Jan Reid has 3 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 4 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4★ across 1 ratings. The most-rated is Let the People In.
Let the People In
Summary
When Ann Richards delivered the keynote of the 1988 Democratic National Convention and mocked President George H. W. Bush - "Poor George, he can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth" - she instantly became a media celebrity and triggered a rivalry that would alter the course of American history. In 1990, Richards won the governorship of Texas, upsetting the GOP's colorful rancher and oilman Clayton Williams. The first ardent feminist elected to high office in America, she opened up public service to women, blacks, Hispanics, Asian Americans, gays, and the disabled. Her progressive achievements and the force of her personality created a lasting legacy that far transcends her rise and fall as governor of Texas. In Let the People In, Jan Reid draws on his long friendship with Richards, interviews with her family and many of her closest associates, her unpublished correspondence with longtime companion Bud Shrake, and extensive research to tell a very personal, human story of Ann Richards's remarkable rise to power as a liberal Democrat in a conservative Republican state. Reid traces the whole arc of Richards's life, beginning with her youth in Waco, her marriage to attorney David Richards, her frustration and boredom with being a young housewife and mother in Dallas, and her shocking encounters with Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter. He follows Richards to Austin and the wild 1970s scene and describes her painful but successful struggle against alcoholism. He tells the full, inside story of Richards's rise from county office and the state treasurer's office to the governorship, where she championed gun control, prison reform, environmental protection, and school finance reform, and he explains why she lost her reelection bid to George W. Bush, which evened his family's score and launched him toward the presidency. Reid describes Richards' final years as a world traveler, lobbyist, public speaker, and mentor and inspiration to office holders, including Hillary Clinton. His nuanced portrait reveals a complex woman who battled her own frailties and a good-old-boy establishment to claim a place on the national political stage and prove "what can happen in government if we simply open the doors and let the people in".
©2012 Jan Reid (P)2019 Audible, Inc.
Busting Out of Mexico
Summary
In partnership with Texas Monthly, Jan Reid's "Busting Out of Mexico" is now available as an audio download, where the length and timeliness of a podcast meets the high-quality production of a full-length audio program. In Mexico, if violence and property damage are avoided, there is no law against breaking out of jail. When con artist Sterling Blake Davis, Sr. found himself with little to live for other than his son - held in a Mexican, federal prison on charges of marijuana possession - he thought, why not free him? What follows is a story typically reserved for the movies. The gang started by Davis, Sr. to free his son comprised a Vietnam veteran, trained in skills of war increasingly detestable to those around him; a down-on-his luck Texan in search of his next paycheck or, more accurately, his next adventure; and a naive kid hoping to live up to the tough crowd he ran with. Though each was hooked at the start by promise of money, by the end, they would feel they were performing the work of heroes. "Busting Out of Mexico" is the account of a jailbreak of Americans from a Mexican prison, with publicity outlandish enough to put penniless Texans on everyone's radar and legal ramifications that led all the way up to Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger's White House.
©1976 Jan Reid; 2018 Random House Audio
Social Studies from Texas Monthly
Summary
In partnership with Texas Monthly, the following articles focusing on Texas society are now available in a bundle as an audio download: "Busting Out of Mexico" by Jan Reid, read by Bruce DuBose "Showdown at Waggoner Ranch" by Gary Cartwright, read by Bruce DuBose "Cops and Robbers" by Katy Vine, read by Lydia Mackay "Lost and Found" by Katy Vine, read by Lydia Mackay "The Trouble With Innocence" by Michael Hall, read by Christopher Ryan Grant "Busting Out of Mexico" by Jan Reid details the unbelievable story of an eclectic group of Texans who broke Americans out of a Mexican jail. "Showdown at Waggoner Ranch" by Gary Cartwright is the saga of the Waggoner family and their fight over the inheritance of the second largest ranch in Texas. "Cops and Robbers" by Katy Vine investigates the Panama Unit, a group of police officers tasked with cleaning up the drug trade along the Southern Texas and Mexico border who instead became a part of it. "Lost and Found" by Katy Vine profiles the refugee community of Amarillo, Texas, and one woman who volunteers to help them settle into their new lives. "The Trouble with Innocence" by Michael Hall explores one man's journey through the Texas justice and prison system and asks how, after seeking innocence for 39 years, he could deny his own exoneration.
©2018 Katy Vine, Michael Hall, Gary Cartwright, and Jan Reid (P)2018 Random House Audio