The Audacity of Hope will undoubtedly be the most widely read of
Mr. Obama's books, but it is, in many ways, an inferior work to Dreams. That chronicle's air of authenticity shielded it from accusations that Mr. Obama was nothing more than an opportunist, appealing for fame and sympathy from an American public he'd one day lead. Audacity has no such armor. Though its backdrop is the fascinating mechanics of a black man running for senate, and though it reveals much about Mr. Obama's family life, including the saintly patience of his
wife, we're too often left wondering what of this is true and what of this is political staging for Mr. Obama's future goals. Audacity is as much political treatise as memoir, a means by which Mr. Obama lays out his bland, centrist philosophies of government. Perhaps this is what reduces this work from a clean portrait of a modern marriage and an exceptional man to a Churchillian slant on events that no one can truly trust.
The unquestionable highlight here is the transcript of Mr. Obama's
speech at the Democratic Convention in 2004. It is an amazing piece of oratory which, when combined with Mr. Obama's considerable presence, leaves little doubt of the reasons why his star ascended so swiftly.(2/5 Stars)
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