Renegades: Born in the USA by Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen to be published globally on 26 October

The former President and musician come together to share their American stories in a new book, featuring photographs from the authors' personal collections and never-before-seen archival material

President Barack Obama and musician Bruce Springsteen share a moment, shaking hands, on the campaign trail in 2012
Former President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen Image: Getty

RENEGADES: Born in the USA is a collection of candid, intimate, and entertaining conversations between Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, and legendary musician Bruce Springsteen. The book, published in partnership with Higher Ground, is scheduled for global publication on 26 October 2021. 

‘Over the years, what we’ve found is that we’ve got a shared sensibility’

Over a number of days, President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen sat down to talk. From disparate backgrounds and lived experiences, they would seem to have little in common. But as President Obama shares in the opening pages of RENEGADES:

“Over the years, what we’ve found is that we’ve got a shared sensibility. About work, about family, and about America. In our own ways, Bruce and I have been on parallel journeys trying to understand this country that’s given us both so much. Trying to chronicle the stories of its people. Looking for a way to connect our own individual searches for meaning and truth and community with the larger story of America.”

In RENEGADES: Born in the USA, readers are invited to sit alongside these two longtime friends, in a recording studio stocked with dozens of guitars and during at least one Corvette ride, as they discuss marriage and fatherhood, race and masculinity, the lure of the open road and the call back to home, some of the most inspiring American heroes of all time, and music... They talk a lot about music.

Along the way, they reveal their passion for—and the occasional toll of—telling a bigger, truer story about America throughout their careers and explore how our fractured country might begin to find its way back toward unity.

‘This is a time of vigilance when who we are is being seriously tested’

As Springsteen shares in his introduction to RENEGADES:

“There were serious conversations about the fate of the country, the fortune of its citizens, and the destructive, ugly, corrupt forces at play that would like to take it all down. This is a time of vigilance when who we are is being seriously tested. Hard conversations about who we are and who we want to become can perhaps serve as a small guiding map for some of our fellow citizens. . . This is a time for serious consideration of who we want to be and what kind of country we will leave our children. Will we let slip through our hands the best of us or will we turn united to face the fire? Within this book you won’t find the answers to those questions, but you will find a couple of seekers doing their best to get us to ask better questions.”

And as President Obama writes, “the conversations Bruce and I had in 2020 feel as urgent today as they did back then. They represent our ongoing effort to figure out how it is that we got here, and how we can tell a more unifying story that starts to close the gap between America’s ideals and its reality.”

The English-language print edition will be 320 pages long and include more than 350 full-color photographs and illustrations with a suggested list price of £35. The digital edition will be priced at £15.99.

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