Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photos

OBAMA: THE HISTORIC CAMPAIGN IN PHOTOGRAPHS
By Deborah Willis and Kevin Merida

New York, NY (BlackNews.com) – Standing on the grounds of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, where President Lincoln delivered his famous "House Divided" speech against slavery, Senator Barack Obama kicked off an inspired run for the presidency on February 10, 2007. From these idealistic beginnings through his triumphant Democratic Party win this summer, the beautiful and deluxe commemorative photo book OBAMA: The Historic Campaign in Photographs (Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; $26.95; October 28, 2008) follows the road taken by the first African American presidential nominee of a major political party.

With 150 color photographs compiled by one of the nation’s leading historians of photography, Deborah Willis and an essay by Washington Post writer Kevin Merida, OBAMA is sure to become a must-have collectible that will serve as a permanent reminder of the man and campaign that have changed the face of American Politics forever. During the campaign, from the snows of Iowa to the hunt for Democratic "superdelegates", this junior senator from Chicago confounded the party establishment and rewrote the playbook on modern presidential campaigning.

Commemorating this historic event OBAMA includes photos of the candidate on the campaign trail with his family, images of his fellow contenders during their debates, the emotional faces of voters–many moved to the polls for the first time–inspired by his speeches, and many other poignant moments of the race. As Caroline Kennedy once said, "Barack Obama is the one candidate who offers the same sense of hope and inspiration as my father." Not since John F. Kennedy’s run for the White House has the American public been so engaged in Electoral politics.

Capturing images of beauty, pathos and euphoria, OBAMA gives readers a rare glimpse of the public and private moments of his journey and a unique window into one of the great upsets in American politics.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Named 100 People in photography by American Photography Magazine, Deborah Willis is Chair and Professor of New York University, Tisch School of the Arts Photography and Imaging. A 2005 Guggenheim Fellow, a Fletcher Fellow, and a 2000 MacArthur Fellow, and now an artist, she is one of the nation’s leading historians of African American photography and curator of African American Culture. Some of her notable projects include: Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers – 1840 to the Present and A Small Nation of People: W.E.B. DuBois and the Photographs from the Paris Exposition. She lives in New York.

Kevin Merida is at the Washington Post. He has covered or supervised the coverage of six presidential campaigns, including the 2008 contest. In 2000 he was named Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists. He is the author of the critically-acclaimed and prize-winning Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas. He lives in Maryland.