A Promised Land by Barack Obama
A Memoir of Self-revelation and Introspection
Barack Hussein Obama II served as the 44th President of the United States, the first African-American to do so. An attorney and politician who is not only remembered for his charming smile and charismatic personality but also his intellectual diplomacy and critical political decisions which highlighted his presidential reign from 2009 to 2017.
This year he has come out with a memoir A Promised Land which is quickly creating some buzz in the market. The book hit the bookstores on November the 17th. The memoir is penned by the ex-president himself and is first of the planned two volumes.
The Joint Deal
Back in 2017, Michelle and Barack Obama signed a joint deal worth whopping US$65 million with Penguin Random House to publish a book each. Michelle has already written and published her memoir Becoming back in November 2018. It went on to become #1 New York Times Bestseller, besides selling 10 million copies worldwide.
A Promised Land was announced by Barack Obama through his Twitter handle where he stated, “In A Promised Land, I try to provide an honest accounting of my presidency, the forces we grapple with as a nation, and how we can heal our divisions and make democracy work for everybody”.
The book has already hit the markets and the early readers have poured in with favourably positive reviews. Many readers noted the honesty in Obama’s writing and praised the book’s ability to give them a sneak-peek into Obama’s presidential decisions and the events that influenced them. The book is published by Penguin’s subsidiary Crown Publishing Group.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Review for The New York Times
The acclaimed Nigerian writer reviewed A Promised Land for The New York Times in which she highlighted the honesty and the introspection with which Obama has written his sentences, along with that she noted the regrets that filled Obama’s heart due to some of his political and personal decisions.
She also advised that the book is “more political than personal” but he does mention some of his family moments with a “beauty close to nostalgia”.
Adichie also remarked at the scepticism and self-doubts that Obama had during his political careers. According to her, in this book, he has laid himself open to self-questioning. She also accentuated some of Obama’s leadership qualities like how he creates a positive work culture and never looks for a scapegoat when things go wrong.
Adichie also noticed some of Obama’s humane qualities like how he felt angry to see protestors outside the White House on George W. Bush’s last day of his presidential tenure, a gesture he felt was “graceless and unnecessary”. Obama has also mentioned in his memoir that he used to read the letters of ordinary Americans to keep himself abreast with the general public.
The President and his Family
Obama, in his memoir, also throws some light on his father-daughter moments with Sasha and Malia, and his friendship and love with his beloved wife Michelle.
He also talks about how becoming a president frustrated his wife at first because of the excess media exposure and how she developed a mindset to deal with it eventually. The book also chronicles around some of the beautiful family moments that he cherishes the most.
Mentions
A Promised Land is a book about Obama the President and not Obama the Father or Husband and hence, it mainly chronicles around his political endeavours and his trysts with political leaders around the world.
Some of the eminent political leaders mentioned in the memoir include Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he describes as “tough, street-smart ward bosses who used to run the Chicago machine though physically, he was unremarkable”.
On Sonia Gandhi, the memoir says how “we are told of the handsomeness of men like Charlie Crist and Rahm Emanuel, but not the beauty of women, except for one or two instances, as in the case of Sonia Gandhi.” About her son Rahul Gandhi, Obama says he has “a nervous, unformed quality about him as if he were a student who’d done the coursework and was eager to impress the teacher but deep down lacked either the aptitude or the passion to master the subject.”
About former US Secretary of Defence Bob Gates and former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Obama states that both come across as having a kind of “impassive integrity”.
Even the president-elect and fellow Democrat Joe Biden, who occupied the position of vice president under him, Obama says, “he is a decent man who might get prickly if he thought he wasn’t given his due — a quality that might flare up when dealing with a much younger boss”.
The Buzz Around the Memoir
The first printing for A Promised Land is set at 5.9 million copies — 3.4 million in the US and Canada and additional 2.4 million copies will be printed for international readers, in the anticipation of exceptional demand. New York Times has even touted the memoir as “virtually guaranteed” to become this year’s top seller.
Early readers and reviewers have rated the book an average rating of 4/5 on Goodreads and it has acquired a rating of 4.3/5 on Barnes & Noble.
Along with English, the book is set to be published in additional 24 different languages.
The memoir has a page count of 768 and is the first of the planned two volumes. The publication date is yet to be determined for the second volume, according to the publishers Penguin.
Until then gift yourself a copy of A Promised Land by Barack Obama and enjoy the read.
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