Joe Biden cover art

Joe Biden

American Dreamer

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

Joe Biden

By: Evan Osnos
Narrated by: Evan Osnos, David Remnick
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £10.63

Buy Now for £10.63

Bloomsbury presents Joe Biden by Evan Osnos, read by Evan Osnos and David Remnick.

The new biography of President Joe Biden by National Book Award winner and New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos – A Financial Times, Guardian and Daily Express Book of the Year

'A thoroughly readable primer' Guardian

'Biden has overcome unimaginable tribulation, multiple presidential primary humiliations, a potentially crippling speech impediment and his own mediocrity. Now he carries the hopes of billions upon his shoulders' Sunday Times

President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has been called both the luckiest man and the unluckiest – fortunate to have sustained a fifty-year political career that reached the White House, but also marked by deep personal losses that he has suffered.

Yet even as Biden’s life has been shaped by drama, it has also been powered by a willingness, rare at the top ranks of politics, to confront his shortcomings, errors and reversals of fortune. His trials have forged in him a deep empathy for others in hardship – an essential quality as he addresses a nation at its most dire hour in decades.

Blending up-close journalism and broader context, Evan Osnos illuminates Biden’s life and captures the characters and meaning of an extraordinary presidential election. He draws on lengthy interviews with Biden and on revealing conversations with more than a hundred others, including President Barack Obama, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, and a range of progressive activists, advisers, opponents, and Biden family members.

In this nuanced portrait, Biden emerges as flawed, yet resolute, and tempered by the flame of tragedy – a man who just may be uncannily suited for his moment in history.©2020 Evan Osnos Americas Elections & Political Process Politicians Politics & Activism Politics & Government Presidents & Heads of State State & Local United States
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c

Critic reviews

Treads back along the trail of horrendous tragedies, dashed hopes and dramatic implosions that preceded Biden’s improbable third run at the presidency . . . It is impossible to come away from Osnos’s biography without a sense of awe at what Biden has overcome to arrive at this point . . . Osnos has written a fast-paced biography that draws on extensive interviews with his subject, as well as with Obama and a host of Democratic party heavyweights
There’s just something about Joe, as this short biography from New Yorker writer Evan Osnos illustrates. At 77, Biden has overcome unimaginable tribulation, multiple presidential primary humiliations, a potentially crippling speech impediment and his own mediocrity. Now he carries the hopes of billions upon his shoulders . . . Eloquent and well-informed
What kind of president would Biden make? Osnos, who has been writing about Biden for years for the New Yorker, believes he could be more radical in office than people who have tracked his career might believe . . . [A] beautifully written short volume
Reveals Biden’s flaws but also the compassion and courage needed to start America’s healing process
Beautifully written . . . A light, enjoyable read . . . Osnos gives you a taste of what could be to come under a Biden presidency … He has a delightful turn of phrase
A timely and stylish work at a key juncture in US history . . . This book tries to get behind Joe Biden the person to analyse Joe Biden the politician . . . [It] is strongest on Biden’s relationship with Obama, where the author draws on interviews he conducted with both men when they were in the White House . . . As Osnos moves to Biden’s most recent political chapter, his analysis of how a Biden presidency might work is fascinating . . . Osnos’s fluid style, access to Biden, and insightful analysis makes it a worthwhile and eminently readable portrait
Brimming with insights . . . A richly detailed profile . . . Osnos – an award-winning journalist – spoke with more than 100 people in Biden’s orbit and interviewed the former senator four times . . . The overarching image Osnos presents is that of a veteran American legislator whose moment has finally, and improbably, arrived
A pithy and succinct biography
Evan Osnos is an immensely talented reporter . . . Joe Biden ably takes the measure of the man and the politician
Gives the low-down on the new leader of the free world. Everything about Biden is refreshing after Trump
All stars
Most relevant
I found this to be an interesting and smartly written biography of Joe Biden. Covers all the main aspects of his life and does not shy away from criticism even if overall tone is favourable. Gives the listener a sense of the man and politician but due to brevity it misses the depth of coverage some listeners might be looking for. Overall found it a worthwhile listen

Insightful and accessible short biography

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Evan Osnos reads excellently his own all too short "biography" of President Joe Biden in the run up to the 2020 American Presidential election. It's an unvarnished and fair look at its subject. It doesn't avoid questioning some of Biden's stances or views nor does it cover him in a sycophantic manner. What shines through is the unerring decency of an imperfect man who continues to try to do what he sees and believes to be the right thing. Whether you agree with his politics you come away from this short biography realising the horror of America under Trump brings into even sharper relief the fact that an actual non-psychopathic human being is now presented with the job of cleansing the poison of the last four years. An incisive and poignant portrayal of a thoughtful and kind man.

A worthy President.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Far from an exhaustive telling of Joe Biden's life or even career, this is an authoritative and incisive portrait of the man as politician and, as such, serves as an excellent guide to how we may expect Biden to behave in exercising the powers, perils and privileges of the presidency.

Distills the personality of Biden

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Good to learn more of Joe Biden as a person. He will be good for US and world peace.

Most enlightening.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I'm a fan of Evan Osnos from his writing in the New Yorker, and had already heard the interview with David Remnick that is included inthe book. It is a clear, concise look at the candidate just prior to his election and while it sketches out an enjoyable, comprehensive history of the man, it does feel a little quick, like a stone skipped across water. It is most certainly worth a listen, but I would have preferred a history of Joe Biden that didn't feel quite so much like they needed to get it out before the election happened. Recommended if you want a quick overview of President 46

Enjoyable, clear, too early a release?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.