Day 15: The 44th President Still Making History

     Today in America we celebrate President's day.   How does one "celebrate" this day?  Well, the banks take the day off,  schools normally schedule a Winter break  and the rest of us go to work.  So much for celebrating, right?   We promised at the beginning this month that we could focus on titles that were related to Black History Month and give readers a full twenty-eight days of book suggestions to consider reading.   Today is no exception but it does come with a bit of controversy given the political climate of the day.  In honor of President's day,  the focus will be on a newly published work by the 44th Presdient of the United States, who is also the First African-American Presdient.  Barack Obama's  A Promised Land has been recently published.  To be clear, this review is not a defense or criticism on President Obama's presidency.  It is merely a review of his presidential memoirs.  

    Honestly this memoir is well written and will be enjoyed immensely by those who share Obama'a vision and  ideas of America.  It should come as on surprise that the book will appeal mostly to those who voted for and consider themselves supporters of the Presdient.  As can be imaged,  for those who are not a "fan" of this president, they will not be a fan of the book either.  However, this does not necessarily indicate that because one does not agree with the political ideas they should not read the book.  Quite the opposite actually.  It is far better to read it, and get a complete picture of the President to gain a complete picture of where he stands in American History.  With that being said,  it is  a daunting idea that this President is not done with documenting his memories with this  700 plus tome.  As the saying goes, he's just getting started.   A  second volume will be published, which will pick up from just after Osama bin Laden was killed. 

    In 2004, Obama penned a book Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, which writing style is quite different than his memoir.  One could attribute this change due to the fact that time has a way of changing a man.  Especially a man who made history in many ways besides becoming the first black African American President.   One thing has remained the same,  Presdient Obama never lacks in self confidence and standing firmly on his beliefs.  In this detailed memoir , he  goes through each incident that had taken place during his eight year term with a meticulous overview that the reader feels as though this is an explanation of his decisions with a memoir as a side note.    It is also provides moments for Obama to hit back at his political opponents.  Obama makes perfectly clear there were villains and heroes in his administration.  The villains were people like Lindsay Graham, who opposed many of his ideas.  The heroes were everyone who supported, voted and allowed for the passing of  the Affordable Healthcare Act.  

    Libraries across the United States should have this book on the shelves because the average reader will probably want to read it but not want to shell out the $35 to own the book.  Not until both volumes are out.    Should all presidential memories be this long and detailed?  Honestly,  no.    It is understood by most reasonable people that decisions made by the President are the best to be made given the situation.  At least, we all hope that is true.  Did Obama make good decisions?  Obama certainly believes he did and it is up to the reader to decide if they agree with that assessment.   One thing is certain,  Obama is making an effort to protect his "legacy".  Only time will tell if his efforts will be successful.