The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama

This new biography of Barack Obama is comprehensive, nuanced and in-depth. David Remnick not only sketches the life of the 44th president of the US, but also the complex history of the past fifty years and the struggle for racial equality and civil rights from which his election cannot be seen in isolation. Obama's election symbolizes a turning point in American history. In 1965, black demonstrators were violently chased away by police at the famous Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama. Less than half a century later, a black man became president of the United States. Remnick spoke with Obama's family members, friends, teachers, mentors and rivals, and with Obama himself. Letters from Obama also appear in print for the first time. In this book, America's most important journalist paints a very complete and personal picture of the current president of the United States.