by Barack Obama
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAACP IMAGE AWARD NOMINEE • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND PEOPLE
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times • NPR • The Guardian • Slate • Vox • The Economist • Marie Claire
In the stirring first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency—a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.
Obama takes readers on a compelling journey from his earliest political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory that demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to the watershed night of November 4, 2008, when he was elected 44th president of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the nation’s highest office.
Reflecting on the presidency, he offers a unique and thoughtful exploration of both the awesome reach and the limits of presidential power, as well as singular insights into the dynamics of U.S. partisan politics and international diplomacy. Obama brings readers inside the Oval Office and the White House Situation Room, and to Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, and points beyond. We are privy to his thoughts as he assembles his cabinet, wrestles with a global financial crisis, takes the measure of Vladimir Putin, overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act, clashes with generals about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, tackles Wall Street reform, responds to the devastating Deepwater Horizon blowout, and authorizes Operation Neptune’s Spear, which leads to the death of Osama bin Laden.
A Promised Land is extraordinarily intimate and introspective—the story of one man’s bet with history, the faith of a community organizer tested on the world stage. Obama is candid about the balancing act of running for office as a Black American, bearing the expectations of a generation buoyed by messages of “hope and change,” and meeting the moral challenges of high-stakes decision-making. He is frank about the forces that opposed him at home and abroad, open about how living in the White House affected his wife and daughters, and unafraid to reveal self-doubt and disappointment. Yet he never wavers from his belief that inside the great, ongoing American experiment, progress is always possible.
This beautifully written and powerful book captures Barack Obama’s conviction that democracy is not a gift from on high but something founded on empathy and common understanding and built together, day by day.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAACP IMAGE AWARD NOMINEE • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND PEOPLE
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times • NPR • The Guardian • Slate • Vox • The Economist • Marie Claire
In the stirring first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency—a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.
Obama takes readers on a compelling journey from his earliest political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory that demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to the watershed night of November 4, 2008, when he was elected 44th president of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the nation’s highest office.
Reflecting on the presidency, he offers a unique and thoughtful exploration of both the awesome reach and the limits of presidential power, as well as singular insights into the dynamics of U.S. partisan politics and international diplomacy. Obama brings readers inside the Oval Office and the White House Situation Room, and to Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, and points beyond. We are privy to his thoughts as he assembles his cabinet, wrestles with a global financial crisis, takes the measure of Vladimir Putin, overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act, clashes with generals about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, tackles Wall Street reform, responds to the devastating Deepwater Horizon blowout, and authorizes Operation Neptune’s Spear, which leads to the death of Osama bin Laden.
A Promised Land is extraordinarily intimate and introspective—the story of one man’s bet with history, the faith of a community organizer tested on the world stage. Obama is candid about the balancing act of running for office as a Black American, bearing the expectations of a generation buoyed by messages of “hope and change,” and meeting the moral challenges of high-stakes decision-making. He is frank about the forces that opposed him at home and abroad, open about how living in the White House affected his wife and daughters, and unafraid to reveal self-doubt and disappointment. Yet he never wavers from his belief that inside the great, ongoing American experiment, progress is always possible.
This beautifully written and powerful book captures Barack Obama’s conviction that democracy is not a gift from on high but something founded on empathy and common understanding and built together, day by day.
Reviews-
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November 23, 2020
In his preface, President Obama says he wanted to write a book that covered his political career and his presidency as well as one that might inspire young people to a life of service. He rather ruefully admits he thought the whole thing might take up about 500 pages; this 768-page tome turned out to be only volume one. Putting pen to paper (yes, he composes first drafts on legal pads), the former president writes with an elegant hand, juxtaposing his personal ascendancy against the events of history, along with describing the disruptive populism and the toxicity of racism that sometimes twisted the audacity of hope into a deflating nope. Yes, there is excess. Occasionally it seems as if Obama feels the need to describe every person who worked on his campaign or in his administration. So many of his thoughts need examination, and from so many different angles. He sometimes uses the book to explain to readers what he really meant; his debate comment to Hillary Clinton that she was ""likable enough,"" he claims--a bit unbelievably--was only to indicate scorn for the question. Whatever its small flaws, however, the book does a memorable job of untangling both a president and a presidency. Obama reveals himself in his memories of his young daughters, wistful for the time he knows he's missed with them; in his sadness and embarrassment at his inability to be at his dying mother's bedside because of a campaign; and in the uneasiness he feels when he questions his run for the presidency after only serving two years of his senatorial term. ""God, Barack, when is it going to be enough?"" Michelle asks. Like the professor he was, Obama tries to get his readers to make connections. For example, he shows clearly how reactions to TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) led to formation of the Tea Party. These efforts to show the consequences--intended and unintended--of his decisions are among the book's most formidable strengths. The volume ends with the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, which occurred ironically close to the White House Correspondents' Dinner where President Obama mercilessly teased Donald Trump, perhaps precipitating his presidential run. This odd juxtaposition mirrors so many other moments in the book where success spins out in unanticipated ways: darker forces are being released. To be continued.COPYRIGHT(2020) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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December 18, 2020
In the first of two highly anticipated volumes of his presidential memoir, 44th President of the United States Barack Obama (Dreams of My Father) shares an intimate portrait that connects his personal journey as a son, husband, father, and leader to the very public life that people saw. From his early political aspirations through 2011 and the assassination of Osama bin Laden during his first term in the White House, Obama describes his humble beginnings and the events that shaped his world view. He discusses how the civil rights movement affected him and describes how his grassroots campaigns for the Illinois State Senate and U.S. Senate led to his ambitious run for the presidency in 2008. Obama interweaves key events from his personal and political life with the thoughts and conversations he had with family and friends in order to provide unparalleled context to his decision-making. Readers gain behind-the-scenes access to the shaping of the Affordable Care Act, Obama's response to the financial crisis and recession in 2008, the racial profiling of Henry Louis Gates in 2009, and the hunt for bin Laden in 2011, to name a few. VERDICT An eloquently written, enjoyable, and important memoir that will have a wide readership. Highly recommended for all collections.--David Miller, Farmville P.L., NC
Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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Starred review from December 15, 2020
In the first volume of his presidential memoir, Obama recounts the hard path to the White House. In this long, often surprisingly candid narrative, Obama depicts a callow youth spent playing basketball and "getting loaded," his early reading of difficult authors serving as a way to impress coed classmates. ("As a strategy for picking up girls, my pseudo-intellectualism proved mostly worthless," he admits.) Yet seriousness did come to him in time and, with it, the conviction that America could live up to its stated aspirations. His early political role as an Illinois state senator, itself an unlikely victory, was not big enough to contain Obama's early ambition, nor was his term as U.S. Senator. Only the presidency would do, a path he painstakingly carved out, vote by vote and speech by careful speech. As he writes, "By nature I'm a deliberate speaker, which, by the standards of presidential candidates, helped keep my gaffe quotient relatively low." The author speaks freely about the many obstacles of the race--not just the question of race and racism itself, but also the rise, with "potent disruptor" Sarah Palin, of a know-nothingism that would manifest itself in an obdurate, ideologically driven Republican legislature. Not to mention the meddlings of Donald Trump, who turns up in this volume for his idiotic "birther" campaign while simultaneously fishing for a contract to build "a beautiful ballroom" on the White House lawn. A born moderate, Obama allows that he might not have been ideological enough in the face of Mitch McConnell, whose primary concern was then "clawing [his] way back to power." Indeed, one of the most compelling aspects of the book, as smoothly written as his previous books, is Obama's cleareyed scene-setting for how the political landscape would become so fractured--surely a topic he'll expand on in the next volume. A top-notch political memoir and serious exercise in practical politics for every reader.COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
