Book 1 - 2020
Book 1: The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama by David Remnick - 623 pages
Description from bookdepository.co.uk:
The rise of Barack Obama is one of the great stories of this century: a defining moment for America, and one with truly global resonance. This is the book of his phenomenal journey to election, updated in paperback to cover his first two extraordinary years in Office.
Through extensive on-the-record interviews with friends and teachers, mentors and disparagers, family members and Obama himself, David Remnick has put together a nuanced, unexpected and masterly portrait of the man who was determined to become the first African-American President.
Most importantly, The Bridge argues that Obama imagined and fashioned an identity for himself against the epic drama of race in America. In a way that Obama's own memoirs cannot, it examines both the personal and political elements of the story, and gives shape not only to a decisive period of history, but also to the way it crucially influenced, animated and motivated a gifted and complex man.
Thoughts:
This biography of Obama's life and rise up until his inauguration as President of the United States is definitely comprehensive. Covering everything from how Obama established his identity as a black man, the various personalities of the black political movement and Chicago politics, and the challenges of his campaign for Senator and President, the book makes a few things abundantly clear. Firstly, Obama is obviously a very smart man, constantly seeking to improve himself and to take on the next challenge. Secondly, American politics is bloody complicated - I finally understand 1) why so many Americans don't vote (though given I live in a country with compulsory voting, I fundamentally don't agree with the idea of not voting, but whatever), 2) why Americans are always going on about reducing government (there IS too much!). Third, despite its complications, Americans clearly get way more vocal about their politics than most nations ever would. I reject the notion, that this book vaguely comments on a few times, that this somehow makes America some better form of democracy, because of the aforementioned complications of the American system and the non-compulsory voting. Like most books about American politics, that idea that America is somehow a better form of democracy is one of the few things that annoyed me about this book - alas, its seems inescapable when reading about American politics. I also got a little over the level of detail that Remnick went into discussing some of the completely random people that crossed Obama's path during his rise. I'm not sure it was necessary to always provide the life stories of every random member of the black political environment, and at times this made it feel like I was never going to actually get to Obama's presidency run. Nonetheless, I think this is a pretty readable, mostly interesting, and (as mentioned) comprehensive character study of Obama and his meteoric rise to leader of the free world.
1 / 50 books. 2% done!
623 / 15000 pages. 4% done!
Currently reading:
Journey to the West by Cheng-En Wu - 673 pages
Prisoners of Geography: Ten maps that tell you everything you need to know about global politics by Tim Marshall - 291 pages
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf - 179 pages
And coming up:
The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: Volume 3: White Gold Wielder by Stephen Donaldson - 500 pages
The Odyssey by Homer - 324 pages
The Grand Finale by Janet Evanovich - 246 pages
Description from bookdepository.co.uk:
The rise of Barack Obama is one of the great stories of this century: a defining moment for America, and one with truly global resonance. This is the book of his phenomenal journey to election, updated in paperback to cover his first two extraordinary years in Office.
Through extensive on-the-record interviews with friends and teachers, mentors and disparagers, family members and Obama himself, David Remnick has put together a nuanced, unexpected and masterly portrait of the man who was determined to become the first African-American President.
Most importantly, The Bridge argues that Obama imagined and fashioned an identity for himself against the epic drama of race in America. In a way that Obama's own memoirs cannot, it examines both the personal and political elements of the story, and gives shape not only to a decisive period of history, but also to the way it crucially influenced, animated and motivated a gifted and complex man.
Thoughts:
This biography of Obama's life and rise up until his inauguration as President of the United States is definitely comprehensive. Covering everything from how Obama established his identity as a black man, the various personalities of the black political movement and Chicago politics, and the challenges of his campaign for Senator and President, the book makes a few things abundantly clear. Firstly, Obama is obviously a very smart man, constantly seeking to improve himself and to take on the next challenge. Secondly, American politics is bloody complicated - I finally understand 1) why so many Americans don't vote (though given I live in a country with compulsory voting, I fundamentally don't agree with the idea of not voting, but whatever), 2) why Americans are always going on about reducing government (there IS too much!). Third, despite its complications, Americans clearly get way more vocal about their politics than most nations ever would. I reject the notion, that this book vaguely comments on a few times, that this somehow makes America some better form of democracy, because of the aforementioned complications of the American system and the non-compulsory voting. Like most books about American politics, that idea that America is somehow a better form of democracy is one of the few things that annoyed me about this book - alas, its seems inescapable when reading about American politics. I also got a little over the level of detail that Remnick went into discussing some of the completely random people that crossed Obama's path during his rise. I'm not sure it was necessary to always provide the life stories of every random member of the black political environment, and at times this made it feel like I was never going to actually get to Obama's presidency run. Nonetheless, I think this is a pretty readable, mostly interesting, and (as mentioned) comprehensive character study of Obama and his meteoric rise to leader of the free world.
1 / 50 books. 2% done!
623 / 15000 pages. 4% done!
Currently reading:
Journey to the West by Cheng-En Wu - 673 pages
Prisoners of Geography: Ten maps that tell you everything you need to know about global politics by Tim Marshall - 291 pages
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf - 179 pages
And coming up:
The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: Volume 3: White Gold Wielder by Stephen Donaldson - 500 pages
The Odyssey by Homer - 324 pages
The Grand Finale by Janet Evanovich - 246 pages