Unbelievable

By: Katy Tur

Narrated by: Katy Tur

Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's Summary

The NBC journalist who covered - and took fire from - Donald Trump on the campaign trail offers an inside look at the most shocking presidential election in American history.

Katy Tur was one of a select cadre of NBC reporters on the road during the grueling 2016 presidential campaign, reporting from small towns and venues across America for more than 16 months. At the beginning of the primaries, Tur was assigned the Trump campaign - a campaign widely considered a long shot by politicos and the media. But primary after primary, the novice outsider trumped his rivals and won the hearts and votes of many Republicans. His appeal to working-class whites, the GOP's traditional middle and upper middle class base, and conservative evangelicals took him all the way to the White House, astonishing the nation and the world.

Unbelievable is Tur's inside account of being embedded with the campaign, revealing what it was like to report on the most combative and volatile major party candidate ever to run for office and win. At first, Trump tried to charm Tur into providing fawning coverage. When that didn't work, he stooped to berating and shaming her, stoking the rage of his legion of supporters - many who threatened Tur and other penned-in reporters at his events. The vitriol reached such a fever pitch that following one rally, during which Trump launched a personal attack against her, the Secret Service had to accompany Tur to her car. But Katy was not alone. Millions of Americans watched in disbelief as Trump ordered Tur to "be quiet" during one of his many press conferences and called her "disgraceful", "third-rate", "not nice", and "Little Katy". In response, thousands of people across the country rushed to her defense, tweeting #imwithtur.

Intriguing, disturbing, and powerful, Unbelievable is an unprecedented eyewitness account of the 2016 election from an intelligent, dedicated journalist at the center of it - a thoughtful historical record that offers eye-opening insights and details on our political process, the media, and the mercurial 45th president of the United States.

©2017 Katy Tur (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

I feel like I know Katy Tur now

This was a well written amazing, unbelievable account of the campaign from a side of the field I never wanted to understand. Thank you for humanizing what led up to this insane time in the USA.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

ENLIGHTENING WITH MUCH HUMOR -LIKE YOU WERE THERE

Would you listen to Unbelievable again? Why?

This takes one on a day by day tour with the one network reporter who followed Donald Trump through his entire election process. Great insight into how she felt when brutalized for being a part of the press. She uses much humor and it is a delight to listen to. I hope she will do more. Thank You Katy Tur.

What other book might you compare Unbelievable to and why?

It stands on its own.

What does Katy Tur bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Tone of voice, laughter and it just felt like a friend sitting down and telling you the whole unbelieveable story. Much fun to listen to.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Please write more Katy, you have a real knack for it.

26 of 30 people found this review helpful

It's hard to know what to say

Like the campaign it chronicles, this book is difficult to describe. There's a lot happening, and it's a bit difficult to process. That's not a slam at the author - Katy Tur captures the mood of the campaign - at least as I remember it - quite accurately, in all of its outrageousness and absurdity. There's also quite a bit of interesting information about the life and process of a campaign reporter and the supporting crew, which I found fascinating. There was even some interesting background on the author herself.

I have doubts about whether the US can withstand an election more fraught than 2016's election, which means that this one is probably going to be a major chapter in our history. I have no doubt that this book will be an invaluable resource for those struggling to understand just what was going on in the winning campaign in America 2016. Be aware that if you're still reeling from the results of the election yourself, you may find this to be an unpleasant reminder of how we got here - I know that I did. But again, that is if anything to the author's credit - she painted a very vivid picture. Just be warned that looking at that picture may not be pleasant or easy for some.

34 of 40 people found this review helpful

Unbelievable is Perfectly Titled

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

One need look no further than the review commentary for this audiobook to see one of the problems plaguing American progress toward equality: misogyny. Ms. Tur provides a detailed look into her existence while in the trenches of the 2016 presidential campaign - many of her experiences terrifying by any measure. To see her labeled as "whiney" or dramatic is disappointing and discounts her credibility and award winning reporting. I admire Ms. Tur and her dedication to professionalism. She is courageous and well-documented.

17 of 20 people found this review helpful

Illuminating

I follow politics closely and in particular, Trump (not a fan), and still this book was fascinating in the details of the first-hand experience. Katy Tur is a good writer and narrator. Although I am disturbed everyday by what Donald Trump says and does, this book was entertaining and I could not stop listening to it. I hope Ms. Tour does a second book.

7 of 8 people found this review helpful

Great and difficult story extremely well written

A funny, interesting, scary and thought provoking story written and read in an entertaining and engaging way. I laughed out loud many times while listening to this.

7 of 8 people found this review helpful

fabulous, insightful

If you could sum up Unbelievable in three words, what would they be?

Compelling, Clarity, BELIEVABLE

What was one of the most memorable moments of Unbelievable?

Katy Tur's unbelievable courage

Which character – as performed by Katy Tur – was your favorite?

herself

If you could give Unbelievable a new subtitle, what would it be?

The Insanity of a President

Any additional comments?

This is a must read. deeply insightful

7 of 8 people found this review helpful

Definitely Unbelievable but Yeah it Happened

Katy Tur gave me new insight to how Trump won the election. As horrific as this has been and will continue to be, at least I understand better now how it happened.

7 of 8 people found this review helpful

Must read

Nothing new as far as facts about Trump but Katy Tur is superb at creating a feel of Trump. His bullying. His erratic behavior. His showmanship

7 of 8 people found this review helpful

Amazing!

I was a little hesitant to get this, but I'm so happy I did.

This is everything I imagined went on behind the scenes of these events and exactly the impression I get when I saw these events live on TV. Great perspective and the flow keeps you engaged.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Still don't understand why!!

Excellent listen. Binged until it had finished as I did with Hillary's book. US politics so complicated for a Brit....

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

interesting, insightful and telling.

An incredible, albeit shockingly depressing story told in a lite and beautifully compelling way. I hope no one is able to ever give such a close account of his time as president simply because i dont hate a human being enough to want them to spend such time around the subject of this book. Katy Tur deserves our gratitude and sympathies for enduring such a task with so much gusto its actually enjoyable to hear or read about it.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Road Warrior

Incredible insight into the election campaign and the world of journalism.

A serious journalist for serious times, a must read book.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

L-O-V-E-D

Listened to on vacation and finished in two days. Extremely entertaining and gives true insight into an election that I still struggle to cope with.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

A fascinating read

If you could sum up Unbelievable in three words, what would they be?

Reverting, informative,unbelievable

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Trumped!

Any additional comments?

Reporter Katie Tur followed the Trump campaign for the entire 2016 election and has an inside view of his campaign. You read about the long months that she and other political reporters were observers of what really happened in the Trump camp

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Terrifying eye-witness account

A young journalist describes her long assignment to the Trump campaigns for nomination as Republican candidate then for election as President of the USA. As we all know, US elections are inefficient, costly, seemingly endlessly protracted media events, in which a small number of mega-rich contestants, who don’t need to have particularly strong political credentials (nor any experience, as it turns out) but have been born on US soil, insult each other ad nauseam via every possible method of communication for a very long time, before settling down to a duel à outrance between one rich person of a variable distance from the right of centre, and another, guaranteed to be far to the right of centre.
(OK, that’s not nuanced in terms of individuals, forgive me, that’s just the cynicism of the Old World, seen it all, at least since Romulus and Remus founded Rome.)
However, the Trump phenomenon is still, for many of us, even Old World stoics, beyond understanding.
For Katy Tur, ambitious young journalist, who followed his rise from “nothing” in terms of political regard, to being entrusted with the power to obliterate this planet in an instant, the campaign trail was a test of endurance, an assignment as war correspondent, which she does well to commit to history.
I found the shifts of time frame back and forward somewhat trying at times- just tell us in sequence, please, Katy, I wanted to say! - but was glad that she could sometimes make me laugh and that she could appreciate the beauty of Scotland, when Trump’s entourage went to play golf. (He seemed to try to take credit for creating the Scots landscape, but it’s unlikely the Almighty will Tweet an insulting putdown.)
Ms Tur was subjected to personal verbal abuse by Trump of a nature which would be unacceptable in a mature civilised democratic country, which eventually resulted in death threats, the need for security guards and protection, persecution on social media, and she has witnessed at close quarters the effects of Trump’s rhetoric (no that’s too flattering a word) his rants, on people who seemed quite human - except for Tshirts calling for extermination and sexual degradation of the Democratic candidate....!!
I first became aware of Trump’s existence on the far margins of my conscientiousness because of his marital shenanigans, chiefly notable for the obscene financial claims and “too much information” of a sexually explicit nature. Then he became the man who thought he could buy Scots law - he didn’t and couldn’t prevent community developments he thought interfered with the view from his golf courses.
On account of his aggressive, litigious stance against the Scottish people, he became persona non grata outside his little fiefdoms on the links; and that was before he crassly congratulated Scotland for voting for Brexit (which we had resoundingly rejected!)
It is still difficult to grasp that a man who has boasted of sexual assault on women, who has behaved repeatedly in public to degrade, dehumanise 52% of the human species who happen to be female, and encourages others to emulate him, not to mention other groups, has become a Messiah- not merely the current temporary head of state, but the incarceration of holy America.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Could have been better

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes. The book gives a good insight into how political campaings are covered by the media. The story is a bit hard to follow, because Tur, the author makes these odd time jumps from election night to something that took place on day 200 of the campaing and straitght back to election night. That took me out of the story from time to time.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

When Tur is re-living the journalistic moments she does a good job, but when she goes and reads the more personal parts of the book then she kinda forgets that she is making an audiobook and just riffs. I get it it`s her own book, but I would say to her that despite the fact that it`s your own text try to read it with a little bit more control and calm.

Any additional comments?

I did not nead all that information about her FRENCH boyfriend.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Excellent book

It sounds like being a reporter is a hard life! I enjoyed this book a lot.

Very well written rollercoaster ride

I was gripped from the start and offers a good insight in the campaign and the media going ons behind it.


Very well written and very pleasant to listen too. Would highly recommend.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful