The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream | 
| Author: Barack Obama
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  549 reviews
Sales Rank: 181
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0307237702
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.04960730092
EAN: 9780307237705
ASIN: 0307237702
Publication Date: November 6, 2007
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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 544 more reviews...
 Wow!!! five stars July 18, 2008
If you want to know Barack Obama's views on the issues just read this book. From politics to family this book tells all. His honesty and desire for you to know the real Barack Obama comes through loud and clear in this book. I laughed at times, I smiled to myself, and all the while I was so impressed by his candor and willingness to share the real him with his readers. Fantastic book and I highly recommmend it to all.
The next President? July 16, 2008
Well, the election season has started far too early this year, as everyone is excited to see George Bush leave and Dick Cheney, his VP, is not running for President. So everyone thinks they have a shot, including Barack Obama, who wrote this very interesting book discussing his views on politics and some of the issues.
I must admit that I am biased because Obama was a professor at the University of Chicago, but I did not take any of his classes. But he really is a very sharp guy. He is new enough to politics that he still has a fresh voice, and good ideas and everyone would benefit from reading his book.
I listened to the audio version, so I did not get the full scoop, but what I heard was very good. For example, he talked a lot about the National Debt, which currently stands at around $9 trillion. This is a lot of debt and someone will have to pay for it at some point (or at the very least pay for the interest payments), yet this is never in the news. Republicans and Democrats alike are all about spending (albeit on different things) and not about fiscal control.
 All Style, very little substance July 14, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Obama's book, is much like his political career, all style no substance. Look, I voted for Kerry in 2004-would vote for him again in 2008-but Obama just turns me off. I bought this book, thinking that it would change my opinion, but he seems much more like a "life-coach" and less like a Presidential candidate.
A Progressive Leader's View of Politics and the World! July 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
'The Audacity of Hope' is one of the most thought-provoking books centered on world and domestic politics recently written. Barack Obama offers his paragon of politics for the 21st century built upon a foundation of old guiding principles that stretch back to our Nation's forefathers to recent political figures and events that have shaped our political discourse over the last several years.
Though stretched in some areas, Barack pulls off an eloquently written prose of ideas that offer perspectives that are more practical than fresh (a dissertation so to speak). From family, values, faith, race, world politics, opportunity, and the constitution, he remains consistent in his love for country; however, skeptical of its future course. Specifically, on family his opinions on the erosion of the traditional family cannot be argued. Two-parent working households that compete with time spent with children is not opinion - it is fact. To further complicate matters, he points out - painfully - the erosion of the black family with startling statistics that pose no easy answer. Barack's approach however is a good starting point. From review of welfare laws that have separated families to engaging children as role model adults in order to compete against a pop culture filled with distractions (perceived and real).
His economic views are his strong point. Obama is able to pin-point in simple terms how globalization of manufacturing jobs, the emergence of low-paying service sector jobs, the complications and trade-offs of NAFTA and CAFTA have depressed our Nation's earning power, stagnated wages, and provided Americans with a lower standard of living despite our dominance as a economic superpower - the results now being felt primarily because of our cavalier approach to deal with crumbling infrastructure, job re-training, funding disparities in secondary education, and lack of affordable college-level education. Though Obama points out the difficulty in bold, fresh terms, his solution is based on the foundation of the past - Clinton's loose-ends with regards to NAFTA, the fallacy of 'No Child Left Behind' for Bush, and the missing link between teacher merit pay and performance. The solutions have been offered before. What Obama advocates is an executed, sequence-based series of action steps - a step-result-step-result format (a practical, perfect world format).
Adding to the texture and the value of this book is how Obama is able to talk about the role of faith without sounding preachy. He navigates his way through the role of faith in our politics, recognizing the difference in our religious views, but upholding the common ground found in most organized religion - value of life, respect for fellow men and women, and execution of the Golden Rule - common characteristics that stretch across the religious spectrum. His view is that faith within politics should be embraced from a world-view with the nuances of the differences down-played to prevent the widening of the gap that unites us all as Americans (or Americans to be) - a difficult view that he effectively framed.
On Race, Obama cannot win with everyone, but can relate to almost all of us. Being bi-racial, Obama tip-toes on this issue so not to alienate or shun his black roots, while opening-up enough allowing him to embrace his white roots. He discusses Race with the authority of someone given a "pass" to speak from both sides while leveraging his world experience to offer insight on the Latino and Asian American experience. It comes up short rather than flat primarily because a topic so complicated deserves its own work in and of itself - from Barack (maybe?). The decay of the black family, the resentment (real or perceived) of whites, the earning power (or lack thereof) for Latinos (and blacks), and the emergence (and impressive escalation) of Asians cannot be condensed within a short chapter. He points out the crumbling infrastructure and support system of the black family; however, his solutions break from past civil rights leaders and aims toward social responsibility, inclusion, and a "make it happen" approach to life - again, a hard explanation to condense. Latinos and blacks have common ground, but Obama doesn't really go into the details of the breaking (tipping) point that keeps these two races apart (only pointing out the obvious blue collar-low paying job battle - however, it's a lot more complicated). Instead he simplifies this discussion to the common threads we all share, the progress made, and the challenges ahead.
Finally, on world politics, Obama demonstrates the skill of knowledge, mastery of geography and government, and a "big picture" view of resolving our world standing. To this day (and as evident within this work), Barack is comfortable that he both voted against and spoke out against the war and therefore is able to write with conviction on the faulty reasoning that led the U.S. to war. At the same time, he realizes the outcome and conclusion of our presence in Iraq and increasing our world standing will be anything but easy.
Engaging, straight-forward, and beautifully written, 'The Audacity of Hope' is a book to be shared and reviewed with the passage of time. Consistent in his view to this day - Barack Obama is able to acknowledge the past and offer insight on how to shape our future based on the framework of what we have and share as Americans and world citizens.
 I Believe in the Tooth Fairy Too!!! July 12, 2008
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
WOW Obama is such a wonderful man, he is gonna change everything around, change it around for good! We finally have our savior on a black horse to save us from corruption and opression.
YES, tax those rich people, tax them GOOD, make them pay their fair share!
Sure I pay little and suck money from the government like a parasite, but rich folks OWE me. You got money dont ya rich folks? Give me something! Give me something! You can afford it.
We DESERVE free healthcare and vastly increased welfare. What do I give you? you ask? HOW DARE YOU! You OWE me all this and much more!
So please please please vote Obama in November, cuz if you dont, that aint right.
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