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Barack Obama's Favorite Books 2024

Barack Obama's Favorite Books 2024 names 38 books across 2 categories. 12 of them also won or were shortlisted for an award.

Favorite Books

  1. Beautiful Days by Zach Williamssource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Everyone Who Is Gone Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis by Jonathan Blitzersource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Growth by Daniel Susskindsource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Headshot by Rita Bullwinkelsource (opens in a new tab)
  5. Help Wanted by Adelle Waldmansource (opens in a new tab)
  6. In Ascension by Martin MacInnessource (opens in a new tab)
  7. Intermezzo by Sally Rooneysource (opens in a new tab)
  8. James by Percival Everettsource (opens in a new tab)
  9. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbarsource (opens in a new tab)
  10. Memory Piece by Lisa Kosource (opens in a new tab)
  11. Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It by Richard Reevessource (opens in a new tab)
  12. Orbital by Samantha Harveysource (opens in a new tab)
  13. Patriot by Alexei Navalnysource (opens in a new tab)
  14. Reading Genesis by Marilynne Robinsonsource (opens in a new tab)
  15. Someone Like Us by Dinaw Mengestusource (opens in a new tab)
  16. Stolen Pride by Arlie Russell Hochschildsource (opens in a new tab)
  17. The Anthropologists by Ayşegül Savaşsource (opens in a new tab)
  18. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidtsource (opens in a new tab)
  19. The God of the Woods by Liz Mooresource (opens in a new tab)
  20. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradleysource (opens in a new tab)
  21. The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sidessource (opens in a new tab)
  22. The Work of Art by Adam Mosssource (opens in a new tab)
  23. There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqibsource (opens in a new tab)
  24. When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s by John Ganzsource (opens in a new tab)

Summer Reading

  1. Beautiful Days by Zach Williamssource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Everyone Who Is Gone Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis by Jonathan Blitzersource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Headshot by Rita Bullwinkelsource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Help Wanted by Adelle Waldmansource (opens in a new tab)
  5. James by Percival Everettsource (opens in a new tab)
  6. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbarsource (opens in a new tab)
  7. Memory Piece by Lisa Kosource (opens in a new tab)
  8. Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It by Richard Reevessource (opens in a new tab)
  9. Reading Genesis by Marilynne Robinsonsource (opens in a new tab)
  10. The God of the Woods by Liz Mooresource (opens in a new tab)
  11. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradleysource (opens in a new tab)
  12. The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sidessource (opens in a new tab)
  13. There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqibsource (opens in a new tab)
  14. When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s by John Ganzsource (opens in a new tab)

About the Barack Obama's Favorite Books

Obama shared his first list, summer reading, in 2015; his first posted year-end list came in 2017. Year-end lists are category Favorite Books and summer lists Summer Reading. There is no 2016 year-end, 2017 summer, or 2020 summer list. Sources are Obama posts (Facebook, Medium, obama.org) where they load, otherwise news pages quoting the full list. A year-end list that repeats summer picks keeps them, so each list is complete as posted. Books only.

Organization: Barack Obama. Official site (opens in a new tab)

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