Promises to Keep (memoir)
{{short description|2007 book by Joe Biden}}
{{Infobox book
| italic title =
| name = Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics
| image = Promises to Keep Front Cover (c. 2019 reprint).jpg
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| alt =
| caption = Cover of a {{circa|2019}} reprint
| author = Joe Biden
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| country = United States
| language = English
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| genre = Memoir
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| publisher = Random House
| publisher2 =
| pub_date = {{ubl | July 31, 2007 (hardcover) | August 28, 2008 (paperback)}}
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| pages = 400
| awards =
| isbn = 978-1-4000-6536-3
| isbn_note =
| oclc = 1132901206
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| congress =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by = Promise Me, Dad
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}}
{{Joe Biden series|expanded=Personal}}
Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics is a memoir by then-senator Joe Biden (later the 47th vice president and 46th president of the United States), first published by Random House on July 31, 2007. A paperback version was published on August 28, 2008.{{cite book|title=Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics|isbn=978-0812976212|last1=Biden|first1=Joe|year=2008|publisher=Random House Publishing }} It was published in the run-up to his 2008 presidential campaign.
Contents
Biden begins by recounting his life growing up in a Roman Catholic family in Scranton, Pennsylvania and later Wilmington, Delaware. He details the 1972 car accident that killed his wife Neilia and their one-year-old daughter Naomi, and the struggles he faced in its aftermath. He then writes about the second chance he was given upon meeting Jill Jacobs in 1975, as he began his career representing Delaware in the U.S. Senate.{{cite news|url=https://www.marieclaire.com/politics/a28198287/joe-biden-wife-neilia-hunter-naomi/|title=Joe Biden's First Wife, Neilia, and Daughter Naomi Passed Away In a 1972 Accident|work=Marie Claire|date=July 30, 2019|access-date=August 6, 2020}} The book also explores his beleaguered 1988 presidential campaign, during which he suffered from two brain aneurysms, and the physical and political recovery he later made.
Parts of the text describing Biden's early childhood are drawn verbatim from the 1992 book What It Takes: The Way to the White House.{{cite magazine |last1=Entous |first1=Adam |title=The Untold History of the Biden Family |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/22/the-untold-history-of-the-biden-family |magazine=The New Yorker |date=15 August 2022}}
Cultural reference
Reception
The Christian Science Monitor praised the book saying "Biden is a master storyteller and has stories worth telling." Likewise, The New York Times called it "a compelling personal story", while Salon commended Biden's response to tragedy as "both admirable and likable".
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.c-span.org/video/?200257-1/promises-keep-life-politics Biden speaking about the book] at the National Press Club (August 1, 2007)
{{Joe Biden}}
Category:2007 non-fiction books
Category:2008 non-fiction books
Category:American political books
Category:English-language non-fiction books
Category:Books written by presidents of the United States
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