Advise and Consent

By: Allen Drury

Narrated by: Allan Robertson

Length: 33 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

The number-one New York Times best seller and Pulitzer Prize winner

Allen Drury's Advise and Consent is one of the high points of 20th century literature. It is a seminal work of political fiction, as relevant today as when it was first published. A sweeping tale of corruption and ambition cuts across the landscape of Washington, DC, with the breadth and realism only an astute observer and insider can convey.

Allen Drury has penetrated the world's stormiest political battleground and the smoke-filled committee rooms of the United States Senate to reveal the bitter conflicts set in motion when the president calls upon the senate to confirm his controversial choice for secretary of state. This novel is a true epic, showing in fascinating detail the minds and motives of the statesmen, the opportunists, the idealists.

From a Senate old-timer's wily maneuvers, a vicious demagogue's blistering smear campaign, and the ugly personal jealousies that turn a highly qualified candidate into a public spectacle to the tragic martyrdom of a presidential aspirant who refuses to sacrifice his principles for his career, never has there been a more revealing picture of Washington's intricate political, diplomatic, and social worlds. Advise and Consent is a timeless story with clear echoes of today's headlines.

©2015 Kevin D. Killiany and Kenneth A. Killiany (P)2015 ListenUp Production, LLC

God save America

what if the Russians landed on the moon first? what if Alger Hiss was the United States Secretary of State?

Wonderful political fiction

Advise and Consent is a fascinating book about the behind-the-scenes political intrigue surrounding the nomination of a secretary of state. Though there's chicanery and mendacity in Drury's depiction of Capitol Hill politics of sixty years ago, the novel is also filled with leaders who are guided by love of country.

I wish the full series of novels following the Advise and Consent characters would become available as audiobooks, as they are well worth revisiting.

Interesting drama about the US government

Surprisingly enjoyable novel focused on the esoterics aspects of US government and fictional drama that comes with it.

Great Narration

The audio performance provided exactly what the book provided when I read it many years ago, excellent story telling. The audio book is worthy of the written word. Highly recommended.

Advise and Consent

Any additional comments?

Read by Allan Robertson, Advise and Consent is approximately thirty four hours of listening. I read this book in paperback format for the first time in the 60s, a good five years after it’s initial publishing date. Ever since then, this book has been ‘in my mind’ as the pinnacle of expressing Washington politics in fictional form. Although written in an era of cold-war fears, the Washington political machinations haven’t changed a bit and Allen Drury does a magic job. As an aside, Drury was a UPI journalist with years and years of inside information and friends. The reader need only imagine the early sixties, a bountiful time post WWII, pre Vietnam era. Take away modern amenities such as the cell phone and the Internet, replace all with phone booths (Imagine a bank of phone booths for the press in the capitol.), manual typewriters, the power of the written press, radio news, and the black and white TV evening news that we lived with at the time. Throw in post McCarthy era fear of Russia and Communism. Advise and Consent was written in 1959 and won the Pulitzer in 1960.

Thus is the setting for a congressional Advise and Consent of the President’s nominee for Secretary of State. The first half of the book is primarily setup. There are many characters and a myriad of personalities who, in the second half of the book, will be familiar old friends … or nasty enemies … of the reader. Which is which, well, that likely depends on you’re political persuasion. No spoilers, but the process involved is very realistic and a terrific American government history lesson.

The narration by Allen Robertson is stellar. It is apparent from his reading that he is a fan of Allen Drury and the story of Advise and Consent. Well worth the credit and you will be listening to this book more than once … as will I.

Enjoy!

Love it!

Great book! A sweeping epic of the American political system. Every character comes to live so vividly

Rich and complex story (albeit dated)

I thoroughly enjoyed this complex story of the richly detailed interplay of well-limned characters struggling with intense personal and professional dilemmas, played out on a national stage.

Yes, this novel, written in the 1950s, lacks a 21st century understanding of racial and sexual issues, but it’s still well worth a read. It was especially refreshing to see the lack of the toxic, lockstep partisan politics that infests the American scene today.

The audio presentation was exceptionally well executed. The dozens of characters were voiced vividly, and it was easy to distinguish the speakers from each other. The only quibble I had was the presenter’s evident difficulty with female voices. He made them sound rather silly. But since women played so little role in the story, that was not an insurmountable impediment to the flow of the audiobook.

Great story read by a great narrator

My reading this book was long overdue and I’m so glad I finally did. The story is engrossing and the characters are each so vivid. Lovers of DC politics will have their imaginations swept up by the story. Equally enjoyable was the excellent narration; the reader took on each of the characters roles with aplomb. The fact that the story is 60 years old mattered little. It is a great read. Thoroughly enjoyable.

The dirty side of politics

Allen Drury's 1959 novel "Advise and Consent" begins with the US President announcing Robert Leffingwell as his candidate for Secretary of State. The candidacy requires the approval of the US Senate. This consent seems likely given that Leffingwell enjoys strong support from the Press and the American people.

South Carolina Senator Seab Cooley vigorously opposes the nomination, but one can easily discount his arguments due to his longstanding personal grievance against Leffingwell.

The hearings become dramatic when a former student accuses Leffingwell of active involvement in a Communist organization years earlier. The candidate denies the accusation. Things turn nasty as each side resorts to blackmail to achieve their ends.

Drury does an excellent job building the suspense in this political drama. When we think one side has the edge, the opposition surprises us with an unethical move that threatens to affect the outcome. Those who practice these questionable strategies rationalize their actions. They do not care that they are destroying lives - both metaphorically and literally - because they believe that the end goal justifies any actions.

Drury builds a cast of compelling characters who battle with one another. Most are not evil, but all are ambitious, and the collateral damage caused by their actions is often devastating. The reader identifies in some way with almost all of them. The story's heroes are heroic because they resist this temptation toward demagoguery that has seduced their colleagues.

Members of the Press are less well-defined. The author never identifies them by name but only by their paper, network, or service. They serve to provide commentary on public opinion toward the nominee.

The controversy of "A+C" revolves around Leffingwell's past association with Communist - a threat that loomed large in the public's consciousness and Congress's agenda during the Cold War. Today, we tend to dismiss this threat - primarily due to the overzealous activities of discredited Senator Joseph McCarthy. However, we still deal with candidates who lie under oath and politicians willing to ruin their opponents to achieve their goals. These current issues make this novel relevant today. That might be why "Advise and Consent" was revived after being out of print for over a decade.

Drury, a former UPI reporter who covered the Senate, was a staunch anti-Communist. The fact that he grossly overestimated the threat posed by American Communists should not diminish the value of this novel. It effectively and engagingly shows the dark side of politics.

I didn't enjoy it but...

I struggled to rate and review Drury's classic novel Advise and Consent, because I found the research and writing extraordinary, but my enjoyment level was nil. The political tones were hard for me to handle. I suppose I prefer to escape the world I am in, but this one feels too real, despite the fact that it was written so long ago. And, with the book surpassing 600 pages, I had to make a lot of effort to finish.