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Game Change  By  cover art

Game Change

By: John Heilemann,Mark Halperin
Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
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Publisher's summary

"This shit would be really interesting if we weren't in the middle of it."--Barack Obama, September 2008

In 2008, the presidential election became blockbuster entertainment. Everyone was watching as the race for the White House unfolded like something from the realm of fiction. The meteoric rise and historic triumph of Barack Obama.... The shocking fall of the House of Clinton - and the improbable resurrection of Hillary as Obama's partner and America's face to the world.... The mercurial performance of John McCain and the mesmerizing emergence of Sarah Palin.

But despite the wall-to-wall media coverage of this spellbinding drama, remarkably little of the real story behind the headlines has yet been told. In Game Change, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, two of the country's leading political reporters, use their unrivaled access to pull back the curtain on the Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Palin campaigns. How did Obama convince himself that, despite the thinness of his résumé, he could somehow beat the odds to become the nation's first African-American president? How did the tumultuous relationship between the Clintons shape - and warp - Hillary's supposedly unstoppable bid? What was behind her husband's furious outbursts and devastating political miscalculations? Why did McCain make the novice governor of Alaska his running mate? And was Palin merely painfully out of her depth - or troubled in more serious ways?

Game Change answers those questions and more, laying bare the secret history of the 2008 campaign. This is a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel.

©2010 John Heilemann and Mark Halperin (P)2010 HarperAudio
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about Game Change

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Compelling & frank

It was an election of historical proportion, the authors cut through the veneer and found the core of the historical events and people, revealing both their strengths and weaknesses. Maybe it's payback for their combined betrayal of their staff? But John Edwards and wife seem like MacBeth. McCain is revealed as boxed in with most every choice presented and Obama riles everyone for being cooler then the other side of a pillow.

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34 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Out Dated Even When It Was Current

I heard about this book when I was listening to Morning Joe and snapped it up on audible years ago. I thought it sounded like a fun insiders view of the campaign trail. Not so for me. I found it beyond boring and hairsplitting to a degree that became mind numbing. It also turned me off to campaign politics and to listening to books pushed on morning talk shows in general. I know this review is years behind the time--but I'm reviewing old books in my library. This offering was a true disappointment.

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Best Audiobook of 2010!

I am an Audible.com Platinum subscriber, and my primary worry when downloading a book is that the book will waste my time by listening. The narrative is riveting and the narrator is outstanding. If you are interested in U.S. politics, you will not be able to put your iPod down once commencing a listen to this. I highly recommend it!

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A discussion of character...

I liked this book because it filled a gap in history texts I have read over the years: What were these people thinking? What were the problems they were facing, actually?

I hope this kind of book continues and begins a trend towards "present-time history" based on what was said and thought rather than on what some clever historian thinks or guesses what was said during historical moments. In other words, we have official photographers for presidents and other leaders, but we do not have a record of "what they thought and said."

Game Change is secretly a paen to Obama. Nowhere does it explain how he got to his philosophical base that he demonstrates today. It does show his intelligence and his connections to the most powerful financial people in the world before the election.

McCain is an angry man who is incapable of grasping difficult issues.

Obama is rather more gracious and more intelligent than I had imagined.

Sarah Palin, can "get it" and she can "lose it" all in the same day. Personally, I hope she will one day "get it" and keep it that way. She will be unstoppable then.

I now understand Hillary Clinton much better, and her relationship with husband Bill. I have much more respect for Hillary than before, although I am afraid for what she really believes, as I am afraid I have found out too late what Obama "really believes." Bill is such an amazing piece of work: he can help his wife win campaigns and to win, and then trip her up a day later. At the same time, on some level I really respect Bill, only now after all these years.

Bill and a very wealthy playboy friend of his traveled around the world in a private Boeing 757 called "Air F**k One." While Hillary was campaigning. She deserves some credit for living with that yet still being effective.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Great insight into a fascinating election

I have been following John Heilemann since I saw him on Real Time with Bill Maher last year. I appreciate his work, and Game Change lived up to all my expectations. The election was fascinating, viewed through the mass media lens. It is ten times more fascinating viewed through the eyes of the people that are on the bus, in the meetings, and rubbing shoulders with the candidates.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb!

This is one of the best audio books I've ever purchased. The insight into the campaigns was fascinating, and while there was definitely more shared on the Democratic side of the contest, I think it was a balanced account. I strongly recommend anyone who was really moved by this most recently Presidential election to pick this book up. Furthermore, the narrator was about the best I've ever heard. I couldn't be more impressed with this book, and it's likely one that I'll play back in the future. Highly recommended!

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A Great First Political Non Fiction

I have to admit, although I placed this book on the old Wish List, it might have languished if it were not for these fake 1 star reviews on Amazon by those Kindle owners who were very unhappy about the publishers not making book available on Kindle right away. As a result the one stars prevailed over the 5 star. I downloaded it...just because of that. I have never read a political book before, even though I have wanted to, and I was interested. After reading the first chapter, I was dubious but after that it took off right away for me. This was the first election I really got behind so I was knowledgeable of time frames -- this book provided much insight to what goes on in the background that I could not believe. I just loved it -- these are political animals -- it's a different breed. Hearing about Obama and Clinton as well as Palin and John McCain behind the scenes was a delight. It was so informative for those who just don't know. I think the Palin & Hillary parts were the most revealing. It's not as dry material as one would think.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

5++++ Stars

I enjoyed every minute of this book. The cast of characters is amazing. I had thought the media had covered everything there was to know about the candidates, and there wasn't more to know. But Heilemann and Halperin expose their human side, as well as that of their spouses and their campaign staffs. Fascinating! Engrossing! Sorry that I've finished the book - but I'm pretty sure that I'll listen to it again in another month or two and still learn new things.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

An Exciting Ride

This fun, fast-paced book does a great job of covering some of the "inside baseball" during the 2008 Campaign. The authors have done their homework.

All authors have biases, and Heilemann and Halperin are no exception. I think they make an earnest, journalistic effort to be objective, and largely they're successful.

The most nuanced and multi-faceted character in the book is Hillary Clinton: sometimes conniving, protective mother, earnest crusader, spiteful pol, dismissive in victory, gracious in defeat, beloved statesman, mistrusted reminder of the Clinton Administration.

Great book.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting

After following the 2008 elections closely I was eager to read/listen to this book. Didn't get much - most of it I'd heard or read about in gossip articles & from following the process. Covers the behind the scenes of the democrats side in detail but not as much on the republican side.

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7 people found this helpful