Book Review – The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama c. 2006 Barack Obama
“Obama has written a book of transforming power that will inspire people the world over”
I was keen to read this book having enjoyed Dreams From My Father so much. I read that so quickly I thought I would also breeze through this one.
Sadly I took ages, it was quite deep and heavy going. I must stress this isn’t due to poor writing, far from it, it’s very well written.
However it describes the American political system and history in some depth. If you’re of American heritage or have studied US politics more than me you may breeze through it. I didn’t as I wanted to learn from it, absorb it, so needed to re-read quite a few sections.
I’m not naive so know he is a politician in a system that seems to require millions of dollars to even get your name in the public domain, let alone secure any votes. In this book he appears to honestly describe the system, in a non-biased way. He explains his views, as he should, it’s his book after all, that’s what his readers would expect. He does also describe opposite arguments in a reasoned and passive style, admitting when his remarkable patience was pushed to its limits.
He writes very honestly about the difference between private and public air flights, made me laugh out loud. His humour is apparent, as is his ambition and definitely patriotism.
His previous book was a record of a personal journey, this is one of the political journey. It is highly informative, very well researched and again reinforces my view that Barack seems like a decent bloke.
The book is divided into clear chapters on Our Constitution, Values, Race etc an this works well.
I like that the book is dedicated “To the women who raised me…”
I’d recommend this book for those who want to learn about how the US system works or wish to gain an insight to someone who managed to break down a few barriers.
I can foresee a career in literature for Mr Obama, I understand he has written children books for his girls when they were small. I’m hoping he will collaborate with Shonda Rhimes, now that’s a piece of work I would be interested in!
Book Review – The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama c. 2006 Barack Obama
You may wish to check these out…
Dream From My Father, Barack Obama c.1995, 2004