Here is the biography of America's hottest political superstar, Barack Obama, from a journalist who has been covering Obama's career since his successful run for the US Senate.

Barack Obama's meteoric rise is the stuff of legend. Since his headline-grabbing speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, Obama has come to represent the promise of unity among groups of all types: blacks and whites; Democrats, Republicans, and moderates; the upper, middle, and lower classes. In this groundbreaking biography, veteran journalist and Obama chronicler David Mendell gives an in-depth, comprehensive portrait of a man whose name has become a catchphrase for hope in a politically jaded society desperate for a new star.

Mendell has covered Obama since the beginning of his Senate campaign and, as a result, enjoys far-reaching access to the new senator. His research includes exclusive interviews with Obama's closest aides, mentors, political adversaries, and family. Mendell reveals the surprising, cutthroat campaign tactics sanctioned by Obama - who has steeped his image and reputation in the ideals of clean politics and good government - which enabled him to win his Senate seat by employing some of the most ruthless operatives in the business.

Eye-opening, well-researched, and compulsively listenable, Obama: From Promise to Power is a necessary look at the evolution of a politician from public servant to candidate-savior.