Every Day Is Extra cover art

Every Day Is Extra

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Every Day Is Extra

By: John Kerry
Narrated by: John Kerry
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

 Every Day Is Extra is John Kerry’s personal story. The title comes from a saying he and his buddies had in Vietnam. A child of privilege, Kerry went to private schools and Yale, then enlisted in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. He commanded river patrols – swift boats – and was highly decorated, but he discovered that the truth about what was happening in Vietnam was different from what the government was reporting. He returned home disillusioned, became active against the war, and testified in Congress as a 27-year-old veteran who opposed the war.

In 2004 he ran for president against the incumbent, George W. Bush and came within one state – Ohio – of winning. In Every Day Is Extra he explains why he chose not to contest widespread voting irregularities in Ohio, fearing that after the 2000 election went to the U.S. Supreme Court, another challenge would undermine confidence in the voting system.

Kerry returned to the Senate, endorsed Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton in 2008, and when Clinton resigned in 2012 to run for the presidency, Kerry was confirmed as Secretary of State. In that position he tried – and like all his predecessors, failed – to find peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (he is critical of both sides but especially Prime Minister Netanyahu); dealt with the Syrian civil war and the rise of ISIS; negotiated the Iran nuclear deal; and signed the Paris climate accord.

This is a personal book, sometimes angry, sometimes funny, always moving. Secretary Kerry describes some of the remarkable events of his life, such as discovering that his paternal grandfather committed suicide – something his father never told him – and that this grandfather was Jewish, not Irish (he changed his name to Kerry from Kohn, and also converted to Catholicism). His account of his experiences in Vietnam is riveting. His story of his first real meeting with John McCain, another Vietnam veteran, is one of the most moving stories in the book; his respect for McCain is genuine and inspiring. Every Day Is Extra shows listeners how arduous it is to run for president and how demanding the role of secretary of state is.

Listeners of this audio book, whatever their political persuasion, will come away grateful that we have public servants who are prepared to spend their lives in service to their country. They will also come away with a new appreciation of John Kerry, a man often portrayed as aloof and stiff, but as this book reveals, funny, warm, and dedicated.©2018 John Kerry (P)2018 Simon & Schuster Audio UK Historical Military & War Politicians Politics & Activism Middle East War Vietnam War Military Iran Government Massachusetts

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Bibi cover art
Our Man in the Middle East cover art
Hard Choices cover art
Destiny and Power cover art
John Quincy Adams cover art
Kissinger cover art
Worthy Fights cover art
A People’s Tragedy cover art
Reagan cover art
The Art of Tough cover art
John Quincy Adams cover art
The Long Game cover art
The Revolution of Robert Kennedy cover art
William Tecumseh Sherman cover art
American Ulysses cover art
In My Time cover art

Critic reviews

'Every Day Is Extra offers a detailed record of an important life . . . it is frank, thoughtful and clearly written . . . What lingers are not the parts but the whole; not the life, but the man. . . A bittersweet reminder of what the country once demanded of its leaders.' (Gideon Rose)
'In these pages Kerry shows remarkable honesty, depth, even spirituality . . . There is remarkable poignancy — not the usual currency of the career politician and the country’s top diplomat.' (David M. Shribman)
'The strength of Kerry’s memoir is that it draws back the curtain on a life you thought you knew, but turns out to be a bit different . . . A surprisingly personal book.' (David Ignatius)
All stars
Most relevant  
I find some political memoirs to be dry and dull. The language is often definitive and factual. Kerry suffers none of this. Not only has he led a remarkable life, he is also a talented story teller.

I found the subjects covered contributed to an interesting pace. Unlike other autobiographies I have read, Kerry does not devote heaps of time to his childhood. This provides the reader with a more focused look at his early and political careers.

A balance is struck between granular detail and more general musings which make the book satisfying.

Highly recommend.

A truly fantastic book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Lot of information on john kerry life and us political life good book I highly recommend it

Very long book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book is a deeply personal account of a contested history. Kerry tells his story with poise and grace and, in doing so, he seemingly comes to terms with his successes, his failures, and those of his country, too. Given how varied Kerry's life has been, I was quite surprised by how short his autobiography is. Naturally, some episodes of his life are described in greater detail than others, but I was looking forward to reading slightly more on his involvement with the anti-war movement, his experience as a Vietnam veteran more generally, and how, many decades on, he, personally, relates to his own involvement in a war he fundamentally objected to. The chapters on his time as Secretary of State were, for me, the highlight of the book, positing many of the key questions that American foreign policy makers will be contending with for decades.

An evocative reading of a familiar history

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A really fascinating look at some momentous moments in our recent history- from Vietnam to the senate to running for president to Secretary of State. Great insight into Israel/Palestine, climate policy too!

Fascinating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.