Bridge, The - The Life And Rise Of Barack Obama

'The Bridge' offers an account of Obama's life. Through interviews with friends and teachers, mentors and disparagers, family members and Obama himself, David Remnick shows to the reader how Obama created himself as a community organizer in Chicago. Setting Obama's political career against the galvanizing intersection of race and politics in Chicago's history, Remnick shows how that city's complex racial legacy would make Obama's forays into politics a source of controversy and bare-knuckle tactics - his clashes with older black politicians in the Illinois State Senate, his decision to challenge the former Black Panther Bobby Rush for Congress in 2000, the sex scandals that would decimate his more experienced opponents in the 2004 Senate race, and the story - from both sides - of his confrontation with his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. By looking at Obama's political rise through the prism of racial history, Remnick gives the agendas of black politicians - the dilemmas of men like Jesse Jackson, John Lewis, and Joseph Lowery, who are forced to reassess old loyalties and understand the priorities of a new generation of African-American leaders.