Book Review: The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

The Book:

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama

Published: March 2008, ISBN: 9781921351365, Number of Pages: 384

At the heart of The Audacity of Hope is Senator Obama's vision of how his country can move beyond its divisions to tackle concrete problems. He examines the growing economic insecurity of American families and the racial and religious tensions within the body politic, and considers the nature of threats from outside America's borders. Offering personal reflections on values and ideals that have led him to public life, some thoughts on the ways that the current political discourse unnecessarily divides people, Barack Obama offers his own best assessment - based on his experience as a senator, and lawyer, husband and father, Christian and sceptic - of ways that politics can be ground into the notion of common good. By returning to the principles that gave birth to the US Constitution, he says, Americans have a chance to repair a political process that is broken, and restore to working order a government that has fallen dangerously out of touch with millions of ordinary Americans. Source: Booktopia

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream is the second book written by Barack Obama. It became number one on both the New York Times and Amazon.com bestsellers lists in the fall of 2006, after Obama had been endorsed by Oprah Winfrey. In the book, Obama expounds on many of the subjects that became part of his 2008 campaign for the presidency. The book advance from the publisher totalled $1.9 million contracted for three books. Obama announced his presidential campaign on February 10, 2007, a little more than three months after the book's release. Source: Wikipedia

The Author:

Barack Obama was the 44th president of the United States, elected in November 2008 and holding office for two terms. At the time of writing this book he was “Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois and the Democratic Party's new rock star.”

He is the author of one previous New York Times bestselling book, Dreams from My Father, and the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. At the time of writing this book, he lived in Chicago. He now lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Michelle. They have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

Reader & Industry Reviews:

· `Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois and the Democratic Party's new rock star, is that rare politician who can actually write-and write movingly and genuinely about himself.' * New York Times * Source: Booktopia

· I've now finished this book, which I've been reviewing a chapter at a time. Before starting, I was concerned that it might lower my opinion of him. Many people have been rather dismissive, and perhaps that's why I didn't read it earlier. In fact, it has had the opposite effect. It's well thought out and convincing , and I respect him more. The one major criticism I have is that it's stylistically unimpressive; you can see that it would have benefited from another revision pass. He is however so insanely busy that I'm grateful he had time to write it at all. There certainly aren't many politicians at his level doing this kind of thing. Source: Good Reads Reader

· The book, divided into nine chapters, outlines Obama's political and spiritual beliefs, as well as his opinions on different aspects of American culture. The Audacity of Hope is Barack Obama's call for a new kind of politics. "In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope? John Kerry calls on us to hope. John Edwards calls on us to hope……..” Source: Good Reads Reader

Our Review:

This book was not an easy read for us, not many of our members finished, or really even started this book, because of lack of interest in the subject, or if they did start to read, they quickly abandoned it. I did finish it, but it was hard work. I am interested in Australian politics but know very little about the structure of the American system and I often had to research on Google about what I was reading. He continually refers to US political and party representatives and their policies through-out the book which meant very little to me as an Australian reader. It was hard going. I am not sorry that I stuck with it and I have a better understanding of the American Political system. In essence, my beliefs are on the same side of politics as Obama and my political philosophy is similar to his so I found that made the reading easier but I can understand most of the other ladies in the book club loss of interest. We were sure that it was an excellent summary of Obama’s early years in US politics and his political theories at that time but we wouldn’t recommend this book.