The Audacity of Hope

I thought this was an excellent book for several reasons:
First was Obama's writing style. I think that most who have seen him will agree that he's a gifted orator (even if they disagree with his policies), and his speaking style translates into his writing style rather well. He's good at capturing his own voice.

Second was the way in which he seamlessly blends the personal with the universal, telling stories about his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia, and of his relationship with his family, and using them to illustrate larger truths about society and American polity. For a book that could have been little more than the first step in Obama's election campaign, it reads a lot better than that.

Lastly, there's the actual content of the book. Obama distills his thoughts on most major policy issues that a US president would face, and does so in a way that illustrates why his policies would be beneficial from a standpoint that tries to speak to both Republicans and Deomcrats. It's in keeping with his general attitude about bipartisanship, and it's the type of attitude that's really needed if the US is going to adopt more liberal social policies.