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The 10 Best Books on President Barack Obama

Essential books on barack obama.

There are countless books on Barack Obama, and it comes with good reason, after being elected America’s forty-fourth President , he inherited a nation reeling from economic collapse, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the continuing menace of terrorism. Moreover, during his first term, he signed three signature bills: an omnibus bill to stimulate the economy, legislation making health care more accessible and affordable, and legislation reforming the nation’s financial institutions.

“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope,” he remarked.

In order to get to the bottom of what inspired one of America’s most consequential figures to the height of political power, we’ve compiled a list of the 10 best books on Barack Obama.

Barack Obama: The Story by David Maraniss

David Maraniss has written a deeply reported generational biography teeming with fresh insights and revealing information, a masterly narrative drawn from hundreds of interviews, including with President Obama in the Oval Office, and a trove of letters, journals, diaries, and other documents.

The book unfolds in the small towns of Kansas and the remote villages of western Kenya, following the personal struggles of Obama’s white and black ancestors through the swirl of the twentieth century. It is a roots story on a global scale, a saga of constant movement, frustration and accomplishment, strong women and weak men, hopes lost and deferred, people leaving and being left. Disparate family threads converge in the climactic chapters as Obama reaches adulthood and travels from Honolulu to Los Angeles to New York to Chicago, trying to make sense of his past, establish his own identity, and prepare for his political future.

The Bridge by David Remnick

In this nuanced and complex portrait of Barack Obama, Pulitzer Prize-winner David Remnick offers a thorough, intricate, and riveting account of the unique experiences that shaped our nation’s first African American president.

Through extensive on-the-record interviews with friends and teachers, mentors and disparagers, family members and Obama himself, Remnick explores the elite institutions that first exposed Obama to social tensions, and the intellectual currents that contributed to his identity. Using America’s racial history as a backdrop for Obama’s own story, Remnick further reveals how an initially rootless and confused young man built on the experiences of an earlier generation of black leaders to become one of the central figures of our time.

Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama

In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father – a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man – has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey – first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance.

Rising Star by David Garrow

This gem among books on Barack Obama captivatingly describes his tumultuous upbringing as a young black man attending an almost all-white, elite private school in Honolulu while being raised almost exclusively by his white grandparents. After recounting Obama’s college years in California and New York, Garrow charts Obama’s time as a Chicago community organizer, working in some of the city’s roughest neighborhoods; his years at the top of his Harvard Law School class; and his return to Chicago, where Obama honed his skills as a hard-knuckled politician, first in the state legislature and then as a candidate for the United States Senate.

Detailing a scintillating, behind-the-scenes account of Obama’s 2004 speech, a moment that labeled him the Democratic Party’s “rising star,” Garrow also chronicles Obama’s four years in the Senate, weighing his stands on various issues against positions he had taken years earlier, and recounts his thrilling run for the White House in 2008.

This is a gripping read about a young man born into uncommon family circumstances, whose faith in his own talents came face-to-face with fantastic ambitions and a desire to do good in the world.

Obama’s Wars by Bob Woodward

In  Obama’s Wars , Bob Woodward provides the most intimate and sweeping portrait yet of the young president as commander in chief. Drawing on internal memos, classified documents, meeting notes and hundreds of hours of interviews with most of the key players, including the president, Woodward tells the inside story of Obama making the critical decisions on the Afghanistan War, the secret campaign in Pakistan, and the worldwide fight against terrorism.

At the core of  Obama’s Wars is the unsettled division between the civilian leadership in the White House and the United States military as the president is thwarted in his efforts to craft an exit plan for the Afghanistan War.

Hovering over this debate is the possibility of another terrorist attack in the United States. The White House led a secret exercise showing how unprepared the government is if terrorists set off a nuclear bomb in an American city – which Obama told Woodward is at the top of the list of what he worries about all the time.

A Promised Land by Barack Obama

In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency – a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.

Obama takes readers on a compelling journey from his earliest political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory that demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to the watershed night of November 4, 2008, when he was elected 44th president of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the nation’s highest office.

Reflecting on the presidency, he offers a unique and thoughtful exploration of both the awesome reach and the limits of presidential power, as well as singular insights into the dynamics of U.S. partisan politics and international diplomacy. Obama brings readers inside the Oval Office and the White House Situation Room, and to Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, and points beyond. We are privy to his thoughts as he assembles his cabinet, wrestles with a global financial crisis, takes the measure of Vladimir Putin, overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act, clashes with generals about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, tackles Wall Street reform, responds to the devastating  Deepwater Horizon blowout, and authorizes Operation Neptune’s Spear, which leads to the death of Osama bin Laden.

Barack and Michelle by Christopher Andersen

Subtitled Portrait of an American Marriage,  here is the first in-depth look at the popular U.S. President and his beautiful, brilliant, and stylish First Lady. Andersen, already internationally acclaimed for his intimate portraits of the Kennedys, Bushs, and Clintons now celebrates the unique union of President and Mrs. Obama with Barack and Michelle , shedding fascinating light on a romantic relationship and a political destiny like no other.

Game Change by John Heilemann

Game Change   is the  New York Times  bestselling story of the 2008 presidential election, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, two of the best political reporters in the country. In the spirit of Richard Ben Cramer’s  What It Takes  and Theodore H. White’s  The Making of the President 1960 , this classic campaign trail book tells the defining story of a new era in American politics, going deeper behind the scenes of the Obama/Biden and McCain/Palin campaigns than any other account of the historic 2008 election.

The Oath by Jeffrey Toobin

From the moment John Roberts, the chief justice of the United States, blundered through the Oath of Office at Barack Obama’s inauguration, the relationship between the Supreme Court and the White House has been confrontational. Both men are young, brilliant, charismatic, charming, determined to change the course of the nation, and completely at odds on almost every major constitutional issue.

This ideological war will crescendo during the 2011-2012 term, in which several landmark cases are on the Court’s docket – most crucially, a challenge to Obama’s controversial health-care legislation. With four new justices joining the Court in just five years, including Obama’s appointees Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, this is a dramatically – and historically – different Supreme Court, playing for the highest of stakes.

The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

In July 2004, four years before his presidency, Barack Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention with an address that spoke to Americans across the political spectrum. One phrase in particular anchored itself in listeners’ minds, a reminder that for all the discord and struggle to be found in our history as a nation, we have always been guided by a dogged optimism in the future, or what Obama called “the audacity of hope.”

The Audacity of Hope is Barack Obama’s call for a different brand of politics – a politics for those weary of bitter partisanship   and alienated by the “endless clash of armies” we see in congress and on the campaign trail; a politics rooted in the faith, inclusiveness, and nobility of spirit at the heart of “our improbable experiment in democracy.”

He explores those forces – from the fear of losing to the perpetual need to raise money to the power of the media – that can stifle even the best-intentioned politician. He also writes, with surprising intimacy and self-deprecating humor, about settling in as a senator, seeking to balance the demands of public service and family life, and his own deepening religious commitment.

If you enjoyed this guide to essential books on Barack Obama, check out our list of The 10 Best Books on President Bill Clinton !

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At a glance: the Obama presidency

• Politics and ascent to the presidency
• The Nobel Peace Prize and partisanship
• Passage of health care reform
• Economic challenges
• Deepwater Horizon oil spill
• Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
• The midterm congressional election and its aftermath
• Upheaval in the Middle East
• Budget battles
• The 2012 election
• The gun-control debate and sequestration
• Spring scandals and summer challenges
• Taking heat and taking the lead
• Executive action and the 2014 midterm election
• Baltimore riot, Charleston shooting, Supreme Court approval of same-sex marriage, and agreement with Iran
• More executive action
• Historic trips and more shootings
• Life after the presidency
• President Obama’s cabinet

Who were Barack Obama’s parents?

Where did barack obama attend school, what did barack obama do for a living, what did barack obama write, what is barack obama famous for.

Barack Obama

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• Table Of Contents

Barack Obama’s parents married while students at the University of Hawaii . His father, Barack Obama, Sr., a Kenyan, became an economist in the government of Kenya. His mother, S. Ann Dunham, became an anthropologist. They divorced in 1964. Ann then married (and later divorced) another foreign student, Indonesian Lolo Soetoro.

Barack Obama graduated from Punahou School, an elite academy in Honolulu , and then attended Occidental College before transferring to Columbia University and earning (1983) a B.A. in political science . He graduated (1991) magna cum laude from Harvard University ’s law school and was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review .

After working as a writer and editor in Manhattan , Barack Obama became a community organizer in Chicago , lectured on constitutional law at the University of Chicago , worked as a civil rights attorney, and then served in the Illinois Senate (1997–2004), as a U.S. senator (2005–08), and as U.S. president (2009–17).

Barack Obama’s first book, Dreams from My Father (1995), is the story of his search for his biracial identity by tracing the lives of his now-deceased father and extended family in Kenya . His second book, The Audacity of Hope (2006), is a polemic on his vision for the United States.

Barack Obama was the first African American president of the United States (2009–17). He oversaw the recovery of the U.S. economy (from the Great Recession of 2008–09 ) and the enactment of landmark health care reform (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ). In 2009 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Are DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and the DREAM Act, supported by Barack Obama, good for America?

Whether DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and the DREAM Act, supported by Barack Obama, are good for America is widely debated. Some say the policies are are good for the U.S. economy and deporting Dreamers is cruel. Others say the policies only encourage more illegal immigration and amnesty should not be given to law breakers. For more on the Dreamer debate, visit ProCon.org .

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Barack Obama (born August 4, 1961, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.) is the 44th president of the United States (2009–17) and the first African American to hold the office. Before winning the presidency, Obama represented Illinois in the U.S. Senate (2005–08). He was the third African American to be elected to that body since the end of Reconstruction (1877). In 2009 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

Obama’s father, Barack Obama, Sr., was a teenage goatherd in rural Kenya , won a scholarship to study in the United States , and eventually became a senior economist in the Kenyan government. Obama’s mother, S. Ann Dunham , grew up in Kansas , Texas , and Washington state before her family settled in Honolulu . In 1960 she and Barack Sr. met in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaii and married less than a year later.

When Obama was age two, Barack Sr. left to study at Harvard University ; shortly thereafter, in 1964, Ann and Barack Sr. divorced. (Obama saw his father only one more time, during a brief visit when Obama was 10.) Later Ann remarried, this time to another foreign student, Lolo Soetoro from Indonesia , with whom she had a second child, Maya. Obama lived for several years in Jakarta with his half sister, mother, and stepfather. While there, Obama attended both a government-run school where he received some instruction in Islam and a Catholic private school where he took part in Christian schooling.

He returned to Hawaii in 1971 and lived in a modest apartment, sometimes with his grandparents and sometimes with his mother (she remained for a time in Indonesia, returned to Hawaii, and then went abroad again—partly to pursue work on a Ph.D.—before divorcing Soetoro in 1980). For a brief period his mother was aided by government food stamps, but the family mostly lived a middle-class existence. In 1979 Obama graduated from Punahou School, an elite college preparatory academy in Honolulu.

Obama attended Occidental College in suburban Los Angeles for two years and then transferred to Columbia University in New York City , where in 1983 he received a bachelor’s degree in political science . Influenced by professors who pushed him to take his studies more seriously, Obama experienced great intellectual growth during college and for a couple of years thereafter. He led a rather ascetic life and read works of literature and philosophy by William Shakespeare , Friedrich Nietzsche , Toni Morrison , and others. After serving for a couple of years as a writer and editor for Business International Corp., a research, publishing, and consulting firm in Manhattan , he took a position in 1985 as a community organizer on Chicago ’s largely impoverished Far South Side. He returned to school three years later and graduated magna cum laude in 1991 from Harvard University ’s law school, where he was the first African American to serve as president of the Harvard Law Review . While a summer associate in 1989 at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin, Obama had met Chicago native Michelle Robinson , a young lawyer at the firm. The two married in 1992.

After receiving his law degree, Obama moved to Chicago and became active in the Democratic Party . He organized Project Vote, a drive that registered tens of thousands of African Americans on voting rolls and that is credited with helping Democrat Bill Clinton win Illinois and capture the presidency in 1992. The effort also helped make Carol Moseley Braun , an Illinois state legislator, the first African American woman elected to the U.S. Senate . During this period, Obama wrote his first book and saw it published. The memoir, Dreams from My Father (1995), is the story of Obama’s search for his biracial identity by tracing the lives of his now-deceased father and his extended family in Kenya. Obama lectured on constitutional law at the University of Chicago and worked as an attorney on civil rights issues.

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Barack Obama Book: The Biography of Barack Obama Kindle Edition

• Print length 63 pages
• Language English
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• Publication date March 7, 2021
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• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08Y94VMRV
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ University Press (March 7, 2021)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 7, 2021
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 1811 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 63 pages
• #125 in 90-Minute Biography & Memoir Short Reads
• #136 in 21st Century History of the U.S.
• #213 in Biographies of US Presidents

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Customers find the book well-written, concise, and informative. They appreciate the detailed and long 700 pages. Readers also appreciate the simplicity of the format.

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‘A Promised Land’: President Obama’s new book and the Obama Presidential Center

• Barack Obama
• Building the Center

In an excerpt from President Obama’s new memoir (Opens in a new tab) , "A Promised Land," he notes that he wrote the book primarily for young people, as “an invitation to once again remake the world, and to bring about, through hard work, determination, and a big dose of imagination, an America that finally aligns with all that is best in us.” That idea is central to our mission in building the Obama Presidential Center .

At the Center, visitors will experience the Obama presidency and hear first hand from those who lived through the events President Obama writes about—moments of celebration, like Election Night 2008; the weight of presidential decision-making, such as the work to save the economy in 2009; and days of triumph, like the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. But they’ll also learn about a theme that runs through "A Promised Land"—the push and pull of progress, and the work across generations to build a “more perfect union” that lives up to our founding ideals.

For that reason, we have an obligation not just to tell the story of a historic President and First Lady, but also those on whose shoulders they stood over time. President and Mrs. Obama know their journey was only made possible by those who came before, and visitors to the Center will learn about the movements that defined our history as well as the people who made Chicago what it is today. Taken together, their stories offer a testament to the power of ordinary citizens working together to bring about change.

More than just a world-class museum, the Center will engage visitors and connect them with ways to shape their own future for the common good. Rooted in the Foundation’s mission to inspire, empower, and connect people to change their world , it will serve as a gathering space for the South Side of Chicago, generate billions of dollars in economic opportunity, and stand as a reminder to millions of visitors that their potential is limitless.

Check out a tour of the Obama Presidential Center and some examples of the stories it will tell.

The Obama Presidential Center: A Place to Get Active and Take Action

The Obamas’ story is rooted in the history of the South Side. Earlier this year, we celebrated the Black History of Jackson Park, the site of the future Obama Presidential Center.

Celebrating the Black History of Jackson Park

We know that we can only build this Museum with the help of the local community. That’s why we’ve held a series of community collections gatherings to meet the people who made this story possible and see the Obama keepsakes that might one day appear as Museum artifacts.

Obama Foundation Community Collections Gathering: Chicago

Ten years ago this year, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. We spoke to one of the letter writers who helped push for health care reform, and listened to President Obama reflect on why the night the ACA passed was more meaningful than the night he was elected President.

President Obama shares why the night the ACA passed meant more to him than election night

The story of the Obama presidency is not just one of legislation passed or policies implemented, it includes days that defined the era. June 26, 2015 was one of those days—the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in favor of same-sex marriage, President Obama’s eulogized Reverend Clementa Pinckney, who was killed alongside eight of his parishioners at Mother Emanuel AME, and the White House lit up in rainbow colors in recognition of marriage equality. This video marks the five year anniversary of that day and is narrated by those who experienced moments of change, grace, and celebration firsthand.

Justice Like a Thunderbolt: A Look Back at June 26, 2015

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Barack Obama: A Biography

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Table of Contents

• Front Cover.
• Half Title Page.
• Recent Titles in Greenwood Biographies.
• Title Page.
• Copyright Page.
• Other Frontmatter.
• Series Foreword.
• Introduction.
• Timeline: Events Significant to the Life of Barack Obama.
• 1: Family History.
• 2: Formative Years in Hawaii and Indonesia.
• 3: College and Community Activism in Chicago.
• 4: A Trip to Kenya and Harvard Law School.
• 5: Teaching Constitutional Law, Marriage, Family, and Illinois State Politics.
• 6: The Senator from the State of Illinois.
• 7: Best-Selling Author, Michelle Obama, and Another Trip to Africa.
• 8: Obamamania, an Exploratory Committee, and the Announcement.
• 9: The Campaign for the Presidency.
• 10: The Campaign Continues.
• Bibliography.
• About the Author.

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Barack Obama

The 44 th president of the United States, Barack Obama is the first Black American who has been elected to the Oval Office. He served from 2009 until 2017.

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Early life and family, marriage to michelle obama and daughters, illinois political career, 2008 presidential election and inauguration, first term as u.s. president, second term as u.s. president, notable speeches, life after the presidency, how tall is obama, books and grammy, movies about obama.

1961-present

Who Is Barack Obama?

Barack Obama was the 44 th president of the United States and the first Black commander-in-chief. He served two terms, from 2009 until 2017. The son of parents from Kenya and Kansas, Obama was born and raised in Hawaii. He graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Law Review . After serving on the Illinois State Senate, he was elected a U.S. senator representing Illinois in 2004. In 2009, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize . He and his wife, Michelle Obama , have two daughters, Malia and Sasha .

FULL NAME: Barack Hussein Obama II BORN: August 4, 1961 BIRTHPLACE: Honolulu, Hawaii SPOUSE: Michelle Obama (1992-present) CHILDREN: Malia and Sasha ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Leo

Barack Hussein Obama II was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu to Barack Obama Sr. and Ann Dunham. He has six half-siblings, including half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng who he grew up with.

Obama’s Parents

Obama’s father, Barack Obama Sr., was born of Luo ethnicity in Nyanza Province, Kenya. Obama Sr. grew up herding goats in Africa and eventually earned a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya and pursue his dreams of going to college in Hawaii.

Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, was born on an Army base in Wichita, Kansas, during World War II. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dunham’s father, Stanley, enlisted in the military and marched across Europe in General George Patton ’s army. Dunham’s mother, Madelyn, went to work on a bomber assembly line. After the war, the couple studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and after several moves, ended up in Hawaii.

While studying at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Obama Sr. met fellow student Ann Dunham. They married on February 2, 1961, and Barack II was born six months later. As a child, Obama did not have a relationship with his father. When his son was still an infant, Obama Sr. relocated to Massachusetts to attend Harvard University and pursue a doctorate degree. Obama’s parents officially separated several months later and ultimately divorced in March 1964, when their son was 2. Soon after, Obama Sr. returned to Kenya.

In 1965, Dunham married Lolo Soetoro, a University of Hawaii student from Indonesia. A year later, the family moved to Jakarta, Indonesia, where Obama’s half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng was born in 1970. Several incidents in Indonesia left Dunham afraid for her son’s safety and education, so at the age of 10, Obama was sent back to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents. His mother and half-sister later joined them.

Obama struggled with the absence of his father, whom he saw only once more after his parents divorced when Obama Sr. visited Hawaii for a short time in 1971. “[My father] had left paradise, and nothing that my mother or grandparents told me could obviate that single, unassailable fact,” he later reflected. “They couldn’t describe what it might have been like had he stayed.”

Life in Hawaii

While living with his grandparents, Obama enrolled in the esteemed Punahou School. He excelled in basketball and graduated with academic honors in 1979. As one of only three Black students at the school, he became conscious of racism and what it meant to be African American.

Obama later described how he struggled to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage with his own sense of self: “I noticed that there was nobody like me in the Sears, Roebuck Christmas catalog... and that Santa was a white man,” he wrote. “I went into the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror with all my senses and limbs seemingly intact, looking as I had always looked, and wondered if something was wrong with me.”

Obama’s Half-Siblings

Obama’s family includes six half-siblings located around the world. He shares a mother with half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng and has five paternal half-siblings.

According to Oprah Daily , he has maintained a warm and close relationship with half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng. The two grew up together and both graduated from the Punahou School. “He took his job as big brother seriously,” she said of Obama. “Our mother divorced my father, and our grandfather died. So he really ended up being the man of the house.” Soetoro-Ng campaigned for Obama in both the 2008 and 2012 elections, and the two have shared family vacations in Indonesia and Christmases in Hawaii.

Obama’s oldest paternal half-sibling, Malik Obama, was born in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1958, and the two didn’t meet until 1985. Malik told the Associated Press in 2004 he served as the best man at Barack’s wedding and vice versa. However, Malik notably criticized Obama’s presidency in 2016 and announced his support for Republican candidate Donald Trump in that year’s election. He attended the third presidential debate as Trump’s guest.

Barack’s other half-siblings include:

• Half-sister Auma Obama, born 1960 in Nairobi. She and Barack met for the first time when they were in their 20s in Chicago.
• Half-brother Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo, born in Nairobi in 1965. He and Barack have met several times following their 1988 introduction in Kenya.
• Half-brother David Ndesandjo, born in 1967. Although it’s not clear when, he died in a motorcycle accident, according to Politico .
• Half-brother George Hussein Onyango Obama, born in 1982 in Kenya. Barack has only spoken to his youngest half-brother a few times.

Obama entered Occidental College in Los Angeles in 1979. After two years, he transferred to Columbia University in New York City, graduating in 1983 with a degree in political science.

After his undergrad studies, Obama worked in the business sector for two years. He moved to Chicago in 1985, where he worked on the impoverished South Side as a community organizer for low-income residents in the Roseland and the Altgeld Gardens communities.

It was during this time that Obama, who said he “was not raised in a religious household,” joined the Trinity United Church of Christ. He also visited relatives in Kenya and paid an emotional visit to the graves of his biological father, who died in a car accident in November 1982, and his paternal grandfather.

“For a long time, I sat between the two graves and wept,” Obama wrote. “I saw that my life in America—the Black life, the white life, the sense of abandonment I’d felt as a boy, the frustration and hope I’d witnessed in Chicago—all of it was connected with this small plot of earth an ocean away.”

Returning from Kenya with a sense of renewal, Obama entered Harvard Law School in 1988. The next year, he met with constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe. Their discussion so impressed Tribe that when Obama asked to join his team as a research assistant, the professor agreed. In February 1990, Obama was elected the first Black president of the Harvard Law Review . He graduated magna cum laude with his juris doctor from Harvard Law School in 1991.

In 1989, while still in law school, Obama joined the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin as a summer associate. There, he met Michelle Robinson, a young lawyer who was assigned to be his adviser. Initially, Michelle refused to date Barack, believing that their work relationship would make the romance improper. However, she relented not long after, and the couple fell in love.

On October 3, 1992, he and Michelle were married. They moved to Kenwood, on Chicago’s South Side. Barack and Michelle welcomed two daughters several years later: Malia , born in 1998, and Sasha , born in 2001. The couple has stated that their personal priority is their children. The Obamas tried to make their daughters’ world as “normal” as possible while living in the White House, with set times for studying, going to bed and getting up.

After law school, Obama returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer with the firm of Miner, Barnhill & Galland. He also taught constitutional law part-time at the University of Chicago Law School between 1992 and 2004—first as a lecturer and then as a professor—and helped organize voter registration drives during Bill Clinton ’s 1992 presidential campaign.

Obama’s advocacy work led him to run for and win a seat in the Illinois State Senate as a Democrat in 1996. During his years as a state senator, Obama worked with both Democrats and Republicans to draft legislation on ethics, as well as expand health care services and early childhood education programs for the poor. He also created a state earned-income tax credit for the working poor. As chairman of the Illinois Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee, Obama worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases after a number of death-row inmates were found to be innocent.

In 2000, Obama made an unsuccessful Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of Representatives seat held by four-term incumbent candidate Bobby Rush. Undeterred, he created a campaign committee in 2002 and began raising funds to run for a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2004. With the help of political consultant David Axelrod, Obama began assessing his prospects for a Senate win.

Illinois Senator

Encouraged by poll numbers, Obama decided to run for the open U.S. Senate seat, vacated by Republican Peter Fitzgerald. In the 2004 Democratic primary, he defeated multimillionaire businessman Blair Hull and Illinois Comptroller Daniel Hynes with 52 percent of the vote.

That summer, he was invited to deliver the keynote speech in support of John Kerry at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. Obama emphasized the importance of unity and made veiled jabs at the George W. Bush administration and the diversionary use of wedge issues.

After the convention, Obama returned to his U.S. Senate bid in Illinois. His opponent in the general election was supposed to be Republican primary winner Jack Ryan, a wealthy former investment banker. However, Ryan withdrew from the race in June 2004 following public disclosure of unsubstantiated sexual deviancy allegations by his ex-wife, actor Jeri Ryan. That August, diplomat and former presidential candidate Alan Keyes accepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan.

In the November 2004 general election, Obama received 70 percent of the vote to Keyes’ 27 percent, the largest electoral victory in Illinois history. With his win, Obama became only the third African American elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction.

Sworn into office on January 3, 2005, Obama partnered with Republican Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana on a bill that expanded efforts to destroy weapons of mass destruction in Eastern Europe and Russia. Then, with Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, he created a website to track all federal spending. Obama also spoke out for victims of Hurricane Katrina, pushed for alternative energy development, and championed improved veterans’ benefits.

In February 2007, Obama made headlines when he announced his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. He was locked in a tight battle with then-U.S. senator from New York Hillary Rodham Clinton . On June 3, 2008, Obama became the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee after winning a sufficient number of pledged delegates during the primaries.

He campaigned on an ambitious agenda of financial reform, alternative energy, and reinventing education and health care—all while bringing down the national debt. Because these issues were intertwined with the economic well-being of the nation, he believed all would have to be undertaken simultaneously.

On November 4, 2008, Obama defeated Republican presidential nominee John McCain , 52.9 percent to 45.7 percent, in the popular vote and won election as the 44 th president of the United States. A historic victory, Obama would soon be the first Black president in the nation’s history.

Obama’s inauguration took place on January 20, 2009. When he took office at age 47, Obama inherited a global economic recession, two ongoing foreign wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the lowest-ever international favorability rating for the United States. During his inauguration speech, Obama summarized the situation by saying, “Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious, and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.”

First 100 Days and Nobel Peace Prize

Obama coaxed Congress to expand health care insurance for children and provide legal protection for women seeking equal pay. A $787 billion stimulus bill was passed to promote short-term economic growth in the face of the Great Recession. Housing and credit markets were put on life support, with a market-based plan to buy U.S. banks’ toxic assets. The government made loans to the auto industry, and new regulations were proposed for Wall Street.

Obama cut taxes for working families, small businesses, and first-time home buyers. The president also loosened the ban on embryonic stem cell research and moved ahead with a $3.5 trillion budget plan.

Obama undertook a complete overhaul of America’s foreign policy. He reached out to improve relations with Europe, China, and Russia and to open dialogue with Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba. He lobbied allies to support a global economic stimulus package. He committed an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan and set an August 2010 date for withdrawal of nearly all U.S. troops from Iraq. (Obama was an early opponent of President George W. Bush’s push to invade Iraq as part of the “war on terror” initiative, saying at an October 2002 rally: “I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.”)

In more dramatic incidents, Obama ordered an attack on pirates off the coast of Somalia and prepared the nation for a swine flu outbreak. He signed an executive order banning excessive interrogation techniques and ordered the closing of the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba within a year—a deadline that ultimately would not be met.

In recognition of his administration’s early work, the Nobel Committee in Norway awarded Obama the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

Affordable Care Act

Obama signed his signature health care reform plan, the Affordable Care Act, into law in March 2010. The new law prohibited the denial of coverage based on preexisting conditions, allowed citizens under 26 years old to be insured under parental plans, provided for free health screenings for certain citizens, and expanded insurance coverage and access to medical care to millions of Americans.

Casually known as “Obamacare,” the hallmark legislation faced strong opposition from Congressional Republicans and the populist Tea Party movement even after its passage. In October 2013, a dispute over the federal budget and Republican desires to defund or derail the Affordable Care Act caused a 16-day shutdown of the federal government.

The rollout of the reforms were initially bumpy. October 2013 saw the failed launch of HealthCare.gov, the website meant to allow people to find and purchase health insurance. Extra technical support was brought in to work on the troubled website, which was plagued with glitches for weeks. The health care law was also blamed for some Americans losing their existing insurance policies, despite repeated assurances from Obama that such cancellations would not occur.

The legislation has faced numerous challenges in court and wound up at the U.S. Supreme Court three times. In June 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, which required citizens to purchase health insurance or pay a tax. In a 5-4 decision, the court said that the health care law’s signature provision fell within the taxation power granted to Congress under the Constitution.

In the summer of 2015, the Supreme Court upheld part of the Act regarding health care tax subsidies. Without these tax credits, buying medical insurance might have become too costly for millions of people.

The latest Supreme Court decision about the Affordable Care Act began in 2017 when Congressional Republicans dropped the individual mandate tax penalty to zero. Texas and 17 other Republican states quickly sued to strike down the Affordable Care Act, mainly based on their opposition to its individual mandate. A Texas federal judge ruled in favor of the suit, saying that because there was no longer a tax, the law was unconstitutional.

The case was sent to an appeals court. A final ruling came in June 2021 when the U.S. Supreme Court voted , 7-2, to uphold the Affordable Care Act on the grounds that the objecting states were not required to pay anything under the mandate provision and thus had no standing to bring the challenge to court. As of January 2023, nearly 15.9 million Americans were insured through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace.

Killing Osama bin Laden

On April 29, 2011, Obama approved a covert operation in Pakistan to track down infamous al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden , the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks who had been in hiding for nearly 10 years. On May 2, an elite team of U.S. Navy SEALs raided a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and, within 40 minutes, killed bin Laden in a firefight. There were no American casualties, and the team was able to collect invaluable intelligence about the workings of al-Qaeda.

The same day, Obama announced bin Laden’s death on national television. “The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al-Qaeda,” Obama said. “As we do, we must also reaffirm that the United States is not—and never will be—at war with Islam.”

Repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

In 2011, Obama signed a repeal of the military policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which prevented openly gay troops from serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. He became the first president to voice support for same-sex marriage in May 2012.

2012 Reelection and Second Term Priorities

As he did in 2008, during his campaign for a second presidential term, Obama focused on grassroots initiatives. Celebrities such as Anna Wintour and Sarah Jessica Parker aided the president’s campaign by hosting fundraising events.

In the 2012 general election, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden faced Republican opponent Mitt Romney and his vice-presidential running mate, U.S. Representative Paul Ryan . On November 6, 2012, Obama won a second term as president, capturing more than 60 percent of the Electoral College.

Obama officially began his second term on January 21, 2013, when U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath of office. In his second inaugural address, Obama called the nation to action on such issues as climate change, health care, the federal deficit, and marriage equality. Although he made progress on some of these fronts, he also faced waning public support—his approval rating hit a low of 38 percent in September 2014, according to a Gallup poll —and a divided government, when Republicans controlled both houses of Congress for the final two years of Obama’s administration.

NSA Wiretapping Controversy

In June 2013, after Edward Snowden shared confidential government documents with journalists, the news broke that the National Security Agency’s surveillance program was much broader than American citizens knew. Obama defended the NSA’s email monitoring and telephone wiretapping during a visit to Germany that month. “We are not rifling through the emails of German citizens or American citizens or French citizens or anyone else,” he said. Obama stated that the program had helped stop roughly 50 threats.

However, the president suffered a significant drop in his approval ratings, to 45 percent, partially due to the revelations. In October 2013, German Chancellor Angela Merkel revealed that the NSA had been listening in to her cell phone calls. “Spying among friends is never acceptable,” Merkel told a summit of European leaders.

ISIS Airstrikes

In late summer 2013, Obama was unsuccessful in his attempts to persuade Congress, and the international community at large, to take military action against Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad , who had used chemical weapons against his country’s civilians. But there was interest in combatting the self-proclaimed Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, which had seized large portions of Iraq and Syria and conducted high-profile beheadings of foreign hostages.

In August 2014, Obama ordered the first airstrikes against the Islamic State on targets in Syria, though the president pledged to keep combat troops out of the conflict. Several Arab countries joined the airstrikes against the extremist group. “The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force,” Obama said in a speech to the United Nations. “So the United States of America will work with a broad coalition to dismantle this network of death.”

Efforts to dismantle the Islamic State have continued after Obama’s presidency. As recently as April 2023, a top ISIS leader was killed in an airstrike. However, U.S. airstrikes have also been responsible for a large civilian death toll. As of December 2021, more than 1,400 people have died, according to military officials. Outside watchdog organizations, like Airwars, estimate the number of casualties could be as many as several thousand.

Iran Nuclear Deal and Other Foreign Diplomacy

In September 2013, Obama made diplomatic strides with Iran. He spoke with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the phone, which marked the first direct contact between the leaders of the two countries in more than 30 years.

This groundbreaking move by Obama was seen by many as a sign of thawing in the relationship between the United States and Iran. “The two of us discussed our ongoing efforts to reach an agreement over Iran’s nuclear program,” reported Obama at a press conference.

In July 2015, Obama announced that, after lengthy negotiations, the United States and five world powers had reached an agreement with Iran. The deal allowed inspectors entry into Iran to make sure the country kept its pledge to limit its nuclear program and enrich uranium at a much lower level than would be needed for a nuclear weapon. In return, the United States and its partners removed the tough sanctions imposed on Iran and allowed the country to ramp up sales of oil and access frozen bank accounts. That year, Obama also traveled to India and reached a civilian nuclear agreement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that opened the door to U.S. investment in India’s energy industry.

Elsewhere, Obama moved to reestablish diplomatic ties with Cuba in December 2014. He and Cuban President Raul Castro announced the normalizing of diplomatic relations between the countries for the first time since 1961. The policy change came after the exchange of American citizen Alan Gross and another unnamed American intelligence agent for three Cuban spies. However, the long-standing U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, instituted by President John F. Kennedy , remained in effect. On March 20, 2016, Obama became the first sitting American president to visit Cuba since 1928, as part of his larger program to establish greater cooperation between the two countries.

Just prior to the trip, on March 10, 2016, Obama met at the White House with newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the first official visit by a Canadian leader in nearly 20 years.

Obama’s Climate Change Policies

In August 2015, the Obama administration announced the Clean Power Plan, a major climate change policy that included the first national standards to limit carbon pollution from coal-burning power plants and called for more renewable energy from sources like wind and solar power. Ultimately, the plan never took effect after facing backlash and lawsuits from business groups, companies, 27 states, and Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell , who was then the Republican minority leader. In February 2019, the Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, to block the plan by putting a hold on regulations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, mostly from coal power plants. That June, the Clean Power Plan was replaced by with the Affordable Clean Energy rule .

Obama also worked to respond to climate change on the global level. In November 2015, he was a primary player in the international COP21 summit held outside of Paris that resulted in the Paris Climate Agreement. The agreement requires all participating nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to limit the rise of global temperatures and also to allocate resources for the research and development of alternative energy sources.

Obama pledged that the United States would cut its emissions more than 25 percent by 2030. On October 5, 2016, the United Nations announced the Paris Climate Agreement had been ratified by a sufficient number of countries—including China and the United States, the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases—to allow it to take effect starting on November 4, 2016. But on June 1, 2017, President Donald Trump made good on his campaign promise to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.

Supreme Court Nominees

During his presidency, Obama filled two seats in the Supreme Court: Sonia Sotomayor , who was confirmed in 2009 and is the court’s first Hispanic justice, and Elena Kagan , who was confirmed in 2010. Both justices were confirmed under a Democratic-majority Senate.

After the unexpected death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, Obama once again had an open Supreme Court seat to fill. In March, the president held a press conference at the White House to present 63-year-old U.S. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Merrick Garland as his nominee for replacing the conservative stalwart. Garland was considered a moderate “consensus” candidate.

Garland’s nomination was immediately rebuffed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and others in the Republican Party. They stated their intention to block any nominee put forward by Obama, fearing that such a confirmation would tip the balance toward a more liberal-leaning court. Garland was never granted a Senate confirmation hearing, and the seat sat empty until April 2017 when Neil Gorsuch , nominated by President Donald Trump, was confirmed.

Last Days in Office and Presidential Legacy

On January 19, 2017, Obama’s last full day in office, he announced 330 commutations for nonviolent drug offenders. The presidents granted a total of 1,715 clemencies, including commuting the sentence of Chelsea Manning , the U.S. Army intelligence analyst who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking classified information to WikiLeaks.

Over the course of his administration, Obama led the country away from financial catastrophe as the Great Recession gave away to market stability and a declining unemployment rate. He expanded the country’s diplomatic relations, and the Affordable Care Act marked the biggest health care expansion since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid. Although he made inroads on immigration reform through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the United States continues to face a broken immigration system.

Obama also struggled to enact the gun control measures he hoped for, such as universal background checks and the resurrection of the federal ban on sales of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Some of the mass shootings during his time include at Sandy Hook Elementary School (20 children and six adult fatalities) in Connecticut; an Aurora, Colorado movie theater (12 fatalities); a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina (9 fatalities); and a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida (49 fatalities).

Ever the optimist, Obama shared these parting words at his last press conference with the White House press corps:

“I believe in this country. I believe in the American people. I believe that people are more good than bad. I believe tragic things happen. I think there’s evil in the world, but I think at the end of the day, if we work hard and if we’re true to those things in us that feel true and feel right, that the world gets a little better each time. That’s what this presidency has tried to be about. And I see that in the young people I’ve worked with. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

2010 State of the Union

On January 27, 2010, Obama delivered his first State of the Union speech. During his oration, Obama addressed the challenges of the economy, proposed a fee for larger banks, announced a possible freeze on government spending in the following fiscal year, and spoke against the Supreme Court’s reversal of a law capping campaign finance spending.

Obama also challenged politicians to stop thinking of reelection and start making positive changes. He criticized Republicans for their refusal to support legislation and chastised Democrats for not pushing hard enough to get legislation passed.

He also insisted that, despite obstacles, he was determined to help American citizens through the nation’s current domestic difficulties. “We don’t quit. I don’t quit,” he said. “Let’s seize this moment to start anew, to carry the dream forward, and to strengthen our union once more.”

2015 State of the Union

In his 2015 State of the Union address, Obama declared that the nation was out of recession. “America, for all that we’ve endured; for all the grit and hard work required to come back... know this: The shadow of crisis has passed,” he said. He went on to share his vision for ways to improve the nation through free community college programs and middle-class tax breaks.

With Democrats outnumbered by Republicans in both the House and the Senate, Obama threatened to use his executive power to prevent any tinkering by the opposition on his existing policies. “We can’t put the security of families at risk by taking away their health insurance, or unraveling the new rules on Wall Street, or re-fighting past battles on immigration when we’ve got to fix a broken system,” he said. “And if a bill comes to my desk that tries to do any of these things, I will veto it.”

2016 State of the Union

On January 12, 2016, Obama delivered what would be his final State of the Union address. Diverging from the typical policy-prescribing format, Obama’s message for the American people was centered around themes of optimism in the face of adversity, asking them not to let fears about security or the future get in the way of building a nation that is “clear-eyed” and “big-hearted.”

This did not prevent him from taking thinly disguised jabs at Republican presidential hopefuls for what he characterized as their “cynical” rhetoric, making further allusions to the “rancor and suspicion between the parties” and his failure as president to do more to bridge that gap.

Farewell Address

On January 10, 2017, Obama returned to his adopted home city of Chicago to deliver his farewell address. In his speech, Obama spoke about his early days in the Windy City and his continued faith in the power of Americans who participate in their democracy.

He called on politicians and American citizens to come together despite their differences. “Understand, democracy does not require uniformity,” he said. “Our founders quarreled, and compromised, and expected us to do the same. But they knew that democracy does require a basic sense of solidarity—the idea that for all our outward differences, we are all in this together; that we rise or fall as one.”

Obama also appealed for tolerance along racial and ethnic lines and curbing discrimination:

“After my election, there was talk of a post-racial America. Such a vision, however well-intended, was never realistic. All of us have more work to do. After all, if every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hardworking white middle class and undeserving minorities, then workers of all shades will be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves.

“If we decline to invest in the children of immigrants, just because they don’t look like us, we diminish the prospects of our own children—because those brown kids will represent a larger share of America’s workforce. Going forward, we must uphold laws against discrimination... But laws alone won’t be enough. Hearts must change.”

He quoted Atticus Finch, the main character in Harper Lee ’s To Kill a Mockingbird , asking Americans to heed the fictional lawyer’s advice: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

Obama concluded his farewell address with a call to action: “My fellow Americans, it has been the honor of my life to serve you,” he said. “I won’t stop; in fact, I will be right there with you, as a citizen, for all my remaining days. But for now, whether you are young or whether you’re young at heart, I do have one final ask of you as your president—the same thing I asked when you took a chance on me eight years ago. I am asking you to believe. Not in my ability to bring about change—but in yours.”

After leaving the White House, the Obama family moved to a home in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C., to allow younger daughter Sasha to continue school there.

Obama embarked on a three-nation tour in late fall 2017, meeting with such heads of state as President Xi Jinping of China and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India.

National Portrait Gallery

On February 12, 2018, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery unveiled its official portraits of Barack and Michelle. Both rendered by African American artists, Kehinde Wiley’s work featured Barack in a chair surrounded by greenery and symbolic flowers, while Amy Sherald’s portrait of the former first lady depicted her in a flowing dress, gazing back at viewers from a sea of blue.

Netflix Content and Podcasts

In May 2018, Barack and Michelle finalized a multi-year deal with Netflix to create exclusive content for the streaming service through their production company, Higher Ground. The fruits of the collaboration first appeared with the August 2019 release of American Factory , an Oscar-winning documentary about the 2015 launch of a Chinese-owned automotive glass factory in Dayton, Ohio, and the clash of differing cultures and business interests.

The Obamas helped produce the 2020 documentary Crip Camp , which was nominated for best documentary feature at the 2021 Academy Awards. Higher Ground’s children’s series Ada Twist, Scientist and We the People each won awards at the inaugural Children’s and Family Emmy Awards in 2022.

Higher Ground has expanded into podcasts, including Renegades: Born in the USA —a series of conversations between Barack and musician Bruce Springsteen about life, music, and their love for America.

Barack Obama Presidential Center

In May 2015, the Barack Obama Foundation announced plans to construct the Barack Obama Presidential Center on the South Side of Chicago. The complex would be home to a Chicago Public Library branch, a museum, as well as office and activity spaces for the foundation.

In July 2016, Jackson Park was selected as the host site. Construction began in August 2021, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held the following month with Barack, Michelle, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot all in attendance.

The project has been the subject of two lawsuits from volunteer nonprofit Protect Our Parks, which claimed the city and state of Illinois violated their public trust obligations to protect pubic land in approving the project. They were dismissed by a federal judge in 2019 and 2022, respectively.

The project is expected to be completed by 2025 , according to the Obama Foundation.

Barack Obama Presidential Library

In September 2021, the Barack Obama Presidential Library announced plans to employ a virtual model with records available online, making it the first fully digital presidential library. According to the library, around 95 percent of the Obama administration’s Presidential records were born digital, including photos, documents, tweets, and emails.

According to White House documents , Obama’s physician measured him at 6 feet 1.5 inches tall during a 2016 physical exam.

Obama published his autobiography, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance , in 1995. The work received high praise from literary figures such as Toni Morrison . It has since been printed in more than 25 languages, including Chinese, Swedish and Hebrew. The book had a second printing in 2004 and was adapted for a children’s version. The audiobook version of Dreams , narrated by Obama, received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word album in 2006.

His second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream , was published in October 2006. It hit No. 1 on both the New York Times and Amazon’s best-seller lists.

The first volume of Obama’s presidential memoirs, A Promised Land , was released in November 2020.

Obama is one of the world’s most recognizable basketball enthusiasts. He played during his youth and for the junior varsity and varsity teams at the Punahou School, winning a state championship with the team in 1979.

Unsurprisingly, Obama became a fan of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls during his time living in Chicago. He appeared in The Last Dance , a 2020 documentary profiling Michael Jordan ’s career and final championship season with the Bulls in 1997-98.

Obama was known for playing pickup games during his first presidential campaign and throughout his presidency, with opponents including NBA and WNBA players. According to GQ , Obama also had a basketball-themed 49 th birthday party and invited stars like LeBron James , Chris Paul , Kobe Bryant , Carmelo Anthony , Magic Johnson , and Bill Russell to play for a group of wounded veterans at Washington’s Fort McNair.

Obama also became famous for filling out NCAA men’s and women’s tournament brackets every year in a segment for ESPN called “Barack-etology.” He correctly picked the men’s March Madness champion only once during his presidency: the University of North Carolina Tarheels in 2009.

In 2021, Obama joined NBA Africa as a strategic partner to help promote the league’s community efforts throughout the continent.

Other Hobbies

Obama has said he grew up a huge comic book fan and was particularly fond of Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian . He also told students at a 2015 virtual field trip that some of his favorite books included The Hardy Boys , Treasure Island , The Hobbit , and The Lord of the Rings .

As for movies and TV, Obama has cited the first two Godfather movies as his top films, and classics like Casablanca (1942), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) among his favorites . Obama is a fan of the HBO drama The Wire , as well as Mad Men , Entourage , Downton Abbey , House of Cards , and The Knick . According to a 2013 article , he is also a Star Trek fan and enjoyed watching live sports at the White House and aboard Air Force One. In addition to the NBA’s Bulls, Obama is also a fan of Chicago’s MLB team the White Sox.

In terms of music, Obama told Rolling Stone in 2008 he had “probably 30” Bob Dylan songs on his iPod. He also said he listens to The Grateful Dead; Earth, Wind and Fire; Elton John ; and The Rolling Stones. However, his favorite artist of all-time is Stevie Wonder .

Obama isn’t totally old school; he follows contemporary media and releases a yearly list of his favorite books music and television from the prior 12 months.

Barack and Michelle’s first date in Chicago was the focus of the 2016 romantic drama film Southside With You ; Parker Sawyer played Barack.

That same year, Netflix released the film Barry about Obama’s time at Columbia University.

In August 2021, HBO released the documentary series Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union in conjunction with the former president’s 60 th birthday.

• Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we meet them may be new, but those values upon which our success depends, honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism—these things are old.
• We, the People, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom which only asks what’s in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defense.
• Our government should work for us, not against us. It should help us, not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who’s willing to work.
• No single individual built America on their own. We built it together. We have been, and always will be, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all; a nation with responsibilities to ourselves and with responsibilities to one another.
• We are a nation that endures because of the courage of those who defend it.
• I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.
• So don’t let anyone tell you that change is not possible. Don’t let them tell you that standing out and speaking up about injustice is too risky. What’s too risky is keeping quiet. What’s too risky is looking the other way.
• Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law—for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.
• I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting.
• It is easier to start wars than to end them.
• We don’t quit. I don’t quit. Let’s seize this moment to start anew, to carry the dream forward, and strengthen our union once more.
• It’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you will realize your true potential.
• What Washington needs is adult supervision.
• When Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.
• You’ve shown us, Boston, that in the face of evil, Americans will lift up what’s good. In the face of cruelty, we will choose compassion.
• If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.
• My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington.
• Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
• Hope—hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope! In the end, that is God’s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation.
• If we aren’t willing to pay a price for our values, then we should ask ourselves whether we truly believe in them at all.
• Yes, we can. Yes, we can change. Yes, we can.
• And where we are met with cynicism and doubt and fear... we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of the American people in three simple words—yes, we can.

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Tyler Piccotti first joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor in February 2023, and before that worked almost eight years as a newspaper reporter and copy editor. He is a graduate of Syracuse University. When he's not writing and researching his next story, you can find him at the nearest amusement park, catching the latest movie, or cheering on his favorite sports teams.

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You're getting a free audiobook., featured article: 55+ quotes for whenever you need a little encouragement.

We all have bad days and dry spells. We all experience moments of disappointment, sadness, and self-doubt. And occasionally, we all need an encouraging word—or several—to lift our spirits, boost our confidence, and fill us with hope. Straight from the works of best-selling and widely admired authors, here's a collection of positive and reassuring words you can turn to anytime you're in need of support.

Best Sellers

A Promised Land

• By: Barack Obama
• Narrated by: Barack Obama
• Length: 29 hrs and 10 mins
• Overall 5 out of 5 stars 54,720
• Performance 5 out of 5 stars 47,278
• Story 5 out of 5 stars 46,927

In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world....

• 5 out of 5 stars

Color me grateful.

• By Angela on 11-19-20
• Release date: 11-17-20
• Language: English
• 5 out of 5 stars 54,720 ratings

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Regular price: $36.00 or 1 credit

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Dreams from My Father

• A Story of Race and Inheritance
• Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
• Overall 5 out of 5 stars 544
• Performance 5 out of 5 stars 469
• Story 5 out of 5 stars 465

In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a Black African father and a White American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a Black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father has been killed in a car accident....

• By Gene R. on 10-26-21
• Release date: 10-05-21
• 5 out of 5 stars 544 ratings

Regular price: $24.75 or 1 credit

Sale price: $24.75 or 1 credit

The Audacity of Hope

• Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
• Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
• Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 9,744
• Performance 5 out of 5 stars 6,867
• Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 6,823

In July 2004, Barack Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention with an address that spoke to Americans across the political spectrum....

My Fellow Conservatives, Give This A Listen

• By Dallas D.L. on 02-12-15
• Release date: 09-25-06
• 4.5 out of 5 stars 9,744 ratings

Regular price: $13.50 or 1 credit

Sale price: $13.50 or 1 credit

• Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 3
• Performance 5 out of 5 stars 3
• Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 3

An international best seller which has sold over a million copies in the UK, Dreams from My Father is a refreshing, revealing portrait of a young man asking big questions about identity and belonging....

• 4.5 out of 5 stars 3 ratings

Regular price: $32.71 or 1 credit

Sale price: $32.71 or 1 credit

Los sueños de mi padre

• Una historia de raza y herencia
• Narrated by: Alejandro Vargas-Lugo
• Length: 16 hrs and 56 mins
• Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 47
• Performance 5 out of 5 stars 36
• Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 36

Las memorias que Obama relata en Los sueños de mi padre comienzan en Nueva York, donde se entera de que su padre ha fallecido en un accidente automovilístico....

Gran prosa al escribir el libro

• By Jenny Perez on 11-08-23
• Release date: 07-04-19
• Language: Spanish
• 4.5 out of 5 stars 47 ratings

Regular price: $21.59 or 1 credit

Sale price: $21.59 or 1 credit

Great Speeches by the Presidents of the United States, 1933 - 2015

• By: SpeechWorks - compilation, Barack Obama
• Narrated by: Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan
• Length: 29 hrs and 30 mins
• Original Recording
• Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 12
• Performance 5 out of 5 stars 10
• Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 10

A day that will live in infamy.... Nothing to fear but fear itself.... Ask not what your country can do for you.... Ich bin ein Berliner.... Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall....

• 4 out of 5 stars

Pairs well with history books on the full story

• By Philo on 11-11-16
• By: SpeechWorks - compilation , Barack Obama
• Narrated by: Franklin D. Roosevelt , John F. Kennedy , Ronald Reagan
• Release date: 12-30-15
• 4.5 out of 5 stars 12 ratings

Regular price: $23.36 or 1 credit

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Una tierra prometida

• Narrated by: Víctor Sabi
• Length: 36 hrs and 3 mins
• Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 390
• Performance 5 out of 5 stars 304
• Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 307

En este extraordinario primer volumen de sus esperadas memorias presidenciales, Barack Obama narra la historia de su sorprendente evolución de ser un joven en busca de su identidad a convertirse en líder del mundo occidental....

Un Obama interesante... que no es el que nos vendieron.

• By Juan Cano-Arribi Company on 04-15-21
• 4.5 out of 5 stars 390 ratings

Regular price: $39.59 or 1 credit

Sale price: $39.59 or 1 credit

Yes We Can: The Speeches of Barack Obama: Expanded Edition

• Length: 3 hrs and 15 mins
• Overall 5 out of 5 stars 174
• Performance 5 out of 5 stars 146
• Story 5 out of 5 stars 143

Expanded from the original, Yes We Can! offers highlights from speeches by Barack Obama and includes his entire inaugural address as an added bonus....

Great speeches, no index

• By kingspence on 11-11-18
• Release date: 02-08-13
• 5 out of 5 stars 174 ratings

Regular price: $11.66 or 1 credit

Sale price: $11.66 or 1 credit

• Overall 5 out of 5 stars 877
• Performance 5 out of 5 stars 767
• Story 5 out of 5 stars 760

A riveting, deeply personal account of history in the making - from the president who inspired us to believe in the power of democracy....

Sean R in Tokyo

• By Sean Rodrigues on 11-17-20
• 5 out of 5 stars 877 ratings

Regular price: $36.31 or 1 credit

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President Obama: The Collected Speeches (Extended Edition)

• Narrated by: Barack Obama, Evan Harris
• Length: 27 hrs and 46 mins
• Overall 5 out of 5 stars 5
• Story 5 out of 5 stars 3

This volume contains just under 50 key speeches presented by 44th US President Barack Obama, as delivered during his two-term presidency (2009-2016) - from the passage of healthcare reform to State of the Union addresses and speeches before the United Nations....

• By RangeleyRock on 03-13-21
• Narrated by: Barack Obama , Evan Harris
• Series: The Collected Speeches
• Release date: 02-18-21
• 5 out of 5 stars 5 ratings

Regular price: $29.95 or 1 credit

Sale price: $29.95 or 1 credit

Une Terre promise (A Promised Land)

• Les mémoires présidentiels 1
• Narrated by: Jérémie Covillault
• Length: 31 hrs and 25 mins
• Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 15
• Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 11
• Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 11

Un récit fascinant et profondément intime de l'histoire en marche, par le président qui nous a insufflé la foi dans le pouvoir de la démocratie...

J’ai adoré ce livre

• By Damien Prevot on 09-11-21
• Release date: 12-18-20
• Language: French
• 4.5 out of 5 stars 15 ratings

Regular price: $35.25 or 1 credit

Sale price: $35.25 or 1 credit

La Audacia de la Esperanza

• Reflexiones de como restaurar el Sueño Americano
• Narrated by: Erwin Dorado
• Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
• Overall 4 out of 5 stars 51
• Performance 4 out of 5 stars 36
• Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 35

En La Audacia de la Esperanza , el senador demócrata Barack Obama reclama una política diferente....

Me dio esperanza

• By Molly on 11-01-08
• Release date: 09-19-08
• 4 out of 5 stars 51 ratings

Regular price: $17.47 or 1 credit

Sale price: $17.47 or 1 credit

Of Thee I Sing

• A Letter to My Daughters
• Narrated by: Andre Braugher
• Length: 16 mins
• Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 238
• Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 198
• Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 196

Barack Obama delivers a tender, beautiful letter to his daughters in this powerful audiobook that's made to be treasured! In this poignant letter to his daughters, Barack Obama has written a moving tribute to 13 groundbreaking Americans and the ideals that have shaped our nation....

Awesome Work

• By cyril on 01-14-13
• Release date: 11-16-10
• 4.5 out of 5 stars 238 ratings

Regular price: $2.69 or 1 credit

Sale price: $2.69 or 1 credit

Ein verheißenes Land

• Narrated by: Andreas Fröhlich
• Length: 38 hrs and 10 mins
• Overall 5 out of 5 stars 2
• Performance 5 out of 5 stars 1
• Story 5 out of 5 stars 1

In diesem mit Spannung erwarteten ersten Band seiner Präsidentschaftserinnerungen, erzählt Barack Obama die Geschichte seiner...

• Language: German
• 5 out of 5 stars 2 ratings

Regular price: $37.49 or 1 credit

Sale price: $37.49 or 1 credit

• Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins
• Performance 5 out of 5 stars 2
• Story 5 out of 5 stars 2

An international best seller that has sold more than a million copies in the UK, Dreams from My Father is a refreshing, revealing portrait of a young man asking big questions about identity and belonging....

• Release date: 11-05-21

Regular price: $25.00 or 1 credit

Sale price: $25.00 or 1 credit

• Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
• Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 30
• Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 25
• Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 25

Dreams from My Father is a masterpiece: a refreshing, revealing portrait of a young man asking the big questions about identity and belonging....

Characters brought to life

• By Cleanup63 on 08-24-11
• Release date: 08-14-09
• 4.5 out of 5 stars 30 ratings

Regular price: $27.27 or 1 credit

Sale price: $27.27 or 1 credit

Change We Can Believe In

• Barack Obama's Plan to Renew America's Promise
• By: Obama for Change, Barack Obama
• Narrated by: Andre Blake
• Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
• Overall 4 out of 5 stars 128
• Performance 4 out of 5 stars 39
• Story 4 out of 5 stars 37

At this defining moment in our history, Americans are hungry for change....

proof is n the pudding

• By Jemal on 11-21-08
• By: Obama for Change , Barack Obama
• Release date: 09-05-08
• 4 out of 5 stars 128 ratings

Regular price: $15.75 or 1 credit

Sale price: $15.75 or 1 credit

This Is Your Moment

• Inspirational Commencement Speeches
• By: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair, and others
• Narrated by: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair, and others
• Length: 2 hrs and 25 mins
• Overall 0 out of 5 stars 0
• Performance 0 out of 5 stars 0
• Story 0 out of 5 stars 0

From funny to sentimental, imbued with important social and cultural commentary, these timeless speeches by successful public figures will motivate alumni to move forward with zest as they enter "the real world"....

• By: Barack Obama , Hillary Clinton , Tony Blair , Dana Gioia , Robert Gates , John Kerry , Barbara Bush
• Narrated by: Barack Obama , Hillary Clinton , Tony Blair , Dana Gioia , Robert Gates , John Kerry , Barbara Bush
• Release date: 05-19-22
• Not rated yet

Regular price: $14.00 or 1 credit

Sale price: $14.00 or 1 credit

Los sueños de mi padre [Dreams from My Father]

• Una historia de raza y herencia [A Story of Race and Inheritance]
• Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins

Ahora adaptadas para jóvenes, las memorias bestseller #1 del New York Times que Toni Morrison llamó “realmente extraordinarias” ofrecen una mirada íntima a los primeros años de Barack Obama....

• Release date: 02-23-23

Regular price: $15.29 or 1 credit

Sale price: $15.29 or 1 credit

La audacia de la esperanza [The Audacity of Hope]

• Reflexiones sobre cómo restaurar el sueño americano
• Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
• Overall 5 out of 5 stars 1

Una exposición de los puntales de las ideas e ideales políticos de Barack Obama....

• Release date: 02-25-21
• 5 out of 5 stars 1 rating

Regular price: $25.19 or 1 credit

Sale price: $25.19 or 1 credit

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President Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II was born August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to parents Barack H. Obama, Sr., and Stanley Ann Dunham. His parents divorced when he was 2 years old and he was raised by his mother, Ann, and maternal grandparents, Stanley and Madelyn Dunham. His mother later married Lolo Soetoro, and his sister Maya was born in 1970. (He also has several siblings on his father’s side.)

Obama moved with his family to Indonesia in 1967, where he attended local Indonesian schools and received additional lessons via U.S. correspondence courses under his mother’s direction.

He returned to Hawaii to live with his grandparents in 1971 and attended Punahou School, from which he graduated in 1979. Obama first attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, before transferring to Columbia University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1983.

After graduation, Obama briefly worked as an analyst at Business International Corporation in New York City, before changing his career direction toward community service organizing. He relocated to Chicago, Illinois, in 1985 when he accepted a job with the Developing Communities Project. Eventually rising to the role of Director, Obama worked with low-income communities on Chicago’s South Side, often collaborating with local religious organizations and civic groups.

After three years of community organizing, Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School. After completing his first year, he worked as a summer associate at Chicago corporate law firm of Sidley & Austin, where his mentor was Michelle Robinson, his future wife.

Obama was elected the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, prior to graduating magna cum laude in 1991. He returned to Chicago in 1992 and served as the Illinois Executive Director of PROJECT VOTE!. In 1993, he was hired as an associate at the firm of Davis Miner Barnhill & Gallard, where he largely worked on voting rights cases.

Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson were married in 1992 at Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ. They have two daughters, Malia and Natasha “Sasha.” In the summer of 1995, Obama’s first book was published. Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance detailed his personal history and search for identity.

Political Career

In 1996, Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate from the thirteenth district. As a State Senator, he served as Democratic Spokesperson for Public Health and Welfare Committee and Co-Chairman of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, in addition to being a member of the Judiciary and Revenue Committees. He also worked as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Chicago from 1996 until 2004, teaching three courses per year.

Obama was elected to a second term in the Illinois State Senate in November 1998. In 2000, Obama made his first run for the U.S. Congress when he sought the Democratic U.S. House seat in Illinois First District. He lost to incumbent Representative Bobby Rush by a margin of more than 2-to-1.

In July 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, held in Boston, Massachusetts. He was elected as the junior Senator from Illinois in November 2004. While serving as U.S. Senator from Illinois, Obama completed his second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream , published in October 2006.

On February 10, 2007, Obama formally announced his candidacy for President of the United States. He accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination at Invesco Stadium in Denver, Colorado on August 28, 2008. On November 4, 2008, Obama became the first African-American to be elected President. He resigned his seat in the U.S. Senate on November 16, 2008.

Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States on January 20, 2009.

Presidential Administration

Domestic policy decisions dominated the first 100 Days of the Obama administration. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which encourages fair pay for all workers and established new methods of protesting unfair paychecks, was the first signed legislation of the administration. To combat the effects of the Great Recession, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (known as the Recovery Act) in February 2009, which outlined a policy to create additional jobs, extend unemployment benefits, and established the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

In March 2010, after announcing his intent for healthcare reform in a 2009 address to Congress, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (also known as “Obamacare”), establishing the most sweeping reforms of the American healthcare system in recent history. To improve access to healthcare coverage, the Act included a Patient’s Bill of Rights to end discrimination by insurance companies based on pre-existing conditions. Among its other reforms, the Act strengthened Medicare and required the insurer to cover preventative screenings for cancer, diabetes, and blood pressure disorders.

The Obama administration centered its foreign policy on drawing down the number of American forces stationed overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. President Obama also committed to destroying the ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) terrorist organization through the administration’s comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy, including systematic airstrikes against ISIL, providing additional support to forces fighting ISIL on the ground, increased cooperation with counter-terrorism partners, and humanitarian assistance to civilians.

On May 2, 2011, President Obama announced to the nation that the United States had conducted an operation that resulted in the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Following leads from the intelligence community, the raid on bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound was conducted with no American casualties.

President Obama also obtained congressional approval for military action against Syria following the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons on civilians. Negotiations with Russia led to the signing of a New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) Treaty, which limited the two countries to fewer strategic arms over the course of seven years through inspections and verification. In 2015, the U.S. and other partners reached a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran, which aimed to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and committed Iran to further monitoring of all Iranian nuclear activities.

President Obama announced plans to normalize foreign relations with Cuba in conjunction with President Castro, including reopening the U.S. Embassy in Havana in July 2015. The First Family visited Cuba in March 2016, making President Obama the first sitting President to visit the nation in 90 years.

Post-Presidency

President and Mrs. Obama returned to their lives as private citizens on January 20, 2017.

Works Published by Barack Obama

• Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance , 1995
• The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream , 2006
• Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to my Daughters , 2010
• A Promised Land, 2020

Media Galleries

By Michiko Kakutani

Barack Obama ’s new memoir “ A Promised Land ” is unlike any other presidential autobiography from the past — or, likely, future. Yes, it provides a historical account of his time in office and explicates the policy objectives of his administration, from health care to economic recovery to climate change. But the volume is also an introspective self-portrait, set down in the same fluent, fleet-footed prose that made his 1995 book “ Dreams From My Father ” such a haunting family memoir. And much like the way that earlier book turned the story of its author’s coming-of-age into an expansive meditation on race and identity, so “ A Promised Land ” uses his improbable journey — from outsider to the White House and the first two years of his presidency — as a prism by which to explore some of the dynamics of change and renewal that have informed two and a half centuries of American history. It attests to Mr. Obama’s own storytelling powers and to his belief that, in these divided times, “storytelling and literature are more important than ever,” adding that “we need to explain to each other who we are and where we’re going.”

In a phone conversation last week (a kind of bookend to an interview I did with him during his last week in the White House in January 2017), Mr. Obama spoke about the experience of writing his new book and the formative role that reading has played, since his teenage years, in shaping his thinking, his views on politics and history, and his own writing. He discussed authors he’s admired and learned from, the process of finding his own voice as a writer, and the role that storytelling can play as a tool of radical empathy to remind people of what they have in common — the shared dreams, frustrations and losses of daily life that exist beneath the political divisions.

Mr. Obama speaks slowly and thoughtfully but with the conversational ease that distinguishes his books, moving freely between the personal and the political, the anecdotal and the philosophical. Whether he’s talking about literature, recent political events or policies implemented by his administration, his observations, like his prose, are animated by an ability to connect social, cultural and historical dots, and a gift — honed during his years as a community organizer and professor of constitutional law — for lending complex ideas immediacy and context.

‘We come from everywhere, and we contain multitudes. And that has always been both the promise of America, and also what makes America sometimes so contentious.’

Talking about his favorite American writers, Mr. Obama points out that they share certain hallmarks: “Whether it’s Whitman or Emerson or Ellison or Kerouac, there is this sense of self-invention and embrace of contradiction. I think it’s in our DNA, from the start, because we come from everywhere, and we contain multitudes. And that has always been both the promise of America, and also what makes America sometimes so contentious.”

Mr. Obama’s thoughts on literature, politics and history are rooted in the avid reading he began in his youth. As a teenager growing up in Hawaii, he read African-American writers like James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Malcolm X, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston and W.E.B. Du Bois in an effort “to raise myself to be a Black man in America.” And when he became a student at Columbia University in the early 1980s, he made a concerted effort to push aside the more desultory habits of his youth — sports, parties, hanging out — to try to become “a serious person.”

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All of the books on Barack Obama’s 2024 summer reading list

Barack Obama’s 2024 summer reading list is here.

On Aug. 12, the former president dropped the annual reading list on his official Instagram account. The new list includes 14 novels and non-fiction pieces of work that explore global and American history, culture, feminism, the meaning of democracy and more.

"I’ve read some great books over the last few months and wanted to share some of my favorites," the caption to his post reads. "Let me know if you have any recommendations for books I should check out!"

Check out the entire list below.

• “James” by Percival Everett — Inspired by “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: by Mark Twain, Everett's novel follows Jim, the character in the original story who is escaping slavery.
• “Headshot” by Rita Bullwinkel — This debut novel follows eight teenage girls who take part in a boxing competition in Reno, Nevada.
• “The God Of The Woods” by Liz Moore — Barbara Van Laar's disappearance from her family’s summer camp eerily mirrors her brother’s disappearance 14 years earlier. As the search intensifies, the seems of the Van Laar family’s tightly woven secrets begin to unravel.
• “Beautiful Days” by Zach Williams — A couple wakes up in a remote cabin, rapidly aging, while their toddler stays the same. Across ten stories, Williams explores different characters who struggle with nightmare scenarios.
• “Martyr!” by Kaveh Akbar — A troubled poet explores the mysteries of his past in order to discover the truths of his family’s dark history. 
• “Memory Piece” by Lisa Ko—Set in the 1980s, Ko’s novel follows three teens — Giselle, Jackie, and Ellen — who find solace in their shared alienation and dreams of the future. Later, as adults, their friendship faces turns and challenges.
• “The Ministry Of Time” by Kaliane Bradley — In the near future, a civil servant is hired by a government ministry that determines if time travel is possible. Tasked with living and working alongside Commander Graham Gore, a man who died in 1845, she doesn’t expect their relationship to grow deeper.
• “Help Wanted” by Adelle Waldman — A group of low-wage employees at a big-box store in upstate New York tough it out through exhausting shifts, all the while hoping for better opportunities.
• “There’s Always This Year: On Basketball And Ascension” by Hanif Abdurragib — From the author of “Little Devil in America,” “There’s Always This Year” explores the pinnacle of success through the lens of basketball’s prime era, focusing on the rise of players like LeBron James.
• “Everyone Who Is Gone Here: The United States, Central America, And The Making Of A Crisis” by Jonathan Blitzer —Blitzer explores the decades of flawed policies and corruption that have fueled this crisis of Central American migrants seeking safety at the US-Mexico border.  
• “Reading Genesis” by Marilynne Robinson — In her new book, Marilynne Robinson challenges traditional and fundamentalist interpretations of Genesis.
• “When The Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, And How America Cracked Up In The Early 1990s” by John Ganz — John Ganz dives into the heated era of the early 1990s, following the fall of Reagan. He explores the rise of domestic upheaval.
• “Of Boys And Men: Why The Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, And What To Do About It” by Richard Reeves — Reeves shares his take on the future of masculinity and what it can look like in an equal world.
• “The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook” by Hampton Sides — The novel explores British explorer Captain James Cook’s fatal encounter with Indigenous Hawaiians and the broader impact of the Age of Exploration.

Alex Portée is a senior trending reporter at TODAY Digital and is based in Los Angeles.

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President Barack Obama Shares His 2024 Summer Reading List: Here's Where to Find All of the Books

Read like a president with these recommended books on Obama's summer reading list.

President Barack Obama went to Instagram yesterday to share his favorite books this summer.

"I’ve read some great books over the last few months and wanted to share some of my favorites," captioned Obama on his list. He added, "Let me know if you have any recommendations for books I should check out!"

We recognize several of the tomes on his reading list, including choices that have been recommended on Amazon's Best Books of 2024 So Far and our Summer Beach Reads selections . One such book is the Pulitzer Prize finalist,  James  ( written by Percival Everett), inspired by the classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . The novel The Ministry of Time , which considers the morality of changing history, also made Obama's list. Based on these selections — we can't wait to dive into the rest of the 14 recommended by the former President.

Whether you're in the mood for non-fiction, science fiction, mystery or short stories, Obama's list has something for a wide range of reading preferences. Below, find a synopsis of each book on Obama's list as well as where to buy them. 

Barack Obama's Summer Reading List 2024

'james' by percival everett.

James draws inspiration from Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and tells the story of Jim, an enslaved man who overhears he will be sold to a new man and separated from his family.

"There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension" by Hanif Abdurraqib

Hanif Abdurraqib's memoir  There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension  has been highly praised since its release in March. The author details growing up in Columbus, Ohio, during the golden age of basketball and the poignant impact the sport had on his life.

"Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here" by Jonathan Blitzer

Written by Jonathan Blitzer,  Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis tells the story of migrants from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala as they flee their countries in desperation with hopes of finding safety in the States. 

"Reading Genesis" by Marilynne Robinson

Marilynne Robinson details the promise of God and the profound meanings found in the Bible's book of Genesis in her work  Reading Genesis .

"Headshot: A Novel" by Rita Bullwinkel

Eight teenage girls are in Reno, Nevado for a boxing competition hoping to win the title "Best in the Country" in Rita Bullwinkel's novel Headshot . The book tells the story of each competitor and the sacrifices they've made along the way.

"The God of the Woods: A Novel" by Liz Moore

Set in the 1970s, The God of the Woods takes place at a summer camp where one teen, who is also the camp owner's daughter, goes missing. Even stranger, this isn't the first time someone from the family has disappeared in these circumstances. 

Beautiful Days: Stories by Zach Williams

Beautiful Days by Zach Williams is a collection of ten stories that "show the fallibility of time and how reality reveals itself behind the gauze of a dream—or a nightmare."

'Martyr!: A Novel' by Kaveh Akbar

Cyrus Shams has had a life filled with tragedy after his mother died in a plane crash when he was a child. Now struggling in his adult life, Cyrus looks into his past and realizes things might not be as they seem in Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar.

"Memory Piece: A Novel" by Lisa Ko

Following three lifelong friends from their school years into their professional lives, Memory Piece explains the changing nature of friendship and the struggle of not receiving the future promised.

'The Ministry of Time: A Novel' by Kaliane Bradley

The Ministry of Time is spy thriller with a mix of time travel and romance. When a civil servant begins working a new time travel project, she must decide if falling in love is worth the consequences of changing history.

"When the Clock Broke" by John Ganz

John Ganz's book  When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s  explains the surge of conspiracy theories, increased anger and more turbulent America during the '90s.

"Of Boys and Men" by Richard V. Reeves

Detailing the profound social and economic changes of society as well as the improved lives of women in recent years,  Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It by Richard V. Reeves explains the difficulty men face with lives that have remained unchanged (and even worsened) in the same time frame.

"The Wide Wide Sea" by Hampton Sides

Learn about the voyages of British Captain James Cook during the Age of Enlightenment and his untimely death in Hampton Sides' book  The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook .

"Help Wanted: A Novel" by Adelle Waldman

Adelle Waldman's novel Help Wanted  focuses on big-box retailer workers who band together and form an unlikely alliance in hopes of a better future when a management position opens.

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President Obama's 2024 Summer Reading List, Reviewed

With August upon us and soon coming to a close, there's still one last hoorah to look forward to: Barack Obama's annual summer reading list . This year, the former president's lineup is filled with books by such heavy hitters as Hanif Abdurraqib, Percival Everett, and Marilynne Robinson, as well as an array of debut novelists and first-time authors. Here's what PW had to say about the books that made the list.

There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis

Reading Genesis

The God of the Woods

Beautiful Days

Memory Piece

The Ministry of Time

When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s

The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact, and the Fateful Voyage of Captain James Cook

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