WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - 'A Promised Land,', the highly anticipated memoir by former U.S. President Barack Obama, went on sale on Tuesday.
It is the first of a planned two volumes that Obama has written following his tenure as President from 2009 to 2017.
Spread over 701 pages, A Promised Land takes the readers from the United States' first black President's childhood to the May 2011 killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
In the deeply personal account of his presidential memoirs, Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from a young man searching for his identity to becoming the first African American to hold the nation's highest office. He describes in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his presidency.
'Obama takes readers on a compelling journey from his earliest political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory that demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to the historic night of November 4, 2008, when he was elected 44th president of the United States', the book's publisher says in an overview.
Obama is candid about the balancing act of running for office as a Black American and how living in the White House affected his wife and daughters.
Reflecting on the presidency, he offers a unique exploration of the reach and the limits of presidential power, as well as insights into the dynamics of U.S. partisan politics and international diplomacy. Obama takes readers to the Oval Office and the White House Situation Room, and shares the experiences of his visits to world capitals including Moscow, Cairo, Beijing and New Delhi.
Obama recalls his thoughts on the selection of his Cabinet, dealing with a global financial crisis, how he secured passage of the Affordable Care Act, clashes with generals about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, tackling Wall Street reform, response to the devastating Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and authorization of a raid in Pakistan that led to the elimination of Osama bin Laden.
Obama provides intriguing assessment of his contemporary leaders. Russian President Vladimir Putin is compared to a party boss from the dark age of Chicago machine politics.
The then British Prime Minister David Cameron is 'urbane and confident', according to him.
He describes former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the 'chief architect of India's economic transformation' and 'wise, thoughtful, and scrupulously honest'.
Published by Crown Publishing Group, the book is priced at $34.99.
Its first printing is reportedly set for a run of 3.4 million copies in the U.S. and Canada. There will be 2.5 million copies printed for international readers. The New York Times described the book as being 'virtually guaranteed' to be the year's top seller.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX