A Promised Land

Barack Obama's first volume of presidential memoirs traces his political life from his early years through most of his first term. The first 200 or so pages cover the period up to his time in Chicago, followed by his first campaigns, the Iowa caucus victory and the November 2008 election that made him the first African American president. From the Oval Office and the Situation Room he recounts assembling his cabinet, the financial crisis, sizing up Vladimir Putin, passing the Affordable Care Act, clashing with generals over Afghanistan, Wall Street reform and the Deepwater Horizon blowout. The memoir closes with the May 2011 operation against Osama bin Laden and a meeting with the Navy SEALs who carried out the raid.

Bill Gates, who says books about American presidents almost always interest him, said in his 2021 summer reading list that he especially loved this one.