The first part of Barack Obama’s long-awaited memoir will be released on November 17th, two weeks after election day. A Promised Land will be released in two volumes. No word on when the second volume will be out. Today the former president announced the release on his social media.
In a statement, Obama wrote:
“In A Promised Land I’ve tried to provide an honest accounting of my presidential campaign and my time in office: the key events and people who shaped it, my take on what I got right and the mistakes I made, and the political, economic, and cultural forces that my team and I had to confront then––and that as a nation we are grappling with still. In the book, I’ve also tried to give readers a sense of the personal journey that Michelle and I went through during those years, with all the incredible highs and lows.
And finally, at a time when America is going through such enormous upheaval, the book offers some of my broader thoughts on how we can heal the divisions in our country going forward and make our democracy work for everybody––a task that won’t depend on any single president, but on all of us as engaged citizens. Along with being a fun and informative read, I hope more than anything that the book inspires young people across the country––and around the globe––to take up the baton, lift up their voices, and play their part in remaking the world for the better.”
Obama previously published two books, both were released before he was president. Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance was originally released in 1995 and re-released in 2004. And The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream was written in 2006 while he was a Senator.