A Promised Land

A Promised Land by Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Star Rating
★★★★
Reviewer's Rating
Sep 13, 2022

A Promised Land, by Barack Obama, is a nonfiction autobiography and the first of a two-volume

series.



A Promised Land details the hardships Obama faced during his time in politics. In volume 1 of

Barack Obama’s tell-all, the former president details his previous political runs, starting from his

run for the Illinois state senate in 2004 up until first presidential run in 2008. He highlights the

pressures and expectations of being the first African American president in this intimate

memoir. As he takes us through historic moments, such as Operation Neptune’s Spear which

resulted in the death of Osama Bin Laden and his passage of the Affordable Care Act, which

gave millions of Americans access to necessary healthcare, he is blunt about his caution and

morality through the process of navigating the hand he was dealt by life. Nonetheless, he

upheld his belief that progress is possible for everything and everyone.



A Promised Land delivers on its promise to offer an insight into Obama’s mind. It creates a

human version of the president, a side we don’t often see. Detailed imagery of his thought

process with notes from those who are close to him. Where it falls short is in its ability to detail

the events occurring. Obama tends to gloss over important details in terms of how things are

playing out. It didn’t have the level of detail expected when discussing complex subjects. The

former president fails to express the severity of certain situations which hurts the reader’s

ability to account for the effect of different events on his life. Overall, Obama creates an

astounding image of his life before and after politics and the way it changed his life.

 

Written by
Suditi C.

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