The Rise of Barack Obama
by Pete Souza
List Price:
Our Price: $2.98
You Save: $24.97 (89%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Pete SouzaEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-07-01
ISBN: 1600781632
Number of pages: 176
Publisher: Triumph Books
Book Reviews of The Rise of Barack Obama
Book Review: "Proof-positive" of a Gift of a Leader to the Nation
Summary: 5 Stars
I took time out after lunch today from my efforts to be "productive" to find something unexpected, something to pump a little energy into my waning self.
The first thing I saw was a bookstore, and I stepped in. It didn't take me long to find photographer and writer Pete Souza's book, The Rise of Barack Obama. It's kind of a "coffee table book" or a photography-lover's book. The reproductions aren't the best I've ever seen (and I'm a "stickler," as I collect fine art and journalistic photography books regularly), but they are pretty good on the whole.
What's a more important matter than that is "How good is the book?" Well, it's very good.
I shed tears every week or every other week, often while watching movies (but elsewhere, too), and I like doing that. It's part of living - both crying tears of sadness and joy - and I'm not embarrassed to come to tears, not even in public.
Souza's book brought me to watery eyes in just a few minutes. There's a lot of beautiful pictures in this book, especially when seen by those who admire Senator Obama the way I do.
This first picture that got me is on pages 20-21, taken during a town hall meeting in Illinois, where Obama is cheek-to-cheek in embrace with a white woman (her face is dominant as it's on the side of their hug that's closer to the camera). She is radiant in her smile. And then you look throughout the photograph and see that everyone there - a mix of the races we are - all seem to have sparkle in their eyes and a glow in their spirits.
Another white woman at a rally - named in the caption as "student Lauren McGill" - who holds a Time magazine with Obama on the cover that reads "Why Barack Obama Could Be the Next President," again, glows with hopefulness and happiness (pages 118-119).
There are touching pictures of the Senator with his daughters. My favorite was a beautiful candid of him with the younger Sasha, cheek-to-cheek. She is smiling; he is seriously tender, his head pressing tightly against his girl.
Another family picture I admire shows Michelle's number one priority in life - being "Mom" - as she sits casually on some riser steps in the back area of a rally with her daughters at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa (pages 128-129).
A sea of Kenyan men - almost all in the photograph with the same intense look of expectancy, curiosity and subdued excitement in seeing the African American Senator in their country - is a magnificent work of photojournalism. The particulars of the emotion of the moment are captured in these faces, and, structurally-speaking, the picture shows the men all looking boldly in the same direction with not an eye blinking. It makes for an exciting, intense image.
Maybe the strongest photograph of all is on pages 156-157, one of a young African-American woman with tightly pursed lips smiling, her eyes both smiling and crying, at a Pennsylvania State University rally in March of this year. Tears have been flowing down her face freely. The picture holds, for me, all of these: bursting joy, pride, rightness, gladness, equity, happiness, hope, and even love.
This is a movement.
It could be said that Souza's book is a highly-edited version of Obama, the man, as well as the public's reaction to him. So be it - it is. But, I dare anyone to find me another person living today that you can find a cache of positive photos this size that could create an equally moving book on anyone else in modern public life. If you look at the book, you just know it's rare for this to happen.
One thing about Souza's collection that history will note, if we do not, is that Obama is clearly a minority among white men (and sometimes women) in the photographs of him "at work" in Washington. I sense that it takes a lot of courage, wherewithal, and an unwavering sense of purpose for someone to endure this. A lot of people do such things, a lot of people can, but more of us aren't willing to put ourselves out there in various uncomfortable situations where we might not "fit in." For Obama to do this as well as he does, without succumbing to feelings or thoughts of alienation or frustration, and to be so charismatic and positive a figure as he is while doing so, you have to admit the candidacy of this man - as it careens through the hearts of so many of us - is very likely what we have to call "a movement."
Summary of The Rise of Barack Obama
Pete Souza, an award-winning photojournalist, documents the rise of the charismatic Barack Obama from his first day in the U.S. Senate right up to the Pennsylvania primary in April 2008.More than 80 percent of these candid and stunning photographs, capturing private and political moments, have not been seen before.Souza provides extended commentary about each photo to place it in context and describe the scene and participants. Photo by photo, the viewer is allowed to examine the senator and candidate's path to the very cusp of history.African-American & Black Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in African-American & Black Books
Leaving Birmingham: Notes of a Native Sonby Paul Hemphill
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1995-01-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Wynton Marsalis: Skain's Domain: A Biographyby Leslie Gourse
Schirmer Trade Books; Published: 1999-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $52.90
The Miles Davis Companion: Four Decades of Commentaryby Gary Carner
Schirmer Trade Books; Published: 1996-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.36
Kaffir Boy in Americaby Mathabane
Free Press; Published: 1990-08-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.35
Price in other shops:
LIFE AND TIMES OF FREDERICK DOUGLASSby Frederick Douglass
Scribner Paper Fiction; Published: 1962-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $59.57
My American Journey My American Journeyby Colin L. Powell, Joseph Persico
Turtleback Books: A Division of Sanval; Published: 1996-01; School & Library Binding; Book
Best price: $81.38
Black Titan: A. G. Gaston and the Making of a Black American Millionaireby Carol Jenkins, Elizabeth Gardner Hines
One World/Ballantine; Published: 2003-12-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $29.55
Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Familyby Condoleezza Rice
Random House Audio; Published: 2010-10-12; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $20.56
Price in other shops:
Now the Hell Will Start: One Soldier's Flight from the Greatest Manhunt of World WarIIby Brendan I. Koerner
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2009-05-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
On My Own at 107: Reflections on Life Without Bessieby Sarah Louise Delany, Amy Hill Hearth, Brian M. Kotzky
Harper San Francisco; Published: 1997-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.63
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Obama: The Historic Journeyby The New York Times, Jill Abramson, Bill Keller
Callaway Adult; Published: 2009-02-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $20.89
Price in other shops:
LIFE Michelle Obama: A Portrait of the First Lady (Life (Life Books))by Editors of Life
Life; Published: 2009-10-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.99
Price in other shops:
The Rise of Barack Obamaby Photography and Text by Pete Souza
Triumph Books; Published: 2008-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.97
Price in other shops:
The Inauguration of Barack Obama: A Photographic Journalby The Washington Post
Triumph Books; Published: 2009-02-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.00
Price in other shops:
Barack Obama: The Official Inaugural BookFive Ties Publishing; Published: 2009-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughtersby Barack Obama
Knopf Books for Young Readers; Knopf Books for Young Readers; Published: 2010-11-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.50
Price in other shops:
The President's Photographer: Fifty Years Inside the Oval Officeby John Bredar
PBS; National Geographic; Published: 2010-11-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.80
Price in other shops:
The Obamas in the White House: Reflections on Family, Faith and Leadershipby From the Editors of Essence magazine
Books; Essence; Published: 2009-10-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.64
Price in other shops:
The American Journey of Barack Obamaby The Editors of Life Magazine
Little, Brown and Company; Published: 2008-10-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.30
Price in other shops:
The President's Photographer: Fifty Years Inside the Oval Officeby John Bredar
National Geographic; Published: 2010-11-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops: