The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (Vintage) | 
 enlarge | Author: Barack Obama
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  558 reviews
Sales Rank: 28
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0307455874
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.04960730092
EAN: 9780307455871
ASIN: 0307455874
Publication Date: July 15, 2008
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Amazon.com
Barack Obama's first book, Dreams from My Father, was a compelling and moving memoir focusing on personal issues of race, identity, and community. With his second book The Audacity of Hope, Obama engages themes raised in his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, shares personal views on faith and values and offers a vision of the future that involves repairing a "political process that is broken" and restoring a government that has fallen out of touch with the people. We had the opportunity to ask Senator Obama a few questions about writing, reading, and politics--see his responses below. --Daphne Durham
20 Second Interview: A Few Words with Barack Obama
 Q: How did writing a book that you knew would be read so closely by so many compare to writing your first book, when few people knew who you were?
A: In many ways, Dreams from My Father was harder to write. At that point, I wasn't even sure that I could write a book. And writing the first book really was a process of self-discovery, since it touched on my family and my childhood in a much more intimate way. On the other hand, writing The Audacity of Hope paralleled the work that I do every day--trying to give shape to all the issues that we face as a country, and providing my own personal stamp on them.
Q: What is your writing process like? You have such a busy schedule, how did you find time to write?
A: I'm a night owl, so I usually wrote at night after my Senate day was over, and after my family was asleep--from 9:30 p.m. or so until 1 a.m. I would work off an outline--certain themes or stories that I wanted to tell--and get them down in longhand on a yellow pad. Then I'd edit while typing in what I'd written.
Q: If readers are to come away from The Audacity of Hope with one action item (a New Year's Resolution for 2007, perhaps?), what should it be?
A: Get involved in an issue that you're passionate about. It almost doesn't matter what it is--improving the school system, developing strategies to wean ourselves off foreign oil, expanding health care for kids. We give too much of our power away, to the professional politicians, to the lobbyists, to cynicism. And our democracy suffers as a result.
Q: You're known for being able to work with people across ideological lines. Is that possible in today's polarized Washington?
A: It is possible. There are a lot of well-meaning people in both political parties. Unfortunately, the political culture tends to emphasize conflict, the media emphasizes conflict, and the structure of our campaigns rewards the negative. I write about these obstacles in chapter 4 of my book, "Politics." When you focus on solving problems instead of scoring political points, and emphasize common sense over ideology, you'd be surprised what can be accomplished. It also helps if you're willing to give other people credit--something politicians have a hard time doing sometimes.
Q: How do you make people passionate about moderate and complex ideas?
A: I think the country recognizes that the challenges we face aren't amenable to sound-bite solutions. People are looking for serious solutions to complex problems. I don't think we need more moderation per se--I think we should be bolder in promoting universal health care, or dealing with global warming. We just need to understand that actually solving these problems won't be easy, and that whatever solutions we come up with will require consensus among groups with divergent interests. That means everybody has to listen, and everybody has to give a little. That's not easy to do.
Q: What has surprised you most about the way Washington works?
A: How little serious debate and deliberation takes place on the floor of the House or the Senate.
Q: You talk about how we have a personal responsibility to educate our children. What small thing can the average parent (or person) do to help improve the educational system in America? What small thing can make a big impact?
A: Nothing has a bigger impact than reading to children early in life. Obviously we all have a personal obligation to turn off the TV and read to our own children; but beyond that, participating in a literacy program, working with parents who themselves may have difficulty reading, helping their children with their literacy skills, can make a huge difference in a child's life.
Q: Do you ever find time to read? What kinds of books do you try to make time for? What is on your nightstand now?
A: Unfortunately, I had very little time to read while I was writing. I'm trying to make up for lost time now. My tastes are pretty eclectic. I just finished Marilynne Robinson's Gilead, a wonderful book. The language just shimmers. I've started Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, which is a great study of Lincoln as a political strategist. I read just about anything by Toni Morrison, E.L. Doctorow, or Philip Roth. And I've got a soft spot for John le Carre.
Q: What inspires you? How do you stay motivated?
A: I'm inspired by the people I meet in my travels--hearing their stories, seeing the hardships they overcome, their fundamental optimism and decency. I'm inspired by the love people have for their children. And I'm inspired by my own children, how full they make my heart. They make me want to work to make the world a little bit better. And they make me want to be a better man.
Product Description
“A government that truly represents these Americans–that truly serves these Americans–will require a different kind of politics. That politics will need to reflect our lives as they are actually lived. It won’t be pre-packaged, ready to pull off the shelf. It will have to be constructed from the best of our traditions and will have to account for the darker aspects of our past. We will need to understand just how we got to this place, this land of warring factions and tribal hatreds. And we’ll need to remind ourselves, despite all our differences, just how much we share: common hopes, common dreams, a bond that will not break.”
–from The Audacity of Hope
In July 2004, 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 Senator Obama called “the audacity of hope.”
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 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.
At the heart of this book is Senator Obama’s vision of how we can move beyond our divisions to tackle concrete problems. He examines the growing economic insecurity of American families, the racial and religious tensions within the body politic, and the transnational threats–from terrorism to pandemic–that gather beyond our shores. And he grapples with the role that faith plays in a democracy–where it is vital and where it must never intrude. Underlying his stories about family, friends, members of the Senate, 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. Only by returning to the principles that gave birth to our Constitution, he says, can Americans repair a political process that is broken, and restore to working order a government that has fallen dangerously out of touch with millions of ordinary Americans. Those Americans are out there, he writes–“waiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up with them.”
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 553 more reviews...
 The Audacity of Hope September 5, 2008
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
I wanted to see what inspired Oprah to say this was one of the most outstanding books she ever read. It was the biggest bunch of fluff I have ever read. It says we need to work together to accomplish goals and to end partisan bickering. Then it says unlike Republicans who cut student loans or spent millions to defeat Democarts. It is the life of a man who had not even been in the U.S. Senate yet. How does someone with no background win an election and the next month get a three book deal for 1.9 million and it go unnoticed? This was a novice who got paid to write whatever popped into his head for the sake of money.
 Best book I've read all year! September 2, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Barack Obama is an inspiration to everyone, regardless of your political affiliation. This should be required reading in schools across America.
I used to be a Republican until reading this book! September 1, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
Just pure, from the heart, quality work from a true patriot of the United States. Don't judge this man until you read what he believes. I was a diehard Republican until giving him a chance. I'm so glad I made the decision to read this fine work. Go Obama!
A Timely and Important Book September 1, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
It so happens that I'm finally getting around to writing this review just after the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention and just before Hurricane Gustav is about to make landfall at New Orleans. Both events underscore the importance of Barack Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope, in the public discourse of the early 21st Century. I think it's irresponsible for any American--and especially anyone who plans to vote in November--not to read it.
The next election for President of the United States is a contest between reason and emotion. At last week's convention, some of the greatest minds in the world today appeared in support of the most highly educated group of office-seekers in history (including both members of the Democratic ticket and their wives). From the euphoria evident in television broadcasts, a casual observer could get the impression that the entire event was about feelings. But it wasn't. It was about justice and poverty, nuclear proliferation and terrorism, the state of the planet and the state of humanity. Thoughtful speeches were made by brilliant people who have devoted decades of their lives to understanding these complex issues and struggling to make the world a safer, happier place.
Then Senator McCain made the astonishing choice of Sarah Palin--a woman who apparently believes in creationism but not global warming--to be his vice-presidential running mate. I believe that history will show that this was not a shrewd political move; it was an impulsive act by a famously impulsive man.
I first read a book about global warming in the 1970s. Even then, scientists knew that unchecked human expansion and the increasing burden of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere would bring about dramatic changes in weather patterns, resulting in much greater variations of temperature and more violent storms than the earth has experienced in the brief period of human habitation. Hundred-year events would become annual events, and five-hundred-year storms would begin to be seen with some regularity. So why are some people still surprised that it's happening?
We are decades behind making the changes we should have been making to preserve the planet in a habitable condition for our children and grandchildren (much less generations beyond those of this century). In my opinion, we can no longer afford the luxury of political correctness or the laissez-faire attitude that one opinion is as good as another. We need someone leading the most powerful country on earth who is extremely well-informed, clear-headed, skilled in communication and consensus making, and concerned about the things we all should be concerned about. As this book makes abundantly clear, that person is Barack Obama.
the truth September 1, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
If you want to know THE REAL Senator Obama, this book will tell you. Don't listen to the media talking heads. Read this book. You will be impressed by a man of integrity and strength. His views are mixed, both liberal, in the middle, and conservative.
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