The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama
The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama
2 Rating(s)
List: $15.00 | Sale: $10.50
Club: $7.50

The Audacity of Hope
Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

Author: Barack Obama

Narrator: Barack Obama

Abridged: 6 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/17/2006


Synopsis

In July 2004, Barack Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention with an address that spoke to Americans across the political spectrum. Now, in The Audacity of Hope, Senator Obama calls 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 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.
At the heart of this audiobook is Senator Obama’s vision of how we can move beyond our divisions to tackle concrete problems. Underlying his stories about family, friends, members of the Senate, and even the president is a vigorous search for connection: the foundation for a radically hopeful political consensus.
A senator and a lawyer, a professor and a father, a Christian and a skeptic, and above all a student of history and human nature, Senator Obama has written a book of transforming power.

About The Author

Barack Obama is the junior U.S. senator from Illinois. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Michelle, and two daughters


Reviews

Goodreads review by Manny on December 04, 2013

I've now finished this book, which I've been reviewing a chapter at a time. Before starting, I was concerned that it might lower my opinion of him. Many people have been rather dismissive, and perhaps that's why I didn't read it earlier. In fact, it has had the opposite effect. It's well thought out......more

Goodreads review by Diane on June 14, 2017

Great book! amazing insight and a wonderful read...(paperback!)......more

Goodreads review by Linda on July 03, 2007

Barack Obama fills me with hope. Hope for the United States, and hope for America's standing on the world stage. This book shows the human side of a man who is running for president. He tackles many different issues from faith, race, family life, war, international relations, and politics. All are done......more

Goodreads review by Caroline on May 20, 2015

I found the first couple of chapters of this book a bit murky, due to my ignorance of American political life and methods, but after that I found it fascinating. I loved the way that Obama can communicate at all levels. This book could so easily have been a dry and dusty analysis of his political li......more

Goodreads review by Andrew on March 09, 2008

I used to think that a liberal was simply someone whose background and education was deficient of the facts needed to understand the full ramifications of their left-leaning policies. For example, in a debate I once heard Maxine Waters (D-CA) incredulously ask "Why not?!" when told that the governme......more


Quotes

"He is one of the best writers to enter modern politics”—Jonathan Alter, Newsweek

"[Barack Obama] is that rare politician who can actually write—and write movingly and genuinely about himself. . . . In these pages he often speaks to the reader as if he were an old friend from back in the day, salting policy recommendations with colorful asides about the absurdities of political life. . . . [He] strives in these pages to ground his policy thinking in simple common sense . . . while articulating these venomous pre-election days, but also in these increasingly polarized and polarizing times."—Michiko Katutani, The New York Times

"[Few] on the partisan landscape can discuss the word 'hope' in a political context and be regarded as the least bit sincere. Obama is such a man, and he proves it by employing a fresh and buoyant vocabulary to scrub away some of the toxins from contemporary political debate. Those polling categories that presume to define the vast chasm between us do not, Obama reminds us, add up to the sum of our concerns or hint at where our hearts otherwise intersect . . . Obama advances ordinary words like 'empathy', 'humility', 'grace' and 'balance' into the extraordinary context of 2006's hyper-agitated partisan politics. The effect is not only refreshing but also hopeful. . . . As you might anticipate from a former civil lawyer and a university lecturer on constitutional law, Obama writes convincingly about race as well as the lofty place the Constitution holds in American life...He writes tenderly about family and knowingly about faith." Los Angeles Times

"What's impressive about Obama is an intelligence that his new books diplays in aubundance." Washington Post Book World

"An upbeat view of the country's potential and a political biography that concentrates on the senator's core values." Chicago Tribune

“The self-portrait is appealing. It presents a man of relative youth yet maturity, a wise observer of the human condition, a figure who possesses perseverance and writing skills that have flashes of grandeur. Obama also demonstrates a wry sense of humor…His particular upbringing gives him special insights into the transition of American politics in the 1960s and ’70s from debates over economic principles to a focus on culture and morality, and into the divisiveness, polarization and incivility that accompanied this transition.”—Gary Hart, The New York Times Book Review

“America’s founders set a high standard for political writing, and most contemporary efforts fall woefully short. How nice, then, to have a politician who can write as well as U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. … The Audacity of Hope … is fascinating in its revelation of Obama as someone who considers and questions, rather than asserts and declares. In nine focused chapters, Obama shows himself an agile thinker. This is an idea book, not a public-policy primer.”—Elizabeth Taylor, Philadelphia Daily News

“Not only is Obama a good writer, his mind is top-shelf, his heart tender.”—Les Payne, Newsday

“A thoughtful, careful analysis of what needs to be done to preserve our freedoms in a time of terror.”—Newton N. Minow, Chicago Tribune


Awards

  • GRAMMY Awards (Best Spoken Word Album)