Audiobook9 hours
This Country: My Life in Politics and History
Written by Chris Matthews
Narrated by Chris Matthews
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
A “quintessentially American” (Policy Magazine) memoir of politics and history from Chris Matthews, New York Times bestselling author and long-time host of MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews.
In This Country, Chris Matthews “has written a love letter to his country” (Joy Reid, host of The ReidOut and author of The Man Who Sold America), offering a panoramic portrait of post-World War II America through the story of his remarkable life and career. It is a story of risk and adventure, of self-reliance and service, of loyalty and friendship. It is a story driven by an abiding faith in our country.
Raised in a large Irish-Catholic family in Philadelphia at a time when kids hid under their desks in atomic war drills, Chris’s life etched a pattern: take a leap, live an adventure, then learn what it means. As a young Peace Corps graduate, Chris moved to DC and began knocking on doors on Capitol Hill. With dreams of becoming what Ted Sorensen had been for Jack Kennedy, Chris landed as a staffer to Utah Senator Frank Moss, where his eyes were opened to the game of big-league politics.
In the 1970s, Matthews mounted a campaign for Congress as a Democratic maverick running against Philadelphia’s old political machine. He didn’t win the most votes, but his grit put him on the path to a top job in the White House. As a speechwriter for President Carter, Matthews witnessed the triumphs and tragedies of that administration; from the diplomatic brilliance of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty to the disaster of the Iran hostage crisis. After Carter’s defeat, Chris became chief of staff to legendary Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, a perch that gave him an on-the-job PhD in American politics during the Reagan years.
Chris than leapt to the other side of the political matrix as a columnist and reporter. For the San Francisco Examiner, he covered the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first all-races election in South Africa, the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, and every American presidency from Reagan to George W. Bush. Chris would go on to pioneer cable news with a fast-paced, no-nonsense television program. His show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, would become a political institution for twenty years.
As Chris charts his political odyssey, he paints an animated picture of a nation searching for its soul. He reflects with grace and wisdom, showcasing the grand arc of the American story through one life dedicated to its politics.
In This Country, Chris Matthews “has written a love letter to his country” (Joy Reid, host of The ReidOut and author of The Man Who Sold America), offering a panoramic portrait of post-World War II America through the story of his remarkable life and career. It is a story of risk and adventure, of self-reliance and service, of loyalty and friendship. It is a story driven by an abiding faith in our country.
Raised in a large Irish-Catholic family in Philadelphia at a time when kids hid under their desks in atomic war drills, Chris’s life etched a pattern: take a leap, live an adventure, then learn what it means. As a young Peace Corps graduate, Chris moved to DC and began knocking on doors on Capitol Hill. With dreams of becoming what Ted Sorensen had been for Jack Kennedy, Chris landed as a staffer to Utah Senator Frank Moss, where his eyes were opened to the game of big-league politics.
In the 1970s, Matthews mounted a campaign for Congress as a Democratic maverick running against Philadelphia’s old political machine. He didn’t win the most votes, but his grit put him on the path to a top job in the White House. As a speechwriter for President Carter, Matthews witnessed the triumphs and tragedies of that administration; from the diplomatic brilliance of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty to the disaster of the Iran hostage crisis. After Carter’s defeat, Chris became chief of staff to legendary Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, a perch that gave him an on-the-job PhD in American politics during the Reagan years.
Chris than leapt to the other side of the political matrix as a columnist and reporter. For the San Francisco Examiner, he covered the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first all-races election in South Africa, the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, and every American presidency from Reagan to George W. Bush. Chris would go on to pioneer cable news with a fast-paced, no-nonsense television program. His show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, would become a political institution for twenty years.
As Chris charts his political odyssey, he paints an animated picture of a nation searching for its soul. He reflects with grace and wisdom, showcasing the grand arc of the American story through one life dedicated to its politics.
Author
Chris Matthews
Chris Matthews is a distinguished Professor of American Politics and Media at Fulbright University Vietnam. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit; Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero; Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked; Kennedy & Nixon; and Hardball. For twenty years, he anchored Hardball with Chris Matthews on MSNBC
More audiobooks from Chris Matthews
Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5At Mama's Knee: Mothers and Race in Black and White Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American: Beyond Our Grandest Notions Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Start Telling People: The guide to marketing strategy and brand building for future-defining startups Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to This Country
Related audiobooks
Desk 88: Eight Progressive Senators Who Changed America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Road Taken: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Electable: Why America Hasn't Put a Woman in the White House . . . Yet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Corrosion of Conservatism: Why I Left the Right Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Obama: An Oral History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When Women Win: EMILY’s List and the Rise of Women in American Politics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What It Takes: The Way to the White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grounded: A Senator’s Lessons on Winning Back Rural America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why I Run: 35 Progressive Candidates Who Are Changing Politics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What Happened Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mighty and the Almighty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fight to Vote Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Broken: Can the Senate Save Itself and the Country? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Joe Biden: The Life, the Presidency, and What Matters Now Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Saving Justice: Truth, Transparency, and Trust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Triumph and Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson: The White House Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Every Day Is Extra Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Final Days Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bitter End: The 2020 Presidential Campaign and the Challenge to American Democracy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Did We Get Here?: From Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Political Biographies For You
Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romney: A Reckoning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Assassination Vacation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trump Tapes: Bob Woodward's Twenty Interviews with President Donald Trump Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lincoln Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The White House Plumbers: The Seven Weeks That Led to Watergate and Doomed Nixon's Presidency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dressed for a Dance in the Snow: Women's Voices from the Gulag Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mornings on Horseback Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Team of Rivals Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fear: Trump in the White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Peril Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5V Is For Victory Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Watergate Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-1980 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Benjamin Franklin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for This Country
Rating: 4.666666666666667 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
3 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I couldn’t stop listening to it. I like history so this book was perfect fit. Thanks