To Obama: Diary of a Nation

With a foreword by Barack Obama, this is the unfiltered story of a nation, told through the letters written to him during his presidency and the lives of those who wrote them

'The narrative was sloppy and urgent, America talking all at once. No filter'

The last thing Barack Obama did every night while he was resident in the White House was to read ten letters selected for him by the Office of Presidential Correspondence. This intimate correspondence with the most powerful man in the world soon became known as the 10LADs and when Jeanne Marie Laskas wrote about them for the New York Times the public response was overwhelming. Michael Lewis contacted her to tell her how much he loved it; Obama himself told her it was his favourite article about his presidency.

To Obama develops the story further, with Laskas digging deep into the astonishing archive and interviewing a selection of the letter writers and the mail room staff. The letters reveal the private concerns of the American citizen, more urgent, desperate and vulnerable than we ever knew. These voices come together to form a diary of a nation; a history of a country told by its people.

Profoundly moving and powerful, sometimes funny, sometimes jarring, sometimes beautiful, To Obama is a remarkable, historically important portrait of a nation and era.