"He is one of the best writers to enter modern politics."
--Jonathan Alter, Newsweek.com
"[Barack Obama] is that rare politician who can actually write- and
write movingly and genuinely about himself...In these pages he
often speaks to the reader as if he were an old friend from back in
the day, salting policy recommendations with colorful asides about
the absurdities of political life...[He] strives in these pages to
ground his policy thinking in simple common sense...while
articulating these venomous pre-election days, but also in these
increasingly polarized and polarizing times."
--Michiko Katutani, "New York Times"
"[Few] on the partisan landscape can discuss the word 'hope' in a
political context and be regarded as the least bit sincere. Obama
is such a man, and he proves it by employing a fresh and buoyant
vocabulary to scrub away some of the toxins from contemporary
political debate. Those polling categories that presume to define
the vast chasm between us do not, Obama reminds us, add up to the
sum of our concerns or hint at where our hearts otherwise
intersect...Obama advances ordinary words like 'empathy',
'humility', 'grace' and 'balance' into the extraordinary context of
2006's hyper-agitated partisan politics. The effect is not only
refreshing but also hopeful...As you might anticipate from a former
civil lawyer and a university lecturer on constitutional law, Obama
writes convincingly about race as well as the lofty place the
Constitution holds in American life...He writes tenderly about
family and knowingly about faith. Readers, no matter what their
party affiliation, may experience the oddly uplifting sensation of
comparing the everyday contemptuous viewof politics that circulates
so widely in our civic conversations with the practical idealism
set down by this slender, smiling, 45-year-old former sate
legislator who is included on virtually every credible list of
future presidential contenders."
--"Los Angeles Times
""What's impressive about Obama is an intelligence that his new
books diplays in aubundance."
--"Washington Post Book World"
"An upbeat view of the country's potential and a political
biography that concentrates on the senator's core values."
--"Chicago Tribune
""The self-portrait is appealing. It presents a man of relative
youth yet maturity, a wise observer of the human condition, a
figure who possesses perseverance and writing skills that have
flashes of grandeur. Obama also demonstrates a wry sense of
humor...His particular upbringing gives him special insights into
the transition of American politics in the 1960s and '70s from
debates over economic principles to a focus on culture and
morality, and into the divisiveness, polarization and incivility
that accompanied this transition."
--Gary Hart, "The New York Times Book Review"
"America's founders set a high standard for political writing, and
most contemporary efforts fall woefully short. How nice, then, to
have a politician who can write as well as U.S. Sen. Barack Obama
of Illinois. ... "The Audacity of Hope" ... is fascinating in its
revelation of Obama as someone who considers and questions, rather
than asserts and declares. In nine focused chapters, Obama shows
himself an agile thinker. This is an idea book, not a public-policy
primer."
--Elizabeth Taylor, "Philadelphia Daily News
"
"Not only is Obama a good writer, hismind is top-shelf, his heart
tender."
--Les Payne, "Newsday"
"A thoughtful, careful analysis of what needs to be done to
preserve our freedoms in a time of terror."
--Newton N. Minow, "Chicago Tribune
" "From the Hardcover edition."
" He is one of the best writers to enter modern politics."
- Jonathan Alter, Newsweek.com
" [Barack Obama] is that rare politician who can actually write-
and write movingly and genuinely about himself...In these pages he
often speaks to the reader as if he were an old friend from back in
the day, salting policy recommendations with colorful asides about
the absurdities of political life...[He] strives in these pages to
ground his policy thinking in simple common sense...while
articulating these venomous pre-election days, but also in these
increasingly polarized and polarizing times."
- Michiko Katutani, "New York Times"
" [Few] on the partisan landscape can discuss the word 'hope' in a
political context and be regarded as the least bit sincere. Obama
is such a man, and he proves it by employing a fresh and buoyant
vocabulary to scrub away some of the toxins from contemporary
political debate. Those polling categories that presume to define
the vast chasm between us do not, Obama reminds us, add up to the
sum of our concerns or hint at where our hearts otherwise
intersect...Obama advances ordinary words like 'empathy',
'humility', 'grace' and 'balance' into the extraordinary context of
2006's hyper-agitated partisan politics. The effect is not only
refreshing but also hopeful...As you might anticipate from a former
civil lawyer and a university lecturer on constitutional law, Obama
writes convincingly about race as well as the lofty place the
Constitution holds in American life...He writes tenderly about
family and knowingly about faith. Readers, no matter what their
party affiliation, may experience the oddly uplifting sensation
ofcomparing the everyday contemptuous view of politics that
circulates so widely in our civic conversations with the practical
idealism set down by this slender, smiling, 45-year-old former sate
legislator who is included on virtually every credible list of
future presidential contenders."
- "Los Angeles Times
"What's impressive about Obama is an intelligence that his new
books diplays in aubundance.
- "Washington Post Book World"
An upbeat view of the country's potential and a political biography
that concentrates on the senator's core values.
- "Chicago Tribune" "From the Hardcover edition."
Ilinois's Democratic senator illuminates the constraints of mainstream politics all too well in this sonorous manifesto. Obama (Dreams from My Father) castigates divisive partisanship (especially the Republican brand) and calls for a centrist politics based on broad American values. His own cautious liberalism is a model: he's skeptical of big government and of Republican tax cuts for the rich and Social Security privatization; he's prochoice, but respectful of prolifers; supportive of religion, but not of imposing it. The policy result is a tepid Clintonism, featuring tax credits for the poor, a host of small-bore programs to address everything from worker retraining to teen pregnancy, and a health-care program that resembles Clinton's Hillary-care proposals. On Iraq, he floats a phased but open-ended troop withdrawal. His triangulated positions can seem conflicted: he supports free trade, while deploring its effects on American workers (he opposed the Central American Free Trade Agreement), in the end hoping halfheartedly that more support for education, science and renewable energy will see the economy through the dilemmas of globalization. Obama writes insightfully, with vivid firsthand observations, about politics and the compromises forced on politicians by fund-raising, interest groups, the media and legislative horse-trading. Alas, his muddled, uninspiring proposals bear the stamp of those compromises. (Oct. 17) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
"He is one of the best writers to enter modern politics."
--Jonathan Alter, Newsweek.com
"[Barack Obama] is that rare politician who can actually write- and
write movingly and genuinely about himself...In these pages he
often speaks to the reader as if he were an old friend from back in
the day, salting policy recommendations with colorful asides about
the absurdities of political life...[He] strives in these pages to
ground his policy thinking in simple common sense...while
articulating these venomous pre-election days, but also in these
increasingly polarized and polarizing times."
--Michiko Katutani, "New York Times"
"[Few] on the partisan landscape can discuss the word 'hope' in a
political context and be regarded as the least bit sincere. Obama
is such a man, and he proves it by employing a fresh and buoyant
vocabulary to scrub away some of the toxins from contemporary
political debate. Those polling categories that presume to define
the vast chasm between us do not, Obama reminds us, add up to the
sum of our concerns or hint at where our hearts otherwise
intersect...Obama advances ordinary words like 'empathy',
'humility', 'grace' and 'balance' into the extraordinary context of
2006's hyper-agitated partisan politics. The effect is not only
refreshing but also hopeful...As you might anticipate from a former
civil lawyer and a university lecturer on constitutional law, Obama
writes convincingly about race as well as the lofty place the
Constitution holds in American life...He writes tenderly about
family and knowingly about faith. Readers, no matter what their
party affiliation, may experience the oddly uplifting sensation of
comparing the everyday contemptuous viewof politics that circulates
so widely in our civic conversations with the practical idealism
set down by this slender, smiling, 45-year-old former sate
legislator who is included on virtually every credible list of
future presidential contenders."
--"Los Angeles Times
""What's impressive about Obama is an intelligence that his new
books diplays in aubundance."
--"Washington Post Book World"
"An upbeat view of the country's potential and a political
biography that concentrates on the senator's core values."
--"Chicago Tribune
""The self-portrait is appealing. It presents a man of relative
youth yet maturity, a wise observer of the human condition, a
figure who possesses perseverance and writing skills that have
flashes of grandeur. Obama also demonstrates a wry sense of
humor...His particular upbringing gives him special insights into
the transition of American politics in the 1960s and '70s from
debates over economic principles to a focus on culture and
morality, and into the divisiveness, polarization and incivility
that accompanied this transition."
--Gary Hart, "The New York Times Book Review"
"America's founders set a high standard for political writing, and
most contemporary efforts fall woefully short. How nice, then, to
have a politician who can write as well as U.S. Sen. Barack Obama
of Illinois. ... "The Audacity of Hope" ... is fascinating in its
revelation of Obama as someone who considers and questions, rather
than asserts and declares. In nine focused chapters, Obama shows
himself an agile thinker. This is an idea book, not a public-policy
primer."
--Elizabeth Taylor, "Philadelphia Daily News
"
"Not only is Obama a good writer, hismind is top-shelf, his heart
tender."
--Les Payne, "Newsday"
"A thoughtful, careful analysis of what needs to be done to
preserve our freedoms in a time of terror."
--Newton N. Minow, "Chicago Tribune
"
"From the Hardcover edition."
"From the Hardcover edition."
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