Life After Power

Seven Presidents and Their Search for Purpose Beyond the White House

By: Jared Cohen

Narrated by: Kevin R. Free

Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times Bestseller

New York Times bestselling author of Accidental Presidents explores what happens after the most powerful job in the world: President of the United States.

Former presidents have an unusual place in American life. King George III believed that George Washington’s departure after two terms made him “the greatest character of the age.” But Alexander Hamilton worried former presidents might “[wander] among the people like ghosts.” They were both right.

Life After Power tells the stories of seven former presidents, from the Founding to today. Each changed history. Each offered lessons about how to decide what to do in the next chapter of life.

Thomas Jefferson was the first former president to accomplish great things after the White House, shaping public debates and founding the University of Virginia, an accomplishment he included on his tombstone, unlike his presidency. John Quincy Adams served in Congress and became a leading abolitionist, passing the torch to Abraham Lincoln. Grover Cleveland was the only president in American history to serve a nonconsecutive term. William Howard Taft became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Herbert Hoover shaped the modern conservative movement, led relief efforts after World War II, reorganized the executive branch, and reconciled John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Jimmy Carter had the longest post-presidency in American history, advancing humanitarian causes, human rights, and peace. George W. Bush made a clean break from politics, bringing back George Washington’s precedent, and reminding the public that the institution of the presidency is bigger than any person.

Jared Cohen explores the untold stories in the final chapters of these presidents’ lives, offering a gripping and illuminating account of how they went from President of the United States one day, to ordinary citizens the next. He tells how they handled very human problems of ego, finances, and questions about their legacy and mortality. He shows how these men made history after they left the White House.

©2024 Jared Cohen (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

Enjoyable and enriching lessons in leadership!

As someone who enjoys American history and studies in leadership, I enjoyed this audiobook very much!

Read this if: you enjoy presidential memoirs and would like more details about specific presidents during their post-presidency. As someone who is familiar with most of these presidents, I still learned new things about all of them!

Do not read this if: you prefer a deep dive into one particular president.

Learned a lot!

Really interesting listen! Fast paced and informative without being bored. I appreciated the variety of presidents and next steps

Fantastic insight into life after POTUS

Even with a lifelong interest in presidential history, there was a lot to learn that I didn’t previously know. Also, fantastic narration.

A Second Life

Interesting information on each president. A closer look at their real values and their non-residential personalities.

Unknown stories about Presidents we thought we knew

Loved getting to learn about parts of presidents’ lives that are often ignored. The Adams and Hoover chapters really stood out to me.

I Don’t Like Donald Trump

Other than 15 minutes of obvious bias against Donald Trump, a good, balanced performance. Very good coverage of Hoover Carter and Bush.

Fascinating

Well written to be imtresting good research much that I had not known.I had seen the author on "Firing Line". As good as I expected then.

LIFE AFTER POWER

When I was a kid the names of all the presidents were just something we had to memorize. LIFE AFTER POWER brings these past presidents alive with interesting facts you won’t see in a high school history book. I learned something new on every one of them. A take away is that they were all human with very human flaws. Loved the book.

more past history

I wish there was more past history from George Washington to George H Bush.
anything more current than that was a yawn

armature history filled with biases

Jared Cohen is a good story teller, not a balanced historian. His subtle swipes at Democrats throughout while giving glosses to Republicans begins to wear by the end. And the heroic tone gets tiresome. Plus, in the name of giving each president roughly the same amount of space, he wearingly goes on and on about George W. Bush's painting, since there's not much else to write about.