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The Rise of Barack Obama
ISBN: 978-1-60078-163-6
160 pages
9 x 10, Hardbound
pub date 07-2008
B/W throughout
For 20 years Triumph Books has published some of the best coffee table books on every subject and that tradition continues in The Rise of Barack Obama with photos and text by Pete Souza. On assignment for the Chicago Tribune, veteran photojournalist Pete Souza began documenting Barack Obama's ascendancy with exclusive behind-the-scenes photographs of the senator's first year in office. Souza's coverage continued for the next two years, encompassing trips to seven countries including Russia, Azerbaijan, South Africa and Kenya. When Senator Obama began his long-shot campaign for the presidency, Souza was again backstage in early 2007 and eventually followed the senator during the early months of his campaign. These candid photographs, documenting the crucial years in the remarkable ascendancy of this once-in-a-generation politician, reveal not just the political, but also the personal side of Senator Obama, showing why he has attracted such a large and diverse following of people responding to his message of hope and change.
WASHINGTON POST FEATURES AUTHOR PETE SOUZA
Pete Souza, author/photographer of New York Times-bestseller The Rise of Barack Obama, was featured in Sunday's The Washington Post. The "old warhorse" of White House photographers, Souza is back for a repeat engagement in the White House. Souza chronicled seven of Ronald Reagan's years in the White House as the official White House photographer, a position that Obama asked him to return to for his first term. Souza, of course, accepted and is back in the White House, covering every move of Pres. Obama. For more information about a possible revised and updated version of The Rise of Barack Obama please check back here.
THE RISE OF BARACK OBAMA
By Pete Souza
CONTACT: Natalie King, Triumph Books, 312-252-1252, n.king@triumphbooks.com
The Rise of Barack Obama by photojournalist Pete Souza is filled with exclusive captivating photographs that capture the charisma, passion, intellect, mass appeal, and rare behind-the-scenes moments of Barack Obama beginning with his first day in the U.S. Senate and culminating on the campaign trail prior to the spring primaries.
Souza, who also accompanied the senator to seven countries including
ª Obama opening Nelson Mandela¡¯s former prison cell in
ª Ethel Kennedy reacting to a quip from Senator Obama prior to the Robert F. Kennedy memorial Human Rights Award ceremony in 2005
ª Obama¡¯s daughters interrupting their father during a break for lunch
ª Obama catching some sleep while being detained in
ª An intimate moment between Barack and his wife Michelle as they wait to be introduced at
ª Obama jokingly showing his hip-hop moves for a group of high school students
ª Obama conferring with John McCain as senators prepared to discuss the immigration bill
The Rise of Barack Obama also includes extended captions and pull-out quotes from the speeches Obama gave during the time each photo was taken. Readers are able to put each moment in context as if they were there.
The American people now have the opportunity to see a great American leader in the making. One who inspires and provides hope and who is on track to become the Democratic Presidential nominee for the
About the Author:
Pete Souza is a freelance photographer and assistant professor of photojournalism at
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Constant Reader - Obama Book Review Revue by Paul Constant - The Stranger, 10/21/08
Best of all, The Rise of Barack Obama (Triumph Books, $27.95)
is a collection of photographs by Pete Souza, a photojournalist who has
followed Obama since the beginning of his tenure in the Senate. His
gorgeous black-and-white photographs give Obama the gravitas of a
great American. It precontextualizes him as a historical figure,
making this the only one of the books to transcend mere political
usefulness to become a real work of art. 
Picturing Barack Obama
by Noreen O'Donnell, LoHud.com, 7/17/08
Adding to the notion that Sen. Barack Obama burst onto the political scene, he is already the subject of a coffee-table book.”
The Rise of Barack Obama” is 150 pages of quite remarkable photographs by former White House photographer Pete Souza that show Obama in private and public moments.
Souza captures Obama opening Nelson Mandela’s former prison cell in South Africa and Obama conferring with Sen. John McCain on the immigration bill and such behind-the-scene snaps as Obama and his wife, Michelle, waiting to be introduced at Iowa State University.
Souza was an official photographer for President Ronald Reagan and is now an assistant professor of photojournalism at Ohio University. He is the author of two photographic books on Reagan’s term in office: “Unguarded Moments: Behind-the -Scenes Photographs of President Reagan” (1992) and “Images of Greatness: An Intimate Look at the Presidency of Ronald Reagan (2004).
Souza began with Obama’s first day in the U.S. Senate and continued on to the campaign trail before the spring primaries. He accompanied him to seven countries, including Kenya, South Africa and Russia.
“Early into that first year, I began to believe that I was photographing a future president of the United States, and that my pictures might become a historic look at the rise of Sen. Obama’s political career,” Souza wrote in his introduction. “That may sound like an easy statement to make now, but that’s really how I felt at the time.”
Which photo(s) provided the most surprising result and why? Souza was asked in material distributed by his publisher, Triumph Books.
“One of the things that has been fascinating for me to observe during the last three years is how other people react to Obama. Early on, there was this curiosity, where people had heard so much about him but were now checking him out to see if he was for real. You can see that in their faces.
“Then, in Africa, the response to him was overwhelming. He gave a speech in Nairobi, and they couldn’t fit everyone inside the auditorium. So they set up these loudspeakers outside, and I decided to stay outside to photograph the people that were listening to the speech on these loudspeakers. There were hundreds gathered and you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone was listening in rapt attention. One man took notes on his hand in blue ink.”
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