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The Gatekeepers

How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency

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The Gatekeepers

By: Chris Whipple
Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the White House Chiefs of Staff, whose choices have defined the course of our country—including a chapter on the chaos of the first Trump administration

“Entertaining and engaging.”—The Wall Street Journal
“Compelling and insightful.”—HuffPost
“Carefully researched and eminently readable.”—Newsday

Presidents have always depended on the advice of key confidants. But it wasn’t until the twentieth century that the White House chief of staff was codified and became the second most powerful job in government. Unelected and unconfirmed, the chief is the president’s closest adviser; when the president makes a life-and-death decision, often the chief of staff is the only other person in the room.

Through extensive, intimate interviews with eighteen chiefs (including Reince Priebus) and two former presidents, award-winning journalist Chris Whipple pulls back the curtain on this unique fraternity. In doing so, he revises our understanding of presidential history, showing us how one chief paved the way for the Reagan Revolution—and, conversely, how Watergate and the Iraq War might have been prevented by a more effective chief. Plus, in a chapter written exclusively for this edition, Whipple takes readers inside the Trump White House, revealing startling details of its dysfunction. Americas Politicians Politics & Activism Politics & Government
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I learned a lot about management, history and personal relationships. The book reads like a good thriller.

Excellent history with instructive anecdotes

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In general quite interesting but more on the narrated history side of things with limited key take aways in terms of “how” the different CoS manages the White House.

Interesting and well written but limited amount of key takeaways

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This is a fundamental book, beautifully read by Mark Bramhall, about one of the truly important and often underrated jobs in American politics. The book's strength lies in its wealth of detail, mostly fascinating, sometimes touching. It's depressing to think about how little influence the chiefs of staff of the Trump Administration wielded, which in turn serves to signal the degeneration of public office in recent years. I doubt those better times will ever come back. 

Great study of American politics 

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I appreciated the insights as such and the presentation of details from an insider’s perspective - a quite unique one extremely close to where history is made.

Inspirational behind the scenes insights

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