Obama: The Call of History

by Peter Baker

Overview

Nominated for a 2017 NAACP Image Award: Best Biography or Memoir

Peter Baker’s authoritative history of the Obama presidency is the first complete account that will stand the test of time. Baker takes the measure of Obama’s achievements and disappointments in office and brings into focus the real legacy of the man who, as he described himself, “doesn’t look like all the presidents on the dollar bills.”

With vivid color photographs by New York Times photographers and others of the events, major and minor, public and behind-the scenes, that defined Barack Obama’s eight years in office, Obama: The Call of History is a portrait in full of America’s first African-American president against the background of these tumultuous times.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780935112900
Publisher:	New York Times/Callaway
Publication date:	06/27/2017
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	1,093,424
Product dimensions:	9.70(w) x 11.70(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

As chief White House correspondent for the New York Times, Peter Baker covered the Obama presidency since its inception. He is the author of Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, named one of the five best nonfiction books of 2013 by the New York Times Book Review and a Notable Book of the Year by the WashingtonPost; as well as The Breach: Inside the Impeachment and Trial of William Jefferson Clinton; and, with his wife, Susan Glasser, Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the End of Revolution.

Editorial Reviews

It does not matter what Obama is doing…Integrity like his cannot be photoshopped or feigned…[Baker] is neither fanboy nor debunker…Line by line, issue after issue, Baker balances opportunities and obstacles, promises and results, criticism and praise.

The New York Times Book Review - James Goodman

"This is the best book about President Obama I’ve ever read – it’s totally objective but beautifully written and filled with new little nuggets that even I, who covered the administration from start to finish, never knew."

Executive Producer, Face the Nation - Mary Hager

"Peter Baker's Obama: The Call of History is a masterfully written and stunningly illustrated remembrance of our forty-fourth president. Baker has emerged as the go-to journalist and sage on recent U.S. presidential events. Obama is a full-bore testimonial to Baker's graceful prose style, judicious reporting, and sterling history-minded analysis. Highly recommended!"

author of Rightful Heritage: Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Land of America - Douglas Brinkley

"Peter Baker dug up the best and worst moments of President Barack
Obama's two terms in office to masterfully weave into a condensed
account."

The Daily Beast - Lyne Lucien

Journalism may be history's first draft, but Baker's words might qualify as prophecy's first blush...Both a compelling biography and a coffee-table, large format work with beautiful photography commemorating the Obama years.

The Washington Post - Michael Eric Dyson

"This is an elegant and evocative look back at the Obama years as history, combining narrative and commentary by Peter Baker, one of our most astute observers of the modern presidency, with striking, well-chosen photographs and other illustrations."

presidential historian Michael Beschloss

"With his unique gifts as a diligent journalist and a first-rate historian, Peter Baker has given us a compelling first look at a consequential presidency—an eight-year reign that will be studied forever. And here is where we will all start that conversation: with Baker's graceful and insightful account of Barack Obama's victories, defeats, and evolving legacy."

author of Destiny and Power: The American Odys Jon Meacham

"Peter Baker’s Obama is a coffee-table book, chock-a-block with stunning photos, that rises above its genre thanks to the quality of the author’s reporting and analysis."

Foreign Affairs - Joe Klein

"Peter Baker's Obama: The Call of History is a masterfully written and stunningly illustrated remembrance of our forty-fourth president. Baker has emerged as the go-to journalist and sage on recent U.S. presidential events. Obama is a full-bore testimonial to Baker's graceful prose style, judicious reporting, and sterling history-minded analysis. Highly recommended!"

author of Rightful Heritage: Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Land of America - Douglas Brinkley

"Peter Baker's Obama: The Call of History is a masterfully written and stunningly illustrated remembrance of our forty-fourth president. Baker has emerged as the go-to journalist and sage on recent U.S. presidential events. Obama is a full-bore testimonial to Baker's graceful prose style, judicious reporting, and sterling history-minded analysis. Highly recommended!"

author of Rightful Heritage: Franklin Delano R Douglas Brinkley