NONFICTION
Released: June 19, 2012
"Maraniss stresses that Obama's Muslim ancestors encompass only one facet to his complex, fascinating makeup. Another in the author's line of authoritative biographies."
An exhaustive, respectful study of the president's "shattered genealogy," from Kansas to Kenya, Hawaii to Indonesia.
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NONFICTION
Released: May 1, 2012
"Another treatment of the extended Obama family that enlightens and deepens the public's understanding of the president."
A burnished look at a difficult, ruptured childhood in Kenya by the president's half sister, older by one year.
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NONFICTION
Released: Jan. 10, 2012
"If only the "wrath of Michelle," as it's known, is the worst thing the staffers have to face. It's not, though, and Kantor's fly-on-the-wall view makes illuminating reading for an election year."
A gossipy but mostly meaty look inside the Obama White House, a place less unified than one might expect--or hope.
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NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 11, 2011
Every evening, President Obama sits down to read ten letters selected from the 20,000 that arrived in the day's mail. Who are these people, and what are their stories?
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NONFICTION
Released: Aug. 16, 2011
"A carefully calculated, sober discussion of why race will continue to haunt American politics."
The bestselling author of Nigger (2002) explores the racial issues surrounding President Obama's election and administration.
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NONFICTION
Released: July 12, 2011
"A thorough study of a subject who is hard to pin down--a welcome, evenhanded addition to the lively literature surrounding President Obama's genealogy."
A pioneering, full-scale biography of President Obama's father, a promising but troubled man.
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NONFICTION
Released: May 3, 2011
"A biography of considerable depth and understanding."
A richly nuanced, decidedly sympathetic portrait of President Obama's remarkably accomplished, spirited mother.
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NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 12, 2010
"An engaging overview of the president's early political education."
Journalist McClelland (
The Third Coast: Sailors, Strippers, Fishermen, Folksingers, Long-Haired Ojibway Painters, and God-Save-the-Queen Monarchists of the Great Lakes, 2008, etc.) looks at the effect of President Obama's years in Chicago.
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NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 5, 2010
"A harsh blast timed to arrive before the fall elections--sure to stir controversy."
From the left, a polemic charging President Obama with choosing pragmatism over principle, mendacity over audacity.
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NONFICTION
Released: June 1, 2010
"A rich, provocative meditation on the importance of Obama's election."
"What does it mean to live in a country where 64 million people voted to make a black man a president?" asks Cobb (History/Spelman Coll.;
To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic, 2007, etc.).
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NONFICTION
Released: May 18, 2010
"Politics junkies will find this rewarding, particularly in Alter's account of the inner workings of the White House and Capitol Hill."
Newsweek senior editor Alter (
The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, 2006, etc.) turns in a freshman-year report card for the sitting president, with mixed but generally good grades.
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NONFICTION
Released: April 6, 2010
"Remnick's fluent writing makes this expansive, significant book move along swiftly. Readers will look forward to the sequel, eight years from now."
From
New Yorker editor Remnick (
Reporting: Writings from The New Yorker, 2006, etc.), a world-ranging, eye-opening, comprehensive life to date of the 44th President of the United States
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NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 2, 2009
"The perfect book with which to recall and appreciate the significance of Obama's journey to the White House."
A collection of astute articles penned as longtime
New Yorker writer Hertzberg (
Politics: Observations and Arguments, 1966–2004, 2004, etc.) watched Barack Obama's historic presidential campaign.
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NONFICTION
Released: Jan. 27, 2009
"An alert, thoroughly readable assessment of a candidacy that seemed unlikely only to those who weren't paying attention."
The editor-in-chief of the NAACP's
The Crisis magazine conducts a celebratory
tour d'horizon of the cultural and political developments that paved the way for Barack Obama's rise.
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NONFICTION
Released: June 1, 1995
"At its best, despite an occasional lack of analysis, this affecting study of self-definition perceptively reminds us that the dilemmas of race generally express themselves in terms of individual human struggles."
