Barack Obama: the movement for change was launched just prior to the president’s inauguration. It is on its second printing and has been released in Japanese, Italian, Audiobook, and will soon be released in e-book format. Vietnam war novelist, Edward Wilson, reviewed the book:
“The chapters devoted to Obama’s rise and political career are utterly fascinating. The snake pit of Chicago and Illinois politics is brilliantly conveyed – in a manner reminiscent of Jacobean drama. “This is an excellent book – and the author is, I hope, rightly optimistic. It was more than apt that Painter ended the book with Martin Luther King’s eloquent description of the history of social progress in the USA as a `long arc that is bending towards justice.’”
Here is the blurb from the back cover:
“Barack Obama: The Movement for Change tells the story of a visionary leader who refuses to be limited by America s history and determines instead to change it. His plan for change is the latest expression of a movement for justice: a movement that has swept forward with the collective energy of great leaders like Martin Luther King, Robert F Kennedy, Lyndon B Johnson, Harold Washington, Chicago s first black Mayor, and countless others who have bent the arc of morality towards justice. By looking at the biography of the man, this mixed race Hawaiian with Kenyan and Kansan parents, a window on America in twenty-first century is revealed. His life touches and is touched by a sinking community of Chicago s South Side. He challenges the lazy assumptions of American racial discourse. He creates an argument for political change and a different America. He wins a presidential election few thought possible when his formidable campaign was launched. Barack Obama: The Movement for Change tells a story for our times. It is not the story of a single man. It is the story of a movement and of the people who drove the movement forward. It is a new American story that will cascade down the generations. America has changed and Barack Obama’s story tells us how and why and what we can expect.”
Also available is Viral Politics: communication in the new media era that I edited a few years ago. I still agree with most of what I wrote… kind of.
