These Are The Books That Have Been Obama's Literary Influences
Below are all the books and authors that have contributed to the shaping of Barack Obama.
Obama is a devourer of books, and that means that he has gleaned insights from thousands of books over his lifetime. As a young man in Chicago, Obama characteristically spent many hours in his apartment with volumes of philosophy and literature.
A taste for serious fiction is rare in the American male these days, but Obama has it. According to several friends, he even tried his hand at writing short stories during those early years in Chicago, and he recalls priggishly scolding his half sister, Maya, while she was visiting him in New York, because she chose to watch television instead of reading some novels he had given her.
Barack Obama has learned, by his political practice, to empathize with the lives of whites and non-whites, males and females, and his reading of literary fiction and philosophy have given him an unusually subtle and nuanced imaginative range.
I Have A Dream
Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail
Letter from Birmingham Jail/ I Have a Dream Speech (Tale Blazers)
Amazon Price: $3.30 (as of 11/21/2009) 
The Post-American World - Fareed Zakaria
The Post-American World
Fareed Zakaria
The Post-American World
Amazon Price: $10.85 (as of 11/21/2009)
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln - Doris Kearns Goodwin
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Moral Man and Immoral Society - Reinhold Niebuhr
Moral Man and Immoral Society
Reinhold Niebuhr
Moral Man And Immoral Society: A Study In Ethics And Politics
Amazon Price: $23.52 (as of 11/21/2009)
Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals - Saul Alinsky
Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals
Saul Alinsky
Rules for Radicals
Amazon Price: $10.08 (as of 11/21/2009)
Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements - Malcolm X
Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements
Malcolm X
Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements
Amazon Price: $11.20 (as of 11/21/2009)
More Authors And The Books That Have Contributed to the Shaping of Obama
E. L. Doctorow, Taylor Branch, Ralph Ellison, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ernest Hemmingway
Sweet Land Stories
Amazon Price: $11.65 (as of 11/21/2009)
Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63
Amazon Price: $28.40 (as of 11/21/2009)
Invisible Man
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 11/21/2009)
Self-Reliance: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson as Inspiration for Daily Living
Amazon Price: $10.10 (as of 11/21/2009)
A Farewell to Arms (Greatest 100 Books of All Time)
Amazon Price: (as of 11/21/2009)
James Baldwin, W. E. B. DuBois, Toni Morrison, Herman Melville, Thomas Jefferson
Native Sons: A Friendship that Created One of the Greatest Works of the 20th Century: Notes of a Native Son
Amazon Price: (as of 11/21/2009)
The Souls of Black Folk (Cosimo Classics)
Amazon Price: $7.95 (as of 11/21/2009)
Song of Solomon
Amazon Price: $10.20 (as of 11/21/2009)
Herman Melville: Moby Dick, Billy Budd and Other Writings (Library of America College Editions)
Amazon Price: (as of 11/21/2009)
Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson
Amazon Price: $17.99 (as of 11/21/2009)
Graham Greene, Doris Lessing, John Steinbeck, Robert Caro
The Power and the Glory (Penguin Classics)
Amazon Price: $9.75 (as of 11/21/2009)
The Quiet American (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Amazon Price: $9.75 (as of 11/21/2009)
The Golden Notebook: A Novel (P.S.)
Amazon Price: $12.89 (as of 11/21/2009)
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
Amazon Price: $16.50 (as of 11/21/2009)
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Studs Terkel, Adam Smith, Robert Penn Warren
Cancer Ward (Modern Library)
Amazon Price: (as of 11/21/2009)
Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do
Amazon Price: $11.53 (as of 11/21/2009)
The Wealth Of Nations
Amazon Price: $18.95 (as of 11/21/2009)
The Theory of Moral Sentiments - Adam Smith (English Edition) (French Edition)
Amazon Price: $19.95 (as of 11/21/2009)
![All the King's Men [2006 Movie Tie-In Edition]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QKB7B7CVL._SL75_.jpg)
All the King's Men [2006 Movie Tie-In Edition]
Amazon Price: $6.00 (as of 11/21/2009)
Marilynne Robinson, Paul Tillich, Philip Roth, Langston Hughes, Friedrich Nietzsche
Gilead: A Novel
Amazon Price: $10.08 (as of 11/21/2009)
The Courage to Be
Amazon Price: $9.20 (as of 11/21/2009)
The Ghost Writer
Amazon Price: $10.04 (as of 11/21/2009)
The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 11/21/2009)
Beyond Good and Evil (Great Books in Philosophy)
Amazon Price: $8.12 (as of 11/21/2009)
The Books That Barack Obama Wrote
By far the bestselling titles are the President's own two tomes: Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope.
He has already shown with his best selling books that he also has a passion for writing good literature as well.
The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (Vintage)
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 11/21/2009)
Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama's Plan to Renew America's Promise
Amazon Price: $10.04 (as of 11/21/2009)
![The Inaugural Address, 2009: Together with Abraham Lincoln's First and Second Inaugural Addresses and the Gettysburg Address and Ralph Waldo Emerso [INAUGURAL ADDRESS 2009]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31f%2BzCWpcHL._SL75_.jpg)
Follow The Story of His Amazing Journey
Against All The Odds He Became The 44th President of the USA
This Is Our Moment: Election Night 2008
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Amazon Price: $9.99 (as of 11/21/2009)
Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs
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Amazon Price: $19.40 (as of 11/21/2009)
Yes We Can: Barack Obama's History-Making Presidential Campaign
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Amazon Price: $4.93 (as of 11/21/2009)
Time Magazine Presents: President Obama and the Path to the White House (Expanded Inauguration Edition) (POLY-COATED PAPERBACK)
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Amazon Price: (as of 11/21/2009)
President Barack Obama: The Man and His Journey
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Amazon Price: $17.99 (as of 11/21/2009)
Another Strong Influence On The Man
Michelle Obama - America's First Lady
The literary influences that are listed here have surely played a very big part in the shaping of Barack Obama as a man, both politically and in his personal life, but there has also been another strong influence on him and that is the lady he has known for almost half of his life; Michelle Obama, America's First Lady.The strength of any man is usually the woman behind him that has loved him, supported him and educated his children.
Barack Obama through life's good fortune managed to meet and marry an exceptionally talented and very intelligent lady who has made him and his country very proud.
Influencing Future Voters
Future Voters Are Learning All About Obama From a Trio of Books For Middle Grade Readers.
A children's edition of Tufankjian's Yes We Can: Barack Obama's History Making Presidential Campaign,Change Has Come: An Artist Celebrates Our American Spirit by Kadir Nelson
Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope by Nikki Grimes and illustrated by Bryan Collier.
A book that is anticipated to be a strong seller is the recently published Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country: Kids' Letters to President Obama, edited by Jory John, a compilation of correspondence from school children who answered the question "What should President Obama do now?"
The missives touch on topics ranging from the economy, education, war and race relations to more light hearted subject matter like snow cones, puppies and multiplication.
Young Future Voter's Reading
Change Has Come: An Artist Celebrates Our American Spirit
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Amazon Price: $9.35 (as of 11/21/2009)
Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope
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Amazon Price: $11.55 (as of 11/21/2009)
Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country: Kids' Letters to President Obama (Mcsweeneys)
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Amazon Price: $6.37 (as of 11/21/2009)
Suggested Reading For President Obama
The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran
President Obama, is serious about negotiating with Iran, therefore he will need a guidebook on Iranian culture.
Hooman Majd is an Iranian American who lives in the States and has advised and translated for both President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the former President Muhammad Khatami.
Majd has written perhaps the best book on contemporary Iranian culture and all of its complexities and contradictions. President Obama, should take it with him to Tehran.
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Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 11/21/2009)
The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World
President Obama is not going to be able to ignore the Middle East. He will need to focus on the continuing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
Avi Shlaim's book makes a good case for a balanced, even handed approach to the conflict, far from being 'anti- Israel,' it holds out the only hope for resolving the conflict, which would be in the interests of the United States, the Palestinians, and the Israelis themselves.
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Amazon Price: $14.93 (as of 11/21/2009)
The Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World
The most accessible guide to thinking rationally, systematically, and strategically about futures you can't possibly predict.
President Obama campaigned on change we can all believe in, but the future may hold some change we cannot believe is really happening. As change accelerates, he will have a lot more strange stuff coming at him. This is the conceptual guide on how to prepare.
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Amazon Price: $12.21 (as of 11/21/2009)
The Invisible Cure: Why We Are Losing the Fight Against AIDS in Africa
Helen Epstein is a molecular biologist who has worked extensively in Africa - her tough, fair minded book has changed our understanding about the 'social ecology' of the greatest medical crisis of our era and the policies that might address it.
President Bush had a heartfelt approach to the AIDS crisis in Africa and it is one of his few truly positive legacies. President Obama will not abandon Bush's cause, but he will be smarter about its pursuit.
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Amazon Price: $10.88 (as of 11/21/2009)
The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Second Edition
Warren Buffett wrote in his annual report several years ago that derivatives were "financial weapons of mass destruction." But the main lesson he teaches is that the best kind of investing has a value system attached to it. He thinks about the long term, not the short term.
In many ways, his rules for investing are rules to live by, and President Obama could do worse than use his approach to teach the rest of us.
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Amazon Price: $26.24 (as of 11/21/2009)
"I thoroughly enjoyed reading this lens. It is well written and a very interesting subject."
Tell Us What You Like About The Books That Barack Obama Reads
Take A Few Moments And Tell Us What You Think
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Reply
- dotcomboy dotcomboy Nov 20, 2009 @ 5:31 pm
- Excellent work! 5 stars without reservation!
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Reply
- mbgphoto mbgphoto Aug 17, 2009 @ 11:47 am
- Interesting selection of books. I like it that he also understands the importance of reading fiction. I always wonder about people who profess that only read non-fiction. There is much to be said for reading a good novel!
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Reply
- homebasedangell homebasedangell Aug 17, 2009 @ 11:42 am
- Excellent lens, well written and laid out. 5* and fav'd.
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