Barack Obama Book Recommendations

Pachinko

by Min Jin Lee

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Men Without Women

Stories

by Haruki Murakami

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Exhalation

Stories

by Ted Chiang

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Why Liberalism Failed

by Patrick J. Deneen

"Offers cogent insights into the loss of meaning and community that many in the West feel." - Barack Obama (Source)

A Gentleman in Moscow

A Novel

by Amor Towles

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

Asymmetry

A Novel

by Lisa Halliday

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

How to Do Nothing

Resisting the Attention Economy

by Jenny Odell

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Girl, Woman, Other

by Bernardine Evaristo

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Factfulness

Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World - and Why Things Are Better Than You Think

by Hans Rosling

"A hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work off facts rather than our inherent biases." - Barack Obama (Source)

Self Reliance

by Ralph Waldo Emerson

On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile. (Source)

Florida

by Lauren Groff

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

All the Light We Cannot See

A Novel

by Anthony Doerr

Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

The Broken Ladder

How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die

by Keith Payne

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Things Fall Apart

African Trilogy, Book 1

by Chinua Achebe

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Lab Girl

by Hope Jahren

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Gilead

Gilead, Book 1

by Marilynne Robinson

On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile. (Source)

The Return

Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between

by Hisham Matar

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

The Sixth Extinction

An Unnatural History

by Elizabeth Kolbert

Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

Evicted

Poverty and Profit in the American City

by Matthew Desmond

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

Normal People

A Novel

by Sally Rooney

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Dying

A Memoir

by Cory Taylor

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

Educated

A Memoir

by Tara Westover

"A remarkable memoir of a young woman raised in a survivalist family in Idaho." - Barack Obama (Source)

The World as It Is

A Memoir of the Obama White House

by Ben Rhodes

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

The Moment of Lift

How Empowering Women Changes the World

by Melinda Gates

"Melinda tells the stories of the inspiring people she’s met through her work all over the world, digs into the data, and powerfully illustrates issues that need our attention." - Barack Obama (Source)

An American Marriage

A Novel

by Tayari Jones

"A moving portrayal of the effects of a wrongful conviction on a young African-American couple." - Barack Obama (Source)

Tough Love

My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For

by Susan Rice

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

The Topeka School

by Ben Lerner

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

American Spy

A Novel

by Lauren Wilkinson

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

The Shallows

What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

by Nicholas Carr

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

A Grain of Wheat

by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Truth Decay

An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in American Public Life

by Michael D. Rich

"A look at how a selective sorting of facts and evidence isn’t just dishonest, but self-defeating to a society that has always worked best when reasoned debate and practical problem-solving thrive." - Barack Obama (Source)

Basketball

A Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated

by Shea Serrano

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

The Girl on the Train

by Paula Hawkins

Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

How Democracies Die

by Steven Levitsky

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

The Source of Self-Regard

Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations

by Toni Morrison

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Abraham Lincoln

Selected Speeches and Writings

by Abraham Lincoln

On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile. (Source)

The Education of an Idealist

A Memoir

by Samantha Power

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

The Largesse of the Sea Maiden

Stories

by Denis Johnson

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Trust Exercise

by Susan Choi

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Seveneves

A Novel

by Neal Stephenson

Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

Immigrant, Montana

A Novel

by Amitava Kumar

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

How to Read the Air

by Dinaw Mengestu

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Long Walk to Freedom

The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

by Nelson Mandela

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Becoming

by Michelle Obama

"Obviously my favorite [book of 2018]!" - Barack Obama (Source)

Frederick Douglass

Prophet of Freedom

by David W. Blight

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

There There

A Novel

by Tommy Orange

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Feel Free

Essays

by Zadie Smith

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Trick Mirror

Reflections on Self-Delusion

by Jia Tolentino

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Washington Black

by Esi Edugyan

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

The Power

by Naomi Alderman

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

Americanah

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

The Lowland

by Jhumpa Lahiri

Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

The Oxford Shakespeare

The Complete Works

by William Shakespeare

On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile. (Source)

Exit West

A Novel

by Mohsin Hamid

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

Anything Is Possible

Amgash, Book 2

by Elizabeth Strout

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

H Is for Hawk

by Helen Macdonald

Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee

Native America from 1890 to the Present

by David Treuer

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

The Anarchy

The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire

by William Dalrymple

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Moby Dick

by Herman Melville

On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile. (Source)

Between the World and Me

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

Song of Solomon

by Toni Morrison

On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile. (Source)

A House for Mr Biswas

A Novel

by V. S. Naipaul

"Great novel about growing up in Trinidad and the challenge of post-colonial identity." - Barack Obama (Source)

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism

The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power

by Shoshana Zuboff

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

The Warmth of Other Suns

The Epic Story of America's Great Migration

by Isabel Wilkerson

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

The Sixth Man

A Memoir

by Andre Iguodala

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Arthur Ashe

A Life

by Raymond Arsenault

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

The Shadow of Sirius

by W.S. Merwin

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Maid

Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive

by Stephanie Land

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

The Yellow House

A Memoir

by Sarah M. Broom

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Inland

by Téa Obreht

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

American Prison

A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment

by Shane Bauer

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Futureface

A Family Mystery, an Epic Quest, and the Secret to Belonging

by Alex Wagner

"A thoughtful, beautiful meditation on what makes us who we are." - Barack Obama (Source)

Holy Bible

On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile. (Source)

Barbarian Days

A Surfing Life

by William Finnegan

Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

Janesville

An American Story

by Amy Goldstein

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

The Nickel Boys

A Novel

by Colson Whitehead

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

The Underground Railroad

A Novel

by Colson Whitehead

Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

A Different Way to Win

Dan Rooney's Story from the Super Bowl to the Rooney Rule

by Jim Rooney

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Wolf Hall

by Hilary Mantel

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Lot

Stories

by Bryan Washington

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Coach Wooden and Me

Our 50-Year Friendship On and Off the Court

by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

We Live in Water

Stories

by Jess Walter

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Parting the Waters

America in the King Years 1954-63

by Taylor Branch

On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile. (Source)

Lost Children Archive

A Novel

by Valeria Luiselli

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

The Orphan Master's Son

A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

by Adam Johnson

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Five-Carat Soul

by James McBride

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

Finding My Voice

My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward

by Valerie Jarrett

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Say Nothing

A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

by Patrick Radden Keefe

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Warlight

A Novel

by Michael Ondaatje

"A meditation on the lingering effects of war on family." - Barack Obama (Source)

The New Geography of Jobs

by Enrico Moretti

"Still a timely and smart discussion of how different cities and regions have made a changing economy work for them." - Barack Obama (Source)

Furious Hours

Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee

by Casey Cep

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Washington

A Life

by Ron Chernow

Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List." (Source)

Grant

by Ron Chernow

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

Sing, Unburied, Sing

A Novel

by Jesmyn Ward

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list. (Source)

Heartland

A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth

by Sarah Smarsh

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

Solitary

by Albert Woodfox

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list. (Source)

In the Shadow of Statues

A White Southerner Confronts History

by Mitch Landrieu

"An ultimately optimistic take from someone who believes the South will rise again not by reasserting the past, but by transcending it." - Barack Obama (Source)

The Word Collector

by Peter H. Reynolds

"A fun book that vividly illustrates the transformative power of words." - Barack Obama (Source)

Life 3.0

Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

by Max Tegmark

Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list. (Source)

Speed & Scale

An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now

by John Doerr

"If you care about climate change, [this book] offers concrete steps that we can all take to make a difference." - Barack Obama (Source)