Paperbacks: The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

Canongate £8.99

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Full of down-home philosophy and self-deprecating wisdom, this book shows Democratic hopeful Barack Obama as the true heir to Bill Clinton.

His skills as an orator do translate onto the page and he is convincing as a conviction politician, "a senator and a lawyer, a professor and a father, a Christian and a sceptic". It's a tricky balance, though, writing a book all about how modest you are.