HearingBooks

During his two terms as the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan kept a daily diary in which he recorded, by hand, his innermost thoughts and observations on the extraordinary, the historic, and the routine day-to-day occurrences of his presidency. Now, nearly two decades after he left office, this remarkable record, the only daily presidential diary in American history, is available for the first time.

Edited by historian Douglas Brinkley, The Reagan Diaries provides a striking insight into one of this nation’s most important presidencies and sheds new light on the character of a true American leader. Whether he was in his White House residence study or aboard Air Force One, each night Reagan wrote about the events of his day, which often included his relationships with other world leaders and the unforgettable moments that defined the era.

Seldom before has the American public been given access to the unfiltered experiences and opinions of a president in his own words. To read these diaries, filled with Reagan’s trademark wit, sharp intelligence, and humor, is to gain a unique understanding of one of the most beloved occupants of the Oval Office in our nation’s history.

Tags: the reagan diaries: extended selections, ronald reagan, bios & memoirs, history, reagan administration, journal, ronald reagan

Michael Beschloss’ dramatic and inspiring saga explores crucial times when courageous presidents changed the history of the United States. With surprising new sources and a dazzling command of history and human character, Beschloss brings these flawed, complex men and their wives, families, friends, and foes to life as if in a gripping novel. Never have we had a more intimate, behind-the-scenes view of presidents coping with the supreme dilemmas of their lives.

In Presidential Courage you will witness George Washington braving threats of impeachment and assassination to make peace with England; John Adams, incurring his party’s “unrelenting hatred” by refusing to fight France and warning, “Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war”; Andrew Jackson, in a death struggle against the corrupt Bank of the United States; Abraham Lincoln, risking his presidency to insist that slaves be freed; and the crushing ordeals faced by Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan.

As Beschloss shows, none of these presidents was eager to incur ridicule, vilification, or threats of political destruction and even assassination. But in the end, each ultimately proved himself to be, in Andrew Jackson’s words, “born for the storm”.

Tags: presidential courage: brave leaders and how they changed america 1789-1989, michael beschloss, bios & memoirs, history, presidents, dilemmas, america, theodore roosevelt, franklin roosevelt, harry truman, john f. kennedy, ronald reagan, abraham lincoln, andrew jackson

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"American Theocracy" by Kevin Phillips Length: 17 hours and 51 min. ISBN: 0-14-305844-4 New York Times Best Seller Listen to an excerpt with:     Windows Media Player     Real Player

In his two most recent New York Times best-selling books, American Dynasty and Wealth and Democracy, Kevin Phillips established himself as a powerful critic of the political and economic forces that are ruling, and imperiling, the United States. Now, Phillips takes an uncompromising view of the political coalition, led by radical religion, that is driving America to the brink of disaster.

From Ancient Rome to the British Empire, Phillips demonstrates that every world-dominating power has been brought down by a related set of causes: a lethal combination of global over-reach, militant religion, resource problems, and ballooning debt. It is this same axis of ills that has come to define America’s political and economic identity in the past decade. Military miscalculations in the Middle East, the surge of fundamentalist religion, the staggering national debt, the costs of U.S. oil dependence, together these factors are undermining our nation’s security, solvency, and standing in the world. If left unchecked, the same forces will bring a debt-bloated, preachy, energy-starved America to its knees. With an eye on the past and a searing vision of the future, Phillips has written a book that no American can afford to ignore.

Tags: american theocracy, kevin phillips, history, nonfiction, national debt, superpower, united states, neoconservatives, religious right, economy, oil, the peril and politics of radical religion, oil, and borrowed money in the 21st century

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"Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination" by Neal Gabler Length: 10 hours and 10 min. ISBN: 0-7393-4029-8 New York Times Best Seller Listen to an excerpt with:     Windows Media Player     Real Player

Seven years in the making and meticulously researched - Gabler is the first writer to be given complete access to the Disney archives - this is the full story of a man whose work left an ineradicable brand on our culture but whose life has largely been enshrouded in myth.

Gabler shows us the young Walt Disney breaking free of a heartland childhood of discipline and deprivation and making his way to Hollywood. We see the visionary, whose desire for escape honed an innate sense of what people wanted to see on the screen and, when combined with iron determination and obsessive perfectionism, led him to the reinvention of animation. It was Disney, first with Mickey Mouse and then with his feature films - most notably Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi - who transformed animation from a novelty based on movement to an art form that presented an illusion of life.

The author also reveals a wounded, lonely, and often disappointed man, who, despite worldwide success, was plagued with financial problems, suffered a nervous breakdown, and at times retreated into pitiable seclusion in his workshop, making model trains. Gabler explores accusations that Disney was a red-baiter, an anti-Semite, and an embittered alcoholic. Yet whatever his personal failings, Disney appealed to millions by demonstrating the power of wish fulfillment and the triumph of the American imagination.

Tags: walt disney: the triumph of the american imagination, neal gabler, arts & entertainment, bios & memoirs, history, disney world, disneyworld disneyland, disney empire, mickey mouse, snow white, pinocchio, fantasia, dumbo, bambi, animation

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"Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West" by Hampton Sides Length: 20 hours and 55 min. ISBN: 0-5537-5681-8 New York Times Best Seller Listen to an excerpt with:     Windows Media Player     Real Player

In the fall of 1846, the venerable Navajo warrior Narbona, greatest of his people’s chieftains, looked down upon the small town of Santa Fe, the stronghold of the Mexican settlers he had been fighting his whole long life. He had come to see if the rumors were true, if an army of blue-suited soldiers had swept in from the East and utterly defeated his ancestral enemies. As Narbona gazed down on the battlements and cannons of a mighty fort the invaders had built, he realized his foes had been vanquished. But what did the arrival of these “new men” portend for the Navajo?

Narbona could not have known that “The Army of the West”, in the midst of the longest march in American military history, was merely the vanguard of an inexorable tide fueled by a self-righteous ideology now known as “Manifest Destiny”. For 20 years the Navajo, elusive lords of a huge swath of mountainous desert and pasturelands, would ferociously resist the flood of soldiers and settlers who wished to change their ancient way of life - or destroy them.

Tags: blood and thunder: an epic of the american west, hampton sides, history, navajo, santa fe, manifest destiny, indians, narbona, mexicans, mexican war, canyon de chelly, invaders, cavalry, army of the west, manifest destiny, soldiers, settlers, 1800s, 1840s, 1850s, 1860s, 19th century, east, west, american west, southwest, frontier, kit carson, federal troops