Reaching for Glory, Michael R. Beschloss
Reaching for Glory, Michael R. Beschloss
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Reaching for Glory
Lyndon Johnson's Secret White House Tapes, 1964-1965

Author: Michael R. Beschloss

Narrator: Michael R. Beschloss

Abridged: 6 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/01/2001


Synopsis

Reaching for Glory lets us eavesdrop on LBJ's private, often tortured thoughts during the most crucial year of his presidency -- when his dreams of being hailed as the equal of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt were destroyed by the war in Vietnam.
As Reaching for Glory opens, LBJ is campaigning for the greatest presidential landslide in history. To win, he hands embarrassing secrets about Barry Goldwater to friendly reporters. When Johnson's closest aide is arrested in a sex scandal, he tries to keep it from exploding before the election.
This audiobook reveals the secret history of how Lyndon Johnson took us step by step, often by stealth, into Vietnam. While publicly boasting that there will be victory in Vietnam, he privately worries that the war can never be won and that it will crush his presidency. He foresees the backlash against the war, civil rights, and the Great Society that will bring Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to power.
Reaching for Glory lets us hear LBJ's private telephone conversations with Jacqueline Kennedy just after her husband's assassination. It allows us to live at Lyndon Johnson's side, day by day, through the dramatic, triumphant, catastrophic, and pivotal year of a turbulent presidency that continues to affect all of our lives.

About Michael R. Beschloss

Michael Beschloss has been called "the nation's leading Presidential historian" by Newsweek. He has written nine books on American Presidents and is NBC News Presidential Historian, as well as contributor to PBS's The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Brett on January 01, 2025

This was a great follow-up to the first volume. I've read numerous books about LBJ, and I think I could engage in a competent exchange. But these two books added for me another dimension to LBJ with emotion, power, influence, and opinionated thoughts. These transcriptions provided more insight into......more

Goodreads review by Neil on March 23, 2014

Be careful what you wish for. You might get it. Lyndon Johnson wanted to become President of the United States. But he was never comfortable or happy once he got there. In retrospect, it's no surprise at all that he didn't run for a second term. As Senate Majority Leader, he was a master at moving le......more

Goodreads review by Terry on February 09, 2013

Reaching for Glory is Lyndon Johnson's taped telephone conversations during 1964 and 1965 -- momentous years that included Medicare and civil rights legislation, escalation of the war in Vietnam, the invasion of the Dominican Republic and much more. And this proved a lot more interesting that you mi......more

Goodreads review by Dave on August 16, 2010

An awesome set of audio books. Beshloss does all the setup and color commentary between the actual taped recordings of President Johnson. Johnson had all his phones taped, the oval office, his private lines, the coffee table, the situation room. Beshloss screens the previously sealed archived collec......more

Goodreads review by Tommy on December 08, 2017

Reaching For Glory by Michael Beschloss is "required reading" (listen to the audio version for an extra bonus as it includes LBJ's own voice) for those who want to better understand the enigmatic life that is Lyndon Johnson. Covering the years 1964-1965, Beschloss gives us the unvarnished and "unint......more