{"product_id":"to-obama-with-love-joy-anger-and-hope-9780525509394","title":"To Obama: With Love, Joy, Anger, and Hope","description":"\u003cb\u003ePresident Barack Obama received ten thousand letters a day from his constituents. This is the story of the private and profound relationship with letter writers that shaped his presidency. Their voices combine to reveal a diary of a nation.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY \u003ci\u003eGLAMOUR\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Every evening for eight years, at his request, President Obama was given ten handpicked letters written by ordinary American citizens--the unfiltered voice of a nation--from his Office of Presidential Correspondence. He was the first president to interact daily with constituent mail and to archive it in its entirety. The letters affected not only the president and his policies but also the deeply committed people who were tasked with opening and reading the millions of pleas, rants, thank-yous, and apologies that landed in the White House mailroom. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In \u003ci\u003eTo Obama, \u003c\/i\u003eJeanne Marie Laskas interviews President Obama, the letter writers themselves, and the White House staff who sifted through the powerful, moving, and incredibly intimate narrative of America during the Obama years: There is Kelli, who saw her grandfathers finally marry--legally--after thirty-five years together; Bill, a lifelong Republican whose attitude toward immigration reform was transformed when he met a boy escaping MS-13 gang leaders in El Salvador; Heba, a Syrian refugee who wants to forget the day the tanks rolled into her village; Marjorie, who grappled with disturbing feelings of racial bias lurking within her during the George Zimmerman trial; and Vicki, whose family was torn apart by those who voted for Trump and those who did not. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e They wrote to Obama out of gratitude and desperation, in their darkest times of need, in search of connection. They wrote with anger, fear, and respect. And together, this chorus of voices achieves a kind of beautiful harmony. \u003ci\u003eTo Obama\u003c\/i\u003e is an intimate look at one man's relationship to the American people, and at a time when empathy intersected with politics in the White House.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Random House Trade\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/03\/2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780525509394\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 416\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.70lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.10h x 5.40w x 1.00d","brand":"Jeanne Marie Laskas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36638300602524,"sku":"9780525509394","price":15.3,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_33e2cfad-9274-4122-acea-8aa0fa9d7818.jpg?v=1603846943","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/to-obama-with-love-joy-anger-and-hope-9780525509394","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}