A Promised Land by Barack Obama(Pre-Owned)

Product Description

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Barack Obama is as fine a writer as they come . . . nearly always pleasurable to read, sentence by sentence, the prose gorgeous in places, the detail granular and vivid. . . . Obama’s thoughtfulness is obvious to anyone who has observed his political career, but in this book he lays himself open to self-questioning. . . . The story will continue in the second volume, but Barack Obama has already illuminated a pivotal moment in American history, and how America changed while also remaining unchanged.”—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, New York Times Book Review

“Obama set the modern American benchmark for lofty rhetoric, for inspiring a passionate sense of optimism, for repeatedly rejecting the cynical politics of the past. . . . The book radiates an emotional warmth that Obama used to share only with his inner circle. . . . To have Barack Obama reemerge bearing a message of tattered idealism is a welcome tonic.”—David Brooks, The Atlantic

“[A Promised Land] is well written, certainly the best-written presidential memoir I have read. Obama has an easy and stylish way with words. . . . The most notable feature of the book, however, is Obama’s ability to see not just both sides of every issue but even to empathize with the side in vigorous opposition to his own.”—Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post

“A Promised Land often reads like a conversation Obama is having with himself— questioning his ambition, wrestling with whether the sacrifices were worth it, toggling between pride in his administration’s accomplishments and self-doubt over whether he did enough. Written in the Trump era, under an administration bent on repudiating everything he stood for, his elegant prose is freighted with uncertainty about the state of our politics, about whether we can ever reach the titular promised land. . . . The triumphs are tempered with brooding reflections about the inevitable limitations of the presidency.”—Eli Stokols, Los Angeles Times

“[Barack Obama] offers his account, in manners occasionally thrilling but always educational, of the biggest watershed moments of his early administration. . . . His humor, again rare for a person of his professional stature, shines through, most delightfully when he takes jabs at meetings with foreign leaders that could have been an email or Vladimir Putin’s obsession with hearing himself talk. . . . A Promised Land is a book we’ll all be better for reading.”—Seija Rankin, Entertainment Weekly

“A Promised Land is remarkable for its precision and thoroughness, as well as for its honesty, humor, and thoughtful perspective. President Obama’s skill as a writer, and his generosity in sharing his doubts and disappointments as well as his accomplishments and convictions, make the memoir a must-read for all those who wonder why character matters and what true patriotism looks like. And for political junkies, there are nuggets on each and every page.”—Leigh Haber, O, The Oprah Magazine

An intimate and elegantly written reflection on historical moments in Obama’s presidency.”—People Magazine

“Reflective and reasonable almost to a fault, the book is also a reminder that the forty-fourth president is one of the best writers ever to serve in that office.”—The Economist

“Barack Obama’s new memoir A Promised Land is unlike any other presidential autobiography from the past—or, likely, future. Yes, it provides a historical account of his time in office and explicates the policy objectives of his administration, from health care to economic recovery to climate change. But the volume is also an introspective self-portrait, set down in the same fluent, fleet-footed prose that made his 1995 book Dreams from My Father such a haunting family memoir. And much like the way that earlier book turned the story of its author’s coming-of-age into an expansive meditation on race and identity, so A Promised Land uses his improbable journey—from outsider to the White House and the first two years of his presidency—as a prism by which to explore some of the dynamics of change and renewal that have informed two and a half centuries of American history.”—Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

About the Author

Barack Obama was the 44th president of the United States, elected in November 2008 and holding office for two terms. He is the author of two previous New York Times bestselling books, Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope, and the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Michelle. They have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.