Being Nixon: A Man Divided
Written by Evan Thomas
Narrated by Bob Walter
4.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
"A biography of eloquence and breadth . . . No single volume about Nixon's long and interesting life could be so comprehensive."-Chicago Tribune
One of Time's Top 10 Nonfiction Books of the Year
In this revelatory biography, Evan Thomas delivers a radical, unique portrait of America's thirty-seventh president, Richard Nixon, a contradictory figure who was both determinedly optimistic and tragically flawed. One of the principal architects of the modern Republican Party and its "silent majority" of disaffected whites and conservative ex-Dixiecrats, Nixon was also deemed a liberal in some quarters for his efforts to desegregate Southern schools, create the Environmental Protection Agency, and end the draft.
The son of devout Quakers, Richard Nixon (not unlike his rival John F. Kennedy) grew up in the shadow of an older, favored brother and thrived on conflict and opposition. Through high school and college, in the navy and in politics, Nixon was constantly leading crusades and fighting off enemies real and imagined. He possessed the plainspoken eloquence to reduce American television audiences to tears with his career-saving "Checkers" speech; meanwhile, Nixon's darker half hatched schemes designed to take down his political foes, earning him the notorious nickname "Tricky Dick." Drawing on a wide range of historical accounts, Thomas's biography reveals the contradictions of a leader whose vision and foresight led him to achieve détente with the Soviet Union and reestablish relations with communist China, but whose underhanded political tactics tainted his reputation long before the Watergate scandal.
A deeply insightful character study as well as a brilliant political biography, Being Nixon offers a surprising look at a man capable of great bravery and extraordinary deviousness-a balanced portrait of a president too often reduced to caricature.
Praise for Being Nixon
"A biography of eloquence and breadth . . . No single volume about Nixon's long and interesting life could be so comprehensive."-Chicago Tribune
"Terrifically engaging . . . a fair, insightful and highly entertaining portrait."-The Wall Street Journal
"Thomas has a fine eye for the telling quote and the funny vignette, and his style is eminently readable."-The New York Times Book Review
"Thomas proves an amiable and fair-minded tour guide."-The Boston Globe
"A measured, concise, and important American biography."-Michael Beschloss, author of Presidential Courage
Evan Thomas
Evan Thomas is the author of ten books, including the New York Times bestsellers JOHN PAUL JONES, SEA OF THUNDER, and FIRST: SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR. Thomas was a writer, correspondent, and editor for thirty-three years at Time and Newsweek, including ten years as Newsweek’s Washington bureau chief. He appears regularly on many TV and radio talk shows. Thomas has taught at Harvard and Princeton.
More audiobooks from Evan Thomas
John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sea of Thunder: Four Commanders and the Last Great Naval Campaign 1941-1945 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Being Nixon
Related audiobooks
Turning Points: Crisis and Change in Modern Britain, from 1945 to Truss Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsQuotations From Chairman Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnwritten History Lincoln A Dark & Dangerous Vision: Learning From Renegade Scholar Lerone Bennett Jr. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Soviet Sixties Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ulysses S. Grant: The American Presidents Series: The 18th President, 1869-1877 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Richard Nixon: California's Native Son Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5William McKinley: The American Presidents Series: The 25th President, 1897-1901 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5China's World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ever-Changing Past: Why All History is Revisionist History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Controversial Monuments: The Fight over Statues and Symbols Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen the Red Gates Opened: A Memoir of China's Reawakening Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Presidents and the Pastime: The History of Baseball and the White House Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Brahmin: Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and the Making of the Cold War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYear of the Hawk: America's Descent into Vietnam, 1965 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Nation So Conceived: Abraham Lincoln and the Paradox of Democratic Sovereignty Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOpening the Red Door: The Inside Story of Russia's First Christian Liberal Arts University Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nixon-Gleason Alien Encounter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's Capital Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Prisoners of History: What Monuments to World War II Tell Us About Our History and Ourselves Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Presidency of George W. Bush Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFailures of the Presidents: From the Whiskey Rebellion and War of 1812 to the Bay of Pigs and War in Iraq Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerica: The Last Best Hope (Volume I): From the Age of Discovery to a World at War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Campaign of the Century: Kennedy, Nixon, and the Election of 1960 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Boxing Kings: When American Heavyweights Ruled the Ring Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Man on Mao's Right: From Harvard Yard to Tiananmen Square, My Life Inside China's Foreign Ministry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Do We Get Out of Here: Half a Century of Laughter and Mayhem at The American Spectator From Bobby Kennedy to Donald J. Trump Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
United States History For You
Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: 2nd Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untold History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wright Brothers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Letter from Birmingham Jail Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Land of Delusion: Out on the edge with the crackpots and conspiracy-mongers remaking our shared reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragonfire: Four Days That (Almost) Changed America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis Thomas Jefferson And The Opening Of The American West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here—and Out There Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Being Nixon
2 ratings0 reviews