Hard cover edition

Barack His Essential Wisdom invites readers to experience the powerful oratory of our forty-fourth president. Obama’s skill at expressing deep empathy and thoughtful idealism made him a best-selling author at an early age. Speaking as a law professor, politician, and eventually the nation’s first African American president, he continued to hone a view of America as a unique place where all races and classes could achieve equality. These selections have been drawn from his speeches, interviews, essays, books, social media posts, and other writings over the past twenty years, and they reveal a great intellect, dynamic leadership style, and steadfast determination. Arranged thematically, the selections reveal his thoughts and feelings, and even the occasional joke, about the many issues he faced during his two terms as president—universal healthcare, same-sex equality, racial equality, and the threat of terrorism among them.