A Promised Land

Reviews

“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

“[A Promised Land’s] strength, like that of its author, is in the ability to be many things to many people  .  .  . A Promised Land is less a personal memoir than an unusual sort of history, one recounted by the man at the center of it, a man who seems always to be observing himself in action.”—Carlos Lozada, Washington Post

“The 768-page tome is most immediately a thoughtful reflection on [Obama’s] career, including the first years of his presidency. . . . His insight into his mindset during his biggest presidential moments is a reminder of his thoughtfulness at a time when deep thought and reflection are desperately needed in the corridors of power.”—Justin Worland, Time

“The first volume of Barack Obama’s memoirs puts to the test whether a good writer can survive being president. A Promised Land is indisputably a book by the author of Dreams from My Father. Somehow, through a decade and a half of intense exposure, speeches, interviews, meetings, briefings, and galas, the ex-president has preserved his inner life, and with it his literary light.”—George Packer, The Atlantic

“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

“Barack Obama’s A Promised Land is as extraordinary and unusual as the man himself. . . . Another unusual thing about this presidential memoir (though it shouldn’t be too surprising for those who read his earlier autobiography, Dreams from My Father): Obama is a fine writer—graceful, evocative, breezily literary without being the slightest bit twee.”—Fred Kaplan, Slate

“To a remarkable degree, the style of this latest retelling reflects the man we have seen over these years: orderly, cautious, self-examining—yet eloquent in flashes so vivid that the world was immediately able to share something of his vision. . . . We hear his voice in every sentence, almost as if he were physically present and reading the book aloud.”—Ron Elving, NPR Expand reviews