The Bridge

The Life and Rise of Barack Obama

By: David Remnick

Narrated by: Mark Deakins

No story has been more central to America’s history this century than the rise of Barack Obama, and until now, no journalist or historian has written a book that fully investigates the circumstances and experiences of Obama’s life or explores the ambition behind his rise. Those familiar with Obama’s own best-selling memoir or his campaign speeches know the touchstones and details that he chooses to emphasize, but now—from a writer whose gift for illuminating the historical significance of unfolding events is without peer—we have a portrait, at once masterly and fresh, nuanced and unexpected, of a young man in search of himself, and of a rising politician determined to become the first African-American president.

The Bridge offers the most complete account yet of Obama’s tragic father, a brilliant economist who abandoned his family and ended his life as a beaten man; of his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, who had a child as a teenager and then built her career as an anthropologist living and studying in Indonesia; and of the succession of elite institutions that first exposed Obama to the social tensions and intellectual currents that would force him to imagine and fashion an identity for himself. Through extensive on-the-record interviews with friends and teachers, mentors and disparagers, family members and Obama himself, David Remnick allows us to see how a rootless, unaccomplished, and confused young man created himself first as a community organizer in Chicago, an experience that would not only shape his urge to work in politics but give him a home and a community, and that would propel him to Harvard Law School, where his sense of a greater mission emerged.

Deftly setting Obama’s political career against the galvanizing intersection of race and politics in Chicago’s history, Remnick shows us how that city’s complex racial legacy would make Obama’s forays into politics a source of controversy and bare-knuckle tactics: his clashes with older black politicians in the Illinois State Senate, his disastrous decision to challenge the former Black Panther Bobby Rush for Congress in 2000, the sex scandals that would decimate his more experienced opponents in the 2004 Senate race, and the story—from both sides—of his confrontation with his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. By looking at Obama’s political rise through the prism of our racial history, Remnick gives us the conflicting agendas of black politicians: the dilemmas of men like Jesse Jackson, John Lewis, and Joseph Lowery, heroes of the civil rights movement, who are forced to reassess old loyalties and understand the priorities of a new generation of African-American leaders.

The Bridge revisits the American drama of race, from slavery to civil rights, and makes clear how Obama’s quest is not just his own but is emblematic of a nation where destiny is defined by individuals keen to imagine a future that is different from the reality of their current lives.

Good biography

If you like biographies and if you like Obama, you will like this book. The author provides a lot of context as he walks us through the life and meteoric rise of this man. However, it does not include, as I had hoped, a serious analysis of Obama's political philosophy.

Excellent depiction of the rise of Obama

Loved the presentation. Clearly a good writer. Leans toward Obama's favor, but I liked that. You want to hear about people through the lens that they want to be heard, then make your own judgment with outside information.

i was reading this because i missed Obarma so much

it was interesting to see were a great PRESEDENT came from and how he met his wife lived the book and thank you for keeping my mind off of Trump , it's so hard to have a great Preserdent and then this guy in office .

Amazing book! A must - read for fans of history

I almost didn't give this book five stars because the narration was awful - the narrator mispronounced names and places, and used the same cadence throughout, no matter what the actual text was. But I found the content to be so incredible that I had to give it a 5.

This is definitely the definitive account of Obama's public life up until his election. This is probably the 6th book on or by Obama I've read / listened to, and I still learned a ton. And it tied his life and achievements into a social context in a way I've never seen done before. What a masterpiece.

This would be the if you only read one book on Obama, read this one' book I'll recommend to people from now on.

Detailed and pertinent

Anyone interested in the remarkable story of Obama will be thrilled to know these details. It is inspiring.