Memoir Covering Obama's First Term Released Shortly After US Presidential Election

Targeting After the Presidential Election Contrary to Trump Insider's Memoir

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] Former U.S. President Barack Obama's memoir will be published shortly after the U.S. presidential election this November.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Penguin Random House's Crown Publishing Group announced that Obama's memoir, A Promised Land, will be released on November 17. This is two weeks after the U.S. presidential election on November 3.

The memoir covers Obama's first term in office and is the first volume. The publication date for the second volume has not been announced. Approximately 3 million copies will be printed for the first edition in the U.S. alone, and it will be published in 25 languages, including Korean.

Former President Obama said on Twitter, "I tried to tell an honest story about my presidential campaign and time in office," adding, "I reflected on how we can heal the divisions in our country and how our democracy can work for everyone."

Crown Publishing described the book as "guiding readers on an unputdownable journey from Obama's early political ambitions, through the decisive victory at the Iowa caucuses that demonstrated the power of grassroots activism, to the night of November 4, 2008, when he became the first African American to hold the highest office in the country." Penguin Random House paid an estimated $60 million in 2017 to acquire the autobiography rights of the Obama couple.

Unlike former President Trump's close aides who released memoirs before the election, former President Obama has set the publication date after the election. Regarding this, Bradley Graham, co-owner of the Washington D.C. bookstore Politics and Prose, told the WSJ that if Democratic candidate Joe Biden wins, "there will be enthusiastic demand to look back on the Obama era," and even if Biden loses, "readers will seek comfort in this book."

The enduring popularity of the Obamas after their retirement was also confirmed by their books. Michelle Obama's memoir Becoming, released in November 2018, sold 8.1 million copies in North America alone and 14 million copies worldwide.

President Obama himself has sold over 7.5 million copies combined of his 2006 audiobook memoir Dreams From My Father and his 2008 audiobook The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.