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Promise Me, Dad
- A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose
- Narrated by: Joe Biden
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
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Promise Me, Dad
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Editor reviews
Summary
A deeply moving memoir about the year that would forever change both a family and a country.
In November 2014, 13 members of the Biden family gathered on Nantucket for Thanksgiving, a tradition they had been celebrating for the past 40 years; it was the one constant in what had become a hectic, scrutinized, and overscheduled life. The Thanksgiving holiday was a much-needed respite, a time to connect, a time to reflect on what the year had brought and what the future might hold. But this year felt different from all those that had come before. Joe and Jill Biden's eldest son, Beau, had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor 15 months earlier, and his survival was uncertain. "Promise me, Dad," Beau had told his father. "Give me your word that no matter what happens, you're going to be all right." Joe Biden gave him his word.
Promise Me, Dad chronicles the year that followed, which would be the most momentous and challenging in Joe Biden's extraordinary life and career. Vice President Biden traveled more than a hundred thousand miles that year, across the world, dealing with crises in Ukraine, Central America, and Iraq. When a call came from New York, or Capitol Hill, or Kyiv, or Baghdad - "Joe, I need your help" - he responded. For 12 months, while Beau fought for and then lost his life, the vice president balanced the twin imperatives of living up to his responsibilities to his country and his responsibilities to his family. And never far away was the insistent and urgent question of whether he should seek the presidency in 2016. The year brought real triumph and accomplishment, and wrenching pain. But even in the worst times, Biden was able to lean on the strength of his long, deep bonds with his family, on his faith, and on his deepening friendship with the man in the Oval Office, Barack Obama.
Writing with poignancy and immediacy, Joe Biden allows listeners to feel the urgency of each moment, to experience the days when he felt unable to move forward as well as the days when he felt like he could not afford to stop. This is a book written not just by the vice president but by a father, grandfather, friend, and husband. Promise Me, Dad is a story of how family and friendships sustain us and how hope, purpose, and action can guide us through the pain of personal loss into the light of a new future.
Note: this Audible Exclusive includes a powerful interview – only available here – between Joe Biden and award-winning journalist, Mike Barnicle. Their discussion contextualizes the memoir’s wide-ranging themes, while also touching upon the presidential election, current events, and what it means to grapple with profound grief.
Critic reviews
"This audiobook is a listening experience in which the author/narrator opens his heart. Vice President Joe Biden, a practiced orator, delivers his memoir with empathy, passion, and the occasional smattering of regret." (AudioFile)
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What listeners say about Promise Me, Dad
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Annette Jones
- 22-05-22
What a great book
What a great book! Such a great insight into the future American President. Compassionate, gentle, dignified. My heart breaks for him. Parents should not bury their children. I think Beau would have been a great President if he had lived.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Sue
- 20-11-17
Poignant, humanizing a politician
Listening to Joe Biden's frank and open memoir dealing with his son's cancer and bereavement is heartfelt, especially as it is read by himself.
Unlike most books by politicians, "Promise Me, Dad" is committed to communicating to us the values and principles of a family man who happens to have been a senior member of government.
His most compelling narration comes in the form of him discussing his hopes, fears, dreams and nightmares through which a family succumbs while dealing with cancer. I became emotional listening to him break down while discussing the death of his son - his voice audibly trembles which is why the audiobook gives a whole new depth to the biography.
Warm, insightful and thought-provoking.
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17 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Maja Smith
- 16-12-19
Words do not do it justice
Hugely powerful, moving and honest book that is truly humbling to be able to listen to
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Besa.K
- 23-11-20
Amazing, undroppable book from an amazing man
An amazing, wonderful, fantastically written and narrated book. Biden’s book describes an extraordinary life and career of a great man, a year of unbelievable emotional turmoil and work overload, when the vice-president was trying to balance his responsibilities to his family and his country. It is wonderful to hear him read his honest and full of details book, especially about his long strong bond with his family, his faith and friendship with Barack Obama. He shares the heart breaking story of the deaths of his first wife and baby daughter in a car accident and, later, his son, Beau, fights an aggressive form of brain cancer, which brought tears to my eyes many time while listening him read. How he had to deal with his frequent visits to the hospital to comfort his son Beau - and then mourn him - while at the same time dealing with foreign affairs of crisis in Central America, Iraq and Ukraine and also addressing the urgent question of whether he should seek the presidency in 2016. The book is an excellent political memoir with many interesting accounts on his foreign trips and especially the one in Rusia where Biden says to Putin ''Mr Prime Minister, I'm looking into your eyes, and I don't think you have a soul'' and then Putin said ''We understand each other''.
Reading this book reminded me the incredible contribution which I already knew, that Joe Biden has given to the american people and to many countries around the world, especially for Kosova and the albanians. His work ethics and morals in politics stand as a model and sets the bar very high for the future governments all around the world.
We are forever grateful to him and his family - in particular his son Beau who served in Kosova, therefore wish him a healthy long life as a president of USA.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Mr Thomas A G Harding
- 04-12-20
Great book
What a story. Joe had such a massive amount on his plate and dealt with it all so fantastically. Such an inspiration. He will make a great President!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Miriam Maughan
- 09-07-21
Outstanding
Shows Joe Biden as a man who has experienced such personal loss and that makes him compassionate and humane in his personal and public life
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Mary Harling Kelly Creedon
- 19-04-22
promise me dad
Well written book a wonderful powerful story of the wonderful relationship of a father and son who went through so much as a family unit even though sadly his son was to lose his battle with Cancer it is the love that truly comes across through the pages and the Courage that they all had and the support that they were able to give to one another through great sadness and adversity well written book and well read by the author 💙
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Sunshine Lion
- 15-12-20
Wow
In many ways this is much better memoir than Barack Obama‘s latest. This tells the tragedies that Joe Biden and his family have been through. However it also gives you an insight into how he and his family have reconstructed their lives through the power of family unity
Reading it I feel optimistic
Reading it you learn the next President of the United States is genuinely a good man
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 25-01-21
a must read
a rare insight into an extraordinary life. tragedy and love of his family was played out during his vice presidency. a wonderful and inspirational man.
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1 person found this helpful
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- marie christian
- 21-03-19
great story , well told
beautiful story , would have been a great president !well done Mr Biden . should be President
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17 people found this helpful