Richard Ben Cramer has 2 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 2 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4★ across 4 ratings. The most-rated is Joe DiMaggio.
What It Takes
Summary
An American Iliad in the guise of contemporary political reportage, What It Takes penetrates the mystery at the heart of all presidential campaigns: How do presumably ordinary people acquire that mixture of ambition, stamina, and pure shamelessness that makes a true candidate? As he recounts the frenzied course of the 1988 presidential race - and scours the psyches of contenders from George Bush and Robert Dole to Michael Dukakis and Gary Hart - Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Richard Ben Cramer comes up with the answers, in a book that is vast, exhaustively researched, exhilarating, and sometimes appalling in its revelations.
©1992 Richard Ben Cramer (P)2020 Tantor
Joe DiMaggio
Summary
In the hard-knuckled '30s, Joe DiMaggio was the immigrant boy who made it big. He was the dominant star in the New York Yankees dynasty. As World War II loomed, Joltin' Joe launched a 56-game hitting streak - and the nation literally sang his name. In the age of postwar ease and plenty, he became Broadway Joe, the icon of elegance and class - marrying Marilyn Monroe, the most beautiful girl in America. In 1962, when he lost that girl for good, Joe was everyman embarking on a decade of national bereavement. Joe DiMaggio mirrored our best self, but he was also the loneliest hero we ever had. A nation of fans would give him anything, but what he wanted most was to hide the life he chose. In this groundbreaking biography, Richard Ben Cramer presents a stunning, often shocking portrait of the hero nobody knew. It is a story that sweeps through the 20th century, bringing light to America's national game, movie stars, mobsters, as well as the birth - and the price - of national celebrity. This is the story that Joe DiMaggio never wanted to tell. It is the story of his grace and greed, his dignity, pride, and his hidden shame.
©2000 Richard Ben Cramer, All Rights Reserved (P)2000 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All Rights Reserved, AUDIOWORKS Is an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc.