31 Dec 2020

A Promised Land - by Barack Obama

I was interested in reading this book to get a different perspective, after hearing Michelle’s angle in her book Becoming, which I had very much enjoyed.

This is a big book - about 900 pages pf text - which I found rather daunting. It took me a while, but I was motivated to carry on with it - reading the book was never a chore. 

The book is very well written - coherent and well paced. It is long, even though it covers Obama’s political life only until around half way through his first term.  This is because it is very detailed, not covering just the facts about things that happened, but also the thoughts and planning leading up to them and the author’s feelings and reactions.

In a way, it is 3 books:

  • an account of Obama’s political life
  • a thoughtful history of key world events and the political scene in the US over this period
  • a clear insight into a remarkable man, who is happy to document his successes, but not afraid to admit when he made mistakes

I am very pleased to have read it and look forward to the next volume.

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