Claudio Taddei

A well-documented, passionate essay that puts the first year of the Obama presidency into historical perspective, along with all of the major topics connected to his economic and international policy: from the near financial collapse (along with the loss of wealth, growth of debt, and tensions with banks and Wall Street) to the troubled issue of health reform; the evolution of the situation in Afghanistan (providing statistics, talking about unpublicized events and figures) to relations with Iran, China, Russia and Israel; from its interaction with the Islamic world to matters connected to global warming (which the book takes a very unconventional look at); from the decisions of the U.S. Congress (another main character in the book) to the debate over the CIA, Al Qaeda and renewed threats of terrorism. Then, the way Obama governs, his speeches, his intelligent rhetoric, the messages he sends, his thoughtful, judicious character. And even the less popular decisions he has made, which serve as an introduction to the difficulties that his reform programs have encountered. With remarkable clarity, compelling the reader to turn the pages as if it were a good novel, and with a command of lesser known aspects, including military ones (the dramatic story of the Afghan war in the summer and fall of 2009 is reconstructed in pages of great interest, making it clear that the death of a soldier is not a political statistic but a tragedy), the book brings the reader to the heart of the issues, giving him an unvarnished vantage point from which to observe the facts at hand. Clichés are cast into doubt, and the story allows the reader to vicariously participate in the events. It is more than an analytical essay; the book is a journey through America and today’s world. Relevant, against the grain, attentive to dates and numbers, and then spontaneously visionary, the book captures the first year of the Obama presidency without resorting to unmotivated encomia or unfounded criticism.