David Mendell is the author of Obama: From Promise to Power, (HarperCollins/Amistad). As a staff writer covering politics and urban issues for the Chicago Tribune for nine years, Mendell covered breaking national news, including the Columbine High School shootings and the Seattle riots spurred by meetings of the World Trade Organization. A native of Cincinnati, he has contributed to The New Yorker among other publications.

REVIEWS

“Mendell tracks Obama’s rise through the rough-and-tumble world of Chicago politics to the rarefied, if no less brutal, world of the U.S. Senate. Mendell draws on interviews with Obama, his wife, family, friends, aides, and rivals, as well as his own extensive coverage since Obama's days in the Illinois Senate, to offer a nuanced, compelling look at a man of idealism and ambition intent on making history.” —Booklist (starred review)