The rise of Barack Obama is one of the great stories of this century. Through extensive on-the-record interviews with friends and teachers, mentors and disparagers, family members and Obama himself, David Remnick has put together a nuanced, unexpected and masterly portrait of the man who was determined to become the first African-American President. THE BRIDGE argues that Obama fashioned an identity for himself against the epic drama of race in America. It gives shape not only to a decisive period of history, but also to the way it crucially influenced, animated and motivated a gifted and complex man.