David Remnick - The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama

Economist“Superb—beautifully written and artfully constructed...” It is also nearly 700 pages long, which means that it contains a lot of padding. But this is “padding” of the highest quality. Many readers will find that the most rewarding parts of this book are Remnick’s detailed descriptions of the contexts

Financial Times“A skilful and nuanced pen...” Remnick is clearly sympathetic to his subject. But he is also clear-eyed. No politician can operate so smoothly across so many worlds without painstaking application. Nor can they advance so far and so fast without securing the best patrons...

The Telegraph“Masterly...” Remnick, the editor of the New Yorker magazine and a gifted writer, is almost alarmingly assiduous. He investigates and corrects Obama’s own account of his life, going through with an assured and elegant tone that clarifies rather than accuses...

Scotsman“Corrections to make to our reading of Dreams From My Father...” Remnick rightly sees Dreams From My Father as a bildungsroman in the specifically black form of a "slave narrative", a story of the rise from dependency to mature self-possession. In order to place himself in that tradition...

Guardian“Remnick shows us the ways in which Obama "improved" his life story...” Remnick makes it worthwhile by building in some enlightening passages about the history of Kenya, Hawaii and the long battle for black emancipation...

The Times“Not the stuff of normal electoral politics...” Remnick’s book is not impartial. The editor of The New Yorker, he is overwhelmingly sympathetic to his subject. But then, in the context of the wider story of the black struggle for equality in America, how could he not be?...

The New York Times“He puts Mr. Obama’s life and political philosophy in perspective...” Writing with emotional precision and a sure knowledge of politics, Mr. Remnick situates Mr. Obama’s career firmly within a historical context...

The New Yorker“Not yet reviewed”

The Independent“Not yet reviewed”

Publishers Weekly“Not yet reviewed”