A Promised Land, by Barack Obama, is a nonfiction autobiography and the first of a two-volume
series.
A Promised Land details the hardships Obama faced during his time in politics. In volume 1 of
Barack Obama’s tell-all, the former president details his previous political runs, starting from his
run for the Illinois state senate in 2004 up until first presidential run in 2008. He highlights the
pressures and expectations of being the first African American president in this intimate
memoir. As he takes us through historic moments, such as Operation Neptune’s Spear which
resulted in the death of Osama Bin Laden and his passage of the Affordable Care Act, which
gave millions of Americans access to necessary healthcare, he is blunt about his caution and
morality through the process of navigating the hand he was dealt by life. Nonetheless, he
upheld his belief that progress is possible for everything and everyone.
A Promised Land delivers on its promise to offer an insight into Obama’s mind. It creates a
human version of the president, a side we don’t often see. Detailed imagery of his thought
process with notes from those who are close to him. Where it falls short is in its ability to detail
the events occurring. Obama tends to gloss over important details in terms of how things are
playing out. It didn’t have the level of detail expected when discussing complex subjects. The
former president fails to express the severity of certain situations which hurts the reader’s
ability to account for the effect of different events on his life. Overall, Obama creates an
astounding image of his life before and after politics and the way it changed his life.