Books › A Promised Land
A Promised Land
1176 pages
An elegant, deeply introspective look behind the curtain of power, balancing the soaring hope of a movement with the heavy, grinding realities of the Oval Office.
What it feels like
Reading this memoir feels like sitting down for a long, late-night conversation with a brilliant, deeply analytical friend who just happens to have led the free world. The pace is steady and deliberate, asking you to settle in as it meticulously unpacks the immense weight of presidential decision-making. It is steeped in a mood of contemplative gravity, balancing the soaring, sunlit optimism of grassroots campaigning with the sobering, fluorescent-lit realities of the Situation Room. The prose is elegant and expansive, weaving granular, novelistic details of family life and political maneuvering into sweeping historical context. It will thoroughly delight political junkies, history enthusiasts, and anyone fascinated by the tension between soaring idealism and the gritty pragmatism required to govern.
- Mood
- contemplative
- weighty
- hopeful
- historic
- Tone
- reflective
- earnest
- analytical
- measured
- intimate
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- the burden of leadership · idealism versus pragmatism · the arc of history · racial identity in America · the mechanics of power
- The writing
- Elegant, expansive, and deeply introspective, balancing sweeping historical context with granular, novelistic detail.
- The arc
- Moves from the soaring optimism of grassroots campaigning to the sobering, complex realities of governing a divided nation.
- Who it's for
- Political junkies, history buffs, and readers who appreciate deeply analytical, behind-the-scenes reflections on leadership and democracy.
Content notes
- racism
- war and military conflict
- political polarization
About the book
A riveting, deeply personal account of history in the making-from the president who inspired us to believe in the power of democracy.
In the stirring, highly anticipated 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.
Description from Open Library.
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