The former president's media company and Amazon's Audible announced a new podcast series in which Obama will discuss six books with six guests, the latest product of a lucrative first-look deal that keeps the Obama brand front and center in American media.
The series, titled "A Great Book with Barack Obama," debuts September 24 on Audible, Variety reported. Obama selected six titles he says have shaped his thinking and will sit down with six unnamed guests described as "thinkers, writers and artists" to talk about why the books matter. The guest list has not been released.
The podcast is the sixth release under an exclusive first-look deal between Audible and Higher Ground, the media company Obama co-founded with former First Lady Michelle Obama. That deal has already produced five prior podcast collaborations, and it sits alongside Higher Ground's broader portfolio of scripted and unscripted television, feature films, animated series, and digital content, much of it distributed through Netflix.
The six books Obama chose are works by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Cormac McCarthy, Marilynne Robinson, Robert Penn Warren, and John le Carré. All six authors are widely regarded literary figures, and the selections track with the curated intellectual image Obama has cultivated since leaving office.
Obama framed the project in personal terms. In a statement released with the announcement, he said:
"Great books have always helped me figure out who I am and what I believe. The six books featured in this series have stayed with me throughout my life, and each one has something to teach us about the human experience. For this podcast, I invited some friends to explore why they resonate, how they can shape our understanding of ourselves and each other, and why literature matters now more than ever. I hope listeners will be inspired to discover or rediscover books that change the way they see themselves and the world."
The series pitches itself around a central question: what do the stories we love tell us about the world we live in and the world we want to create? It is a broad prompt, and one that gives Obama wide latitude to steer conversations toward his own preferred themes.
Rachel Ghiazza, Audible's chief content officer, praised Obama's ability to "connect books to the questions of who we are and how we see the world." She called the series representative of "everything we strive for at Audible: connecting listeners with transformative storytelling through the intimacy of audio."
Dan Fierman, head of audio at Higher Ground, offered similar remarks, calling the conversations "personal and accessible" and crediting "the chemistry between President Obama and each guest" for creating "truly special moments."
Neither executive disclosed financial terms of the Audible, Higher Ground deal, and the announcement left several basic questions unanswered: how many episodes the series will run, how long each episode will be, and whether the podcast will eventually appear on platforms beyond Audible.
The five prior Audible, Higher Ground collaborations include "Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast," hosted by Michelle Obama; "Your Mama's Kitchen: Conversations From the Heart of the Home," hosted by Michele Norris; "The Wonder of Stevie," hosted by Wesley Morris; "Fela Kuti: Fear No Man," hosted by Jad Abumrad, which won a Peabody Award; and "Reconstruction: The Unfinished Promise," co-hosted by Malcolm Gladwell and produced in partnership with the History Channel and Pushkin Industries.
Higher Ground's footprint extends well beyond podcasts. The company has produced feature films and documentaries for Netflix, including "Leave the World Behind," "Crip Camp," "Rustin," and "American Symphony." Add the Audible pipeline, and the Obamas have assembled one of the most commercially active post-presidential media operations in American history.
None of that is illegal. But voters and taxpayers who remember Obama's years in the White House might reasonably ask how a former president's ongoing cultural influence, distributed through Amazon and Netflix, wrapped in the language of personal growth and literary appreciation, shapes public discourse without any of the accountability that comes with holding office. Obama gets the microphone. He does not get the questions at the press briefing.
The podcast is available for pre-order at Audible's website. The six guests will be announced at a later date.
When you leave the presidency but never leave the spotlight, the audience should at least notice who is still setting the terms of the conversation, and who is paying for the privilege.
