The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama

No American election evoked as much interest in India as the one that gave the USA its first black president. During his campaign, Barack Obama never made race an issue; he appealed to broader concerns. After the elections, when the Indian media wondered if we will ever have a Dalit prime minister, the underlying assumption was that Obama’s victory represented a post-racial America. David Remnick, editor of New Yorker and the author of Pulitzer Prize-winning Lenin’s Tomb, disabuses us of that notion in his biography of Obama.

Even for those who have read Obama’s revealing memoirs, this narrative makes for compelling reading. Remnick sets things in context, often tracing the history of an event and explaining the social and political forces around it. You get lessons in Chicago’s politics, Kenya’s history, Black literature, the civil rights movement and so on. And he fills in the gaps with extensive reporting. He interviewed hundreds of people — Obama’s friends, relatives, teachers, mentors and critics — for the book, even reading his mother’s 1,000 page Ph.D. thesis. Holding it all together is Remnick’s graceful prose.

Any lessons for those looking for India’s first Dalit prime minister? Obama’s rise in America was not just a result of his particular mix of sincerity, vision, charm and political cunning. It was also a result of history and a good amount of luck. They cannot be manufactured but such a combination of events can’t be ruled out. It will be a mistake to think of it as an end of our social problems. 

The Bridge…; by David Remnick; Picador; 656 pages; Rs 434