Barack Obama releases the first of his two-volume presidential memoirs
IN OCTOBER, BARACK Obama hit the campaign trail with his former vice-president, Joe Biden. But now that the election is over, the 59-year-old can focus on another thing, besides politics, that he’s great at: selling books. In mid-November, Obama released A Promised Land, the first of his two-volume presidential memoirs, which covers his start in politics through to his historic 2008 election as the 44th president of the United States through to the 2011 killing of Osama Bin Laden. Expectations for the book are high – the reported initial print run is three million copies – because aside from his enduring popularity, Obama is known for his mastery of the written word. Not only did he write many of his most iconic political speeches, but his first two memoirs – Dreams From My Father (1995) and The Audacity of Hope (2006) – earned laurels from critics and literary heavyweights like Nobel Prizewinning author Toni Morrison. Still, Obama faces one hurdle more challenging than any election: topping former first lady Michelle Obama’s book sales. Just for perspective, she sold at least 10 million copies of her 2018 memoir, Becoming, making it one of the best-selling memoirs of all time. That’s more than both of her husband’s previous tomes combined.