The biography of America's hottest political superstar-Barack Obama-from a journalist who has been covering his career since his successful run for U.S. Senate.

Barack Obama's meteoric rise is the stuff of legend. Since his headline-grabbing speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, Obama has come to represent the promise of unity among groups of all types-blacks and whites; Democrats, Republicans, and moderates; the upper, middle, and lower classes. In this groundbreaking biography, veteran journalist and Obama chronicler David Mendell gives an in-depth, comprehensive portrait of a man whose last name has become a catchphrase for hope in a politically jaded society desperate for a new star.

Mendell has covered Obama since the beginning of Obama's campaign for the Senate and as a result enjoys far-reaching access to the new Senator. His research includes exclusive interviews with Obama's closest aides, mentors, political adversaries, and family. Mendell reveals the surprising, cutthroat campaign tactics sanctioned by Obama-who has steeped his image and reputation on the ideals of clean politics and good government-to win his Senate seat by employing some of the most ruthless operatives in the business.

Eye-opening, well-researched, and compulsively readable, Obama: From Promise to Power is a necessary look at the evolution of a politician from public servant to candidate-savior.