''Redemption Song: An Irish Reporter Inside the Obama Campaign'', is a book by
Niall Stanage about the 2008 presidential election campaign of
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
.
It was first published by Liberties Press, Dublin on December 1, 2008, so becoming one of the first books published anywhere to cover the entirety of Obama's campaign.
/sup> The author is based in New York—he is a regular contributor to ''The New York Observer
''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainmen ...
''—but was born and raised in Belfast, hence the Irish reference in the book's subtitle, and its initial release through an Irish publisher. It is distributed in North America by Dufour Editions.
Redemption Song received a generally positive critical reception upon its release, being described as "extraordinary...superbly written" by ''The Irish News
''The Irish News'' is a compact daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest selling morning newspaper and is available throughout Ireland. It is broadly Irish nationalist in its viewpoint, though it als ...
'', "terrific.... a real insider's account" by the ''Evening Herald
''The Herald'' is a nationwide mid-market tabloid newspaper headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and published by Independent News & Media who are a subsidiary of Mediahuis. It is published Monday–Saturday. The newspaper was known as the ''Even ...
'' /sup> and "sharp, incisive" by The Sunday Business Post
The ''Business Post'' (formerly ''The Sunday Business Post'') is a Sunday newspaper distributed nationally in Ireland and an online publication. It is focused mainly on business and financial issues in Ireland.
Founding to Irish financial crisi ...
. /sup>
''Redemption Song'' is broadly sympathetic to Obama. Although it includes some detail about the president-elect's early life, its focus is on the period between Obama's landmark speech to the 2004 Democratic National Convention
The 2004 Democratic National Convention convened from July 26 to 29, 2004 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston, Massachusetts, and nominated Senator John Kerry from Massachusetts for president and Senator John Edwards from North ...
and his election as president on November 4, 2008. It draws heavily on Stanage's eye-witness campaign trail reporting, including interviews with key Obama advisers, old friends and grassroots volunteers.
Notes
1. "Race to Press" http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1208/Race_to_press.html, ''Politico.com'', 12-01-2008
2. "The Belfast Man and Barack" http://www.irishnews.com/appnews/616/613/2008/12/6/604767_365743123290TheBelfas.html, ''The Irish News'' (Belfast, Northern Ireland), 12-06-2008
3. "The Fas Show" http://www.herald.ie/opinion/comment/the-fas-show-1560330.html", ''Evening Herald'' (Dublin, Ireland), 12-03-2008
4. "Obama's Victory Through Irish Eyes" http://www.thepost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=BOOKS-qqqm=nav-qqqid=37971-qqqx=1.asp. ''The Sunday Business Post'' (Dublin, Ireland), 12-07-2008
{{Barack Obama
2008 non-fiction books
Irish non-fiction books
Books about Barack Obama