In the exciting and highly anticipated first volume of his memoirs from his presidency years, Barack Obama narrates the story of his remarkable odyssey from being a young man searching for his identity to the moment he became the leader of the free world, describing with shocking personal details both his political education and the milestone moments of his historic first term – a time of episodic upheavals and dramatic turmoils.

Obama offers readers an unparalleled journey starting from his early political ambitions, through the decisive victory in the Iowa caucuses that showcased the power of grassroots mobilization, to the historic night of November 4, 2008, when he was elected President of the United States and became the first African American to hold the nation's highest office.

Reflecting on his presidency, he provides a unique and thoughtful exploration of both the remarkable extent and the limits of presidential power, as well as a rare glimpse into the dynamics of the internal mechanisms of the U.S. party system and international diplomacy.

Obama transports the reader to the Oval Office and to the White House Situation Room, as well as to Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, and beyond. We discover the inner thoughts that preoccupy him as he assembles his cabinet, tries to manage a global economic crisis, assesses Vladimir Putin, overcomes seemingly insurmountable obstacles to secure the vote for the Affordable Care Act, clashes with generals over U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, pushes for Wall Street reform, addresses the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon accident, and approves Operation Neptune Spear, which culminates in the death of Osama bin Laden.

The Promised Land is an extraordinarily personal and introspective book – a man's wager with history, the faith of an activist tested on the global stage. Obama speaks with disarming honesty about the difficult balancing act between his candidacy for the presidency as an African American, carrying the expectations of a generation that yearned for "hope and change," and the moral challenges he faced while making significant decisions that had a major impact.

Obama also openly discusses the forces that opposed him both domestically and internationally, how living in the White House affected his wife and daughters, while not hesitating to reveal his doubts and disappointments. However, he never abandoned his belief that within the great, enduring experiment that is America, the possibility of progress is always attainable.

This compelling book captures Barack Obama’s conviction that democracy is not a divine gift, but something that relies on understanding and the shared belief that it is built together, day by day.