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Shattered  By  cover art

Shattered

By: Jonathan Allen,Amie Parnes
Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
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Publisher's summary

It was never supposed to be this close. And of course she was supposed to win. How Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election to Donald Trump is the tragic story of a sure thing gone off the rails. For every Comey revelation or hindsight acknowledgment about the electorate, no explanation of defeat can begin with anything other than the core problem of Hillary's campaign - the candidate herself.

Through deep access to insiders from the top to the bottom of the campaign, political writers Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes have reconstructed the key decisions and unseized opportunities, the well-intentioned misfires and the hidden thorns that turned a winnable contest into a devastating loss. Drawing on the authors' deep knowledge of Hillary from their previous book, the acclaimed biography HRC, Shattered will offer an object lesson in how Hillary herself made victory an uphill battle, how her difficulty articulating a vision irreparably hobbled her impact with voters, and how the campaign failed to internalize the lessons of populist fury from the hard-fought primary against Bernie Sanders.

Moving blow by blow from the campaign's difficult birth through the bewildering terror of election night, Shattered tells an unforgettable story with urgent lessons both political and personal, filled with revelations that will change the way listeners understand just what happened to America on November 8, 2016.

©2017 Jonathan Allen, Amie Parnes (P)2017 Random House Audio

What listeners say about Shattered

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Hillary was too smart to win: A book of excuses

This book is not an examination of Hillary's historic loss.

It is a self congratulating set of excuses, designed to soften the bitter sting of failure for democrats still yet unwilling to look the problem in the eye.

Instead of a critical examination of Hillary's unprecedented loss, the book feels like damage control to improve hillary's image.

Key players like Comey, republican voters, etc were characterized as nothing more than jealous, bitter irrational woman-haters that wanted to see Hillary burn for no reason other emotion.

The questionable actions of the clinton foundation, Hillary's image of corruption and her previous questionable judgement that steered voters away from her, was apparently too trivial to mention. When mentioned, it is couched as based in utter misogyny and irrational hatred.

Reading this book, you'd think that the half of the nation that didnt vote for her, simply refrained because she was a woman. You'd think she was campaigning in Saudi Arabia or something.

The book begins with the perspective that Hillary lost to Obama years ago as a result of bad campaign staff, something she was determined to change in the 2016 election.

Except nothing changes.

Throughout the book, the overarching theme is the shifting of blame. It's all the staffer's fault, the incompetent aides, those horrible reporters. It constantly emphasizes the narrative that Hillary was too seasoned, too experienced, too smart to win.

If a seasoned career politician loses to a TV personality with no political experience, maybe it's not the staff, or the aides, or the interns. Maybe it's the candidate.....

It's an interesting book. But it is missing the critical self-examination that we as progressives should be looking to.

Was it really, Russia, or Wikileaks, or Misogyny?.....Or maybe it's Her.



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107 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Hillary's blessing?

When I heard about this "tell all" book sharing the behind the scenes story of the Clinton campaign I thought that if the authors were brave enough to tell the story than I would read it. After finishing it though, I wonder if Mrs Clinton was really taking long, reflective walks in the woods or sitting in her home office helping them write this book. I can only imagine this project had her and the Clinton machines blessing. It's propaganda. Nothing more and nothing less.

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76 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

More liberal drivel.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

An objective look at the campaign.

What was most disappointing about Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes ’s story?

Their almost fawning and liquid disappointment that HRC couldn't overcome all of the terrible forces that were lined against her.

Which character – as performed by Kimberly Farr – was your favorite?

Debbie Schultz.

What character would you cut from Shattered?

HRC.

Any additional comments?

HRC's loss was the biggest bullet this nation has ever dodged.

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57 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

'What difference, at this point, does it make?'

Kimberly Farr does a wonderful job of narration! I listened to the entire book at 3X speed and had no problem keeping up.

I should explain my political perspective. I an a lower case "l" libertarian, right leaning, who most often, but not always, votes Republican. I'm a fiscal conservative and moderate/liberal on social issues.. I found Trump, Clinton and Gary Johnson to be unacceptable choices for president. Yet in my state (NC) those were my choices. My many issues with Trump included his "locker room talk" with Billy Bush and his attitude toward women. I have a wife of 48 years, two daughters, and three granddaughters and I find his comments about women deeply offensive. My final decision was made based on the two major party candidates' comments about their ideal Supreme Court nominees. Clinton did not mention faith to the US Constitution in her comments speaking instead of empathy toward people. I voted for Trump despite my concern he would be a bad president because I was certain that Clinton would be a horrible president. I voted for the lesser evil.

The authors, both journalists, leave little doubt that they are both Democrats and huge fans of Hillary Clinton.

The aspect of Shattered that surprised me most was that the general election is discussed in only the last quarter of the book. There is way too much about the Democrat primary and too much blame placed on Bernie Sanders for Clinton's ultimate election loss to Trump. There is also too much blame placed on Robby Mook (Clinton' campaign manager). The book makes the case that Hillary Clinton is a horrible retail politician implicitly but not explicitly.

Shattered fails to make the case that Clinton lost the election not in Florida or NC but in the rust belt states of PA, MI, and WI. Her "basket of deplorables". may have cost her the election. The size of the losses in Iowa and Ohio was also a surprise.

History will provide a better view than this book which was rushed out. My suspicion is that the economic policies of Barack Obama and their damage to the economic interests of the white working class will eventually be judged as the primary reason for the election of Donald Trump. And that the free press coverage of Donald Trump during the Republican party primary is the reason that he was the nominee. I doubt that FBI Director Comey's announcements or the release of the hacked Podesta and DNC emails had significant impact on the vote in any state.

The subtitle of Shattered clearly indicates the book is about the inside of the Clinton campaign. From my perspective her candidacy was always doomed by the economic situation of working class whites in the rust belt and by Clinton's ineptness as a retail politician.

My 1 star rating results from the fact that I, the listener, learned nothing from its contents. The book was thrown together too quickly and too sloppily. I was expecting a better analysis and greater emphasis on the general election.



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54 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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A sycophants account

Another regressive leftest blaming everyone for Clintons loss except for Clinton herself. Too say the authors was overly generous to Clinton... would be an understatement. She also blames misogyny for Clintons loss, when there is no evidence to support the claim.

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46 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

disappointing reading

I would have loved this book. The slow, mechanical reader completely ruined this for me. I'm a regular political junkie, but this was just unlistenable.

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44 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Better read than heard

Any additional comments?

I looked forward to reading this book and discovering the dynamics of the of Hillary Clinton campaign. I was quite disappointed. Much of analysis struck me as superficial, even though the authors managed to quote a lot of people. Something didn’t quite ring true. But since I listened to, rather than read, this book, I am not quite sure.My biggest difficulty with Shattered was with the reader. She stamped every line with her own snarky personal interpretation and this had to have altered the meaning of the written words in some way. If I listen to a book ready by an author, I know that the way she says something is the way she means it. In this case, I wonder if the authors agree with the interpretation of their chosen reader.In the end, I believe this is a book better read than listened to.

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36 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Liberal Junk

This book didn't tell me much that I didn't already know. Also, there is a definite liberal bias to the story as reported in this book.
One point worth making is that the narrator, when quoting Hilary Clinton, sounds eerily just like her. That, of course, is not necessarily a good thing.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Very partisan review of why hillary lost

Interesting "read". One thing hillary still has not realized- people like me- white, educated, hard working women- were not going to vote for her. It had all to do with living through 30 years of her, her lies, he obstruction of justice, her deceit, the email scandals, her condescending attitude, and her attack against bill's victims. . Yet she and her cohorts are still blaming everyone but herself and the clinton name. We are tired of them and what they bring to the table. The constant "uneducated white" comments... smh- disgusting. Their holier than though attitude is another reason why they lost. I am thankful she is done. If she does not come back into the public venue- I would be thrilled. Stop making excuses.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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It's no "Game Change"

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

If it had some real insight into the campaigns.

Would you ever listen to anything by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes again?

Probably not.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Shattered?

The authors are clearly Hillary supporters and their partisanship ruins the book unless you are a Hillary fanboy. I would cut out the blatant bias and cheap shots when describing The Hillary's primary opponents and Republican adversaries, which ruins the objectivity of the book.

Any additional comments?

It's no "Game Change", the behind the scenes book on the 2008 election.

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31 people found this helpful