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JOE BIDEN. Gyvenimas, idėjos, kova ir tai, kas svarbu dabar
Prezidentas Josephas R. Bidenas neretai vadinamas ir laimingiausiu, ir nelaimingiausiu žmogumi. Per penkiasdešimt nuoseklios politinės karjeros metų jam pavyko pasiekti aukščiausią tašką – Baltuosius rūmus, tačiau jo gyvenimas paženklintas ir itin skaudžių asmeninių praradimų bei nusivylimų.
Tiesa, kalbant apie J. Bideno gyvenimą, svarbu ne tik kvapą gniaužiančios dramos, tačiau taip pat ir itin retai aukščiausiuose politikų sluoksniuose pasitaikantis ryžtas kovoti su savo trūkumais, klaidomis, sugebėjimas atremti likimo kirčius. Kaip teigia pats Bidenas: „Nesėkmės žmogaus gyvenime neišvengiamos, tačiau pasiduoti – neatleistina.“ Patirti išbandymai išugdė nuoširdžią Bideno empatiją tiems žmonėms, kurie susiduria su sunkumais, – tai labai svarbi savybė, nes jam tenka imtis atsakomybės amerikiečiams itin sudėtingu laikotarpiu.
Knygoje atskleista ilga ir turininga Bideno politinė karjera Senate, laikotarpis, kai jis buvo Obamos viceprezidentas, itin sudėtingas laikotarpis po 2016 m., kai buvo nukonkuruotas Hillary Clinton, taip pat apsisprendimas mesti iššūkį Donaldui Trumpui, senatorės Kamalos Harris, kaip svarbiausios politinės bendražygės, pasirinkimas ir pirmieji iššūkiai aukščiausiose pareigose.
Knyga paremta išsamiais pokalbiais su pačiu Josephu Bidenu, taip pat joje rasite daugiau nei šimto jį pažįstančių žmonių, įskaitant buvusį prezidentą Baracką Obamą, kitų įtakingų JAV politikų, aktyvistų, politinių oponentų ir šeimos narių atsiliepimų.
Nepaprastai talentingo „The New Yorker“ reporterio knygoje meistriškai pristatomas Joe Bidenas, žmogus ir politikas, atsiskleidžia netikėtoje šviesoje. – „The Washington Post“
Tiesa, kalbant apie J. Bideno gyvenimą, svarbu ne tik kvapą gniaužiančios dramos, tačiau taip pat ir itin retai aukščiausiuose politikų sluoksniuose pasitaikantis ryžtas kovoti su savo trūkumais, klaidomis, sugebėjimas atremti likimo kirčius. Kaip teigia pats Bidenas: „Nesėkmės žmogaus gyvenime neišvengiamos, tačiau pasiduoti – neatleistina.“ Patirti išbandymai išugdė nuoširdžią Bideno empatiją tiems žmonėms, kurie susiduria su sunkumais, – tai labai svarbi savybė, nes jam tenka imtis atsakomybės amerikiečiams itin sudėtingu laikotarpiu.
Knygoje atskleista ilga ir turininga Bideno politinė karjera Senate, laikotarpis, kai jis buvo Obamos viceprezidentas, itin sudėtingas laikotarpis po 2016 m., kai buvo nukonkuruotas Hillary Clinton, taip pat apsisprendimas mesti iššūkį Donaldui Trumpui, senatorės Kamalos Harris, kaip svarbiausios politinės bendražygės, pasirinkimas ir pirmieji iššūkiai aukščiausiose pareigose.
Knyga paremta išsamiais pokalbiais su pačiu Josephu Bidenu, taip pat joje rasite daugiau nei šimto jį pažįstančių žmonių, įskaitant buvusį prezidentą Baracką Obamą, kitų įtakingų JAV politikų, aktyvistų, politinių oponentų ir šeimos narių atsiliepimų.
Nepaprastai talentingo „The New Yorker“ reporterio knygoje meistriškai pristatomas Joe Bidenas, žmogus ir politikas, atsiskleidžia netikėtoje šviesoje. – „The Washington Post“
208 pages, Hardcover
First published October 6, 2020
369 people are currently reading
5247 people want to read
About the author
Evan Osnos
17 books377 followersEvan Osnos joined The New Yorker as a staff writer in 2008. He is a correspondent in Washington, D.C. who writes about politics and foreign affairs. He is the author of "Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, May 2014). Based on eight years of living in Beijing, the book traces the rise of the individual in China, and the clash between aspiration and authoritarianism. He was the China Correspondent at The New Yorker magazine from 2008 to 2013. He is a contributor to This American Life on public radio, and Frontline, the PBS series. Prior to The New Yorker, he worked as the Beijing bureau chief of the Chicago Tribune, where he contributed to a series that won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. He has received the Asia Society’s Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Journalism on Asia, the Livingston Award for Young Journalists, and a Mirror Award for profile-writing. Before his appointment in China, he worked in the Middle East, reporting mostly from Iraq.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 494 reviews
January 21, 2021
Rescue
Joe Biden wasis US President-elect and will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States, on January 20th following the most important, divisive, and insane election in American history. An election that I’m sure psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, politicists and historians will pour over for decades, and that’s without taking into consideration epidemiologists, economists, geoscientists, environmentalists, criminologists and sociopath hunters.
The unpredictable roller-coaster ride of the 2020 election and the unusual circumstances surrounding it seems to typify the life of Joe Biden himself – a life of heart-breaking tragedy and major political success. He was often described by his peers as the luckiest person they knew and the unluckiest person they knew. Evan Osnos, a staff writer with the New Yorker, has written a brief insight into the political developments and events that shaped Biden’s political career. A career that has endured unimaginable family loss with the death of his first wife and two of his children, that required deep soul searching but always reaffirmed his devotion to public service. A working-class man with big dreams – the true American dream.
Joe Biden’s approach of working with colleagues and opponents to achieve compromised agreement has led him to be recognised as a politician with strong bipartisan acceptability. Probably the main reason Obama selected him as his vice president, and a role he accepted with intense loyalty to Obama and was returned with the knowledge Biden had capabilities he himself lacked.
I was fascinated in this US election and picked up information from various sources over years on Joe Biden, Barak Obama and Donald Trump. There is nothing new in this book, but it does provide a synopsis on the highlights that help paint the picture of a man of faith, perseverance, empathy, experience, mistakes, gaffs and loyalty. To have started the election campaign almost down and out in the primaries, to achieving the democrat's nominee for president, to winning the presidency surely shows the rocky path he travels and the support he has gained along the way, including from many of his previous opponents.
The book also considers the America that Biden will inherit with a crisis of a deadly pandemic left largely unaddressed at a federal level, a racial injustice crisis that has formed Black Lives Matter initiatives throughout the world, an economic meltdown, a climate crisis, a foreign policy in complete disarray and almost unbelievably the world’s most recognised democracy teetering on the edge of collapse into autocracy. I hope history judges Joe Biden as the right man, in the right place at the right time.
Joe Biden: American Dreamer is a look at the political dreams of Biden himself and delivered in a concise book that is cleverly observed and pieced together through conversations Osnos had with many of Biden’s friends and acquaintances. I would recommend this book for a quick overview of Joe Biden – a man asked to serve his country during one of their most difficult periods in history.
Joe Biden was
The unpredictable roller-coaster ride of the 2020 election and the unusual circumstances surrounding it seems to typify the life of Joe Biden himself – a life of heart-breaking tragedy and major political success. He was often described by his peers as the luckiest person they knew and the unluckiest person they knew. Evan Osnos, a staff writer with the New Yorker, has written a brief insight into the political developments and events that shaped Biden’s political career. A career that has endured unimaginable family loss with the death of his first wife and two of his children, that required deep soul searching but always reaffirmed his devotion to public service. A working-class man with big dreams – the true American dream.
Joe Biden’s approach of working with colleagues and opponents to achieve compromised agreement has led him to be recognised as a politician with strong bipartisan acceptability. Probably the main reason Obama selected him as his vice president, and a role he accepted with intense loyalty to Obama and was returned with the knowledge Biden had capabilities he himself lacked.
I was fascinated in this US election and picked up information from various sources over years on Joe Biden, Barak Obama and Donald Trump. There is nothing new in this book, but it does provide a synopsis on the highlights that help paint the picture of a man of faith, perseverance, empathy, experience, mistakes, gaffs and loyalty. To have started the election campaign almost down and out in the primaries, to achieving the democrat's nominee for president, to winning the presidency surely shows the rocky path he travels and the support he has gained along the way, including from many of his previous opponents.
The book also considers the America that Biden will inherit with a crisis of a deadly pandemic left largely unaddressed at a federal level, a racial injustice crisis that has formed Black Lives Matter initiatives throughout the world, an economic meltdown, a climate crisis, a foreign policy in complete disarray and almost unbelievably the world’s most recognised democracy teetering on the edge of collapse into autocracy. I hope history judges Joe Biden as the right man, in the right place at the right time.
Joe Biden: American Dreamer is a look at the political dreams of Biden himself and delivered in a concise book that is cleverly observed and pieced together through conversations Osnos had with many of Biden’s friends and acquaintances. I would recommend this book for a quick overview of Joe Biden – a man asked to serve his country during one of their most difficult periods in history.
January 22, 2021
Audiobook....read by Evan Osnos and David Remnick 4 hrs. 26 minutes
CONGRATULATIONS....to Joe R. Biden Jr. *46* President.
This is a quick read - or an afternoon ‘listen’ > think ‘daily briefing’.
.....Osnos gives us a well researched balance view of
Joe - the man....(character, & personal intimate history)
Joe -his long career in politics....(trials and tribulations)
Joe - the possibilities of his visions for the future.
Yesterday’s inauguration was a new beginning.
In Biden’s speech,
“he called for an end to the ‘uncivil war’ that has plagued American politics of late, calling for conciliation and understanding”.
Joe said:
“We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts, if we show a little tolerance and humility, and if we’re willing to stand in the other persons shoes — as my mom would say, Just for a moment, stand in their shoes”.
A man who stands for unity:
“Together we shall write an American story of hope, not fear. Of unity, not division. Of light, not darkness. A story of decency and dignity, love and healing, greatness and goodness. May this be the story that guides us, the story that inspires us and a story that tells age is yet to come that we answered the call of history; we meet the moment; democracy and hope, truth and justice did not die on our watch but thrived; America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world”.
Amen!
And....
speaking of daily briefings.... Joe Biden‘s press secretary Jen Psaki reinstated daily White House briefing‘s - yesterday. Five days a week. I thought she was terrific.
Joe Biden ....he emerges at the perfect time to lead our country. Humble, kind, loyal, honest, hard working, years of political experience, distinctive qualifications, .....( eight years as Obama’s Vice President),
has a huge passion of love for our country....and will work hard ‘for’ the people of the ‘United’ states of America.
Again, I say, AMEN!
CONGRATULATIONS....to Joe R. Biden Jr. *46* President.
This is a quick read - or an afternoon ‘listen’ > think ‘daily briefing’.
.....Osnos gives us a well researched balance view of
Joe - the man....(character, & personal intimate history)
Joe -his long career in politics....(trials and tribulations)
Joe - the possibilities of his visions for the future.
Yesterday’s inauguration was a new beginning.
In Biden’s speech,
“he called for an end to the ‘uncivil war’ that has plagued American politics of late, calling for conciliation and understanding”.
Joe said:
“We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts, if we show a little tolerance and humility, and if we’re willing to stand in the other persons shoes — as my mom would say, Just for a moment, stand in their shoes”.
A man who stands for unity:
“Together we shall write an American story of hope, not fear. Of unity, not division. Of light, not darkness. A story of decency and dignity, love and healing, greatness and goodness. May this be the story that guides us, the story that inspires us and a story that tells age is yet to come that we answered the call of history; we meet the moment; democracy and hope, truth and justice did not die on our watch but thrived; America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world”.
Amen!
And....
speaking of daily briefings.... Joe Biden‘s press secretary Jen Psaki reinstated daily White House briefing‘s - yesterday. Five days a week. I thought she was terrific.
Joe Biden ....he emerges at the perfect time to lead our country. Humble, kind, loyal, honest, hard working, years of political experience, distinctive qualifications, .....( eight years as Obama’s Vice President),
has a huge passion of love for our country....and will work hard ‘for’ the people of the ‘United’ states of America.
Again, I say, AMEN!
October 29, 2020
I have decided to embark on a mission to read a number of books on subjects that will be of great importance to the upcoming 2020 US Presidential Election. Many of these will focus on actors intricately involved in the process, in hopes that I can understand them better and, perhaps, educate others with the power to cast a ballot. I am, as always, open to serious recommendations from anyone who has a book I might like to include in the process.
This is Book #33 in my 2020 US Election Preparation Challenge.
As the time for the US Presidential Election creeps closer, I wanted to take some time to learn a little more about Joe Biden. I have spent much of my time exploring the dismantling of America from the perspective of the Trump Administration, but looked at the Democrats’ candidate only in passing.
Evan Osnos, who has written extensively for the New Yorker, took the time to hash out a concise political biography of the man for those who may be interested, dropping it on newsstands a short time before the election. Osnos uses his primer to give the reader a taste of what the Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. has done and where he stands, but leaves those who hunger for more (such as me) with an appetite to use this as a launching point. A decent piece that opens the door a crack, but does not (nor did it ever seek to) provide the complete story.
Biden was born between the Great Depression and the end of the Second World War, fitting into a time when he was too young to have remembered the struggles of severe limitations, yet too old to have become a practical advocate for the counter-culture. Osnos explores this briefly and provides the reader with some insight into how important work and staying the course could be for the Biden household.
With an upset victory in Delaware’s US Senate race in 1972, Biden headed to Washington as a young father with a great deal of ambition. Even before he’d been sworn in, tragedy struck when his wife and baby daughter were killed in a car accident, thrusting him into being a single parent. He struggled and grief overtook him, but Biden was able to prevail with help from many around him. Osnos explores this a little, but chooses not to use the tragedy as a crutch, nor did Biden appear to do so.
In a Senate career that was filled with ups and downs, Biden rose to prominence, even though he was from one of America’s smallest states, travelling into DC daily on Amtrak trains. Many will remember him on the Foreign Relations Committee, but his most notable role was as Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, hashing out some of the country’s most conservative judges at the time. While discussion on this topic is minimal, mere mention of Anita Hill will leave many with chills down their spine and how Chairman Biden failed to heed to requests to fully explore the antics of Clarence Thomas in 1991.
After a failed run for the presidency in 1987 and again in 2008, Biden was sure he would end his days as a US senator. However, a young Democrat came knocking in 2008 and asked him to be his running mate in a presidential campaign that made a difference. The Obama-Biden partnership proved highly successful and Osnos looks at how these men complemented one another so well. While Biden was known for his long-winded speeches, he learned to button his lip and listen, serving as the Administration mouthpiece when asked and remaining active in battling many of the concerns that faced the country at the time. This service was not a dead-end for Biden politically, but served to educate him for what might be a final run for the presidency.
Osnos takes time in the latter portion of the book to look at Biden the candidate, seeking to see where he stands on numerous issues of policy, as well as some of the accusations tossed in his direction. Biden bluntly admits that had Donald Trump not been president, he would not have sought the Democratic nomination, happy to allow a younger person battle it out. However, as Trump continues to attack and dismantle everything from the Obama Era, Biden felt he owed it to the country and his former running mate to return to the fray, even as the country battles its worst health crisis in a century. Armed with formidable ideas and his own powerful running mate in Senator Kamala Harris, Biden is ready for whatever happens, knowing that the campaign and Election Night will be anything but peaceful. However, he’s made many a promise to others to do all he can to help.
While I have read a number of books in my challenge to date, this piece by Evan Osnos offered me some hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. While rumours continue to circulate about Hunter Biden, this book does not tackle them, so ever-Trumpers are out of luck. However, Osnos seeks to offer a foundation for the curious to learn a little more about the man who seeks to remove the first authoritarian leader the country has faced.
The research that went into this book proves to be quite thorough, trying to cram a great deal into a short period. Osnos never tries to sell this as a comprehensive piece, but it is both a penetrating and captivating snapshot of the man and his values. Part biography and part policy document, Osnos prepares the voter for what they can expect, using his years of research and article writing, rather than the empty rhetoric of a man who feasts on conspiracy theories and has babies for dessert. Told over eight decent-length chapters, Evan Osnos provides something of a primer for the curious reader, offering breadcrumbs that permit the dedicated individuals to explore more on their own. I may just do that, for myself, as well as those who read these reviews, as November 3rd is fast approaching!
Kudos, Mr. Osnos, for penning this piece. It’s nice to see that there can be something positive that comes from political reporting these days
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
This is Book #33 in my 2020 US Election Preparation Challenge.
As the time for the US Presidential Election creeps closer, I wanted to take some time to learn a little more about Joe Biden. I have spent much of my time exploring the dismantling of America from the perspective of the Trump Administration, but looked at the Democrats’ candidate only in passing.
Evan Osnos, who has written extensively for the New Yorker, took the time to hash out a concise political biography of the man for those who may be interested, dropping it on newsstands a short time before the election. Osnos uses his primer to give the reader a taste of what the Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. has done and where he stands, but leaves those who hunger for more (such as me) with an appetite to use this as a launching point. A decent piece that opens the door a crack, but does not (nor did it ever seek to) provide the complete story.
Biden was born between the Great Depression and the end of the Second World War, fitting into a time when he was too young to have remembered the struggles of severe limitations, yet too old to have become a practical advocate for the counter-culture. Osnos explores this briefly and provides the reader with some insight into how important work and staying the course could be for the Biden household.
With an upset victory in Delaware’s US Senate race in 1972, Biden headed to Washington as a young father with a great deal of ambition. Even before he’d been sworn in, tragedy struck when his wife and baby daughter were killed in a car accident, thrusting him into being a single parent. He struggled and grief overtook him, but Biden was able to prevail with help from many around him. Osnos explores this a little, but chooses not to use the tragedy as a crutch, nor did Biden appear to do so.
In a Senate career that was filled with ups and downs, Biden rose to prominence, even though he was from one of America’s smallest states, travelling into DC daily on Amtrak trains. Many will remember him on the Foreign Relations Committee, but his most notable role was as Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, hashing out some of the country’s most conservative judges at the time. While discussion on this topic is minimal, mere mention of Anita Hill will leave many with chills down their spine and how Chairman Biden failed to heed to requests to fully explore the antics of Clarence Thomas in 1991.
After a failed run for the presidency in 1987 and again in 2008, Biden was sure he would end his days as a US senator. However, a young Democrat came knocking in 2008 and asked him to be his running mate in a presidential campaign that made a difference. The Obama-Biden partnership proved highly successful and Osnos looks at how these men complemented one another so well. While Biden was known for his long-winded speeches, he learned to button his lip and listen, serving as the Administration mouthpiece when asked and remaining active in battling many of the concerns that faced the country at the time. This service was not a dead-end for Biden politically, but served to educate him for what might be a final run for the presidency.
Osnos takes time in the latter portion of the book to look at Biden the candidate, seeking to see where he stands on numerous issues of policy, as well as some of the accusations tossed in his direction. Biden bluntly admits that had Donald Trump not been president, he would not have sought the Democratic nomination, happy to allow a younger person battle it out. However, as Trump continues to attack and dismantle everything from the Obama Era, Biden felt he owed it to the country and his former running mate to return to the fray, even as the country battles its worst health crisis in a century. Armed with formidable ideas and his own powerful running mate in Senator Kamala Harris, Biden is ready for whatever happens, knowing that the campaign and Election Night will be anything but peaceful. However, he’s made many a promise to others to do all he can to help.
While I have read a number of books in my challenge to date, this piece by Evan Osnos offered me some hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. While rumours continue to circulate about Hunter Biden, this book does not tackle them, so ever-Trumpers are out of luck. However, Osnos seeks to offer a foundation for the curious to learn a little more about the man who seeks to remove the first authoritarian leader the country has faced.
The research that went into this book proves to be quite thorough, trying to cram a great deal into a short period. Osnos never tries to sell this as a comprehensive piece, but it is both a penetrating and captivating snapshot of the man and his values. Part biography and part policy document, Osnos prepares the voter for what they can expect, using his years of research and article writing, rather than the empty rhetoric of a man who feasts on conspiracy theories and has babies for dessert. Told over eight decent-length chapters, Evan Osnos provides something of a primer for the curious reader, offering breadcrumbs that permit the dedicated individuals to explore more on their own. I may just do that, for myself, as well as those who read these reviews, as November 3rd is fast approaching!
Kudos, Mr. Osnos, for penning this piece. It’s nice to see that there can be something positive that comes from political reporting these days
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
November 22, 2020
A priest is being summoned to deliver Joe Biden his late rites.
This is how the book begins.
If you would have told me I’d be reading a non-fiction book about a politician a year ago, I would have said you were crazy.
This year has me gobbling up every non-fiction book I can get my hands on… and this is one I’m glad I got my hands on.
Back in 2008 when Obama announced who would be his vice president, I was like umm.. who is THIS guy?! For someone who has had such a long political career, I had never even heard of him.
Well, I think it’s safe to say, we have all heard of Joe Biden by now.
It’s not a gushing portrayal of a perfect man. It’s a comprehensive look at a man who is flawed, who has suffered tremendous loss, who is fiercely loyal to family and friends, and who has had just as many successes as he has had failures.
This book is perfect for people who aren’t big on heavy, wordy, snoozy non-fiction. However it is still a concise and thorough portrait of a fascinating life. It reads fast, and is easily digestible, but never skimps on the facts and details.
If you want to really get to know our President-elect, what he has done throughout his career in politics, and also just WHO this man is… read this book. It’s extremely well-researched but also very entertaining. Definitely a must read.
This is how the book begins.
If you would have told me I’d be reading a non-fiction book about a politician a year ago, I would have said you were crazy.
This year has me gobbling up every non-fiction book I can get my hands on… and this is one I’m glad I got my hands on.
Back in 2008 when Obama announced who would be his vice president, I was like umm.. who is THIS guy?! For someone who has had such a long political career, I had never even heard of him.
Well, I think it’s safe to say, we have all heard of Joe Biden by now.
It’s not a gushing portrayal of a perfect man. It’s a comprehensive look at a man who is flawed, who has suffered tremendous loss, who is fiercely loyal to family and friends, and who has had just as many successes as he has had failures.
This book is perfect for people who aren’t big on heavy, wordy, snoozy non-fiction. However it is still a concise and thorough portrait of a fascinating life. It reads fast, and is easily digestible, but never skimps on the facts and details.
If you want to really get to know our President-elect, what he has done throughout his career in politics, and also just WHO this man is… read this book. It’s extremely well-researched but also very entertaining. Definitely a must read.
April 2, 2021
This short book is a brief biography of Biden's life and political career up to the close of the 2020 presidential election. It gives a balanced view of the man focusing on his positive attributes, the well known tragedies in his life, and his many flaws such as his foot in mouth syndrome. I found the chapter on his vice-presidency interesting. He was a strong defender of Obama even against fellow Democrats who were critical of Obama in Congress. The beef between Biden and former Defense Secretary Bob Gates was interesting as well. Overall I think this would be a good introduction to Biden for those who are not familiar with him. There are better books such as his memoir Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics and the book on his relationship with Obama Barack and Joe: The Making of an Extraordinary Partnership.
October 27, 2020
Please note: this review is of the book and not the man himself or his politics. With only a week to go until the US election, I felt I should learn a little more about Biden as a person as I realise I know almost nothing about an individual who could soon be president of one of the world's superpowers. In this concise yet informative portrayal Evan Osnos offers a nuanced, deeply-reported and three-dimensional portrait of Biden and illuminates his long and eventful fifty-year political career and his long presence in the Senate, his eight years as Obama’s vice president, his sojourn in the political wilderness after being passed over for Hillary Clinton in 2016, his decision to challenge Donald Trump for the presidency, and his choice of Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate.
Osnos ponders the difficulties Biden will face if elected and weighs how political circumstances, and changes in the candidate’s thinking, have altered his positions. In this nuanced portrait, Biden emerges as flawed, yet resolute, and tempered by the flame of tragedy—a man who just may be uncannily suited for his moment in history. Split into eight chapters, this is a short, balanced biography focused on Biden’s political escapades and trials and tribulations over the years rather than his personal life or his formative years. I learned a lot about his tenacity and triumphs over adversity as well as his stance on many things. This is a comprehensive and well-researched memoir and tends to remain objective throughout, which was a must for me.
In this penetrating and captivating portrait, Evan Osnos, who followed Joe Biden for years for The New Yorker, paints a razor-sharp picture of the man on whom all the hopes of progressive and liberal America are focused. He spoke at length with Biden himself and over a hundred others, from progressive activists, opponents, and family members to former President Obama. Adapted from Osnos’s in-depth New Yorker profiles of the Democratic presidential nominee, the book features revelatory conversations with President Barack Obama, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, John Kerry, Cory Booker, former advisors, Biden family members, and new reporting. A quick and interesting read. Many thanks to Bloomsbury for an ARC.
Osnos ponders the difficulties Biden will face if elected and weighs how political circumstances, and changes in the candidate’s thinking, have altered his positions. In this nuanced portrait, Biden emerges as flawed, yet resolute, and tempered by the flame of tragedy—a man who just may be uncannily suited for his moment in history. Split into eight chapters, this is a short, balanced biography focused on Biden’s political escapades and trials and tribulations over the years rather than his personal life or his formative years. I learned a lot about his tenacity and triumphs over adversity as well as his stance on many things. This is a comprehensive and well-researched memoir and tends to remain objective throughout, which was a must for me.
In this penetrating and captivating portrait, Evan Osnos, who followed Joe Biden for years for The New Yorker, paints a razor-sharp picture of the man on whom all the hopes of progressive and liberal America are focused. He spoke at length with Biden himself and over a hundred others, from progressive activists, opponents, and family members to former President Obama. Adapted from Osnos’s in-depth New Yorker profiles of the Democratic presidential nominee, the book features revelatory conversations with President Barack Obama, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, John Kerry, Cory Booker, former advisors, Biden family members, and new reporting. A quick and interesting read. Many thanks to Bloomsbury for an ARC.
January 21, 2021
Hell, I might be president now if it weren't for the fact I said I had an uncle who was a coal miner. Turns out I didn't have anybody in the coal mines, you know what I mean? I tried that crap — it didn't work.
-Joe Biden, interview with Jon Stewart, 2004
Joe Biden may have been one of the most underestimated people in the whole of the 2020 election season. After a string of primary losses in Iowa and New Hampshire, he was left for dead by the media, and some of the voices online were ready to declare him Yesterday's Man - too close to opponents on civil rights decades ago, too tough on crime, too close to the credit card industry.
But then, as it was, a miracle happened. Biden was able to secure the endorsement of Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, a mainstay in South Carolina politics. He won South Carolina by taking almost 50% of the vote in a crowded field. After that, a near sweep on Super Tuesday, after that, the general election, buoyed by a swing in suburban voters and held together by the Democratic Party's tireless base - black voters, residents of the larger cities, younger voters, college-educated voters, about 55%+ of women, and some Hispanic voters - notably not enough of Tejanos and Venezolanos.
Evan Osnos, a staff writer for the New Yorker and formerly assigned to China, has produced a volume that reproduces a lot which is more commonly known about Biden. He speaks his mind too often, he makes gaffes. He ran for President in 1988 and sank himself with making up too much about his past and plagiarizing from other speakers.
Where Biden's critics saw him as a moderate - that is, an empty vessel, Osnos suggests that Biden is more of a party man and one who has moved as the party moved. As the party drifted to the left, he picked up some of the further left's concerns - yet he also is political enough to appeal and glad-hand to personal interests and not just with high-flown rhetoric. Biden talks about the soul of America, but he is also at least bringing up stimulus checks and unemployment relief to start. He is very much not a Kennedy or an Obama - but he may more resemble a Lyndon Johnson or maybe even an FDR, at least in the claimed ambitions for his domestic agenda. The pandemic has laid bare many of the most dysfunctional elements in American society -- if nothing else, now is an opportunity for serious change. It would be folly if he didn't pick it up.
Secondly, Osnos also points to the fact that Biden, for all of his reputation for talking too much, does know when to keep quiet. In the past few months, he kept a subdued campaign schedule. Biden said, "The more he [Trump] talks, the better off I am." While the chattering classes and Twitter experts speculated that Biden had grown senile or even passed on, the plan was to let Trump boast about himself and do nothing as the graveyard grew around him.
This volume, while short, has the feel of some of the better things that get published in the New Yorker - informative pieces by and of their time. It is a quick read, and one of the better first drafts of the history of the campaign season out there.
-Joe Biden, interview with Jon Stewart, 2004
Joe Biden may have been one of the most underestimated people in the whole of the 2020 election season. After a string of primary losses in Iowa and New Hampshire, he was left for dead by the media, and some of the voices online were ready to declare him Yesterday's Man - too close to opponents on civil rights decades ago, too tough on crime, too close to the credit card industry.
But then, as it was, a miracle happened. Biden was able to secure the endorsement of Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, a mainstay in South Carolina politics. He won South Carolina by taking almost 50% of the vote in a crowded field. After that, a near sweep on Super Tuesday, after that, the general election, buoyed by a swing in suburban voters and held together by the Democratic Party's tireless base - black voters, residents of the larger cities, younger voters, college-educated voters, about 55%+ of women, and some Hispanic voters - notably not enough of Tejanos and Venezolanos.
Evan Osnos, a staff writer for the New Yorker and formerly assigned to China, has produced a volume that reproduces a lot which is more commonly known about Biden. He speaks his mind too often, he makes gaffes. He ran for President in 1988 and sank himself with making up too much about his past and plagiarizing from other speakers.
Where Biden's critics saw him as a moderate - that is, an empty vessel, Osnos suggests that Biden is more of a party man and one who has moved as the party moved. As the party drifted to the left, he picked up some of the further left's concerns - yet he also is political enough to appeal and glad-hand to personal interests and not just with high-flown rhetoric. Biden talks about the soul of America, but he is also at least bringing up stimulus checks and unemployment relief to start. He is very much not a Kennedy or an Obama - but he may more resemble a Lyndon Johnson or maybe even an FDR, at least in the claimed ambitions for his domestic agenda. The pandemic has laid bare many of the most dysfunctional elements in American society -- if nothing else, now is an opportunity for serious change. It would be folly if he didn't pick it up.
Secondly, Osnos also points to the fact that Biden, for all of his reputation for talking too much, does know when to keep quiet. In the past few months, he kept a subdued campaign schedule. Biden said, "The more he [Trump] talks, the better off I am." While the chattering classes and Twitter experts speculated that Biden had grown senile or even passed on, the plan was to let Trump boast about himself and do nothing as the graveyard grew around him.
This volume, while short, has the feel of some of the better things that get published in the New Yorker - informative pieces by and of their time. It is a quick read, and one of the better first drafts of the history of the campaign season out there.
December 22, 2020
'Joe Biden: American Dreamer' is a concise book chronicling the main attributes & personality traits of the current President elect of America. It talks about the past ideals he stood for as well as his failings. It talks about his activity at the Senate & how destiny through a series of events managed to make a road for him towards the most powerful seat in the world, period. The book is to the point, well written & extremely engaging. For those of us in foreign countries who have not had the chance of truly knowing the person of Joe Biden the man, father, politician & now President Elect this is a good introductory book towards that motive. The book is non-partisan & has book references in the notes section at the end which I found very helpful. 'Joe Biden: American Dreamer' gets 5 stars from me. The author Evan Osnos has done a good job & do support him by reading this book.
December 5, 2020
This is not a whole book, but a long New Yorker profile with a few extra pages tacked on. I wish it hadn't been rushed to press like this and made into a proper biography.
October 27, 2020
Worst Book ever Written about the most corrupt Politian in History. Extremely bad from Page 1. 100% Garbage. Do not Read
March 1, 2024
And just like that, I have completed my journey to read a biography about every US President!!!!!!!!!
October 19, 2020
Evan Osnos gives us a balanced picture of Joe Biden. I came into the book knowing only that I preferred Biden to Trump. After reading, I have a clear sense of the man himself, and I am truly excited to vote for such a fine and capable human being!
As a bonus, I found the book itself a delight to read!
As a bonus, I found the book itself a delight to read!
November 24, 2020
Joseph R. Biden Jr. dubbed both the luckiest and the unluckiest man.
We know Biden, but we also don’t know much about him so in my quest to find the book about our president elect, I devoured this book, a quick read and great insight about what made him as he is today.
Osnos delivered a deftly written biography of a man whose road to the White House was through an impressive fifty-year political career. In this captivating portrait of a man whose losses, suffering, ambitions, and values , friendship with Barack Obama, and his views of the world, I found this to be an amazing and profound read, of our President-elect.
I highly recommend this quick read. You will garner a lot of insights in this well balanced and fairly written political biography. Well done!!
We know Biden, but we also don’t know much about him so in my quest to find the book about our president elect, I devoured this book, a quick read and great insight about what made him as he is today.
Osnos delivered a deftly written biography of a man whose road to the White House was through an impressive fifty-year political career. In this captivating portrait of a man whose losses, suffering, ambitions, and values , friendship with Barack Obama, and his views of the world, I found this to be an amazing and profound read, of our President-elect.
I highly recommend this quick read. You will garner a lot of insights in this well balanced and fairly written political biography. Well done!!
December 1, 2020
DNF after 100 pages of disappointment. One of the worst "biographies" I've read so far. And I'm not even sure if this book can officially be viewed as a biography at all.
The first hour is basically about how bad of a person and statesman Donald Trump is and how Joe Biden would be the "better angel", as Steven Pinker would call it.
Also there is no chronological order whatsoever. I felt lost almost the whole time since I didn't know anything about JBs early life and career. The author jumped back and forth, started the book with Joes "almost death" experience in 1988, jumped over to his time as VP, just to go back to the early 70s where he fell in deep depression after a heartbreaking tragedy that happened to him and his family.
Anyways, I was curious about what kind of person will become the next POTUS, but this book didn't do the trick for me.
The first hour is basically about how bad of a person and statesman Donald Trump is and how Joe Biden would be the "better angel", as Steven Pinker would call it.
Also there is no chronological order whatsoever. I felt lost almost the whole time since I didn't know anything about JBs early life and career. The author jumped back and forth, started the book with Joes "almost death" experience in 1988, jumped over to his time as VP, just to go back to the early 70s where he fell in deep depression after a heartbreaking tragedy that happened to him and his family.
Anyways, I was curious about what kind of person will become the next POTUS, but this book didn't do the trick for me.
December 27, 2021
In the waning months of 2020, a year that the author of this book Evan Osnos describes with the Latin “annus horribilis,” my friend Troy and I endeavored to complete the most ambitious reading challenge yet attempted by our group of friends: we would read one biography on every US president. Truly an epic undertaking. After all, if self-reporting is to be believed, the average American reads only twelve books a year! Maybe only one of those twelve would be a hefty biographical tome, but we were going to read forty-three. These would be no easy reads either. With many stretching into the hundreds of pages, or thousands, each! “You can’t do it!” our friends would shout at us. “We’re stupid and can’t manage our time so there is no way you can!” And…they were right…about one of us!
The year started off well. I began on January 1st in the year of our Lord 2021. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I tackled the first biographies at an excellent pace. Like a runner who had trained appropriately for a marathon I paced myself well. However, Troy was running like someone who had just pounded down ten large whopper meals and forgot he had a race that day. Embarrassed, he struggled to keep pace with me and succeeded, but then we hit the Madison Marshes and Troy’s intellectual acid-reflux betrayed him, and he collapsed into the mire of the Madison presidency.
I soldiered on though. My mind sharpened by years of graduate level historical reading. I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy journey. Not all presidents nor their historian and journalist biographers were created equal. I particularly feared any president who I wasn’t able to readily associate with any historical event. Historians or PhD students desperate for a book deal, willing to write about any presidential figure where competition would be low. Not a good recipe for fine biographies and in some areas this proved correct. However, I was also pleasantly surprised many times and some paths that I thought would go up-hill ended up being much easier. Often times I would glance over my shoulder and see Troy, far off in the distance, gasping for breath, running with no form, arms flailing wildly, as he finally climbed Mt. Polk.
I stuck to the plan. I knew that I had to pace myself and that I would have to read other books as well as these for work or for leisure. I decided to challenge myself even more and run extra distance by adding two more books on our most recently elected presidents. While it was too soon for any real commentary on their political impact, it still had to be done in order to feel like a true challenge. Before the run I set the plan. I’d have to read on average 3.75 biographies a month. I knew some months were going to be easier than others, but promised to pace myself as I would have to make up lost ground by exhausting myself if I fell behind.
The pandemic did not make it any easier. New Jersey was, and still is, slow to re-open. This meant that libraries were notoriously difficult to deal with. I refrained from purchasing many of these books, because I simply don’t have the space, and have better things to spend my money on. Libraries were a necessity to finishing this journey. This difficulty meant my selection was limited. Sometimes, I even had to settle for my second or third pick in biographies as inter-library loaning was cancelled. This did not deter me though. I might not end up reading the best books, but, by Christ (praise be to him,) I would finish.
Upon the obtaining of a book I would carefully examine it and noting the page numbers plan my intellectual trek. I would divide days by page numbers or chapters. Trying to bite off reasonable chunks per day instead of just rushing through them, knowing that if I tried to rush I would probably burn myself out like poor Troy.
Sometimes between the hills and valleys I would hear Troy yell after me “I’m working! I have a full time job!” “I want to read something else!” “I want to go hiking/camping/play video games!” I, of course, saw these protestations for what they were: excuses. I too work a full and busy job along with a part time job. I too enjoy reading things more in line with what I enjoy. I too like to walk about on romps into the great wide world. I too enjoy leisurely activities like video games. God knows, I probably play more of them than anyone else in my friend group. Yet I did not let these remonstrances distract me. I pressed on, intent on finishing the race well.
In the end it was my training, preparation, consistency, wisdom, and, of course, help from Almighty God that guided me today: December 24th, Christmas Eve, in the year of our Lord 2021, over that finishing line.
Upon crossing that finish line I still see Troy in the distance, huffing and puffing his way through the Pierce Peninsula. Poor lad. But even more disgusting to me are the other ones from my friend group. The ones who told me I couldn’t do it, but didn’t even have the manly vigor to try. Content to listen to their “podcasts” and do their own reading on Wikipedia and consider that knowledge gained. Revolting. They remind me of those listless animals which lie sluggish and torpid so long as you supply them with food. Ultimately, they are content to wallow in their own mediocrity. I pray one day they leave their intellectual cages and join me in the light.
In the end I have accomplished what few men could. I have run the race and won the crown of chief autist among my reading group. A title not easily won, and much revered. Perhaps you can one day run this rugged race as I have and be crowned with the victor’s wreath. Perhaps…
Oh this book sucked. It was just boring Biden campaign propaganda which projected only the rosiest picture of the man and only critiqued him for things universally held as bad from the left like: “not being progressive enough.” Hard pass. Wait until Biden’s dead and real biographies come out.
The year started off well. I began on January 1st in the year of our Lord 2021. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I tackled the first biographies at an excellent pace. Like a runner who had trained appropriately for a marathon I paced myself well. However, Troy was running like someone who had just pounded down ten large whopper meals and forgot he had a race that day. Embarrassed, he struggled to keep pace with me and succeeded, but then we hit the Madison Marshes and Troy’s intellectual acid-reflux betrayed him, and he collapsed into the mire of the Madison presidency.
I soldiered on though. My mind sharpened by years of graduate level historical reading. I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy journey. Not all presidents nor their historian and journalist biographers were created equal. I particularly feared any president who I wasn’t able to readily associate with any historical event. Historians or PhD students desperate for a book deal, willing to write about any presidential figure where competition would be low. Not a good recipe for fine biographies and in some areas this proved correct. However, I was also pleasantly surprised many times and some paths that I thought would go up-hill ended up being much easier. Often times I would glance over my shoulder and see Troy, far off in the distance, gasping for breath, running with no form, arms flailing wildly, as he finally climbed Mt. Polk.
I stuck to the plan. I knew that I had to pace myself and that I would have to read other books as well as these for work or for leisure. I decided to challenge myself even more and run extra distance by adding two more books on our most recently elected presidents. While it was too soon for any real commentary on their political impact, it still had to be done in order to feel like a true challenge. Before the run I set the plan. I’d have to read on average 3.75 biographies a month. I knew some months were going to be easier than others, but promised to pace myself as I would have to make up lost ground by exhausting myself if I fell behind.
The pandemic did not make it any easier. New Jersey was, and still is, slow to re-open. This meant that libraries were notoriously difficult to deal with. I refrained from purchasing many of these books, because I simply don’t have the space, and have better things to spend my money on. Libraries were a necessity to finishing this journey. This difficulty meant my selection was limited. Sometimes, I even had to settle for my second or third pick in biographies as inter-library loaning was cancelled. This did not deter me though. I might not end up reading the best books, but, by Christ (praise be to him,) I would finish.
Upon the obtaining of a book I would carefully examine it and noting the page numbers plan my intellectual trek. I would divide days by page numbers or chapters. Trying to bite off reasonable chunks per day instead of just rushing through them, knowing that if I tried to rush I would probably burn myself out like poor Troy.
Sometimes between the hills and valleys I would hear Troy yell after me “I’m working! I have a full time job!” “I want to read something else!” “I want to go hiking/camping/play video games!” I, of course, saw these protestations for what they were: excuses. I too work a full and busy job along with a part time job. I too enjoy reading things more in line with what I enjoy. I too like to walk about on romps into the great wide world. I too enjoy leisurely activities like video games. God knows, I probably play more of them than anyone else in my friend group. Yet I did not let these remonstrances distract me. I pressed on, intent on finishing the race well.
In the end it was my training, preparation, consistency, wisdom, and, of course, help from Almighty God that guided me today: December 24th, Christmas Eve, in the year of our Lord 2021, over that finishing line.
Upon crossing that finish line I still see Troy in the distance, huffing and puffing his way through the Pierce Peninsula. Poor lad. But even more disgusting to me are the other ones from my friend group. The ones who told me I couldn’t do it, but didn’t even have the manly vigor to try. Content to listen to their “podcasts” and do their own reading on Wikipedia and consider that knowledge gained. Revolting. They remind me of those listless animals which lie sluggish and torpid so long as you supply them with food. Ultimately, they are content to wallow in their own mediocrity. I pray one day they leave their intellectual cages and join me in the light.
In the end I have accomplished what few men could. I have run the race and won the crown of chief autist among my reading group. A title not easily won, and much revered. Perhaps you can one day run this rugged race as I have and be crowned with the victor’s wreath. Perhaps…
Oh this book sucked. It was just boring Biden campaign propaganda which projected only the rosiest picture of the man and only critiqued him for things universally held as bad from the left like: “not being progressive enough.” Hard pass. Wait until Biden’s dead and real biographies come out.
April 19, 2021
A very short book on the biography of Joe Biden. After dealing with Donald Trump for four years we have stability and honesty instead of Trump's almost apocalyptic doom disaster. This book gave me insight into Joe Biden's background, career and lifetime spent in politics. The result is a portrait of a man that's smart, surefooted, intelligent, experienced and compassionate something we surely have missed for four years. A man who just may be uncannily suited for this moment in history. He has inherited a divided country, a raging pandemic, race relations are tense, and vast majority of Trump's supporters think the election was stolen. The question is whether his centrism will hold on in the long run amid all these challenges. A story that is still being written as this book went to press.
Read
April 3, 2021Joe Biden is many things to many people: saviour, traitor, fool, political genius, revolutionary, reactionary... to Evan Osnos, he is simply "an accidental area of expertise". Osnos, you see, had at the time of writing this book, through no fault of his own, met and spoken to the now-President now fewer than four times. With that level of unique subject knowledge, rare among modern journalists, it was perhaps inevitable that he'd write a book on the topic.
And yet, as a reader, I found myself wishing that the 'accidental' part of the book's creation were a little less obvious. The questions haunted me throughout the book: why is this guy writing this? Who is he writing it for? I'm not sure there an answer, beyond "for the cash" and "for whomever will offer him cash".
Osnos does know about Biden. He may only have had four interviews with the man, but he's also interviewed many people in his professional and personal orbit. It's clear he's got the facts about Biden more or less straight in his head, and that's admirable, of course. Throughout, he appears informed and in command of his subject matter, and he's able to bring in a number of informative or amusing anecdotes.
But what are we meant to get out of this? Because if you want more than a superficial introduction, you're likely to be disappointed.
There's a lot of ways you can go about political biography. You can be the impartial, objective chronicler, giving all the detailed facts but leaving conclusions to the reader; but not only is this account much too short and cursory for that (it's the kind of biography that will happily skip a decade or two), Osnos also can't quite master that tone. There's an air of snark, or plain bitterness, about a lot of it: he lambasts Trump as "rat poison", flays Congress as a nest of lying "windbags", and repeatedly mocks Biden's longwindedness and lack of refined sophistication. That's OK, you might think: it's entirely valid to approach political journalism from the position of a debunker, with a caustic cynicism. That's politically valid, and it can be fun to read. But Osnos never lets himself go: I don't know if he retains a genuine respect for politics and at least some politicians, or if he's simply afraid to let his feelings be known. Of course, it's not wrong to write about politics as a partisan, and attack some politicians while defending others. But if that's what Osnos is doing, I don't understand it. You can be a true supporter of Biden, or you can attack him from the right, or from the left... but while Osnos is clearly anxious to be known to be a Democrat, his position on Biden himself is ambiguous, neither supporting nor attacking. The result is a rather bland book: not praising its subject nor damning him, yet not appearing really impartial either. And if you're hoping for a complex and nuanced assessment of Joe Biden, psychologically or morally, you're out of luck - Osnos has neither the time nor the interest to provide that. He does, to be fair, try to list the talking points on both sides of the Democratic Party regarding its President - but he doesn't go into them in any detail, or come to his own conclusions. He doesn't really even give any suggestions as to how a conclusion might be reached.
[often it feels rather as though his chief interest is in saying the right thing, without having any conviction about what that might be. He repeatedly mentions the outdated "myths" of Biden's "politics of responsibility", for example, but doesn't actually explain what those myths are, or why he's certain that they're mythical. It's simply that some things (myths) are what Democrats believed in the 1990s, and some (unarguable facts) are what Democrats believe in 2020, and anyone who believes the 1990s things in 2020 is not so much wrong as simply out of date, as though politics and morality were essentially matters of fashion...]
Ultimately, Biden is both a fitting and a frustrating subject for a biography, because of his chameleonic nature. It's clear throughout the book that Biden is a pathological liar - he lies continuously, often so brazenly and absurdly that people are reluctant to call him out on it, and even when there's no apparent advantage to be gained from lying. Osnos points tacitly to some possible reasons for this: his need for attention and praise, the young stammerer's need to keep the talk rolling without pause, the orator's instinct to change his content to match the mood of the crowd. Probably not unrelated to this is Biden's willingness and ability to continually reinvent his "beliefs" to suit the moment. But the fundamental question of Biden remains: is he an amoral, unprincipled huckster who simply tells every crowd what he thinks it wants to hear (albeit usually at much too great a length), or is he a good man plagued by psychological liabilities - or then again, has he changed, so that the callow 29-year-old who became Senator (it seems telling that Osnos isn't even able to present any compelling reason why Biden, some random guy too young to hold office, even wanted to run, let alone how he was possibly able to win) was not the same as the bereaved old man now in the White House?
Osnos tells us enough about the man to make the paradoxes clear, but not enough to resolve them.
This book is clearly pulled together from a series of magazine articles, fluffed out a bit with some other magazine articles Osnos has read (and, for some reason, a Michael Sandel book). It's useful to have it all together, and it mostly holds together, with the edges between articles smoothed out and the gaps partially filled in - though I suspect that some of its weak grasp of time (a tendency to skip forward or back for a tangential anecdote, even to time periods covered by other chapters) derives at least in part from the fact that it was not originally intended as a single, mostly chronological work.
Unfortunately, it reads less like a biography, and more like a series of notes for a biography: some things the author wants to remember to include (the sometimes snarky tone likewise feels a little bit like a writer's notes-to-self). Hopefully perhaps now that Biden is President, and Osnos knows he doesn't have to rush to the presses in case his subject becomes obsolete (it's not clear when exactly the book was written, other than that Biden was already nominee, but not yet President), he may be able to revisit this material and work it into a genuinely insightful (or at least more comprehensive) biography. That might even require a fifth interview!
For now, though, this is a book that's worth reading if you're given a copy - as I was - or if you urgently need to write a school report on Joe Biden and want to get the maximum Biden in the minimum time. It's a bit more insightful and fluent than just reading half a dozen stories on Politico or Fivethirtyeight or wherever. But for most people, there's probably no great need to rush out to buy the book. If you don't care much about Biden, you probably know enough already (he's kind of a big deal now); if you do want to know more about Biden, this book will probably just make clear how much you (and possibly the author) don't yet know. [and if you have a strong opinion either for or against the man, the book is likely to annoy you, while lacking the authority to give you pause].
*in particular, Obama really does not come out of it well. From the insults and demeaning praise, to passing derogatory notes to friends behind Biden's back, to attacking Biden for a non-confrontational rhetoric that Obama himself championed until the moment he was out of office, Obama really comes out of this looking surprisingly, unpleasantly, arrogant...
And yet, as a reader, I found myself wishing that the 'accidental' part of the book's creation were a little less obvious. The questions haunted me throughout the book: why is this guy writing this? Who is he writing it for? I'm not sure there an answer, beyond "for the cash" and "for whomever will offer him cash".
Osnos does know about Biden. He may only have had four interviews with the man, but he's also interviewed many people in his professional and personal orbit. It's clear he's got the facts about Biden more or less straight in his head, and that's admirable, of course. Throughout, he appears informed and in command of his subject matter, and he's able to bring in a number of informative or amusing anecdotes.
But what are we meant to get out of this? Because if you want more than a superficial introduction, you're likely to be disappointed.
There's a lot of ways you can go about political biography. You can be the impartial, objective chronicler, giving all the detailed facts but leaving conclusions to the reader; but not only is this account much too short and cursory for that (it's the kind of biography that will happily skip a decade or two), Osnos also can't quite master that tone. There's an air of snark, or plain bitterness, about a lot of it: he lambasts Trump as "rat poison", flays Congress as a nest of lying "windbags", and repeatedly mocks Biden's longwindedness and lack of refined sophistication. That's OK, you might think: it's entirely valid to approach political journalism from the position of a debunker, with a caustic cynicism. That's politically valid, and it can be fun to read. But Osnos never lets himself go: I don't know if he retains a genuine respect for politics and at least some politicians, or if he's simply afraid to let his feelings be known. Of course, it's not wrong to write about politics as a partisan, and attack some politicians while defending others. But if that's what Osnos is doing, I don't understand it. You can be a true supporter of Biden, or you can attack him from the right, or from the left... but while Osnos is clearly anxious to be known to be a Democrat, his position on Biden himself is ambiguous, neither supporting nor attacking. The result is a rather bland book: not praising its subject nor damning him, yet not appearing really impartial either. And if you're hoping for a complex and nuanced assessment of Joe Biden, psychologically or morally, you're out of luck - Osnos has neither the time nor the interest to provide that. He does, to be fair, try to list the talking points on both sides of the Democratic Party regarding its President - but he doesn't go into them in any detail, or come to his own conclusions. He doesn't really even give any suggestions as to how a conclusion might be reached.
[often it feels rather as though his chief interest is in saying the right thing, without having any conviction about what that might be. He repeatedly mentions the outdated "myths" of Biden's "politics of responsibility", for example, but doesn't actually explain what those myths are, or why he's certain that they're mythical. It's simply that some things (myths) are what Democrats believed in the 1990s, and some (unarguable facts) are what Democrats believe in 2020, and anyone who believes the 1990s things in 2020 is not so much wrong as simply out of date, as though politics and morality were essentially matters of fashion...]
Ultimately, Biden is both a fitting and a frustrating subject for a biography, because of his chameleonic nature. It's clear throughout the book that Biden is a pathological liar - he lies continuously, often so brazenly and absurdly that people are reluctant to call him out on it, and even when there's no apparent advantage to be gained from lying. Osnos points tacitly to some possible reasons for this: his need for attention and praise, the young stammerer's need to keep the talk rolling without pause, the orator's instinct to change his content to match the mood of the crowd. Probably not unrelated to this is Biden's willingness and ability to continually reinvent his "beliefs" to suit the moment. But the fundamental question of Biden remains: is he an amoral, unprincipled huckster who simply tells every crowd what he thinks it wants to hear (albeit usually at much too great a length), or is he a good man plagued by psychological liabilities - or then again, has he changed, so that the callow 29-year-old who became Senator (it seems telling that Osnos isn't even able to present any compelling reason why Biden, some random guy too young to hold office, even wanted to run, let alone how he was possibly able to win) was not the same as the bereaved old man now in the White House?
Osnos tells us enough about the man to make the paradoxes clear, but not enough to resolve them.
This book is clearly pulled together from a series of magazine articles, fluffed out a bit with some other magazine articles Osnos has read (and, for some reason, a Michael Sandel book). It's useful to have it all together, and it mostly holds together, with the edges between articles smoothed out and the gaps partially filled in - though I suspect that some of its weak grasp of time (a tendency to skip forward or back for a tangential anecdote, even to time periods covered by other chapters) derives at least in part from the fact that it was not originally intended as a single, mostly chronological work.
Unfortunately, it reads less like a biography, and more like a series of notes for a biography: some things the author wants to remember to include (the sometimes snarky tone likewise feels a little bit like a writer's notes-to-self). Hopefully perhaps now that Biden is President, and Osnos knows he doesn't have to rush to the presses in case his subject becomes obsolete (it's not clear when exactly the book was written, other than that Biden was already nominee, but not yet President), he may be able to revisit this material and work it into a genuinely insightful (or at least more comprehensive) biography. That might even require a fifth interview!
For now, though, this is a book that's worth reading if you're given a copy - as I was - or if you urgently need to write a school report on Joe Biden and want to get the maximum Biden in the minimum time. It's a bit more insightful and fluent than just reading half a dozen stories on Politico or Fivethirtyeight or wherever. But for most people, there's probably no great need to rush out to buy the book. If you don't care much about Biden, you probably know enough already (he's kind of a big deal now); if you do want to know more about Biden, this book will probably just make clear how much you (and possibly the author) don't yet know. [and if you have a strong opinion either for or against the man, the book is likely to annoy you, while lacking the authority to give you pause].
*in particular, Obama really does not come out of it well. From the insults and demeaning praise, to passing derogatory notes to friends behind Biden's back, to attacking Biden for a non-confrontational rhetoric that Obama himself championed until the moment he was out of office, Obama really comes out of this looking surprisingly, unpleasantly, arrogant...
November 12, 2020
Not a bad biography of Joe Biden
A timely read
A timely read
November 25, 2020
Great Bio ! 🎧
November 26, 2020
The information here was really good; its organization and flow were really bad.
Read
October 8, 2020Wanna read this to learn more about Biden's legendary confrontation with the deadly gangster cornpop. In case you hadn't heard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Nmt...
June 2, 2021
Even as someone who reads a lot of Presidential History, Joe Biden isn’t terribly exciting to me. Like George Bush (41), I picture him as a successor to a more charismatic Leader. Moderate, respectable with decades of service. I may be wrong, of course. Biden is charting his own path as I write this.
Joe Biden: The Life, The Run and What Matters Now is clearly a money grab for a market that is mostly devoid of Biden books. That said, I don’t mean that as an insult to the author or the book itself- which is more than serviceable
Osnos has covered Biden for awhile, and the fact is he’s spent time with the Bidens, Barack Obama and others to glean a pretty solid portrait of The Current President.
The book is a quick (one or two day for most) read, but it’s conciseness isn’t a sign of any otherwise negative characteristics.
The book itself is based on articles that Osnos wrote for New Yorker, but it never feels that way. Some of the big insights might not necessarily be new but were driven home.
Biden, if you look at his history has always been the barometer of where the mainstream Democratic Party stands. Not always progressive, but definitely on a path to the left.
Osnos compares Biden to LBJ, and like Lyndon Johnson (and Eisenhower and Nixon) he may be able to accomplish more from the middle than a great progressive thinker. Time will tell.
Of course, Biden’s drawback is his mouth. It’s what gets him in trouble. But it also is an asset, as his frankness is one of the reasons people like him.
At just short of 170 pages, this book serves as a quick primer on Joe Biden. It covers up until the inauguration, so no insight on the actual administration. But if that is what you are looking for, it’s a nice quick read that accomplishes just that.
Joe Biden: The Life, The Run and What Matters Now is clearly a money grab for a market that is mostly devoid of Biden books. That said, I don’t mean that as an insult to the author or the book itself- which is more than serviceable
Osnos has covered Biden for awhile, and the fact is he’s spent time with the Bidens, Barack Obama and others to glean a pretty solid portrait of The Current President.
The book is a quick (one or two day for most) read, but it’s conciseness isn’t a sign of any otherwise negative characteristics.
The book itself is based on articles that Osnos wrote for New Yorker, but it never feels that way. Some of the big insights might not necessarily be new but were driven home.
Biden, if you look at his history has always been the barometer of where the mainstream Democratic Party stands. Not always progressive, but definitely on a path to the left.
Osnos compares Biden to LBJ, and like Lyndon Johnson (and Eisenhower and Nixon) he may be able to accomplish more from the middle than a great progressive thinker. Time will tell.
Of course, Biden’s drawback is his mouth. It’s what gets him in trouble. But it also is an asset, as his frankness is one of the reasons people like him.
At just short of 170 pages, this book serves as a quick primer on Joe Biden. It covers up until the inauguration, so no insight on the actual administration. But if that is what you are looking for, it’s a nice quick read that accomplishes just that.
March 9, 2021
“Si me preguntan cuál es la persona más desafortunada que conozco, a la que le han pasado las cosas más terribles, diría que Joe Biden. Sin me preguntan cuál es la persona más afortunada que conozco, a la que le han ocurrido cosas que solo pueden considerarse increíbles, diría que Joe Biden.”
Ha sido una lectura bastante amena y que he disfrutado mucho. Un pequeño recorrido por la vida del nuevo presidente de Estados Unidos, desde sus inicios en la política hasta su carrera por la presidencia en 2020.
Un breve pero exhaustivo análisis que nos muestra la personalidad de Biden y los cambios que ha tenido que afrontar a lo largo de los años, tanto en su mentalidad política como en su vida privada. Un hombre que más de una vez ha necesitado ayuda para no cavar su propio hoyo, pero que también ha sido una persona que ha demostrado su coraje y experiencia política a la hora de resolver problemas clave en el panorama político de Estados Unidos.
A rasgos generales, es una lectura muy amena e imprescindible para aquellos amantes de la política y cultura estadounidense. Un libro ideal para conocer un poco mejor al hombre que a día de hoy (y gracias a dios) trabaja en el ala oeste de la Casa Blanca.
Valoración: 4/5.
Ha sido una lectura bastante amena y que he disfrutado mucho. Un pequeño recorrido por la vida del nuevo presidente de Estados Unidos, desde sus inicios en la política hasta su carrera por la presidencia en 2020.
Un breve pero exhaustivo análisis que nos muestra la personalidad de Biden y los cambios que ha tenido que afrontar a lo largo de los años, tanto en su mentalidad política como en su vida privada. Un hombre que más de una vez ha necesitado ayuda para no cavar su propio hoyo, pero que también ha sido una persona que ha demostrado su coraje y experiencia política a la hora de resolver problemas clave en el panorama político de Estados Unidos.
A rasgos generales, es una lectura muy amena e imprescindible para aquellos amantes de la política y cultura estadounidense. Un libro ideal para conocer un poco mejor al hombre que a día de hoy (y gracias a dios) trabaja en el ala oeste de la Casa Blanca.
Valoración: 4/5.
November 12, 2020
I enjoyed this look at President-elect Biden’s life and work. Evan Osnos painted a picture of a man who has had tremendous ups and downs throughout his life and who still persists in working to achieve his goal to be a competent, compassionate president.
If you don’t like Joe, this won’t convince you otherwise. If you’re looking for a little insight into the man and what made him who he is today - this book is perfect.
If you don’t like Joe, this won’t convince you otherwise. If you’re looking for a little insight into the man and what made him who he is today - this book is perfect.
January 20, 2021
This was a delight! I'm glad I listened to it and got to know a little more about our President. The author came across pretty balanced- it wasn't all glowing praise. But I did come away with having a more full picture about who Joe Biden is as a person, and what parts of his life are likely to inform the way he'll lead the country. Bonus on audio- the author shares an interview with Biden at the end.
October 8, 2020
Vote... now... so many politicians' careers depend on that.
And even if you don't vote, buy, Osnos needs the money and who knows how many months is Biden valid before they will have to hide him in some closet like Reagan and bring him out only on special occasions.
And even if you don't vote, buy, Osnos needs the money and who knows how many months is Biden valid before they will have to hide him in some closet like Reagan and bring him out only on special occasions.
April 2, 2021
Joe Biden is a well-researched and enjoyable read by Evan Osnos. Osnos is a staff writer for The New Yorker and National Book and Pulitzer Prize winning author. This biography gives a sense of Biden, his politics and why he would make a good president. Osnos details the storyline of Biden’s life: the car crash that killed his first wife and daughter, his life in the Senate and life with Jill Biden, the aneurysm during his early run for President that almost killed him( quitting this race saved his life), the death of his son Beau due to brain cancer, and the struggles of addiction for his son Hunter, and the Vice-Presidency with Obama and the campaign trail for the Presidency.
Osnos interviewed Biden and his political colleagues, advisors, family members and close friends. It was fascinating to read about the evolving relationship with Obama during his Vice-Presidency that lead to a lasting deep friendship. In this book, we see how Biden grasps the depth and breadth of Congress and how he can reach across the aisle which helped him to negotiate legislation during the Obama administration including Obamacare.
Biden is willing to admit his mistakes and learn from them. His plan is to work for the poor, middle class, minorities and immigrants to make this country a better place for them. He holds everyone, young and old close to his heart. This concise but well-researched book investigates the heart of Joe Biden and is thoughtful and objective. We come away with a feeling of awe at all the obstacles Biden has had to overcome to arrive at this point. And through them all the empathy to understand people. He is uniquely qualified to lead this country. It is a very good read. I recommend it for a quick overview of Biden-a man asked to serve this country during a most difficult time.
Osnos closes: And if he came to the Presidency, he was unlikely to supply much exalted rhetoric that reaches into a nation’s soul. But, for a people in mourning, he might offer something like solace, a language of healing”
Osnos interviewed Biden and his political colleagues, advisors, family members and close friends. It was fascinating to read about the evolving relationship with Obama during his Vice-Presidency that lead to a lasting deep friendship. In this book, we see how Biden grasps the depth and breadth of Congress and how he can reach across the aisle which helped him to negotiate legislation during the Obama administration including Obamacare.
Biden is willing to admit his mistakes and learn from them. His plan is to work for the poor, middle class, minorities and immigrants to make this country a better place for them. He holds everyone, young and old close to his heart. This concise but well-researched book investigates the heart of Joe Biden and is thoughtful and objective. We come away with a feeling of awe at all the obstacles Biden has had to overcome to arrive at this point. And through them all the empathy to understand people. He is uniquely qualified to lead this country. It is a very good read. I recommend it for a quick overview of Biden-a man asked to serve this country during a most difficult time.
Osnos closes: And if he came to the Presidency, he was unlikely to supply much exalted rhetoric that reaches into a nation’s soul. But, for a people in mourning, he might offer something like solace, a language of healing”
January 8, 2021
I received an audiobook of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. This fact has not impacted my thoughts of the book.
Joe Biden, the president-elect of the United States, is a man I've always been aware of within the political sphere, but as a Brit, knew very little about as a person nor his political track record. As the world turned to watch his teeth grinding win in the 2020 election, it dawned on me I should maybe educate myself more on Biden, his thoughts, life and record. Evan Osnos provides a very clear and enjoyable account of Biden in this short book, a pleasure to listen too and it balances criticism with praise very well. I was worried this was going to be a glowing review but it definitely didn't hide from the fact that Biden has made mistakes in his career but overall, I liked this book. It didn't tell the reader what to think or how to view Biden, it is simply an account of his life and his career.
Joe Biden, the president-elect of the United States, is a man I've always been aware of within the political sphere, but as a Brit, knew very little about as a person nor his political track record. As the world turned to watch his teeth grinding win in the 2020 election, it dawned on me I should maybe educate myself more on Biden, his thoughts, life and record. Evan Osnos provides a very clear and enjoyable account of Biden in this short book, a pleasure to listen too and it balances criticism with praise very well. I was worried this was going to be a glowing review but it definitely didn't hide from the fact that Biden has made mistakes in his career but overall, I liked this book. It didn't tell the reader what to think or how to view Biden, it is simply an account of his life and his career.
October 28, 2020
Joe Biden
1. Ambition: At 16 he told his girlfriend’s mom he wants to be POTUS.
2. Persistency: Ran to be POTUS and failed and still trying it.
3. Integrity: Still paying off the $120,000 student loan of his passed away son.
4. Dove or reluctant to use American force: Was against Libya intervention; Bin laden raid; troop increase in Iraq.
5. Failed policies: voted for Iraq invasion; NAFTA; crime bill (he regrets this the most)—he said I should have known there was no difference between crack cocaine and it’s powder version.
6. Candor: As a new VP he said to Axelrod that he would have been a better POTUS but a year later he said that the country has elected the better candidate to be POTUS (Obama).
7. Outgoing: Author: You drop him in Kazakhstan and Joe will know a bureaucrat there.
8. Down to earth: Gives his phone number to ordinary citizen struggling with grief and consoles them over phone.
9. 2015: Obama was leaning with Hillary as a successor and didn’t want Biden to run. Polls also were stronger in Hillary’s favor.
10. Biden decided to run again when Trump’s spoke about neo Nazis as that there are good people on both sides.
1. Ambition: At 16 he told his girlfriend’s mom he wants to be POTUS.
2. Persistency: Ran to be POTUS and failed and still trying it.
3. Integrity: Still paying off the $120,000 student loan of his passed away son.
4. Dove or reluctant to use American force: Was against Libya intervention; Bin laden raid; troop increase in Iraq.
5. Failed policies: voted for Iraq invasion; NAFTA; crime bill (he regrets this the most)—he said I should have known there was no difference between crack cocaine and it’s powder version.
6. Candor: As a new VP he said to Axelrod that he would have been a better POTUS but a year later he said that the country has elected the better candidate to be POTUS (Obama).
7. Outgoing: Author: You drop him in Kazakhstan and Joe will know a bureaucrat there.
8. Down to earth: Gives his phone number to ordinary citizen struggling with grief and consoles them over phone.
9. 2015: Obama was leaning with Hillary as a successor and didn’t want Biden to run. Polls also were stronger in Hillary’s favor.
10. Biden decided to run again when Trump’s spoke about neo Nazis as that there are good people on both sides.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 9, 2020
As the election finally neared its apotheosis, I wanted to know more about Biden. Listening to this 4-hour portrait seemed a good and manageable place to start.
It is too short to enter into a lot of detail about personal life and the early years and I am sure more detailed and voluminous biographies will appear in the coming years. So, you don't really get to know the person. To me, Biden remains difficult to grasp. An usual combination of being warm, distracted and ambitious at the same time.
The most interesting part of the book is the final section, which is not so much about Biden as a person, but about future policies, the balancing act of keeping the young left wing of the Democratic party content and the intriguing question of seeking accountability, i.e. going after Trump or not.
It is too short to enter into a lot of detail about personal life and the early years and I am sure more detailed and voluminous biographies will appear in the coming years. So, you don't really get to know the person. To me, Biden remains difficult to grasp. An usual combination of being warm, distracted and ambitious at the same time.
The most interesting part of the book is the final section, which is not so much about Biden as a person, but about future policies, the balancing act of keeping the young left wing of the Democratic party content and the intriguing question of seeking accountability, i.e. going after Trump or not.
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