Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen Are Publishing a Book Together
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On October 26, Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House, will publish Renegades: Born in the USA, a compendium of candid conversations between former President Barack Obama and legendary musician Bruce Springsteen, which will also feature never-before-seen archival material, including exclusive photographs from their private collections.
The intimate discussions in Renegades sprang from the talks the two had while recording their popular Spotify podcast of the same name, on which they confabulate about everything from the political to the deeply personal, from issues of race in the United States to the difficult relationships they had with their fathers, from economic inequality, to how they tried to balance parenthood with ambitious careers. In one episode, the pair even ditch the Secret Service detail to take a joyride in The Boss's Corvette.
Along the way, surrounded by the open road and a guitar-filled studio, the pair wax lyrical about music, including the influences behind Springsteen's Broadway show as well as the inspiration they both draw from personal and cultural heroes like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Joni Mitchell.
Despite their disparate backgrounds and lived experiences, or perhaps because of these differences, their conversations go past shooting the breeze and attempt to chronicle what makes America, to borrow a phrase from the title of Obama's 2020 memoir, a promised land.
As Springsteen writes in his introduction to the book, “This is a time of vigilance when who we are is being seriously tested. Hard conversations about who we are and who we want to become can perhaps serve as a small guiding map for some of our fellow citizens.”
He continued: "Will we let slip through our hands the best of us or will we turn united to face the fire? Within this book you won’t find the answers to those questions, but you will find a couple of seekers doing their best to get us to ask better questions.”
Of his friendship with Springsteen and their spirited conversations, Obama writes in the opening pages of the book: “Over the years, what we’ve found is that we’ve got a shared sensibility. About work, about family, and about America. In our own ways, Bruce and I have been on parallel journeys trying to understand this country that’s given us both so much. Trying to chronicle the stories of its people. Looking for a way to connect our own individual searches for meaning and truth and community with the larger story of America.”
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