Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama announced a new book, Renegades: Born In The USA, due out on October 26 via Penguin Random House in partnership with Obama’s Higher Ground company. The book is an adaptation of the legendary musician and the President’s popular Spotify podcast of the same name.
The Renegades: Born in the USA book boasts original introductions from both Obama and Springsteen along with 350 rare photos from the authors’ archives, exclusive new material from the podcast, handwritten lyrics from Bruce’s career and never-before-seen annotated speeches by Obama, including his Remarks at the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Marches.
The website for Renegades: Born in the USA described the collection as “a candid, revealing, and entertaining dialogue between President Barack Obama and legendary musician Bruce Springsteen that explores everything from their origin stories and career-defining moments to our country’s polarized politics and the growing distance between the American Dream and the American reality.”
In his introduction to the book, Springsteen said that he and Obama raised questions 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 for serious consideration of who we want to be and what kind of country we will leave our children,” Springsteen wrote. “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.”
Obama also detailed he and Springsteen’s friendship and more in a statement:
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.
Check out a video trailer for Renegades: Born in the USA below:
