
Scalia
Rise to Greatness: 1936-1986
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 $25.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
John McLain
-
By:
-
James Rosen
About this listen
The bestselling historian and journalist James Rosen provides the first comprehensive account of the brilliant and combative Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, whose philosophy and judicial opinions defined our legal era.
With SCALIA: Rise to Greatness, 1936-1986, the opening installment in a two-volume biography, acclaimed reporter and bestselling historian James Rosen provides the first comprehensive account of the life of Justice Antonin Scalia, whose singular career in government—including three decades on the Supreme Court—shaped American law and society in the twenty-first century.
A decade in the making, Rise to Greatness tells the story of the kid from Queens who became the first Italian American on the Court and one of the most profoundly influential figures of our time. This volume takes us from Scalia’s birth to his ascension to the Court, providing a fresh and probing look at his Catholic upbringing and education; his stints in academia and published works, some of them obscure and long-overlooked; and his service in the Nixon and Ford administrations, when Scalia played a central role in reforming the U.S. intelligence community and in the approval of sensitive covert operations.
Deeply researched and based on unparalleled access to documentary and personal sources, and written with an intellectual rigor and wit befitting its subject, Rosen’s narrative sounds like a novel while presenting startling new insight into the life, mind, career, faith, and legacy of the man whom family and friends called “Nino.” The result is a compelling portrait of an American legend with whom the author personally corresponded, broke bread, drank wine, and braved the streets of the capital as a (nervous) passenger in the justice’s famously speedy BMW.
Rosen has unearthed previously unpublished writing from every phase of Scalia’s career, including private Supreme Court emails, and has interviewed Scalia’s family, classmates, students, colleagues from the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations, priests, poker buddies, hunting companions, and fellow judges and justices.
Rise to Greatness is a landmark of modern biography, a rich and moving study, accessible to lay listeners, that brings to life a towering figure of American history. It is the book Scalia fans, and all citizens interested in history and the law, have long awaited.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2023 James Rosen (P)2023 Impact AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Scalia Speaks
- Reflections on Law, Faith, and Life Well Lived
- By: Antonin Scalia, Christopher J. Scalia - editor, Edward Whelan - editor, and others
- Narrated by: Christopher J. Scalia
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This definitive collection of beloved Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's finest speeches covers topics as varied as the law, faith, virtue, pastimes, and his heroes and friends. Featuring a foreword by longtime friend Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and an intimate introduction by his youngest son, this volume includes dozens of speeches, some deeply personal, that have never before been published. Christopher J. Scalia and the justice's former law clerk Edward Whelan selected the speeches.
-
-
Engrossing
- By Jean on 10-20-17
By: Antonin Scalia, and others
-
My Grandfather's Son
- A Memoir
- By: Clarence Thomas
- Narrated by: Clarence Thomas
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Provocative, inspiring, and unflinchingly honest, My Grandfather's Son is the story of one of America's most remarkable and controversial leaders, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, told in his own words.
-
-
Wonderful read
- By Amazon Customer on 10-17-21
By: Clarence Thomas
-
Social Justice Fallacies
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Brad Sanders
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The quest for social justice is a powerful crusade of our time, with an appeal to many different people, for many different reasons. But those who use the same words do not always present the same meanings. Clarifying those meanings is the first step toward finding out what we agree on and disagree on. From there, it is largely a question of what the facts are. Social Justice Fallacies reveals how many things that are thought to be true simply cannot stand up to documented facts, which are often the opposite of what is widely believed.
-
-
Timely book by 93 year old Thomas Sowell
- By Wayne on 09-27-23
By: Thomas Sowell
-
Elon Musk
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Walter Isaacson
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
-
-
megalomania on display
- By JP on 09-12-23
By: Walter Isaacson
-
The People's Justice
- Clarence Thomas and the Constitutional Stories That Define Him
- By: Amul Thapar
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No Supreme Court justice has come from humbler circumstances than Clarence Thomas, yet critics denounce him as the "cruelest justice," a heartless traitor to his race who cynically sacrifices justice to ideology. In this provocative new book, Judge Amul Thapar demolishes that caricature. Exploring the human stories behind twelve illustrative cases on which Justice Thomas has ruled, he demonstrates the coherence of Thomas’s judicial philosophy and the profound humanity on which it rests.
-
-
Compelling story of Justice Thomas’s Originalism and why it provides a sure foundation for American jurisprudence.
- By Samuel Greenwell on 12-30-23
By: Amul Thapar
-
Unwoke
- How to Defeat Cultural Marxism in America
- By: Ted Cruz
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a book both articulate and desperately needed, bestselling author Senator Ted Cruz provides a long overdue argument against the woke takeover of education, big business, the media, and Hollywood.
-
-
This is one of top listens
- By chas on 12-12-23
By: Ted Cruz
-
Scalia Speaks
- Reflections on Law, Faith, and Life Well Lived
- By: Antonin Scalia, Christopher J. Scalia - editor, Edward Whelan - editor, and others
- Narrated by: Christopher J. Scalia
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This definitive collection of beloved Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's finest speeches covers topics as varied as the law, faith, virtue, pastimes, and his heroes and friends. Featuring a foreword by longtime friend Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and an intimate introduction by his youngest son, this volume includes dozens of speeches, some deeply personal, that have never before been published. Christopher J. Scalia and the justice's former law clerk Edward Whelan selected the speeches.
-
-
Engrossing
- By Jean on 10-20-17
By: Antonin Scalia, and others
-
My Grandfather's Son
- A Memoir
- By: Clarence Thomas
- Narrated by: Clarence Thomas
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Provocative, inspiring, and unflinchingly honest, My Grandfather's Son is the story of one of America's most remarkable and controversial leaders, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, told in his own words.
-
-
Wonderful read
- By Amazon Customer on 10-17-21
By: Clarence Thomas
-
Social Justice Fallacies
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Brad Sanders
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The quest for social justice is a powerful crusade of our time, with an appeal to many different people, for many different reasons. But those who use the same words do not always present the same meanings. Clarifying those meanings is the first step toward finding out what we agree on and disagree on. From there, it is largely a question of what the facts are. Social Justice Fallacies reveals how many things that are thought to be true simply cannot stand up to documented facts, which are often the opposite of what is widely believed.
-
-
Timely book by 93 year old Thomas Sowell
- By Wayne on 09-27-23
By: Thomas Sowell
-
Elon Musk
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Walter Isaacson
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
-
-
megalomania on display
- By JP on 09-12-23
By: Walter Isaacson
-
The People's Justice
- Clarence Thomas and the Constitutional Stories That Define Him
- By: Amul Thapar
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No Supreme Court justice has come from humbler circumstances than Clarence Thomas, yet critics denounce him as the "cruelest justice," a heartless traitor to his race who cynically sacrifices justice to ideology. In this provocative new book, Judge Amul Thapar demolishes that caricature. Exploring the human stories behind twelve illustrative cases on which Justice Thomas has ruled, he demonstrates the coherence of Thomas’s judicial philosophy and the profound humanity on which it rests.
-
-
Compelling story of Justice Thomas’s Originalism and why it provides a sure foundation for American jurisprudence.
- By Samuel Greenwell on 12-30-23
By: Amul Thapar
-
Unwoke
- How to Defeat Cultural Marxism in America
- By: Ted Cruz
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a book both articulate and desperately needed, bestselling author Senator Ted Cruz provides a long overdue argument against the woke takeover of education, big business, the media, and Hollywood.
-
-
This is one of top listens
- By chas on 12-12-23
By: Ted Cruz
-
The Democrat Party Hates America
- By: Mark R. Levin
- Narrated by: Jeremy Lowell, Mark R. Levin
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In American Marxism, Mark Levin explained how Marxist ideology has invaded our society and culture. In doing so, he exposed the institutions, scholars, and activists leading the revolution. Now, he picks up where he left off: to hold responsible the true malefactors steering our country down the wrong path. Insightful and hard-hitting as ever, Levin proves that since its establishment, the Democrat Party has set out to rewrite history and destroy the foundation of freedom in America.
-
-
As always thank you Mr. Levin for your Insight.
- By Yukonwill on 09-24-23
By: Mark R. Levin
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Must-read Polemic
- By allison h eid on 10-17-23
-
Government Gangsters
- The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy
- By: Kash Pramod Patel
- Narrated by: Richard Cefalos
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sinister cabal of corrupt law enforcement personnel, intelligence agents, and military officials at the highest levels of government plotted to overthrow a president. Even after they failed, they continue to secretly pull the levers of power without any accountability to the American people. This isn’t the synopsis of a fictional spy thriller. This is what is actually happening in the United States government.
-
-
A Book Whose Time Has Come
- By 20eagle16 on 09-30-23
-
Democratic Justice
- Felix Frankfurter, the Supreme Court, and the Making of the Liberal Establishment
- By: Brad Snyder
- Narrated by: James Fouhey
- Length: 37 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The conventional wisdom about Felix Frankfurter―Harvard law professor and Supreme Court justice―is that he struggled to fill the seat once held by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Scholars have portrayed Frankfurter as a judicial failure, a liberal lawyer turned conservative justice, and the Warren Court’s principal villain. And yet none of these characterizations rings true.
-
-
Great book
- By Kenneth J. Laska on 02-18-23
By: Brad Snyder
-
The Essential Scalia
- On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law
- By: Antonin Scalia, Jeffrey S. Sutton - editor, Edward Whelan - editor, and others
- Narrated by: Christopher Scalia, Karen Commins, Jason Culp
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A justice on the United States Supreme Court for three decades, Antonin Scalia transformed the way that judges, lawyers, and citizens think about the law. The Essential Scalia presents Justice Scalia on his own terms, allowing listeners to understand the reasoning and insights that made him one of the most consequential jurists in American history. Known for his forceful intellect and remarkable wit, Scalia mastered the art of writing in a way that both educated and entertained.
-
-
Great read to introduce Scalia's thought
- By Walter J. Caywood on 10-22-20
By: Antonin Scalia, and others
-
Milton Friedman
- The Last Conservative
- By: Jennifer Burns
- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 18 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Milton Friedman was, alongside John Maynard Keynes, the most influential economist of the twentieth century. His work was instrumental in the turn toward free markets that defined the 1980s, and his full-throated defenses of capitalism and freedom resonated with audiences around the world. It’s no wonder the last decades of the twentieth century have been called “the Age of Friedman”—or that analysts have sought to hold him responsible for both the rising prosperity and the social ills of recent times. Historian Jennifer Burns tells Friedman’s extraordinary story with the nuance it deserves.
-
-
No mention of Thomas Sowell Phd
- By Charles on 12-26-23
By: Jennifer Burns
-
Supreme Ambition
- Brett Kavanaugh and the Conservative Takeover
- By: Ruth Marcus
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo, Ruth Marcus
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Kavanaugh drama unfolded so fast in the summer of 2018 it seemed to come out of nowhere. With the power of the #MeToo movement behind her, a terrified but composed Christine Blasey Ford walked into a Senate hearing room to accuse Kavanaugh of sexual assault. This unleashed unprecedented fury from a Supreme Court nominee who accused Democrats of a “calculated and orchestrated political hit”. But behind this showdown was a much bigger one.
-
-
Fair-Minded Analysis
- By Jean on 01-09-20
By: Ruth Marcus
-
America's Cultural Revolution
- How the Radical Left Conquered Everything
- By: Christopher F. Rufo
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1960s, Mao launched China’s Cultural Revolution. Cities grew overcrowded. Technocrats demanded progress from above. Anyone opposed was sent to be “re-educated.” China’s revolution was bloody, fast, and a failure, but what if America started a revolution at the same time, based on the same bad ideas, and it’s just been slower, calmer, and more effective?
-
-
Outstanding Analysis
- By Roman on 07-22-23
-
Nine Black Robes
- Inside the Supreme Court's Drive to the Right and Its Historic Consequences
- By: Joan Biskupic
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
CNN Senior Supreme Court Analyst Joan Biskupic provides an urgent and inside look at the history-making era in the Supreme Court during the Trump and post-Trump years, from its seismic shift to the Right to its controversial decisions, including its reversal of Roe v. Wade, based on access to all the key players.
-
-
Another 3 star effort from Biskupic
- By Richard Spitaleri Jr. on 04-16-23
By: Joan Biskupic
-
The Courage to Be Free
- Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival
- By: Ron DeSantis
- Narrated by: Ron DeSantis, John Pruden
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A firsthand account from the blue-collar boy who grew up to take on Disney and Dr. Fauci, The Courage to Be Free delivers something rare from an elected leader: stories of victory. This book is a winning blueprint for patriots across the country. And it is a rallying cry for every American who wishes to preserve our liberties.
-
-
Informative and well-written, but slightly disappointing
- By Dash Dalrymple on 03-20-23
By: Ron DeSantis
-
Never Give an Inch
- Fighting for the America I Love
- By: Mike Pompeo
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 19 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Complete with a road map of the trends and players shaping the world today, Never Give an Inch is more than a historical review of the Trump Administration's greatest victories. It is essential listening for anyone who wants to understand the challenges of the future. And it is an inspirational story of leadership through dangerous times that will leave you with a greater appreciation for America.
-
-
A really great book
- By John A. on 01-24-23
By: Mike Pompeo
-
Midnight in Washington
- How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could
- By: Adam Schiff
- Narrated by: Adam Schiff
- Length: 18 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the years leading up to the election of Donald Trump, Congressman Adam Schiff had already been sounding the alarm over the resurgence of autocracy around the world, and the threat this posed to the United States. But as he led the probe into Donald Trump’s abuses of presidential power, Schiff came to the terrible conclusion that the principal threat to American democracy now came from within. In Midnight in Washington, Schiff argues that the Trump presidency has so weakened our institutions and compromised the Republican Party that the peril will last for years.
-
-
Not what I expected
- By Lynn on 10-18-21
By: Adam Schiff
What listeners say about Scalia
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tbaley
- 03-09-24
A Life Well Lived
Finally, a truthful, unbiased biography of a great jurist. Previous authors demonstrated they each had a hidden agenda in their biographies, leaving things out, partial presentations, and outright untruths.
I am eagerly awaiting volume two.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 11-27-23
Enlightening
Well written and comprehensive. Fair, delightful, intriguing. I've listened to it twice!
Scalia guided and changed this nation for the best. A true North Star. Rosen is on point!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Reccomend
Great review of recent history of Supreme Court. S<. ilea was an amazing American. Wish we had more like him. The reader was especially gifted.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Charles
- 03-19-23
And Ruth Bader Ginsburg
I’m looking forward to volume II. I suspect it will have how judge Scalia and Judge Ginsberg continue to get along. Well, I think it is sad, that politics intervened, even for President Reagan. He should’ve chosen judge Scalia to be the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Gerald Taylor
- 06-10-23
Loved Scalia
This was a great read. At 74 almost every historical event that was discussed I had some familiarity with, which made the book ever more special to me. A must read for everyone regardless of age.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- K. Wells
- 02-07-24
An enjoyable audiobook
Enjoyable hearing about Scalia from start to Bench. Some of the anecdotes were pretty funny while others disconcerting. Over all good book and very informative.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- S. Cremona
- 03-29-23
Outstanding Book about an Outstanding American
“Scalia A Rise to Greatness” is an outstanding book about an outstanding American! Experienced as an Audio Book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sarah Spencer
- 04-26-23
Great biography!
James Rosen did a superb job of bringing the life of Justice Scalia to those who only knew of him from a distance during his time on the Supreme Court. There’s so much more to the man and his story, and this book makes it accessible to all.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MMinSouthernCA
- 09-16-23
Fascinating!
I loved this book! Deeply researched and retold with detailed care. An amazing tribute to the most incredible legal mind of our time. This book is truly a gift to American history.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- C. Zanot
- 09-30-23
Good but not great
This was a good biography. It could have been great if the author stopped idolizing Scalia. It would also be 10% shorter if he stopped criticizing other Scalia biographers.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!