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Grant
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 48 hrs and 2 mins
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Washington
- A Life
- Written by: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 41 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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In Washington: A Life celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation. This crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his troubled boyhood, his precocious feats in the French and Indian War, his creation of Mount Vernon, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president.
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George Washington
- By Carole Morey on 2018-09-14
Written by: Ron Chernow
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The House of Morgan
- An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance
- Written by: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 34 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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A gripping history of banking and the booms and busts that shaped the world on both sides of the Atlantic, The House of Morgan traces the trajectory of the J. P.Morgan empire from its obscure beginnings in Victorian London to the crash of 1987. Ron Chernow paints a fascinating portrait of the private saga of the Morgans and the rarefied world of the American and British elite in which they moved. Based on extensive interviews and access to the family and business archives, The House of Morgan is an investigative masterpiece.
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legendary book does not disappoint
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-03-28
Written by: Ron Chernow
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Truman
- Written by: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 54 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Hailed by critics as an American masterpiece, David McCullough's sweeping biography of Harry S. Truman captured the heart of the nation. The life and times of the 33rd president of the United States, Truman provides a deeply moving look at an extraordinary, singular American.
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Learned a lot about this great president
- By Mikespoon on 2017-11-22
Written by: David McCullough
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The Bully Pulpit
- Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism
- Written by: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 36 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Goodwin describes the broken friendship between Teddy Roosevelt and his chosen successor, William Howard Taft. With the help of the "muckraking" press, Roosevelt had wielded the Bully Pulpit to challenge and triumph over abusive monopolies, political bosses, and corrupting money brokers. Roosevelt led a revolution that he bequeathed to Taft only to see it compromised as Taft surrendered to money men and big business. The rupture led Roosevelt to run against Taft for president, an ultimately futile race that gave power away to the Democrats.
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Terrific
- By Wayne Bissky on 2023-02-13
Written by: Doris Kearns Goodwin
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Alexander Hamilton
- Written by: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 35 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Historians have long told the story of America’s birth as the triumph of Jefferson’s democratic ideals over the aristocratic intentions of Hamilton. Chernow presents an entirely different man, whose legendary ambitions were motivated not merely by self-interest but by passionate patriotism and a stubborn will to build the foundations of American prosperity and power.
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Great story, amazing person, well narrated
- By Anonymous User on 2019-09-27
Written by: Ron Chernow
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Team of Rivals
- The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
- Written by: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 41 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago. When Lincoln emerged as the victor, his rivals were dismayed and angry. Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each had energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war.
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A great book
- By Peter on 2021-03-11
Written by: Doris Kearns Goodwin
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Washington
- A Life
- Written by: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 41 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Washington: A Life celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation. This crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his troubled boyhood, his precocious feats in the French and Indian War, his creation of Mount Vernon, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president.
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George Washington
- By Carole Morey on 2018-09-14
Written by: Ron Chernow
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The House of Morgan
- An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance
- Written by: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 34 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A gripping history of banking and the booms and busts that shaped the world on both sides of the Atlantic, The House of Morgan traces the trajectory of the J. P.Morgan empire from its obscure beginnings in Victorian London to the crash of 1987. Ron Chernow paints a fascinating portrait of the private saga of the Morgans and the rarefied world of the American and British elite in which they moved. Based on extensive interviews and access to the family and business archives, The House of Morgan is an investigative masterpiece.
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legendary book does not disappoint
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-03-28
Written by: Ron Chernow
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Truman
- Written by: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 54 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Hailed by critics as an American masterpiece, David McCullough's sweeping biography of Harry S. Truman captured the heart of the nation. The life and times of the 33rd president of the United States, Truman provides a deeply moving look at an extraordinary, singular American.
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Learned a lot about this great president
- By Mikespoon on 2017-11-22
Written by: David McCullough
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The Bully Pulpit
- Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism
- Written by: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 36 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Goodwin describes the broken friendship between Teddy Roosevelt and his chosen successor, William Howard Taft. With the help of the "muckraking" press, Roosevelt had wielded the Bully Pulpit to challenge and triumph over abusive monopolies, political bosses, and corrupting money brokers. Roosevelt led a revolution that he bequeathed to Taft only to see it compromised as Taft surrendered to money men and big business. The rupture led Roosevelt to run against Taft for president, an ultimately futile race that gave power away to the Democrats.
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Terrific
- By Wayne Bissky on 2023-02-13
Written by: Doris Kearns Goodwin
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Alexander Hamilton
- Written by: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 35 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Historians have long told the story of America’s birth as the triumph of Jefferson’s democratic ideals over the aristocratic intentions of Hamilton. Chernow presents an entirely different man, whose legendary ambitions were motivated not merely by self-interest but by passionate patriotism and a stubborn will to build the foundations of American prosperity and power.
-
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Great story, amazing person, well narrated
- By Anonymous User on 2019-09-27
Written by: Ron Chernow
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Team of Rivals
- The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
- Written by: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 41 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago. When Lincoln emerged as the victor, his rivals were dismayed and angry. Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each had energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war.
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A great book
- By Peter on 2021-03-11
Written by: Doris Kearns Goodwin
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Andrew Jackson
- His Life and Times
- Written by: H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 25 hrs and 57 mins
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The most famous American of his time, Andrew Jackson is a seminal figure in American history. The first "common man" to rise to the presidency, Jackson embodied the spirit and the vision of the emerging American nation; the term "Jacksonian democracy" is embedded in our national lexicon. With the sweep, passion, and attention to detail that made The First American a Pulitzer Prize finalist, historian H.W. Brands shapes a historical narrative that's as fast-paced and compelling as the best fiction.
Written by: H.W. Brands
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Lincoln
- Written by: David Herbert Donald
- Narrated by: Dick Estell
- Length: 30 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In the best-selling tradition of Truman, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer David Herbert Donald offers a new classic in American history and biography - a masterly account of how one man's extraordinary political acumen steered the Union to victory in the Civil War, and of how his soaring rhetoric gave meaning to that agonizing struggle for nationhood and equality.
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Save your money
- By Anonymous User on 2022-09-08
Written by: David Herbert Donald
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Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
- Written by: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann, Jon Meacham
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In this magnificent biography, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Lion and Franklin and Winston brings vividly to life an extraordinary man and his remarkable times. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power gives us Jefferson the politician and president, a great and complex human being forever engaged in the wars of his era.
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Thomas Jefferson
- By Carole Morey on 2018-09-14
Written by: Jon Meacham
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The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
- Written by: Edmund Morris
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 26 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time. Described by the Chicago Tribune as "a classic", The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt stands as one of the greatest biographies of our time. The publication of The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt on September 14th, 2001 marks the 100th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt becoming president.
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Very nice listen
- By Robert on 2019-08-17
Written by: Edmund Morris
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Napoleon the Great
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- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
- Length: 37 hrs and 23 mins
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Napoleon Bonaparte lived one of the most extraordinary of all human lives. In the space of just 20 years, from October 1795, when as a young artillery captain he cleared the streets of Paris of insurrectionists, to his final defeat at the (horribly mismanaged) battle of Waterloo in June 1815, Napoleon transformed France and Europe. After seizing power in a coup d'état, he ended the corruption and incompetence into which the revolution had descended.
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Bad pronunciations
- By Amazon User on 2018-06-23
Written by: Andrew Roberts
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And There Was Light
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Hated and hailed, excoriated and revered, Abraham Lincoln was at the pinnacle of American power when secessionists gave no quarter in a clash of visions bound up with money, race, identity, and faith. In him we can see the possibilities of the presidency as well as its limitations. This book tells the story of Lincoln from his birth on the Kentucky frontier to his leadership during the Civil War to his tragic assassination: his rise, his self-education, his loves, his bouts of depression, his political failures, his deepening faith, and his persistent conviction that slavery must end.
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Swimming in Genius
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1776
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- Narrated by: David McCullough
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In this stirring audiobook, David McCullough tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence, when the whole American cause was riding on their success, without which all hope for independence would have been dashed and the noble ideals of the Declaration would have amounted to little more than words on paper.
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Great Writer. Great Book!
- By Anonymous User on 2022-01-09
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No Ordinary Time
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Presenting an aspect of American history that has never been fully told, Doris Kearns Goodwin describes how the isolationist and divided United States of 1940 was unified under the extraordinary leadership of Franklin Roosevelt to become, only five years later, the preeminent economic and military power in the world. Using diaries, interviews, and White House records, Goodwin paints an intimate, detailed portrait not only of the presidency during wartime but also of Franklin and Eleanor themselves.
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A good listen.
- By Amazon Customer on 2022-07-18
Written by: Doris Kearns Goodwin
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A World Undone
- The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918
- Written by: G. J. Meyer
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
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On a summer day in 1914, a nineteen-year-old Serbian nationalist gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. While the world slumbered, monumental forces were shaken. In less than a month, a combination of ambition, deceit, fear, jealousy, missed opportunities, and miscalculation sent Austro-Hungarian troops marching into Serbia, German troops streaming toward Paris, and a vast Russian army into war, with England as its ally. As crowds cheered their armies on, no one could guess what lay ahead in the First World War.
Written by: G. J. Meyer
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Churchill
- Walking with Destiny
- Written by: Andrew Roberts
- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
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There have been over a thousand previous biographies of Churchill. Andrew Roberts now draws on over 40 new sources, including the private diaries of King George VI, used in no previous Churchill biography, to depict him more intimately and persuasively than any of its predecessors.
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Not just another Churchill Biography.
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Empire
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- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 15 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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The British Empire was the largest in all history: the nearest thing to global domination ever achieved. The world we know today is in large measure the product of Britain's age of empire. The global spread of capitalism, telecommunications, the English language, and the institutions of representative government - all these can be traced back to the extraordinary expansion of Britain's economy, population, and culture from the 17th century until the mid-20th. On a vast and vividly colored canvas, Empire shows how the British Empire acted as midwife to modernity.
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great education on British colonialism
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Hero of Two Worlds
- The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution
- Written by: Mike Duncan
- Narrated by: Mike Duncan
- Length: 17 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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The Real World Baron Munchausen
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Publisher's Summary
The #1 New York Times bestseller and New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2017
“Eminently readable but thick with import . . . Grant hits like a Mack truck of knowledge.”—Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic
Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Chernow returns with a sweeping and dramatic portrait of one of our most compelling generals and presidents, Ulysses S. Grant.
Ulysses S. Grant's life has typically been misunderstood. All too often he is caricatured as a chronic loser and an inept businessman, or as the triumphant but brutal Union general of the Civil War. But these stereotypes don't come close to capturing him, as Chernow shows in his masterful biography, the first to provide a complete understanding of the general and president whose fortunes rose and fell with dizzying speed and frequency.
Before the Civil War, Grant was flailing. His business ventures had ended dismally, and despite distinguished service in the Mexican War he ended up resigning from the army in disgrace amid recurring accusations of drunkenness. But in war, Grant began to realize his remarkable potential, soaring through the ranks of the Union army, prevailing at the battle of Shiloh and in the Vicksburg campaign, and ultimately defeating the legendary Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Along the way, Grant endeared himself to President Lincoln and became his most trusted general and the strategic genius of the war effort. Grant’s military fame translated into a two-term presidency, but one plagued by corruption scandals involving his closest staff members.
More important, he sought freedom and justice for black Americans, working to crush the Ku Klux Klan and earning the admiration of Frederick Douglass, who called him “the vigilant, firm, impartial, and wise protector of my race.” After his presidency, he was again brought low by a dashing young swindler on Wall Street, only to resuscitate his image by working with Mark Twain to publish his memoirs, which are recognized as a masterpiece of the genre.
With lucidity, breadth, and meticulousness, Chernow finds the threads that bind these disparate stories together, shedding new light on the man whom Walt Whitman described as “nothing heroic... and yet the greatest hero.” Chernow’s probing portrait of Grant's lifelong struggle with alcoholism transforms our understanding of the man at the deepest level. This is America's greatest biographer, bringing movingly to life one of our finest but most underappreciated presidents. The definitive biography, Grant is a grand synthesis of painstaking research and literary brilliance that makes sense of all sides of Grant's life, explaining how this simple Midwesterner could at once be so ordinary and so extraordinary.
Named one of the best books of the year by Goodreads • Amazon • The New York Times • Newsday • BookPage • Barnes and Noble • Wall Street Journal
What the critics say
“This is a good time for Ron Chernow’s fine biography of Ulysses S. Grant to appear . . . As history, it is remarkable, full of fascinating details sure to make it interesting both to those with the most cursory knowledge of Grant’s life and to those who have read his memoirs or any of several previous biographies . . . For all its scholarly and literary strengths, this book’s greatest service is to remind us of Grant’s significant achievements at the end of the war and after, which have too long been overlooked and are too important today to be left in the dark . . . As Americans continue the struggle to defend justice and equality in our tumultuous and divisive era, we need to know what Grant did when our country’s very existence hung in the balance. If we still believe in forming a more perfect union, his steady and courageous example is more valuable than ever.”—Bill Clinton, New York Times Book Review
“Grant is vast and panoramic in ways that history buffs will love. Books of its caliber by writers of Chernow’s stature are rare, and this one qualifies as a major event . . . . Chernow is clearly out to find undiscovered nobility in his story, and he succeeds; he also finds uncannily prescient tragedy. There are ways in which Grant’s times eerily resemble our own . . . Indispensable.”—The New York Times
“Chernow tells all this rapidly and well; his talent is suited to Grant’s story . . . He is extraordinarily good on what could be called, unpejoratively, the Higher Gossip of History—he can uncannily detect the actual meaning beneath social interactions . . . Fluent and intelligent.”—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker
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What listeners say about Grant
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 2019-11-23
A thoroughly moving story
Grant tells the story of a singular personality. His life is the embodiment of overcoming despite nearly impossible challenges. If you are not inspired and moved by this triumph of America’s greatest underdog, you are past feeling.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Basudeb Biswas
- 2019-10-07
Inspiring, Beautiful, Tragic, Enlightening
Perhaps the world’s most underrated general. The allegorical story of U.S. Grant is the story of the egalitarian American. Quite possibly the most underrated U.S. President.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Stewart Walter Cattroll
- 2019-09-04
A triumph
Grant may even surpass Chernow's previous epic on Rockefeller as my favourite biography. It is a tour de force that has completely changed my understanding of one of America's greatest figures. Chernow's masterpiece will no doubt ensure that President Grant is restored to his rightful place amongst America's foremost presidents.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Maria szeleczki
- 2023-06-26
Interesting, educational, good to know facts...
I loved the narrator, he made it more interesting. The author painted an accurate picture of the political shenanigans of the time...not much changed since...
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- Amazon Customer
- 2023-01-21
Inspiring
What a great man! I very much enjoyed the writing and performance. Worth every minute.
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- Matthew Hansinger
- 2023-01-06
10/10
The narration was excellent the book was mesmerizing. I felt like I rode along with Grant through his early years, the war, his presidency, and afterwards. Grant was genuinely a good and decent man, and rightly deserves his place in history. 10/10
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- Marge Gunderson
- 2023-01-02
Fantastic!
This is a l-o-n-g audio book but so intense and interesting! I learned so much about US Grant, both his shortcomings and triumphs!
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- Dan Brooks
- 2022-01-24
what a story, what a life, what a book
it's hard to imagine a better job of telling a life story in it's original and unique time and place, making it timeless and universal, and so current, all at the same time. a truly epic story, well written and well read. with it's length and production quality, it was at 50 hours (at 1.8 x production speed) my favourite "podcast" of the plague year 2021.
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- Joy Brant
- 2021-12-19
Interesting and listening pleasure.
I totally enjoyed getting to know President Grant through this book. Amazing writing and narrative.
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- David Knox
- 2021-03-27
A long and moving reveal of the life of US Grant
A remarkable historical biography. In a steadily building, clear and well balanced story, Grants humanity is revealed. Inviting, gentle prose reflects and honors this remarkable story and man. A masterpiece
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- Amazon Customer
- 2017-10-25
Excellent Book (BUT WHERE IS THE PDF FILES)????
I really enjoyed this book. The only thing that would make this book better would be the PDF file like some of the other books. Second book, I have bought without a PDF lately. Please give us readers PDF files to see maps, and other important information such as dates and names spelling etc.
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318 people found this helpful
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- Amanda 📚
- 2017-10-18
Ron Chernow should be writing for our schools
I want to first give the Narrator, Mark Bramhall, much credit. He did such a great job creating voices for all characters - it made it super easy for me to follow along (at work...shh...don't tell anyone...) & very enjoyable (I am not a major 'books on tape' fan - I like to hold an actual book). I found myself searching all books he narrated and purchasing them.
Ron Chernow did such an amazing detailed job in the life of Grant - that I feel like I know him. There are so many small accounts noted in his life, that it makes you like him & respect him even more. I appreciate the first 6 hours into it talking more in depth of his life, his family, his in-laws, how he felt, etc. I wanted to 'know' Grant more than the Civil War General and President.
During my recent trip to DC, Virginia & Gettysburg = I was told many personal stories (and seen the artifacts) by the staff at each destination of many persons in regards to this war. My mouth was open most of this trip due to all the details I was learning about everything and everyone - I was shocked. I was obsessed with the Civil War, WWII and Vietnam in school and thought I knew much....Nope! This book is the sort of thing I believe we all need to learn in History classes. It brings that time era, the circumstances, and one man's journey thru this all to life.
I truly hope he writes a book on Robert E. Lee next
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85 people found this helpful
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- Darwin8u
- 2018-02-11
Raise a glass to Grant
"When did [Grant] ever turn back? He was not that sort; he could no more turn back than time!"
- Walt Whitman, quoted in Ron Chernow, Grant
Ron Chernow delights in writing about complicated American Icons and money men. It might seem odd that Chernow would chose Grant after writing about Washinton, Hamilton, John D. Rockefeller, the Morgans and the Warburgs, but Chernow also loves rehabilitative writing. Just look at what his biography of Hamilton did (helped out mightily by Lin-Manuel Miranda). Grant is a great subject to write about. He is a complicated man, with an interesting story, surrounded by a slew of fascinating characters. Chernow is also one of my favorite US biographers. He isn't quite as high up the biographer Olympus as Caro (who is really?), but is consistently better IMHO than McCullough, Meacham, and Ellis (among the Costco-selling blockbuster biographers). Perhaps, the proper place for Chernow is next to Doris Kearns Goodwin, David Herbert Donald, and Edmund Morris.
This year has seen two massive Grant biographies. I'm planning on reading Ronald C. White's 864 page biography sometime in the last 1/3 of 2018. This summer, I will also attempt to read Grant's own Memoirs this summer. So, I might have to come back and revise my review after reading White and Grant. For now, let me just say that Grant should probably be viewed as a great American (top 10), and mediocre president (25-30). It is, however, difficult to imagine any president emerging out of the post Civil War/Reconstruction/Johnson years with any huge levels of success. The hostilities of the South to Reconstruction, and black engagement in the economic and political spheres practically divided the nation again, post Civil War. Northern Republicans also seemed exhauted by the horrors of Reconstruction, and largely abandoned blacks. But Grant, despite his failings in many spheres, bravely fought for the legal and voting rights of the newly freed slaves longer than almost any of his peers during that time would have. But Grant was complicated. His blind trust and reliance on old friends, and lack of experience in politics and business, bit him hard and lead to several large scandals during both terms and after his presidency.
Chernow avoids turning this book into a hagiography, but only just. Clearly Chernow thinks Grant's reputation gets hammered too hard for his scandals and drinking and not enough time is spent on his successes (foreign policy, fighting the KKK, etc). My other mild criticism of Chernow, besides a clear resurrectionist bent, is skimming quickly over the financial and economic implications related to the gold standard debate (see Mehrsa Bahadaran's review) and subsequent Long Depression of 1873–79. I find it fascinating that a writer (Chernow) with a background in heavy in financial writing and thinking (he was once the director of financial policy studies with the Twentieth Century Fund), tends to bore easily with the major financial issues of Grant's tenure.
But overall, I loved the book. I loved the sections on Reconstruction and was surprised to learn details about Longstreet, Lee, and Sherman that I didn't know before. I was happy to devote a week to reading it.
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- Fountain of Chris
- 2017-10-15
Magnificent Chernow
I have now listened to the last three biographies by Ron Chernow, and he has cemented his place as my favorite biographer, in both style and substance. Grant was, admittedly, a bit lower on my list of biographies to get to...until I found out Chernow had one coming out. I raced through it in 5 days of listening at 2-2.5x and urge all lovers of comprehensive biographies to consider this book. Partially due to the subjects, expect it to more closely relate to Washington: A Life, than to Hamilton.
The narrator does a very good job, my only complaint being that I don't like accents performed during quotes of non-fiction books. He was very clear through 2.5x
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- Cliff
- 2017-10-18
I had no idea!
Wow! I had no idea that U. S. Grant was this important to civil rights let alone U.S. history! This was an amazing listen, and I can't recommend it strongly enough.
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- Derek
- 2017-10-15
The Ultimate Grant Biography by the Ultimate Biographer - Chernow’s Best Yet!
I thought I knew about U.S. Grant before reading this biography and I was wrong! The arch of Grant’s life story is well known, but there are many gaps in other biographies. Ron Chernow masterfully fills in the missing details from many sources to create a rich story that captures the human side of a man referred to by both his friends and enemies as a sphinx. This is his best biography yet!
I walked away feeling as if I personally knew Grant, his challenges, decisions, successes and failures. I feel a new respect and admiration for his courage and quest to do what is right. The author emphasizes the General’s good faith efforts to help the downtrodden that are so often overlooked. He was victorious in many battles, but his honorable approach to freed slaves, Native Americans and people in distress make him worthy of being called a hero. Grant is truly the most misunderstood president!
The narration is solid despite the fact that a lot of things can go awry in 50 hours. I get irritated when narrators botch names and places as it messes up the flow of the story. I was impressed that Mark Bramhall was able to get the pronunciations correct unlike the majority of narrators of Civil War titles on Audible.
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- Lucky Lucas
- 2017-11-11
AWESOME BIOGRAPHY!
I thoroughly enjoyed all 1,047 pages and wished there were more. What a labor of love by Mr Chernow. His voluminous research included newspaper clippings, diaries from various people including Julia Grant, journals, war correspondence and actual quotes from Grant's friends, Union and Confederate soldiers, Congressional hearings, and former and future Presidents. I learned so much about this remarkable man, through his many miseries and joys, that I have a better understanding that his whole life was truly a trial.
Mr Mark Branhall's narration was spot on. He tirelessly read the story, with perfect inflections...To Me. Several times I felt myself in the room with Grant, his wife and children and his colleagues. I laughed and cried with them. I heard the cannons roaring on early mornings in Vicksburg. I felt the spring air as it drifted by Grant and myself as we walked to the White House.
This is definitely a book that you will live through. Please don't miss the experience.
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- Hill
- 2017-11-03
Bringing Grant to life.
I am not a military person but I often wondered why politicians and others think they know how to fight a war better than a trained military person. I also wondered why wars were always fought by tradition. Grant understood how to fight a war. It isn't pretty and there isn't really a half way to fight one. How a man can work and live in an environment of jealousy that Grant did for years is a true mark as to his personal metal.
The civil war started out being about one thing then grew into something much larger. From the start it was to stop the secession then it grew into emancipation of the slaves. That was a giant step for a lot of people north and south. Grant may have understood this and was able to handle it much better than most of the people including the ones who initiated it. What emancipation did to influence the work force and economy was a staggering issue that few had thought out. Grant may have had his finger on the issue from day one. The way he tried to incorporate the freed slaves into useful work was really a huge step in the emancipation process. He understood it wasn't enough to free the slaves but how are they going to survive without jobs or places to live.
The way Grant had to fight the politicians as well as the confederate army's would drive anyone to drink. The profiteers may have been the worse thing about the civil war. They wrecked the south for generations. The war fought between solders but the profiteers took advantage of the general population. Grant understood this and seemed to do his very level best to fight it.
I had always heard that Grant was a terrible president, really by whose standards? He was the only president to serve two full terms between Jackson and Wilson. That says something right there. They said his presidency was riddled with scandals. Ok which presidents isn't? I know we elect presidents all the time who seem be inept. After listening to Chernow's Grant I got the feeling that Grant's only real problem was that he trusted people and looked tor the good in them even when they took advantage of him at every turn.
Really a fine read every bit as good as Hamilton.
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- M. W.
- 2017-10-24
Tremendous biography of Grant
This is a very thorough, comprehensive, and balanced biography of Ulysses Grant. In my opinion, this is now the high bar against which all other biographies of Grant are to be measured.
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- darlys
- 2017-10-23
Ranks at the top of best biographies
I learned so much from this book. Impeccable research and writing. Superb, exquisite narration. Highly recommend!
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