Barack Obama's second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream clearly demonstrates why Newsweek called Obama America's "educator in-chief". The president-elect's second book delivers valuable information in an extremely well-thought-out and well-written fashion. The Audacity of Hope should be required reading for all high school civics students, because it delivers an engaging lesson about what it means to be a citizen in democratic system of government. Obama explains the history of the United States and the nation's Consititution, the great potential of a free-market economic system, the role of regulation, and the importance of health and education to make it all work. Justice Louis Brandeis once said that in a democracy, the most important office is the office of citizen, so if you haven't yet done so, buy a copy of The Audacity of Hope today, read it, and digest it thoroughly.

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"Mr. Obama strives in these pages to ground his policy thinking in simple common sense — be it 'growing the size of our armed forces to maintain reasonable rotation schedules' or reining in spending and rethinking tax policy to bring down the nation’s huge deficit — while articulating these ideas in level-headed, nonpartisan prose. That, in itself, is something unusual, not only in these venomous pre-election days, but also in these increasingly polarized and polarizing times." --New York Times

"With his second book The Audacity of Hope, Obama engages themes raised in his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, shares personal views on faith and values and offers a vision of the future that involves repairing a 'political process that is broken' and restoring a government that has fallen out of touch with the people." --Amazon.com

"But what's most impressive about Obama, 45, is an intelligence that his new book displays in abundance. He articulates a mode of liberalism that sounds both highly pragmatic and deeply moral. The Audacity of Hope -- the title comes from a sermon by his Chicago pastor -- trumpets no unifying theme or grand theory about how the American dream will be reclaimed and by whom. Chapters bear such prosaic titles as "Values," "Opportunity" and "Faith." But in a disarmingly modest way, Obama offers a more sensible perspective on "how we might begin the process of changing our politics and our civic life" than his more seasoned Capitol Hill colleagues have provided." --The Washington Post

"In a more perfect world, a graduate program complete with a doctoral thesis might be required of all those seeking the presidency. In certain ways, “The Audacity of Hope” qualifies as Senator Barack Obama’s thesis submission. While exhibiting his leadership attributes, life experiences and personal qualities, largely in anecdotal form, this book also displays reasonably wide and thoughtful, if occasionally predictable, responses to domestic controversies and underscores that in his brief time as the junior senator from Illinois, he has been exposed to conflicts in the Middle East, the former Soviet Union and elsewhere." --New York Times