About the Author

David Mendell began writing about urban issues and politics for the Chicago Tribune in 1998. During his eight -year tenure at the Tribune, he has also covered breaking national news including the Columbine High School shootings and the Seattle riots spurred by the meetings of the World Trade Organizations. He has covered Obama since the beginning of his senatorial campaign. Mendell lives in Oak Park, Illinois.

Reviews

"David Mendell got to Barack Obama before most of the rest of the world, telling the story of Obama's remarkable rise to power with deep reporting and in vivid detail. Obama was perhaps the most unlikely person ever to seek the presidency. Mendell's fine book provides the historical backdrop for how Obama got to the starting line of that 2008 campaign. The story he tells is as fresh today as it was at the time." -- Dan Balz, Chief Correspondent at the Washington Post "This book was required reading for those of us who covered Obama's 2008 campaign. Two White House terms later, it remains a fascinating and unfiltered read about the remarkable political rise of a major historical figure." -- John McCormick, Bloomberg national political reporter "Long before Barack Obama was president, David Mendell was there?and we're lucky he was. In Obama: From Promise to Power, he uses his extraordinary access to Barack and Michelle Obama, their friends and aides, to deliver an engaging and insightful portrait of one of the most intriguing leaders in modern American history." -- Peter Slevin, author of Michelle Obama: A Life. "I recommend this wonderful book to anyone who wants to know the real story behind Barack Obama's historic rise to national political stardom. Having covered Obama since his Senate campaign began, David Mendell offers an insightful, richly detailed and refreshingly balanced account of a 'change candidate' who was neither as perfect or as flawed as others might want you to believe." -- Clarence Page, 1989 Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Chicago Tribune "Long before Barack Obama made history, he attracted the attention of the gifted journalist David Mendell. His intimate interviews with the rising political star, and his brilliant analysis of the movement that formed around him, endure as an unparalleled chronicle of the making of an American president." -- Evan Osnos, winner of the National Book Award for Age of Ambition, and staff writer at the New Yorker "Before Barack Obama was a towering political figure, he was a local pol. This book serves as a corrective to Obama mythmaking on both sides, and it provides an insider's glimpse at the political origins and stunningly swift rise of Barack Obama." -- Ben Smith, editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed "David Mendell was on the Obama story long before the rest of the world caught on. This book remains an essential text for understanding President Obama's formative years." -- Alec MacGillis, government and politics reporter for ProPublica and author of The Cynic: A biography of Senator Mitch McConnell The single best source of background information on our new president. -- National Review