Book Review 99
Name Of The Book : To Obama With Love, Joy, Hate and Despair
Author : Jeanne Marie Laskas
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Year : 2018
Category : Non-Fiction
Review :
President Barack Obama received ten thousand letters a day from his constituents. This is the story of the private and profound relationship with letter writers that shaped his presidency. Their voices combine to reveal the diary of a nation. Every evening for eight years, at his request, President Obama was given ten handpicked letters written by ordinary American citizens - the unfiltered voice of a nation - from his Office of Presidential Correspondence. He was the first president to interact daily with constituent mail and to archive it in its entirety. The letters affected not only the president and his policies but also the deeply committed people who were tasked with opening and reading the millions of pleas, rants, thank-yous, and apologies that landed in the White House mailroom. In To Obama, Jeanne Marie Laskas interviews President Obama, the letter writers themselves, and the White House staff who sifted through the powerful, moving, and incredibly intimate narrative of America during the Obama years: There is Kelli, who saw her grandfathers finally marry - legally - after thirty-five years together; Bill, a lifelong Republican whose attitude towards immigration reform was transformed when he met a boy escaping MS-13 gang leaders in El Salvador; Heba, a Syrian refugee who wants to forget the day the tanks rolled into her village; Marjorie, who grappled with disturbing feelings of racial bias lurking within her during the George Zimmerman trial; and Vicki, whose family was torn apart by those who voted for Trump and those who did not. They wrote to Obama out of gratitude and desperation, in their darkest times of need, in search of connection. They wrote with anger, fear, and respect. And together, this chorus of voices achieves a kind of beautiful harmony. To Obama is an intimate look at one man’s relationship to the American people, and at a time when empathy intersected with politics in the White House.
Barack Obama has always been one of my favourite American Presidents. This book has helped me to discover another dimension of President Obama. The idea of an American President reading ten letters a day from the common man in order to understand their concerns and engage with them meaningfully is downright brilliant and empowering. It is a task that requires utmost empathy and dedication. It only strengthens the fact that Obama wanted to connect with more and more people without prejudice and ensure that the spirit of democracy is upheld with everybody participating in the decision making directly or indirectly. In the book, we can see how Obama has painstakingly tried to reply to each and every one of them as he knows that every small gesture goes a long way. All of those who received his replies hold it in high regard and considers it to be a treasure. It has been able to bring a positive change in people’s lives. Through the idea of reading and writing letters, he reinforces his ideology of how hope can make a significant change. His team led by Fiona, have worked tirelessly throughout his presidency and need to be applauded for their timely response, ability to handle situations maturely and their efficiency. They have remained true to their duties and have always strived to show the President a real picture rather than a rose-tinted one. This book has a huge collection of letters received by Obama and his replies to many of them. The circumstances that led many of these letter writers to write to the President are interesting and enlightening. They include an amalgam of kids, adolescents, elderly, rich, middle class, poor, Democrats, Republicans among others. Obama has always been polite to both those who praise him and those who criticize him. This is the true quality of a leader. We can see that certain people had written letters right after he was elected, citing their problems and the very same people have again written to him after eight years to thank him for the positive changes he had brought. The letters are heartwarming and give a deep insight into how ordinary citizens viewed Obama as the President and his policies. Even after his tenure, he continues to receive hundreds of letters each day and he responds to as many as he can. This is a testimony of people’s love and acceptance. I strongly recommend this book to everyone irrespective of your age or your favourite genre.
Rating : 5/5
Name Of The Book : To Obama With Love, Joy, Hate and Despair
Author : Jeanne Marie Laskas
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Year : 2018
Category : Non-Fiction
Review :
President Barack Obama received ten thousand letters a day from his constituents. This is the story of the private and profound relationship with letter writers that shaped his presidency. Their voices combine to reveal the diary of a nation. Every evening for eight years, at his request, President Obama was given ten handpicked letters written by ordinary American citizens - the unfiltered voice of a nation - from his Office of Presidential Correspondence. He was the first president to interact daily with constituent mail and to archive it in its entirety. The letters affected not only the president and his policies but also the deeply committed people who were tasked with opening and reading the millions of pleas, rants, thank-yous, and apologies that landed in the White House mailroom. In To Obama, Jeanne Marie Laskas interviews President Obama, the letter writers themselves, and the White House staff who sifted through the powerful, moving, and incredibly intimate narrative of America during the Obama years: There is Kelli, who saw her grandfathers finally marry - legally - after thirty-five years together; Bill, a lifelong Republican whose attitude towards immigration reform was transformed when he met a boy escaping MS-13 gang leaders in El Salvador; Heba, a Syrian refugee who wants to forget the day the tanks rolled into her village; Marjorie, who grappled with disturbing feelings of racial bias lurking within her during the George Zimmerman trial; and Vicki, whose family was torn apart by those who voted for Trump and those who did not. They wrote to Obama out of gratitude and desperation, in their darkest times of need, in search of connection. They wrote with anger, fear, and respect. And together, this chorus of voices achieves a kind of beautiful harmony. To Obama is an intimate look at one man’s relationship to the American people, and at a time when empathy intersected with politics in the White House.
Barack Obama has always been one of my favourite American Presidents. This book has helped me to discover another dimension of President Obama. The idea of an American President reading ten letters a day from the common man in order to understand their concerns and engage with them meaningfully is downright brilliant and empowering. It is a task that requires utmost empathy and dedication. It only strengthens the fact that Obama wanted to connect with more and more people without prejudice and ensure that the spirit of democracy is upheld with everybody participating in the decision making directly or indirectly. In the book, we can see how Obama has painstakingly tried to reply to each and every one of them as he knows that every small gesture goes a long way. All of those who received his replies hold it in high regard and considers it to be a treasure. It has been able to bring a positive change in people’s lives. Through the idea of reading and writing letters, he reinforces his ideology of how hope can make a significant change. His team led by Fiona, have worked tirelessly throughout his presidency and need to be applauded for their timely response, ability to handle situations maturely and their efficiency. They have remained true to their duties and have always strived to show the President a real picture rather than a rose-tinted one. This book has a huge collection of letters received by Obama and his replies to many of them. The circumstances that led many of these letter writers to write to the President are interesting and enlightening. They include an amalgam of kids, adolescents, elderly, rich, middle class, poor, Democrats, Republicans among others. Obama has always been polite to both those who praise him and those who criticize him. This is the true quality of a leader. We can see that certain people had written letters right after he was elected, citing their problems and the very same people have again written to him after eight years to thank him for the positive changes he had brought. The letters are heartwarming and give a deep insight into how ordinary citizens viewed Obama as the President and his policies. Even after his tenure, he continues to receive hundreds of letters each day and he responds to as many as he can. This is a testimony of people’s love and acceptance. I strongly recommend this book to everyone irrespective of your age or your favourite genre.
Rating : 5/5