--- title: Barack Obama Shares His Five Favorite Books This Summer description: President Obama lays out his top five summer reads, including 'Educated' by Tara Westover and 'Warlight' by Michael Ondaatje canonical: https://time.com/5371460/barack-obama-favorite-books-summer/ author: Casey Quackenbush article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-20T05:00:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:14.343Z og:title: Barack Obama Shares His Five Favorite Books This Summer og:description: Looking for something to read? Barack Obama has a few suggestions og:url: https://time.com/5371460/barack-obama-favorite-books-summer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a6074fe3e9b40f5/69893819096a94475f6a3398/gettyimages-971727376.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Obama meets with Democratic presidential aspirants about 2020 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Barack Obama Shares His Five Favorite Books This Summer twitter:description: Looking for something to read? Barack Obama has a few suggestions twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a6074fe3e9b40f5/69893819096a94475f6a3398/gettyimages-971727376.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Barack Obama Shares Five of the Best Books He Read This Summer > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with Ally. 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As the president's final term comes to a close, TIME has taken a look back at the most consequential moments of his two terms in office, moments and decisions that will likely have a reach that extends far beyond his presidency._ by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Aug 20, 2018 5:00 AM UTC  Former President Barack Obama speaks to Obama Foundation Fellows gathered in Chicago on May 16, 2018. Former President Barack Obama speaks to Obama Foundation Fellows gathered in Chicago on May 16, 2018. Erin Hooley—Chicago Tribune/TNS/Getty Images by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Aug 20, 2018 5:00 AM UTC Looking for something to read as the summer winds to a close? Former President Barack Obama has a few suggestions. “One of my favorite parts of summer is deciding what to read when things slow down just a bit, whether it’s on a vacation with family or just a quiet afternoon,” wrote Obama in a Sunday night Facebook [post](https://www.facebook.com/barackobama/posts/10156093753316749). “This summer I’ve been absorbed by new novels, revisited an old classic, and reaffirmed my faith in our ability to move forward together when we seek the truth.” Obama’s top picks include: _Educated_ by Tara Westover. Obama calls Westover’s coming-of-age memoir a “remarkable” read that chronicles the life of a young woman raised in a survivalist family who goes on to get a PhD from Cambridge University. _Warlight_ by Michael Ondaatje. The best-selling author tells the story of families living through the post-World War II era and dealing with the lingering effects of war. _A House for Mr Biswas_ by V.S. Naipaul. The recent passing of the Nobel Peace Prize winner inspired Obama to reread Naipul’s novel, which is about growing up in Trinidad and the challenges of post-colonial identity. _American Marriage_ by Tayari Jones. Also a selection for Oprah’s Book Club 2018, Jones’ novel is about the wrongful conviction of a young African-American couple living in Atlanta. _Factfulness_ by Hans Rosling. An international public health expert, Rosling offers an uplifting read about how the world can be a better place when humans work off facts rather than inherent biases. ## Transcript [00:00] My fellow citizens. [ APPLAUSE ] [00:06] I stand here today humbled [00:11] by the task before us. On January, 20th, 2009, [00:16] President Obama was inaugurated. The theme of the [00:19] inauguration was a new birth of freedom. It included a [00:23] symbolic train ride from Philadelphia to Washington, [00:27] and the same thing as President Abraham Lincoln's trip [00:31] to Washington in 1861. It symbolized the [00:35] peaceful transition of power from George W. Bush to [00:38] Barak Obama. And also, this image of a [00:42] young African- American man with his wife and his two [00:46] daughters by his side taking the office was profound. [00:50] It was in a way the realization of Martin Luther King's [00:53] dream. Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty [00:54] we are free at last. I, Barack Hussein Obama [01:00] do solemnly swear. That I will execute the Office [01:05] of the President of the United States faithfully. That I [01:10] will execute- Faithfully the Office of President of the [01:11] United States the Office of President of the United [01:14] States faithfully. And will to the best of my ability- And [01:16] will to the best of my ability- Preserve, protect and [01:19] defend the Constitution of the United States. Preserve, [01:23] protect, and defend the Constitution of the United [01:25] States. So help you God? So help me God. [01:26] Congratulations Congratulations, Mr. President. [01:28] [ APPLAUSE ] But today does mark the beginning of the [01:32] end. The beginning of what we need to do to create [01:36] jobs for Americans scrambling in the wake of layoffs. [01:40] The president can take credit for in the first 200 days [01:44] of his presidency stopping the fall. They are down 110 [01:48] points on the [ INAUDIBLE ]. His advisors as they were [01:51] coming in were saying. We don't know if in a month or [01:54] two the ATMs will be working in this country. People [01:56] are losing their homes and there's really no solution, [01:59] nobody really saw a way out other than massive [02:01] stimulus. The American Recovery and Reinvestment [02:04] Act, it was a combination of broad tax cuts and credits [02:07] that went basically to every American. [ INAUDIBLE ] [02:09] [ APPLAUSE ] Took several months, there was a lot of [02:13] pain, there was very high unemployment, upwards of [02:17] 10 %. Percent, and by the third or fourth month, those [02:21] scary numbers began to tank down, the stock market [02:23] bottomed. Layoffs that were projected for the public [02:26] sector were delayed because of the stimulus bill, and [02:29] you had Beginnings of a recovery. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [02:34] People, even as the economy recovered, even as the [02:36] stock market recovered, continued to feel like they [02:39] were not better off. Because in a lot of ways people [02:42] weren't better off Their health care costs have gone [02:44] up, education costs have gone up, their ability to get a [02:47] loan had gone away, the value of their home had [02:50] declined in many places. Many Americans now find [02:53] themselves in competition with lower wage workers all [02:56] over the world. Automation has kept wages down. His [02:59] inability early on Certainly and maybe even now just [03:02] sort of make that change easier for people or at least [03:04] communicate the difficulty of that change is something [03:08] that will hang over his legacy. [ MUSIC ] Today after [03:13] almost a century of trying. Today [03:17] after Over a year of debate. Today, after [03:24] all of the votes have been tallied, health insurance [03:25] reform becomes law in the United States of America. [03:28] [ APPLAUSE ] One of the central promises [03:32] of Obama's 2008 campaign was to, in a way, [03:36] complete the American social safety net, specifically for [03:41] Americans who were working were not necessarily [03:45] poor, but he could not afford health insurance, and [03:47] therefore didn't have regular medical care. This is [03:50] something that most other Western nations provide [03:52] their citizens that the US hasn't historically. And he did [03:55] this with a massive bill that did that any many other [03:59] things. Since the 1960s when Medicare and Medicaid [04:02] passed which basically guaranteed health care for the [04:05] poor and for the elderly. It has been a priority of [04:08] Democratic leaders going back decades to try and [04:12] extend that to working people. And so when Obama [04:16] came on the scene He was really promising to [04:19] complete this generation long democratic project. He [04:23] was able to do it because the win in 2008 had been so [04:26] grand. It had been such a big win. So that, for [04:30] a time, he had a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. [04:34] He had large majorities in House. Most Americans [04:37] didn't really understand all the parts of Obamacare. It [04:40] was a very complicated bill but they had strong [04:42] feelings and those feelings tended to follow their [04:45] political leanings. If they were conservative Republican [04:47] they were concerned. It looked like government [04:48] expansion overreach. If they were liberal and fans [04:53] of the president They embraced it. Mr. President, for [04:56] years, the American people have been calling on [04:59] Washington to build a bridge away from Obamacare. [05:02] The story of Republican opposition to Obamacare isn't [05:05] about Obamacare. It's about the way Republicans [05:08] decided to oppose President Barack Obama from the [05:10] very beginning. They lost the ability in some ways, to [05:12] shape some of the legislation to make it more [05:14] palatable But they decided that political opposition, a [05:17] permanent campaign, was more beneficial for them [05:20] politically. And the biggest changes, the most visible [05:23] ones and the ones that are almost certain to stay, that [05:26] even President- elect Donald Trump sort of wants to [05:28] keep around, are the very popular provisions around [05:31] children and young adults staying on their parents' [05:33] healthcare plans until they're 26. And then getting rid [05:35] of preexisting conditions, that is a tremendous change [05:38] and that really just, a dramatic rethinking of the way [05:40] insurance has been carried out in this country. [05:45] The United States has conducted an operation that [05:48] killed Osama bin Laden. The leader of Al- Qaeda. So [05:51] President Obama had run for office, promising to fight [05:54] the war on terror differently than President Bush. But [05:57] he did say from the beginning that he would, if he [05:59] could, kill the man responsible for the September 11 [06:02] attacks. [ SOUND ] [06:06] [ APPLAUSE ] [06:10] The day before The raid launched, he went to the [06:13] White House correspondence association dinner, which [06:15] was a comedic event broadcast live on C- SPAN. Well, [06:22] back to square one. But at that point we found out [06:25] later, he had already Basically knew that this raid was [06:28] going to be happening, that they had identified footage [06:32] and some other intelligence a compound in Pakistan [06:35] where it appeared Bin Laden was living. The President [06:38] had to make one of the most difficult decisions of his [06:42] Presidency. The intelligence was good, but it was not [06:45] conclusive. To authorize the mission. President Obama [06:48] had to invade essentially Pakistani airspace. [06:52] And there was a disagreement among his senior staff [06:55] about whether the risk was worth it. This could really [06:59] tar his administration, his presidency and be a real [07:02] disrupting event For the world. But the President [07:06] decided to go forward with it. And so 24 hours after [07:10] going to laugh with a comedian in front of the [07:13] international press, and Washington dignitaries, and [07:15] celebrities, it began to leak out that Bin Laden was [07:18] dead. And people spontaneously began streaming to [07:21] the White House. For Obama it sort of proved that [07:25] he had what it took to be Commander in Chief and a [07:29] lot of those early days, during the Afghanistan surge, [07:32] there were a lot of doubts about how he was going to [07:34] lead America's military. Those doubts all ended with [07:38] the month. Over [07:42] the next few months eligible individuals who do not [07:46] present a risk to national security or public safety will [07:49] be able to request temporary relief from deportation. [07:55] In 2012, President Obama implemented a policy that [07:58] protected children who were brought to the US by their [08:01] parents, undocumented children, called the Deferred [08:04] Action for Childhood Arrivals. It protected about [08:07] 700, 000 young people from deportation. This is [08:11] a temporary, stop gap measure that lets us focus our [08:14] resources wisely while giving a degree of relief and [08:18] hope to talented, driven, patriotic young [08:22] people. It ended up being his main policy on [08:26] immigration. The only problem with that policy was it's [08:29] largely temporary and can easily be rolled back by the [08:32] Their next president. Obama, es gauche. Barak [08:35] Obama leaves a a bit of a mixed bag on immigration [08:38] reform. While he was helping these young arrivals, he [08:43] also was enforcing immigration laws [08:48] that saw 2. 4 million And people deported from the [08:52] U. S. And the president failed to get legislation passed [08:56] during his first term, when he had the majority in the [08:59] House and Senate. So, in 2012 when he implemented [09:02] DACA, you know it was seen kind of as a watershed [09:06] moment. People were very excited, thinking that this [09:08] would be the first in many uses of executive power to [09:11] kind of. Make a dent on immigration reform, but never [09:14] happened. The majority of those who died today were [09:18] children. [ MUSIC ] [09:21] Beautiful little kids, between the ages of 5 and 10 [09:23] years old. [ MUSIC ] The [09:28] Sandy Hook massacre is one of the Hardest days of [09:32] the presidency for Barack Obama, and I think after [09:36] that moment the president really thought there was an [09:39] opportunity for something that needed to be done to [09:42] address gun control in the U. S. He fought [09:47] to get gun control legislation passed in the Congress, [09:51] but it failed, and And he fought again to implement an [09:55] executive action on gun control. Every time I think [09:58] about those kids, it gets me mad. But all the while [10:02] there were maybe over a dozen mass shootings under [10:06] the Obama Administration. Gun control is something [10:08] that he had always favored, but he just couldn't do [10:12] anything about because the country is really divided on [10:15] It's a urban versus rural issue. It's a Republican versus [10:19] Democratic issue. So the Sandy Hook massacre [10:21] happened just a few weeks after his re- election in [10:24] 2012. Many of his staff will say that it was the most [10:27] emotional day they remember at the White House. It [10:31] was a combination of The enormous feeling of elation [10:34] that came out of the campaign, and then the [10:36] realization of the limits of his power. Because while [10:39] nothing can feel the space of a lost child or loved one, [10:44] all of us can extend a hand to those in need, to [10:48] remind them that we are there for them. That we are [10:52] praying for them, that the love they felt for those [10:57] they lost, endures not just in their memories, but also [11:01] in ours. When Trayvon Martin was first [11:05] shot, I said that this could have been my Son. Another [11:12] way of saying that is, a Trayvon Martin could have [11:15] been me, 35 years ago. What do [11:19] we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! One of the [11:24] earliest criticisms from the black community was that [11:27] the President was not doing enough. To address issues [11:30] facing that community. That kind of changed after the [11:35] Zimmerman verdict. We the jury find George [11:37] Zimmerman not guilty. So say we all, foreperson. [11:41] And after that moment in history, there was kind of a [11:45] shift in the Obama presidency to finding a way to [11:48] address. If she's facing communities of color. [11:51] Particularly, you men in those communities. That was [11:54] the moment that the Black Lives Matter movement kind [11:56] of started. Young black men [12:04] were being shot by police officers. And the President [12:09] had to address the nation. Find a way to bring healing [12:12] and bring people together. And see both sides. And I [12:15] think in seeing both sides, a lot of the protestors and [12:19] people on the ground, even though they wanted to [12:21] hear from the President, they realize that there were [12:23] things that he couldn't change. And that he wouldn't [12:24] change. The people of our city. The people of our city. [12:24] Get in front of their ****! They stopped looking [12:31] to Obama to answer all of their questions, to [12:35] solve all of their problems, and instead took to the [12:37] streets, and demanded more of local government, [12:41] demanded more of police officers within their own [12:44] communities. People Saw the election [12:49] of the first black president as this end of [12:53] a period of racial strife in American history. But at the [12:56] same time, you look at polling from the 2016 election. [13:00] A lot of people blamed Obama for making race [13:04] relations worse. He's leading behind A more socially [13:07] divided nation than he inherited. This [13:13] morning the Supreme Court recognized that the [13:15] constitution guarantees marriage equality. In [13:20] doing so, they've reaffirmed that all Americans Are [13:25] entitled to the equal protection of the law. On June [13:29] 26th 2015, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of [13:32] same- sex marriage. Making it the law of the land. The [13:35] Supreme Court decision came after the President's own [13:39] views on same- sex marriage shifted. And policy [13:43] changed along with it. It started with the repeal of [13:47] don't ask, don't tell. [ APPLAUSE ] Which was this [13:51] very emotional moment for a lot of people in the [13:54] military. My name is First Lieutenant Josh Seefried, and [13:57] I am a gay first lieutenant in the United States Air [14:00] Force. After that, the federal government And [14:03] announced that they would no longer defend The [14:05] Defense of Marriage Act. And the President's been [14:07] defending the law for two years. But today, he called it [14:10] unconstitutional. Which was kind of laying the ground [14:14] work for Obama to come out in 2012 and declare that [14:18] he believed- Same sex couples should be able to get [14:21] married. And then in 2013 we had the first Supreme [14:24] Court decision that kind of freed the states to [14:27] implement policies that allowed same sex couples to [14:30] marry. And then two years later, Supreme Court [14:34] decides that same sex marriage is legal in al states in [14:37] the U. S. I think it's one of the clearest incremental [14:41] changes that we've seen over the. The course of the [14:44] president's two terms in office. One of the starkest [14:47] shifts not just in his own personal beliefs on a [14:51] public stage but in the way the country felt about [14:54] same- sex marriage. There's no way you can roll it [14:57] back. Two weeks ago in Paris [15:02] Said before the world that we needed a strong global [15:06] agreement to accomplish this goal. An enduring [15:10] agreement that reduces global carbon pollution and [15:13] sets the world on a course to a low carbon future. A [15:18] few hours ago, we succeeded. You had the Paris [15:20] Climate Accords where, through rather complex [15:24] and stepped framework, you had the worlds leading [15:28] powers all agreeing that they would take steps to try [15:31] and bring down the production of carbon. Nobody [15:34] really expected China to Wake up one morning and [15:37] agree to cap its own emissions. And over the course of [15:40] several years of diplomatic negotiation the White House [15:43] and the Chinese government had developed a real [15:45] partnership with areas of common ground. Yes there [15:47] are gonna be special dispensations for developing [15:50] countries but the developed world will move first. [15:53] Partly that was driven by Some issues of pollution in [15:55] the air and the domestic issue of the climate in China. [15:58] But also a desire within the United States. But, certainly [16:02] by the President to turn climate into a legacy issue in [16:05] an area that he thinks that in 20, 30 years he'll be [16:09] remembered as a leader on. Our progress will be [16:11] measured differently. And suffering that is averted. [16:16] And a planet that's preserved. Whereas [16:20] President Bush had been pretty unilateral in the way he [16:23] approached things, President Obama envisioned a far [16:26] more multi- lateral, internationally agreed upon [16:30] framework, and he sought to heal a lot of the animosity [16:34] that existed in the world. World. He sought quietly [16:39] in his first term and then more aggressively on the [16:40] second term to remake the US relationship with Cuba. [16:43] And then the other big diplomatic effort he undertook [16:46] also in the second term was to try and solve at least [16:50] for a time the spread of nuclear weapons around the [16:53] world. And this involved a multi year process of first [16:57] Increasing sanctions and really harming the economy of [17:01] Iran. And then promising at the end that those [17:05] sanctions could be released if the country agreed to [17:09] essentially abandon for a time it's nuclear research [17:12] program. But it really reset in a very dramatic way [17:17] The American relationship with Iran. I mean the [17:20] president's legacy internationally will certainly be [17:22] defined by his desire to work with international [17:26] partners, international agencies. On the negative side [17:28] you end up with things like Syria, sort of the quagmire [17:30] there where the desire to sort of not go it alone, and [17:34] foreign allies with different interests, different self [17:36] interests, different moral views on the issue That led to [17:39] the US not really doing much of anything. And that [17:41] might be his most significant foreign policy failure. But [17:43] it comes from the same place as some of his greatest [17:45] foreign policy achievements. And that's sort of the [17:47] grand irony of the Obama foreign policy. I [17:52] had a chance to talk to President- elect Trump last [17:56] night. About 3: 30 in the morning, I think it was. To [17:59] congratulate him on winning the election, and I had a [18:02] chance to invite him to come to the White House [18:05] tomorrow to talk about making sure that there is a [18:08] successful transition between our presidencies. In [18:11] 2016, president Obama spent a lot of time on the [18:15] campaign trail, trying to rally the country around his [18:19] former secretary of state Hillary Clinton In Hillary [18:22] Clinton. [ APPLAUSE ] But on November 8th, Donald [18:26] Trump was elected president of the United States. [18:28] While the campaign is over our work on this [18:32] movement is now really just beginning. Which was kind [18:36] of a shock for the Obama administration and in a [18:41] way it can be seen as a rebuke of His legacy and his [18:44] policies. Trump presented himself as about as [18:47] opposite a person from President Obama as you could [18:50] be. Obama had talked about being inclusive and [18:53] uniting. We should be doing everything we can to [18:55] welcome new generations of hopeful, striving [18:58] immigrants. Trump profited a great deal from being [19:01] very divisive and alarming. Go ahead. Mr. Trump. Yes. [19:01] So, the former president of Mexico says they will not [19:02] pay for the wall. Mm- hm. What is your response to [19:02] that? My [19:09] response is the wall just got ten feet higher. I think the [19:11] biggest issue that led to Trump's victory was that the [19:15] same forces that had elected in Obama in 2008 and [19:17] 2012. Played in Trump's favor, and that was that [19:22] Obama was able to sell the idea that he was the [19:24] person who can best bring relief from the economic [19:28] frustrations that the country was feeling. The fact that [19:30] Obama was never able to deliver on what was really a [19:34] central promise of his entire presidency, to really [19:37] materially improve the life of middle- class Americans. [19:41] That ended up being the decisive thing that helped [19:42] Trump win. The conversation- For most Americans, [19:47] are they better off the day Barack Obama left office [19:49] than the day he entered? Almost without a doubt [19:52] unquestionably so. The question is, do they get many [19:54] credit for it, and how much credit will history give him? [19:57] We don't know the answer to that yet. A new challenge [19:59] for the President In a lot of ways, it's that the first 20 [20:02] lines of his obituary were written the minute he took [20:06] office. His election itself was so historic that it [20:09] overshadowed a lot of what came next. I think the lack [20:12] of scandal in his administration is notable. The [20:16] enormous Social change that happened under his [20:19] presidency is notable. The fact that he was able to get [20:23] so much legislation enacted in his first two years was [20:26] very dramatic. At the same time his central promise [20:31] that he would be able to unite red and blue America [20:34] into something else never came to be. I think looking [20:38] back, you see a man who ran on hope and change. [20:42] Who brought his version of change to the country that [20:45] people either liked or they didn't. Barack Obama, no [20:49] matter what you thought about him going in was, at the [20:51] end of the day, a man who tried to do [20:55] his best for the sake of the country My fellow [20:58] Americans it has been the honor of my [21:02] life to serve you. I won't stop in fact I will be right there [21:05] with you as a citizen for all [21:13] my remaining days. [ APPLAUSE ] But [21:17] for now whether you are young or whether you are [21:19] young at heart. I do have one final ask of you, [21:24] as your president. The same thing I asked when you [21:27] took a chance on me eight years ago. I am asking [21:32] you to believe, not in my ability to bring about [21:36] change, but in yours. [ MUSIC ] Yes we can. [21:36] [ APPLAUSE ] Yes we did! Yes we can! Thank you, God [21:37] bless you. May God continue to bless the United [21:41] States of America. [21:47] Thank you. 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