A Promised Land, Barack Obama’s first memoir volume, sets release

The memoir will be released in two volumes. Vol. 1 will drop Nov. 17.

Barack Obama and publisher Penguin Random House revealed new details today on the memoirs of the former president.

The books will be released as two volumes through Crown, an imprint of Penguin. The first, the 768-page A Promised Land, will hit both real and virtual shelves on Nov. 17, two weeks after the 2020 election. A date for Vol. 2 has not been revealed.

“I’ve spent the last few years reflecting on my presidency, and in A Promised Land I’ve tried to provide an honest accounting of my presidential campaign and my time in office: the key events and people who shaped it; my take on what I got right and the mistakes I made; and the political, economic, and cultural forces that my team and I had to confront then — and that as a nation we are grappling with still,” Obama said in a statement (per the Associated Press).

According to a description of the book, A Promised Land will shed light on Obama’s thoughts on assembling his cabinet, dealing with the global financial crisis, dealing with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, securing the Affordable Care Act, clashing with generals about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, tackling Wall Street reform, responding to Deepwater Horizon, and authorizing Operation Neptune’s Spear, which led to the death of Osama bin Laden.

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“In the book,” Obama continued, “I’ve also tried to give readers a sense of the personal journey that Michelle and I went through during those years, with all the incredible highs and lows. And finally, at a time when America is going through such enormous upheaval, the book offers some of my broader thoughts on how we can heal the divisions in our country going forward and make our democracy work for everybody — a task that won’t depend on any single president, but on all of us as engaged citizens.”

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