The Best Books of 2025 According to Barack Obama

Each year, Barack Obama’s list of recommended readings becomes a cultural reference point that transcends politics. It’s not merely about personal preferences, but an intellectual roadmap connecting history, inequality, identity, memory, and power. For 2025, his selection reaffirms a constant: reading as a tool to comprehend the world while simultaneously questioning it. The list combines literary fiction, historical essays, and narrative journalism.

The common thread is clear. Obama favors books that explore social tensions, economic transformations, and moral dilemmas from intimate, well-documented, and profoundly human perspectives. There are no complacent titles or easy formulas. Each work demands attention and reflection.

Among the featured books is Paper Girl by Beth Macy, a journalistic investigation that delves into the opioid crisis in the United States and its structural effects on entire communities. It is accompanied by Flashlight by Susan Choi, a novel that addresses identity, memory, and family silences within contexts marked by migration and politics. Both works engage with a central concern: how collective decisions impact individual lives.

Historical essays hold significant weight. We the People by Jill Lepore, critically and thoroughly examines the construction of the American democratic concept. Similarly, 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin revisits the Great Depression to analyze the financial mechanisms that continue to influence contemporary crises. These readings do not view the past with nostalgia, but with the intention of understanding present risks.

Fiction occupies an equally relevant position. The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy, and The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai, explore belonging, cultural heritage, and the generational divide. These novels place identity at the core of the debate, without simplifications. Meanwhile, Dead and Alive by Zadie Smith reflects on art, criticism, and intellectual life with the characteristic clarity of the author.

The social component is reinforced with There Is No Place for Us by Brian Goldstone, a portrayal of the housing crisis and urban displacement, and with What We Can Know by Ian McEwan, a literary reflection on knowledge, ethics, and the limits of memory.

The list concludes with a personal note. Obama openly acknowledges his bias in recommending The Look by Michelle Obama, a book that combines fashion, identity, and visual narrative as a cultural and political expression.

More than a mere recommendation, this selection confirms that reading remains a strategic act. For business leaders, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers, Barack Obama’s 2025 book list offers insights for understanding complex contexts, anticipating risks, and broadening perspectives beyond economic indicators. Reading, in this instance, is also a form of leadership.

To conclude, here is the complete list of recommended books: