Two bosses of the USA get together
WHAT DO YOU GET when two of America’s modern heroes get together to make a podcast? The answer is a very entertaining, revealing and intimate look at two men who, each in their own way, have had a huge impact on America as it is today.
Bruce Springsteen has made his mark through his mountain of music that has chronicled the American dream in all it’s gritty realism and Barack Obama as the first US President of colour who inspired much of the world.
It may seem like an odd pairing, but in reality, the they’ve been friends for a number of years — 12 years ago Springsteen participated in the massive We Are One concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to celebrate the incoming Obama-Biden Administration.
Their podcast on Spotify, Renegades: Born in the USA,
started in 2020 when the pair sat down to talk about everything from politics and music to dreams and myths and almost everything in between. If you haven’t heard it you should give it a go.
This tome is not just a record of that podcast though — sure it does contain many of the best parts of it — as it goes much further into the characters of both modern greats.
It’s clear that both men love their America, but have a number of concerns about the way the US of A is heading. It features a collection of intimate, and entertaining conversations between the pair that many will find surprising in their candour and openness. In Renegades
they share previously unheard stories and ruminate about life, music, and their enduring love of America, an America they don’t shy away from pointing out some of it’s not so glorious sides.
It also contains some rare photographs from the pair’s personal collections and never-beforeseen archival material, including Springsteen’s handwritten lyrics and Obama’s annotated speeches. These help paint a splendid portrait of two men who class themselves as outsiders, who have both had a big influence on their beloved country.
As Obama says: “Over the years, what we’ve found is that we’ve got a shared sensibility. About work, about family, and about America. In our own ways, Bruce and I have been on parallel journeys trying to understand this country that’s given us both so much. Trying to chronicle the
stories of its people. Looking for a way to connect our own individual searches for meaning and truth and community with the larger story of America.”
Or as Springsteen put it: “There were serious conversations about the fate of the country, the fortune of its citizens, and the destructive, ugly, corrupt forces at play that would like to take it all down. This is a time of vigilance when who we are is being seriously tested. Hard conversations about who we are and who we want to become can perhaps serve as a small guiding map for some of our fellow citizens . . . This is a time for serious consideration of who we want to be and what kind of country we will leave our children. Will we let slip through our hands the best of us or will we turn united to face the fire? Within this book you won’t find the answers to those questions, but you will find a couple of seekers doing their best to get us to ask better questions.”
Sure, this is not going to win any literary awards, but that’s not the purpose is it? It’s purpose is to give you an insight into two of the men who have shaped America in recent years — my only real question is who has shaped it the most? —