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The Barack Obama Book Club
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Want to read like a president? The Daily Beast pulled together every book that the Reader in Chief has been spotted with since the campaign. Find out what’s on his night table.
Alert, Fellow Obama Book Watchers. The president’s got some new books and at least one old one on tap for the beach this week.
Bill Burton, Obama’s spokesman announced from Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard, that the president will be reading David McCullough’s John Adams, Richard Price’s Lush Life, Kent Haruf’s Plainsong, George Pelecanos’s The Way Home, and Thomas L. Friedman’s Hot, Flat, and Crowded.
Obama was supposed to be reading Friedman’s book 11 months ago. He was quoting from the book in campaign speeches back in September 2008. Apparently, he’s giving it another go. In total, that’s a goal of 2,333 pages for our Reader in Chief this week. See below for the rest of the Barack Obama Book Club—as culled from newspaper archives and peeks into Air Force One tote bags since the beginning of the 2008 campaign.
What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng
by Dave Eggers.
—Politico, May 30, 2009.
Netherland
by Joseph O’Neill.
—The New York Times Magazine, May 03, 2009.
Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet
by Jeffrey D. Sachs.
—The New York Times, December 16, 2008.
Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer
by Fred Kaplan.
—National Journal, November 26, 2008.
Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope
by Jonathan Alter.
—The New York Times, November 18, 2008.
FDR
by Jean Edward Smith.
—The New York Times, November 18, 2008.
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
by Steve Coll.
—The New York Times, November 2, 2008.
Collected Poems, 1948 to 1984
by Derek Walcott.
—The Daily Telegraph, November 7, 2008.
Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution—and How It Can Renew America
by Thomas L. Friedman.
—Washington Independent, September 8, 2008.
Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age
by Larry Bartels.
—MSNBC, September 3, 2008.
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
—Time, June 18, 2008.
The Post-American World
by Fareed Zakaria.
—The New York Times, May 21, 2008.
Plus: Check out Book Beast, for more news on hot titles, authors and excerpts from the latest books.
Samuel P. Jacobs is a staff reporter at The Daily Beast. He has also written for The Boston Globe, The New York Observer, and The New Republic Online.
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Jonathan ALTER, not ADLER wrote, "Defining Moment"
Defining Moment is by Jonathan Alter, not Adler.
How come they never posted G.W Bush's reading list?
Just kidding.
George W. Bush isn't a product friendly attribute of Oprah's publishing company....that's how come.
Barack isn't tacky and not charging for the list, nor did I get an email from the Whitehouse dictating what to read, and where to purchase it.
However;
I filed two complaints against Miss Oprah and her team this week. One with the FTC and the other City Of Chicago, I filed a complaint with the BBB last month.
Not only is Oprah regulating copyright law under her own special terms in Chicago, but she doesn't pay.
After understanding her disclaimer under the contact page via Oprah.com I decided to think about how she is making billions of bucks doing charity work.
It turns out however that Oprah and her show are not a social service agency or non-for-profit charitable organization. I called Harpo Studio's to find out, they told me not to bother, its T.V. a show.
The disclaimer states Oprah can alter and submission sent to her television show, and she does not have to pay for your or my story, idea, etc. I guess she doesn't donate to individuals based on merit.
Oprah and her organized team writers can also alter dates of submissions which is what is stated in her claim, alter words, and that original piece sent from the author is no longer to be kept confidential (PRIVATE).
Oprah can sell any information to advertisers, which is why my box (email) is full of bullshit mail from companies - Acai is one. Oprah also tried selling me books with her book of the month club. No thanks.
Whats the purpose of anti-spam laws? Not sure, lets ask Oprah and her staff.
Oprah it seems makes millions of dollars from advertisers and endorsments, but doesn't have to pay the author for their words?
Federal copyright however is a different story and contradicts Oprah's method of business, the intention and point of copyright office/registry is for an author of any work be it word/music-etc.. to register them for documentation to protect the right of the originator....but however in fact ,in court, a copyright is actually any original work in its text....a federal copyright is just one extra step to protect oneself, a work, or possible future endeavor.
Oprah though, America's #1 angel has her own God-given right to others words-stories and idea's.
A lawyer to The City Of Chicago stated in our conversation Friday after discussing my 3rd registered complaint, "that why would anyone send information to HER"?
Oprah's a winner.
Well because Oprah makes it so you trust her, with all that money she is making doing good things, who wouldn't, besides assisting her purchase high end vegan food and Versace glasses is more important than my future.
GOD BLESS THE OPRAH BOOK CLUB AND HER NEW ACQUISITION, BARACK OBAMA.
Hey was she able to cut a deal with deal with J-Crew to sell the presidents daughters clothes?
xoxoxoxo
MikeAlike
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Mike, you do realize that this was an article about the books observed in possession of the President of the United States of America, not to be confused with media personality Oprah Winfrey, of Harpo Productions, right?
Let's reserve the deranged nonsensical rants for the next Oprah article posted on the Beast.
I'm sure there will be a delightful Op-Ed about how her weight fluctuations have something to do with an anti-government conspiracy sometime soon, you just hang in there!
All that ranting just to set up your argument that Oprah is telling Obama what to read? That's a new one. Good luck with that.
Oh BTW Simon, I believe Golden Books is a more fitting reading level for GW...unless these books are too far above his reading level.
What in the world is this about? Good grief, it's just an interesting article.
Oprah!?! How did SHE get into this story? Get a grip.
They did. It's called the NYTimes list of best selling POP UP Books.
Eric,
Thank you. I didn't think of pop up books. You see, I can't get the image of Bush as Alfred E. Newman (WTF?) out of my head , so the only thing I picture him reading is Mad Magazine.
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I do not like the title THE POST AMERICAN world.
i think it is premature to think America is irrelevant . do you really think CHINA or INDIA could replace America ?
RUBBISH.
America will always remain what it wants to remain !!
Dana64,
Remember Egyptian Empire? The Roman Empire? The Byzantine Empire? The Ottoman Empire? Remember when the sun never set on the British empire? Remember all those empires throughout all those thousands of years, and how the maps changed, and changed, and changed, and changed again with one country after another dominating the world stage while the previously dominant empires receded into obscurity?
This is called "history". Those who forget it are doomed to repeat it. We don't own world dominance any more than the Romans did. During the Bush administration we didn't even deserve it. It's not our god-given right, and considering the way we treat our health-impaired citizens compared with the rest of the civilized world, we don't rank very high until we fix that.
You don't have a special place in the world because you were born within artificial man-made borders that have, and will continue to change over time. Neither do I.
And never say never. China has us beaten by a billion people. Sure they could overrun us. Sure they could take over. See how it plays out, and maybe take classes in Chinese.
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Really excellent!! Well written.
We saw a huge military monument in A Berlin park near the wall,
with a 200 foot statue of a soviet soldier, 2 tanks and many large cannons.
Very impressive and scary, put up by a now dead empire, the USSR.
America is not any more permanent than any other country.
The fact that only 40% of our congress has passports does a lot to explain our national ignorance.
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That would be because you're insipidly seizing at semantics to make an ersatz rhetorical point. Zakaraia in 'The Post-American World' speaks to the inevitable and self-evident decline of the American hegemony as the rest of the world catches up economically, and how American could continue to find its place at the 'head of the pack' by balancing emerging powers and strengthening the legitimacy of the state. He's one of the most lucid political realists of his generation, and it's frankly laughable that you should declare 'rubbish' because... I don't even know why.
Or was that one too many unpatriotic big words for you?
"Common Wealth:: Economics for a CROWDED PLANET"
the CROWDED PLANET has to be helped by Universal EUTHENASIA.............or else @@
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now now, dana. there's always the rapture!
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Apology for the "rant" I am aware of what I write and unfortunately sometimes to get people to listen or read, one must be a bit inappropriate or"rantful"...
The article is not about myself, so do I comment with "my" opinion or add to the list?
I have yet to read any of those books, however Noam Chomsky cam to mind as seeing the titles and my mind filing the information while playing a game of "word association".
I do-did read John Gray- "Straw Dogs- Thoughts On Humans And Other Animals" and "Black Mass-Apocalyptic Religion And The Death Of Utopia", in my opinion he has been able to integrate the human species, world politics, C.I.A. briefings, religion and green thinking with an existential tone that leaves me questioning if reading "Harlequin Romances" is something James Bond did instead of remembering his lines, more accurately.
Naw- for real though- John Gray ( from Margret Thatchers cabinet-Green Party) hit the nail on the head.
Fine.
A stupid without culture will never be a perfect stupid.
We need a book czar!
No wonder Obama has such a sick world-view.
Sick world view? Are you for real? I'm looking at descriptions of these books and to me it seems more like an optimistic real world solution oriented selection of books. If we don't remember the past it is doomed to repeat itself. The people who stood aside and let the world crumble apart will not be remembered as heroes. How many of the pessimists realize this? How many of them understand they are not really impacting the world at all. Hatred and pessimism and propaganda seems to be much more common amongst the haters of liberals. And a lot of them simply have forgotten what it means to be american after the Bush lie regime.......
Well this explains it. Where's the Healthcare for Dummies?
its right under "How to Divide a Nation in Six Short Months"
Yes no doubt written by a the same republican who sent the email telling how to disrupt town hall meetings!
I am sad there are not any children's books on this list. He is the father of two bright children. Presumably he and Michelle are reading them quality literature. It would be nice to know what books the First Family has been reading this summer.
Thanks for posting this list! I realize that you've tracked the books that the President has been reading since the 2008 campaign, but if you go back a few years, Obama has also acknowledged reading Colson Whitehead's John Henry Days and of course, Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon; Malia was spotted reading Outside Beauty by Cynthia Kadohata during the campaign; and earlier this summer, Michelle and her daughters finished Yann Martel's The Life of Pi and Zadie Smith's White Teeth.
I've been trying to keep track of these reading selections and reviews on my own blog, http://literaryobama.com so thanks for this additional resource!
Thank you.
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