Bestselling Political Memoirs of All Time

In November 2020, former President Barack Obama released his latest memoir, “A Promised Land,” and within 24 hours of its release, the book sold 890,000 copies, the Associated Press reported. That’s no small feat for a 768-page book — and mind you, this is only volume one. “A Promised Land” was published by Penguin Random House (which, incidentally, is in the process of scooping up Simon & Schuster, making the industry-dubbed “big five” publishers the “big four”).

Obama’s new memoir — more reflective and self-questioning than his others — not only broke Penguin Random House’s record for the most first-day sales ever, it also smashed its one-week sales record with 1,710,443 units sold upon its Nov. 17 release. The hardcover U.S. edition of “A Promised Land” now has 4.3 million copies in print in the U.S. and Canada, following an initial printing of 3.4 million copies, Penguin announced on Nov. 25. The monumental success of the new release could help buoy indie booksellers who have had a rough time staying afloat during the pandemic.

Much like Michelle Obama, Barack has a remarkable gift for writing, pairing gorgeous sentences with evocative storytelling and expert narrative structure. Few other politicians can pull off prose the way this presidential power couple can, but there’s no shortage of attempts. From taboo tell-alls to coming-of-age portraits, political memoirs are a booming category. Here’s a look at politicians and political figures who have raked in success in the literary realm.

Last updated: Nov. 30, 2020

• Author: Barack Obama
• Release date: 1995
• First-week sales: 10,000

“Dreams From My Father” is the first memoir by former President Barack Obama. The book follows his quest to discover more about his father and the African side of his family. It was published while Obama was a professor at the University of Chicago Law School before he began his political career.

• Author: Barack Obama
• Release date: Oct. 17, 2006
• First-week sales: 67,000

Obama released his second memoir, “The Audacity of Hope,” shortly before he began his first presidential campaign. The book reflects on his years in the Senate and presents a vision of what politics in America should be like.

• Author: Tony Blair
• Release date: Sept. 2, 2010
• First-week sales: 92,060

Tony Blair served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from May 1997 to June 2007. He reflected on his years in office in this memoir, which a Wall Street Journal review called “deeply personal” and “full of candid revelations.”

• Author: Hillary Clinton
• Release date: June 10, 2014
• First-week sales: 100,000

In this memoir, Hillary Clinton reflects on her four years as secretary of state under Obama and the difficult choices that she and her colleagues confronted in the role, including those related to two separate wars and a global financial crisis.

“All of us face hard choices in our lives,” Clinton wrote at the start of her book. “Life is about making such choices. Our choices and how we handle them shape the people we become.”

• Author: Margaret Thatcher
• Release date: Oct. 1, 1993
• First-week sales: 120,000

Former prime minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher’s “The Downing Street Years” tells the story of her 11 1/2 years at London’s 10 Downing Street, the official prime minister’s residence. She has also written “The Path to Power,” which recounts the years leading up to her run as prime minister.

• Author: Ted Kennedy
• Release date: Sept. 14, 2009
• First-week sales: 170,000

Former Sen. Ted Kennedy wrote his memoir “True Compass” following his diagnosis with a malignant brain tumor. The book was released shortly after his death in August 2009.

• Author: Hillary Clinton
• Release date: Sept. 12, 2017
• First-week sales: 300,000

In Clinton’s most recent memoir, she discusses her presidential race against Donald Trump and how she dealt with the aftermath of the election. Clinton said that she gets truly candid in this memoir: “In the past, for reasons I try to explain, I’ve often felt I had to be careful in public, like I was up on a wire without a net,” she wrote. “Now I’m letting my guard down.”

• Author: Sarah Palin
• Release date: Nov. 17, 2009
• First-week sales: 469,000

“Going Rogue” is Sarah Palin’s debut memoir, written following her vice presidential run in the 2008 election.

• Author: Hillary Clinton
• Release date: June 9, 2003
• First-week sales: 600,000

Clinton’s first memoir, “Living History,” chronicles her years in the White House as first lady as well as her relationship with her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

• Author: James Comey
• Release date: April 17, 2018
• First-week sales: 600,000

James Comey served as director of the FBI from September 2013 until his dismissal in May 2017. This memoir reflects on his time in the role, during which he served under both Obama and President Donald Trump. Comey oversaw the Hillary Clinton email investigation as well as the investigation of possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

• Author: George W. Bush
• Release date: Nov. 9, 2010
• First-week sales: 775,000

In “Decision Points,” George W. Bush reflects on the difficult choices he had to make during his eight years as president, including the decisions he had to make in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

• Author: John Bolton
• Release date: June 23, 2020
• First-week sales: 780,000

In June 2020, President Trump’s former national security advisor John Bolton released his much-anticipated book, “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” full of bombshells about Trump’s presidency. The memoir sold 780,000 copies in its first week on sale, CNN reported. According to the news outlet, “selling hundreds of thousands of copies in one week is exceedingly rare.”

While consumers seem to be a fan of the book, the Trump administration is decidedly not — Bolton is currently facing a lawsuit brought on by the U.S. government. The Justice Department is seeking to seize a $2 million advance because the book was published without written permission from the White House.

• Author: Bill Clinton
• Release date: June 22, 2004
• First-week sales: 1 million

Hillary isn’t the only Clinton with a bestselling political memoir — her husband Bill’s personal memoir is currently the fourth bestselling book in the category. The former president reflects on his entire biography in the book, from his childhood to his life as a public figure and his subsequent near impeachment.

• Author: Mary L. Trump
• Release date: July 14, 2020
• First-week sales: 1.35 million

Mary L. Trump, a trained clinical psychologist and niece of President Donald Trump, analyzes Donald and the family that made him who he is in this recently released memoir. Donald’s brother, Robert, filed several lawsuits attempting to block the publication of the book.

• Author: Michelle Obama
• Release date: Nov. 13, 2018
• First-week sales: 1.4 million

Michelle Obama’s memoir chronicles her childhood, her life as an executive and her time as the first lady. In addition to being the second bestselling political memoir of all time to date, “Becoming” has also been turned into a Netflix documentary and a Grammy Award-winning audiobook.

• Author: Barack Obama
• Release date: Nov. 17, 2020
• First-week sales: 1.7 million

Obama’s latest memoir, “A Promised Land,” is finally out, and it’s a huge success. The highly anticipated book is the first volume of his presidential memoirs.

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Nicole Spector contributed to the reporting for this article.