic racism and capitalism. Here, Sarah Jones delves into the lives of the essential workers, seniors, and people with disabilities who were disproportionately affected by COVID-19—not due to their age or profession, but because of the systemic inequality and poverty that left them exposed.
-
-
Not comparable to Evicted but interesting
- By NMwritergal on 02-27-25
By: Sarah Jones
-
Late Ottoman Gaza
- An Eastern Mediterranean Hub in Transformation
- By: Yuval Ben-Bassat, Johann Buessow
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In contemporary public discourse, Gaza tends to be characterized solely as a theater of the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. However, little is known about Gaza's society, politics, economy, and culture during the Ottoman era. Drawing on a range of previously untapped local and imperial sources, Yuval Ben-Bassat and Johann Buessow explore the city's history from the mid-nineteenth century through WWI.
By: Yuval Ben-Bassat, and others
-
Beverly Hills Noir
- Crime, Sin, & Scandal in 90210
- By: Scott Huver
- Narrated by: Donald Corren
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beverly Hills Noir chronicles an assortment of jaw-dropping true crime stories spanning the legendary city’s history, each with oh-so-90210 twists—including a high-profile murder mystery in the city’s most extravagant mansion, the daring exploits of a handsome cat burglar with movie star looks, a toxic Tinseltown love triangle that ended in gunplay, a brazen Rodeo Drive jewelry store holdup with tragically stunning finale, an Oscar nominated actress on shoplifting spree and more—complete with major roles and countless cameos by Hollywood idols and cultural icons.
-
-
Digs deep. Maybe too deep.
- By Jenny Atkinson on 02-24-25
By: Scott Huver
-
Israel
- A History
- By: Anita Shapira, Anthony Berris - translator
- Narrated by: Dina Pearlman
- Length: 24 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written by one of Israel's most notable scholars, this volume provides a breathtaking history of Israel from the origins of the Zionist movement in the late nineteenth century to the present day.
By: Anita Shapira, and others
-
Stuck
- How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity
- By: Yoni Appelbaum
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this illuminating debut, Yoni Appelbaum, historian and journalist for The Atlantic, shows us that this idea has been under attack since reformers first developed zoning laws to ghettoize Chinese Americans in nineteenth-century Modesto, California. The century of legal segregation that ensued—from the zoning laws enacted to force Jewish workers back into New York’s Lower East Side to the private-sector discrimination and racist public policy that trapped Black families in Flint, Michigan to Jane Jacobs’ efforts to protect her vision of the West Village.
-
-
land of opportunity
- By Anonymous User on 03-16-25
By: Yoni Appelbaum
-
President McKinley
- Architect of the American Century
- By: Robert W. Merry
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 19 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Republican President William McKinley transformed America during his two terms as president. Although he does not register large in either public memory or in historians' rankings, in this revealing account, Robert W. Merry offers "a fresh twist on the old tale . . . a valuable education on where America has been and, possibly, where it is going" (The National Review).
By: Robert W. Merry
-
The Stained Glass Window
- A Family History as the American Story, 1790-1958
- By: David Levering Lewis
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sitting beneath a stained glass window dedicated to his grandmother in the Atlanta church where his family had prayed for generations, preeminent American historian David Levering Lewis was struck by the great lacunae in what he could know about his own ancestors. He vowed to excavate their past and tell their story.
-
Penman of the Founding
- A Biography of John Dickinson
- By: Jane E. Calvert
- Narrated by: Kitty Hendrix
- Length: 24 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite the key part he played in the country's founding, few Americans today have heard of John Dickinson. Early chroniclers and historians, seeking to create a patriotic narrative and taking their cues from his political enemies, cast him as a coward and Loyalist for not signing the Declaration. Many later historians have simply accepted and echoed this distorted and dismissive view. Jane Calvert's fascinating, authoritative, and accessible biography restores him to a place of prominence in the nation's formative years.
By: Jane E. Calvert
-
Pseudoscience
- An Amusing History of Crackpot Ideas and Why We Love Them
- By: Lydia Kang MD, Nate Pedersen
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the easily disproved to the wildly speculative, to straight-up hucksterism, Pseudoscience is a romp through much more than bad science—it’s a light-hearted look into why we insist on believing in things such as Big Foot, astrology, and the existence of aliens. Did you know, for example, that you can tell a person’s future by touching their butt? Rumpology. It’s a thing, but not really. Or that Stanley Kubrick made a fake moon landing film for the US government? Except he didn’t. Or that spontaneous human combustion is real? It ain’t, but it can be explained scientifically.
By: Lydia Kang MD, and others
-
From Trenton to Yorktown
- Turning Points of the Revolutionary War
- By: John R. Maass
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this masterful, yet accessible narrative of America’s fight for liberty, John R. Maass identifies the five decisive events that secured independence for the 13 hard-pressed but determined colonies. These include not only the obvious military victories such as Trenton, Princeton, and Yorktown but also the leadership and reforms that ensured Washington’s forces were capable of enduring the harsh conditions of the winter of 1778.
By: John R. Maass
-
Daughter of Daring
- The Trick-Riding, Train-Leaping, Road-Racing Life of Helen Gibson, Hollywood’s First Stuntwoman
- By: Mallory O'Meara
- Narrated by: Mallory O'Meara
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Helen Gibson was a woman willing to do anything to give audiences a thrill. Advertised as "The Most Daring Actress in Pictures," Helen emerged in the early days of the twentieth-century silent film scene as a rodeo rider, background actor, stunt double, and eventually one of the era’s biggest action stars. Her exploits on motorcycles, train cars, and horseback were as dangerous as they were glamorous, featured in hundreds of films and serials—yet her legacy was quickly overshadowed by the increasingly hypermasculine and male-dominated evolution of cinema in the decades that would follow her.
By: Mallory O'Meara
-
After the North Pole
- A Story of Survival, Mythmaking, and Melting Ice
- By: Erling Kagge
- Narrated by: Atli Gunnarsson
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The North Pole looms large in our collective psyche—the ultimate Otherland in a world mapped and traversed. It is the center of our planet’s rotation, one of the places that is most vulnerable in an epoch of global climate change. Its sub-zero temperatures and strange year of one sunset and one sunrise make it an eerie, utterly disorienting place that challenges human endurance and understanding.
By: Erling Kagge
-
Storylife
- On Epic, Narrative, and Living Things
- By: Joel P. Christensen
- Narrated by: Graham Rowat
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Combining ancient epic and myth with analogies from biology and the natural world, Joel P. Christensen explores the creative process and how narratives develop. This bold work urges listeners to treat narratives as living things with their own agency in the world.
-
Fuel and Power
- Energy, Trade, and Russian Foreign Relations from Lenin to Putin
- By: Jeronim Perović
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a very timely study of Russia's development into a global energy power from the Russian Revolution to the present day. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, Russia emerged not only as a key producer but also as one of the world's leading exporters of oil. Russia's transformation into a modern global power was connected to its ability to make use of its vast natural resources and produce energy in increasing quantities.
By: Jeronim Perović
-
El Narco
- Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency
- By: Ioan Grillo
- Narrated by: Paul Thornley
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
El Narco is not a gang; it is a movement and an industry drawing in hundreds of thousands, from bullet-riddled barrios to marijuana-covered mountains. The conflict spawned by El Narco has given rise to paramilitary death squads battling from Guatemala to the Texas border (and sometimes beyond). In this "propulsive ... high-octane" book (Publishers Weekly), Ioan Grillo draws the first definitive portrait of Mexico's cartels and how they have radically transformed.
-
-
Good story, terrible narration
- By Jay Culley on 03-19-25
By: Ioan Grillo
What listeners say about Presidents at War
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- E.A.BRYLA
- 03-06-25
Bias
One sided; to the extreme detriment of an honest history. Do not bother to buy it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!