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To Obama
- With Love, Joy, Hate and Despair
- Narrated by: Jeanne Marie Laskas, Sullivan Jones, full cast
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
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To Obama
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Summary
Every day, President Obama received 10,000 letters from ordinary American citizens. Every night, he read 10 of them before going to bed. This is the story of how they shaped his presidency. Together they reveal the diary of a nation.
In To Obama, Jeanne Marie Laskas interviews President Obama, the letter writers themselves and the White House staff in the Office of Presidential Correspondence who were witness to the millions of pleas, rants, thank yous and apologies that landed in the mail room during the Obama years. There is Peggy, a patriotic grandmother who thinks the President is trying to lead the country into socialism and recommends that he read the Constitution; Bill, a lifelong Republican whose attitude towards immigration reform was transformed when he met a boy who escaped MS-13 gang leaders in El Salvador; Jordan, a seven-year-old about to be adopted, who wants to thank the President for keeping him safe; James, who on the morning after the 2016 election tells the President to start packing; and Dawn, who writes to say that he made it possible for a very jaded generation to begin to hope and believe in the good.
They wrote to Obama out of gratitude and desperation, in their darkest times of need, with anger, fear and respect. To Obama is an intimate look at one man's relationship with the American people, and at a time when empathy intersected with politics in the White House.
Jacket design: Anna Bauer Carr, based on the original design by David Mann
Jacket photograph: Callie Shell/Aurora Photos
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What listeners say about To Obama
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Miss Sacha A Ferreira
- 29-10-18
Wonderful insight into the world of a great man
A lovely and different way to tell Obama's story. It is a moving tale weavingin lots of differnet stories so relevant to the time they are written in and highlights what a great and empathetic man Obama is and the way he was able to touch so many people's lives. I also loved the dedication he inspired in those who worked with and for him.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- yvette royle
- 17-10-18
A good book, written by many
A good book, written by many, an account of 8 years of hope, anger, tears and pain.
A very good account of the Obama years written from the view of the people. Some stories are harrowing, others will bring you to tears. Very well put together and flows through the book.
Well worth listening to.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Bear
- 17-03-23
Probably the best book on Audible
The letters are everything you could hope for, and some you never would have imagined. There are letters so long they would almost be a book chapter, and so short as to be almost tweets. Great joy is here and great heartbreak. Intellectual writing and simple plain vernacular.
The book explores not only the letters themselves but the times and the context around them, the America of the moment, and the people who wrote them.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Lexie
- 06-07-20
Cried so many times
It is very clear that so much hard work, time and dedication went into the making of this book
And i truly believe it was worth it
Thank you Jeanne so glad i found this book after listening to Michelle Obamas book
A truly inspirational family and a book that brings hope
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