Barack Obama
Barack Obama was an award-winning author before he was a Nobel Peace Prize-winning president. The first volume of his presidential memoirs, A Promised Land, had sensational sales. His wife, former first lady Michelle Obama has also written bestselling books.
Barack Obama’s first foray into memoir was Dreams from My Father, a much-acclaimed memoir about his early life growing up in the United States and his pilgrimage to Kenya, the country where his father had been born and to which he returned when Barack was a young child.
Before becoming President he wrote The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, which was published in 2006. This was something of a political manifesto, setting out his vision for how to deliver on the promise of democracy and how to try and overcome the obstacles and obstructions that partisanship, special interests and money can often throw in its way. Finally, a collection of his speeches were published in 2017 as We Are the Change We Seek. These cover speeches from his early political career and throughout his eight years as President.
While there’s no substitute for listening to Obama tell us about himself, if you’d like to read books about him, there are two books by Five Books interviewees worth pointing to: firstly Barack Obama: The Story, a highly readable book by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and biographer David Maraniss, which is not just the story of Obama, but also of his extraordinary family. For a more academic assessment of his presidency, Princeton historian Julian Zelizer has edited an excellent volume entitled The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment.
Books by Barack Obama
Dreams From my Father
by Barack Obama
Yes, it’s true: before he was president Barack Obama had already won a Grammy award for the audiobook of his memoir, Dreams from my Father.
Narrator: Barack Obama
Length: 7 hours and 8 minutes (abridged)
A Promised Land
by Barack Obama
Barack Obama is an experienced—and talented—audiobook narrator so it’s no surprise he’s the one reading aloud his presidential memoir. This is only the first volume and it’s already more than 29 hours, so it’s quite a commitment, but also a unique opportunity to be told, firsthand, what it’s actually like to be President of the United States (POTUS). Hint: you’re dealing with a lot of complicated things, like healthcare reform.
Narrator: Barack Obama
Length: 29hr 10mins
Interviews where books by Barack Obama were recommended
The Best Audiobooks: the 2022 Audie Awards, recommended by Michele Cobb
The movie industry has the Oscars to celebrate its achievements, but if you love audiobooks, you’ll be more interested in the Audies. Here Michele Cobb, Executive Director of the Audio Publishers Association, talks us through the 2022 shortlist for ‘audiobook of the year,’ as well as one of her favourite books from the fiction category.
The Best Presidential Memoirs as Audiobooks, recommended by Robin Whitten
When you listen to presidential memoirs as audiobooks, you can often hear an American president telling you their own story. Veteran audiobook reviewer Robin Whitten, editor of Audiofile magazine, recommends the best audiobooks about US presidents, and explains the crucial role of professional narrators in bringing big books to life.
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1
Twilight of Democracy
by Anne Applebaum -
2
The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty
by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson -
3
The Great Demographic Illusion: Majority, Minority, and the Expanding American Mainstream
by Richard Alba -
4
Self-Portrait in Black and White: Family, Fatherhood and Rethinking Race
by Thomas Chatterton Williams -
5
A Promised Land
by Barack Obama
The Best Politics Books of 2020, recommended by Yascha Mounk
The Best Politics Books of 2020, recommended by Yascha Mounk
Despite the challenge of authoritarian populism and a new divisiveness in political debate in many countries around the world there are reasons for optimism, argues political scientist Yascha Mounk, author of The People vs. Democracy. He talks us through his selection of the best politics books of 2020.
The best books on Africa, recommended by Michela Wrong
Long-time foreign correspondent Michaela Wrong, the author of books on Zaire, Eritrea, Kenya and Rwanda, tells us where to turn for engaging foreign perspectives on Africa. She recommends five of her favourite books on Africa, by anthropologists, journalists and one US president.
The best books on US and UK English, recommended by Robert McCrum
McCrum looks at three stages of evolution in the English language. The first British, the second American and then the third – the globish stage – the one in which English is used as international default position
