Barack Before Obama

A People Pick of the Week 

One of USA Today’s 5
Books Not to Miss
One of Forbes’ 5 Books to
Read in December
A personal, intimate photographic celebration of
President Barack Obama, featuring over 200 rare and never-before seen images
from the years prior to his presidency, from photographer, friend, and former
aide David Katz
In 2004, David Katz worked alongside then Senate-hopeful
Barack Obama as a photographer and personal aide. He spent approximately six
days a week alongside the future president as Obama campaigned across downstate
Illinois, and the two developed a close, professional, and personal
relationship. What began as a long-shot Senate run culminated with the election
of America’s first African American president in 2008, which Katz also
photographed.
During this time, David was never without his camera,
capturing quotidian scenes from the life of a man who would soon become known
the world over: a dad playing with his small daughters; a young unknown
politician walking the streets of New York by himself with no one noticing; a
devoted husband lovingly making faces at his wife in an elevator. In 2004,
after seeing the unique and touching photographs David had amassed, Annie Leibovitz
gave him some advice: “Don’t release these photos of Obama for at least fifteen
years. They need time to age.”
Now, fifteen years later, Barack Before Obama is the
treasury of these photographs. Pulled from an archive of more than ninety
thousand images, every photograph in this volume is like nothing that has been
seen before: the ease in which David captures the spirit and essence of one of
our most beloved first families is unparalleled, and it is in this affectionate
familiarity that his photographs sing. Warm, engaging captions tell the stories
behind the photos—the surprise meeting with Nelson Mandela, the back room
conversation before the rally, the emotion after sending one of the Obamas’
daughters off to school—bringing readers closer than ever to the spirit and
motivation behind the extraordinary man who became our forty-fourth president.
Barack Before Obama is a unique collection of images illustrating the making of
an American icon. A moving document of an historic moment, it’s the perfect gift
for all those who want to remember it.