Author Guide · Memoir
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In 1990 a second-year law student named Barack Obama was elected the first Black president of the Harvard Law Review. The news coverage brought him a book contract, and the book became Dreams from My Father (1995), a memoir about his Kenyan father and his American mother that sold an estimated 8,000 to 9,000 hardcover copies and went out of print. Reissued in 2004, it became a bestseller; in 2011 Time put it on its list of the 100 best non-fiction books written in English since 1923. Twenty-five years after his debut, the first volume of his presidential memoirs sold 887,000 copies in the United States and Canada on its first day. This guide covers his five key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 5 key books · 1995–2021 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Barack Obama’s books are Dreams from My Father (1995), The Audacity of Hope (2006), the picture book Of Thee I Sing (2010), the presidential memoir A Promised Land (2020) and Renegades: Born in the USA (2021), written with Bruce Springsteen. Start with Dreams from My Father, written before he held any office; read on for how the books differ and the order to read them in.
Where to Start with Barack Obama
If you want his own story, before politics
→ Dreams from My Father (1995) — his first book, from Hawaii and Jakarta to Chicago and Kenya.
If you want the presidency from the inside
→ A Promised Land (2020) — the first volume of his presidential memoirs.
If you want his ideas set out as an argument
→ The Audacity of Hope (2006) — the 2006 book he wrote as a US senator.
If you want something lighter
→ Renegades (2021) — his conversations with Bruce Springsteen.
5 Barack Obama Books, in Order
Dreams from My Father
Published by Times Books in July 1995, it follows Obama from his parents’ meeting at the University of Hawaii, through a childhood in Jakarta and Honolulu, college at Occidental and Columbia, and community organising in Chicago, to a journey to Kenya before he entered Harvard Law School in 1988. It sold modestly at first; the 2004 reissue, with a new preface and his convention keynote address, became a bestseller. The audiobook, read by Obama, won the Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album in 2006.
The Audacity of Hope
Written while he was a US senator and published by Crown in October 2006, it sets out his political and religious convictions over nine chapters, with long sections on issues such as education, health care and the Iraq war. The title is a phrase from his 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote, which he took from a sermon by his then pastor, Jeremiah Wright. It reached number one on the New York Times list and stayed on it for 30 weeks; the audiobook won the Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album in 2008.
Of Thee I Sing
A picture book written as a letter to his two daughters, illustrated by Loren Long and published by Knopf in November 2010; Obama wrote it before taking office in January 2009. It profiles 13 Americans, among them George Washington, Georgia O’Keeffe, Billie Holiday, Albert Einstein, Sitting Bull, Jackie Robinson and Neil Armstrong. Obama takes no profit from it: the proceeds go to a scholarship fund for children of soldiers killed or disabled in service.
A Promised Land
The first of a planned two volumes of presidential memoirs, written by hand on yellow legal pads. It runs from his early years and first campaigns through most of his first term, and ends with the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011. Published by Crown on 17 November 2020 in 20 languages at once, it sold 887,000 copies in the US and Canada on its first day and about 3.3 million in all formats in its first month, according to Penguin Random House. The audiobook won the 2022 Audie Award for narration by the author and was nominated for a Grammy.
Renegades
A book version of the eight-episode podcast the two men recorded for Spotify, launched in February 2021 by Higher Ground, the Obamas’ production company. Published by Crown on 26 October 2021, it runs to 320 pages with more than 350 photographs, Springsteen’s handwritten lyrics and annotated Obama speeches, including his remarks at the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches. They talk about fathers, marriage, race, masculinity and protest songs. It was nominated for the 2022 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work.
In What Order to Read Barack Obama
The two memoirs are the core of his work and read best in publication order: Dreams from My Father ends as he leaves for law school in 1988, and A Promised Land picks up his life again and carries it into the White House. Nothing else depends on reading order.
The Audacity of Hope is a different kind of book, closer to a set of essays, and is most useful read alongside the early chapters of A Promised Land, which cover the same Senate years. Renegades and Of Thee I Sing can be read at any point.
A reading path
1. Dreams from My Father (1995)
2. The Audacity of Hope (2006)
3. A Promised Land (2020)
4. Renegades (2021)
Everything Else Barack Obama Published
Beyond the 5 key books: 3 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Campaign book and speeches
3
3 books · 2008–2017
- 2008Change We Can Believe Inhis 2008 campaign plans, with three campaign speeches
- 2009Our Enduring Spiritthe 2009 inaugural address as an illustrated book, with art by Greg Ruth
- 2017We Are the Change We Seeka collection of his speeches, edited by E. J. Dionne Jr. and Joy-Ann Reid
The years · 1961–2026
Quick facts about Barack Obama
- Known for
- Two memoirs written twenty-five years apart: one about his family and identity before he entered politics, the other about his first years as the 44th president of the United States.
- 1961
- Born in Honolulu, Hawaii
- 1990
- First Black president of the Harvard Law Review
- 2009
- Becomes the 44th US president
- 2026
- Launches the books podcast A Great Book
- Born
- 4 August 1961, Honolulu, Hawaii; his father was from Kenya, his mother from Wichita, Kansas
- Education
- Columbia University (BA, 1983); Harvard Law School (JD, 1991)
- Office
- 44th president of the United States, 2009–2017
- Married
- Michelle Robinson, in 1992; two daughters, Malia and Sasha
- Honours
- Nobel Peace Prize (2009); Grammy Awards for the audiobooks of his first two books (2006, 2008)
- Bestseller
- A Promised Land: 887,000 copies sold in the US and Canada on its first day
The red mark is 1995: Dreams from My Father, his first book.
How Barack Obama Writes: Memoir as Sorting Out
Dreams from My Father was written before he held any office and reads like a literary memoir rather than a politician’s book: long scenes, reconstructed conversations, and a narrator trying to understand a Kenyan father who was largely absent from his childhood. In the introduction Obama says that some characters are composites and that parts of the chronology have been changed, which later biographers have examined in detail.
The Audacity of Hope works in a different register. It is organised by subject, not by time, and moves between personal anecdote and explanation of his positions, the form of a senator setting out what he believes. Read next to Dreams, it shows the same voice adapted to argument.
For A Promised Land he went back to longhand. He told Penguin that a computer gave even rough drafts “too smooth a gloss”, and that by the time he sat down with a pen and a yellow pad he already had a clear outline in his head. The result is long and detailed, mixing scenes from family life with step-by-step accounts of decisions, and it stops in May 2011, with a second volume still to come.
Watch
Barack Obama in Conversation with Isabel Wilkerson
Barack Obama talks with author Isabel Wilkerson about his memoir A Promised Land in a Barnes & Noble event recorded on 22 March 2021. From the official Barnes & Noble channel.
Frequently asked questions about Barack Obama’s books
How many books has Barack Obama written?
Five books of his own: Dreams from My Father (1995), The Audacity of Hope (2006), Of Thee I Sing (2010), A Promised Land (2020) and Renegades: Born in the USA (2021), written with Bruce Springsteen. Three further titles are built from his campaign plans and speeches: Change We Can Believe In (2008), Our Enduring Spirit (2009) and We Are the Change We Seek (2017).
What are Barack Obama’s books in order?
Dreams from My Father (1995), The Audacity of Hope (2006), Of Thee I Sing (2010), A Promised Land (2020) and Renegades: Born in the USA (2021).
Where should I start with Barack Obama?
With Dreams from My Father, his first book, written before he entered politics. If you mainly want to know about the presidency, start with A Promised Land; it stands on its own.
What is Barack Obama’s most famous book?
By sales, A Promised Land (2020): 887,000 copies in the US and Canada on its first day and about 3.3 million in its first month, according to Penguin Random House. Dreams from My Father (1995) is the one most often discussed as writing; Time included it in its 2011 list of the 100 best non-fiction books in English since 1923.
Will there be a second volume of A Promised Land?
A Promised Land was published as the first of two planned volumes, and it ends in May 2011. As of mid-2026 no second volume had been announced.
Did Barack Obama win a Grammy for his books?
Yes, twice, for the audiobooks he read himself: Dreams from My Father won Best Spoken Word Album in 2006 and The Audacity of Hope in 2008. The audiobook of A Promised Land was nominated in 2022 and won that year’s Audie Award for narration by the author.
Is Dreams from My Father a true story?
It is a memoir, but not a strictly literal one. Obama says in the introduction that some characters are composites and some events have been reordered. Biographers have since pointed to these changes: David Garrow, in 2017, called the book “a work of historical fiction”, and Sheila Miyoshi Jager, a former girlfriend, objected to being merged with another woman into one character.
What is Renegades about?
Renegades: Born in the USA (2021) grew out of the eight-episode Spotify podcast Obama recorded with Bruce Springsteen in 2021. The two talk about fathers, marriage, race, masculinity and American music, and the book adds more than 350 photographs, Springsteen’s handwritten lyrics and annotated Obama speeches.
Did Barack Obama write a children’s book?
Yes: Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters (2010), illustrated by Loren Long, which profiles 13 Americans from George Washington to Neil Armstrong. The proceeds go to a scholarship fund for children of soldiers killed or disabled in service.
Is Barack Obama still alive?
Yes. He was born on 4 August 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 2026 he launched A Great Book with Barack Obama, a six-part Audible podcast about books that shaped him.
Footnotes
- Barack Obama — Wikipedia
- Dreams from My Father — Wikipedia
- A Promised Land — Wikipedia
- A Promised Land sells more than 3.3 million units in its first month — Penguin Random House, 2020
- Renegades: Born in the USA — Penguin Random House
- Obama’s Of Thee I Sing hits bookstore shelves — The Christian Science Monitor, 2010
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“For me, particularly at that time, writing was the way I sorted through a lot of crosscurrents in my life — race, class, family.”
— Barack Obama, interview with Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times (2017)
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