The Audacity of Hope

Subtitled: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

By: Barack Obama

Libby audiobook 6 hours

Read by: the author

Published: 2006

Genre: nonfiction, autobiography, politics

I'm glad I got this and listened to it. What a wonderful man! Intelligent, reflective, thoughtful, caring . . . He wrote this while he was a U.S. Senator from Illinois. Having read Michelle Obama's Becoming, I have a whole new perspective! I remember thinking she was "whiny" about him being gone too much and her shouldering the burdens of parenting. Ha! I bet she felt like a single mom with the demands of his political campaigns and crazy hours. I'm so glad for both of them that they have a strong marriage. To have made it through the presidential years . . . they're both amazing people. 

I briefly thought that I should read a book by Donald Trump, but I don't think I could stomach it. He typically brags about himself and is awful toward other human beings. I just don't think I could spend time reading anything he wrote.

One thing that bothered me in this book is the degree to which the media controls what we hear about. Since sensationalism and negativity are more "interesting" than boring topics with little divisiveness, the froth just keeps getting stirred up. I know many journalists truly care about finding and reporting the truth of what is happening, but we only seem to hear the outrageous sound-bites. This makes me sad.

At the very end of the book, the end notes (not in Obama's voice) said that this was produced "and abridged" by . . . Ugh! I hate abridgements! Now I feel as though I ought to get a copy of the print book and read the whole thing again. But not now.