A Promised Land

Nov 7, 2024 8:52 PM

Author:Barack Obama,Barack Obama

A Promised Land

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.

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

Gorgeously written, humorous, compelling, life affirming

—— Justin Webb , Mail on Sunday

Beautifully written and disarmingly candid . . . leavened with telling asides, poignant vignettes, painterly character sketches and an occasional corker of a joke

—— Tony Allen-Mills , The Sunday Times

As a work of political literature A Promised Land is impressive. Obama is a gifted writer

—— Gary Younge , Guardian

Barack Obama is as fine a writer as they come . . . the prose gorgeous in places, the detail granular and vivid

—— Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie , The New York Times

What is unexpected in A Promised Land is not its literary elegance but the former president's candour

—— David Olusoga , Observer

I loved A Promised Land . . . President Obama is unusually honest about his experience in the White House, including how isolating it is to be the person who ultimately calls the shots. It's a fascinating look at what it's like to steer a country through challenging times

—— Bill Gates

Deeply enjoyable . . . Obama is such a fluent and warm writer and so good at describing events and people

—— Daily Express

Beautifully written . . . it's probably the best volume of autobiography from a former president in modern times

—— Sean O'Grady , Independent, *****

Remarkably candid and beautifully written . . . It should bring inspiration for we Brits who want to build our own version of inclusive patriotism here at home

—— David Lammy , i

Gives a very human insight into the White House

—— Stylist

To keep company with his elegant prose, complex conscience and unmistakable intelligence is a cool drink of water after four years of the other guy . . .

—— Sam Leith , Spectator

Extremely wide-ranging and well researched, Sedgewick's story reaches out into American political history ... The originality and ambition of Sedgewick's work is that he insistently sees the dynamic between producer and consumer-Central American peasant and North American proletarian-not merely as one of exploited and exploiter but as a manufactured co-dependence between two groups both exploited by capitalism.

—— Adam Gopnik , New Yorker

Meticulously researched, vivid in its scene-setting, fine-toothed in its sociopolitical analysis . . . Coffeeland lays bare the history and reality behind that cup of joe you're drinking.

—— Michael Upchurch , Boston Globe

How did a cup of coffee become the everyday addiction of millions? In this impressively wide-ranging, personality-filled history, Augustine Sedgewick untangles the routes that carried coffee from the slopes of El Salvador's volcanoes ... To enter Coffeeland is to visit a realm of ruthless entrepreneurs, hard-working laborers, laboratory chemists, and guerrilla fighters.

—— Maya Jasanoff, author of THE DAWN WATCH

Capitalism has remade the global countryside in radical ways. Coffeeland brilliantly chronicles this most consequential revolution by telling the global history of one family. After reading Augustine Sedgewick's fast-paced book you will never be able to think about your morning coffee in quite the same way.

—— Sven Beckert, author of EMPIRE OF COTTON

Coffeeland will set a new standard ... an innovative study of work, of the work involved to produce a drink needed by workers to keep working. Sedgewick treats coffee not so much as a material commodity but rather more like intangible energy ... provocative and convincing.

—— Greg Grandin, author of THE END OF THE MYTH

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