The Audacity of Hope explained

The Audacity of Hope
Author:Barack Obama
Country:United States
Language:English
Subject:Political convictions
Publisher:Crown / Three Rivers Press
Release Date:October 17, 2006
Media Type:Print (hardcover)
Pages:362
Isbn:978-0-307-23769-9
Dewey:973/.04960730092 B 22
Congress:E901.1.O23 A3 2006

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream is the second book written by Barack Obama.[1] It became number one on both the New York Times and Amazon.com bestsellers lists in the fall of 2006, after Obama had been endorsed by Oprah Winfrey.[2] In the book, Obama expounds on many of the subjects that became part of his 2008 campaign for the presidency. The book advance from the publisher totalled $1.9 million contracted for three books.[3] Obama announced his presidential campaign on February 10, 2007, a little more than three months after the book's release.

Origin

The title of The Audacity of Hope was derived from a sermon delivered by Barack Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. Wright had attended a lecture by Frederick G. Sampson in Richmond, Virginia, in the late 1980s, on the G. F. Watts painting Hope, which inspired him to give a sermon in 1990 based on the subject of the painting – "with her clothes in rags, her body scarred and bruised and bleeding, her harp all but destroyed and with only one string left, she had the audacity to make music and praise God ... To take the one string you have left and to have the audacity to hope ... that's the real word God will have us hear from this passage and from Watt's painting."[4] Having attended Wright's sermon, Obama later adapted Wright's phrase "audacity to hope" to "audacity of hope" which became the title for his 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote address, and the title of his second book.

While a Senate candidate, Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic Convention, entitled The Audacity of Hope that propelled him to national prominence. In the less than twenty minutes it took to deliver the speech, Obama was catapulted to sudden fame, with many analysts predicting that he might be well positioned to enter a future presidential race. In 2006, Obama released The Audacity of Hope, a book-length account that expanded upon many of the same themes he originally addressed in the convention speech.

In his speech addressing the Democratic National Convention in 2004, Obama said:[5]

Contents

The book, divided into nine chapters, outlines Obama's political and spiritual beliefs, as well as his opinions on different aspects of American culture.

Reception

The New York Times noted that "Mr. Obama's new book, The Audacity of Hope' ... is much more of a political document. Portions of the volume read like outtakes from a stump speech, and the bulk of it is devoted to laying out Mr. Obama's policy positions on a host of issues, from education to health care to the war in Iraq."[1]

The Chicago Tribune describes the book as a "political biography that concentrates on the senator's core values",[6] and credits the large crowds that gathered at book signings with influencing Obama's decision to run for president.[7] Former presidential candidate Gary Hart describes the book as Obama's "thesis submission" for the U.S. presidency: "It presents a man of relative youth yet maturity, a wise observer of the human condition, a figure who possesses perseverance and writing skills that have flashes of grandeur."[8] Reviewer Michael Tomasky writes that it does not contain "boldly innovative policy prescriptions that will lead the Democrats out of their wilderness", but does show Obama's potential to "construct a new politics that is progressive but grounded in civic traditions that speak to a wider range of Americans."[9]

An Italian edition was published in April 2007 with a preface by Walter Veltroni,[10] former Mayor of Rome, then leader of Italy's Democratic Party and one of Obama's earliest supporters overseas, who met with Obama in Washington in 2005[11] and has been referred to as "Obama's European counterpart".[12] Spanish and German translations were published in June 2007;[13] the French edition, subtitled une nouvelle conception de la politique américaine, was published in October 2007.[14] The Croatian edition was published in October 2008.[15]

The book remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for the 30 weeks since publication.[16] The audiobook version won the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album.[17]

A number of blogs and newspapers repeated inaccurate rumors that the book contains the passage, "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction." The actual quote does not mention Muslims at all, referring instead to Arab and Pakistani Americans in the context of immigrant communities generally.[18] [19]

Versions and translations

External links

Book excerpts

Notes and References

  1. News: Michiko . Kakutani . Obama's Foursquare Politics, With a Dab of Dijon . October 17, 2006 . . 2007-06-21.
  2. Web site: Could Oprah Help Elect Obama? - News & Features (washingtonian.com) . December 2006 . Washingtonian.com . 2008-11-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131203234620/http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/could-oprah-help-elect-obama/ . live . 2013-12-03.
  3. Web site: Book Notes — washingtonpost.com . Washingtonpost.com . 2008-11-17.
  4. http://www.preachingtoday.com/sermons/sermons/audacityofhope.html Sermon
  5. http://www.librarian.net/dnc/speeches/obama.txt Transcript of a speech by Barack Obama
  6. News: Mike . Dorning . October 11, 2006 . First Glimpse of Obama's New Memoir . Chicago Tribune . 2007-06-21.
  7. News: Mike . Dorning . Christi Parsons . Carefully Crafting the Obama 'Brand' . June 12, 2007 . Chicago Tribune . 2008-01-14.
  8. News: Gary . Hart . American Idol . December 24, 2006 . . 2008-01-14.
  9. News: Michael . Tomasky . The Phenomenon . November 30, 2006 . Internet Archive . https://web.archive.org/web/20070401154934/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19651 . 2007-04-01 . New York Review of Books . 2008-01-14.
  10. Web site: L'audacia della speranza . Libreria Rizzoli . 2008-03-18 . it . https://web.archive.org/web/20080313002608/http://libreriarizzoli.corriere.it/libro/obama_barack-audacia_della_speranza_l.aspx?ean=9788817016582 . 2008-03-13.
  11. Web site: Il politico prevale sull' amministratore . Corriere della Sera . April 30, 2005 . 2008-03-18 . it.
  12. News: Obama's European counterparts . Los Angeles Times . Tracy Wilkinson . February 25, 2008 . 2008-03-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080602014330/http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-eurobama25feb25,1,5411037.story?track=rss . 2008-06-02.
  13. News: Annelena . Lobb . Obama, en Español . June 19, 2007 . The Wall Street Journal Online . 2008-01-14. News: Hoffnung wagen . June 2007 . Riemann . 2008-01-14.
  14. News: L'Audace d'espérer . Presses de la Cité Etranger . 2008-02-17.
  15. News: Predstavljena Obamina knjiga . . November 4, 2008 . 2008-11-05.
  16. Web site: Best Sellers: Hardcover Nonfiction . 2007-05-27 . May 27, 2007 . .
  17. News: Obama beats ex-presidents for audiobook Grammy . Associated Press . 2008-02-10. 2008-02-10.
  18. News: Florida Times-Union. 2008-07-13 . Unwary duped by falsehoods .
  19. News: Florida Times-Union . 2008-07-09 . Political rumors: Obama is no Muslim .

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