To Obama, Jeanne Marie Laskas
To Obama, Jeanne Marie Laskas
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Synopsis

President Barack Obama received ten thousand letters a day from his constituents. This is the story of the private and profound relationship with letter writers that shaped his presidency. Their voices combine to reveal a diary of a nation.
 
Every evening for eight years, at his request, President Obama was given ten handpicked letters written by ordinary American citizens—the unfiltered voice of a nation—from his Office of Presidential Correspondence. He was the first president to interact daily with constituent mail and to archive it in its entirety. The letters affected not only the president and his policies but also the deeply committed people who were tasked with opening and reading the millions of pleas, rants, thank-yous, and apologies that landed in the White House mailroom.

In To Obama, Jeanne Marie Laskas interviews President Obama, the letter writers themselves, and the White House staff who sifted through the powerful, moving, and incredibly intimate narrative of America during the Obama years: There is Kelli, who saw her grandfathers finally marry—legally—after thirty-five years together; Bill, a lifelong Republican whose attitude toward immigration reform was transformed when he met a boy escaping MS-13 gang leaders in El Salvador; Heba, a Syrian refugee who wants to forget the day the tanks rolled into her village; Marjorie, who grappled with disturbing feelings of racial bias lurking within her during the George Zimmerman trial; and Vicki, whose family was torn apart by those who voted for Trump and those who did not.

They wrote to Obama out of gratitude and desperation, in their darkest times of need, in search of connection. They wrote with anger, fear, and respect. And together, this chorus of voices achieves a kind of beautiful harmony. To Obama is an intimate look at one man’s relationship to the American people, and at a time when empathy intersected with politics in the White House.

Read by Jeanne Marie Laskas with Sullivan Jones, and with Macleod Andrews, Paula Christensen, Michael Crouch, Donna Coltharp, Sheryl Cousineau, Shane Darby, Ramon de Ocampo, Robert Fass, Lauren Fortang, Kyla Garcia, Heba Hallak, Marnie Hazelton, Lacey Higley, Tom Hoefner, Hillary Huber, Bobby Ingram, Marjorie McKinney, Thomas Meehan, Bob Melton, Alex Myteberi, Adenrele Ojo, Bill Oliver, Christine Reisman, Tara Sands, Vicki Shearer, Marc Thompson, and Emily Woo Zeller

About The Author

Jeanne Marie Laskas is the author of eight books, including the New York Times bestseller Concussion, the basis for the 2015 Golden Globe–nominated film starring Will Smith. She is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine, a correspondent at GQ, and a two-time National Magazine Award finalist. Her stories have also appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Esquire. She serves as Distinguished Professor of English and founding director of the Center for Creativity at the University of Pittsburgh, and lives on a farm in Pennsylvania with her husband and two children.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Karen on June 22, 2024

I first fell in love with this author when I read her book, “Fifty Acres and a Poodle: A Story of Love, Livestock, and Finding Myself on a Farm.” My review is here: [URL not allowed] So, when this book was donated to my Little Free Library Shed, I think my neighbors probably t......more

Goodreads review by Beatrice on August 24, 2018

Thank you Penguin Random House for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review. Every nation needs a leader who is genuine, compassionate and respectful like former president, Mr. Barrack Obama. This book contains selected letters from each citizens addressed to Mr. Obama during his term as Pre......more

Goodreads review by Eeva on December 03, 2018

I have a huge problem with rating this book. On one hand, the letters and Obama's responses made me very emotional and made me tear up more times than I care to admit.. On the other hand though, Jeanne Marie Laskas can't write for shit. Her chapters that were written to give us a closer look at Office......more


Quotes

“A sucker punch to the heart.”Publishers Weekly

“The real story of Obama’s America.”The Sunday Times