Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama to Publish ‘Renegades’ Book
Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama confirmed the publication of a book they’ve written together inspired by their Renegades podcast series.
Also titled Renegades: Born in the U.S.A., the “collection of candid, intimate and entertaining conversations” arrives on Oct. 26. A short promo clip shows the pair testing a sports car together.
“Over the years, what we’ve found is that we’ve got a shared sensibility. About work, about family and about America," the former president wrote in his introduction. “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.”
You can watch a trailer for the book below.
“There were serious conversations 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," Springsteen added. "This is a time of vigilance when who we are is being seriously tested. Hard conversations about who we are and who we want to become can perhaps serve as a small guiding map for some of our fellow citizens.”
In one episode of the podcast, the pair discussed how Springsteen’s classic song “Born in the U.S.A.” had been misused by people who didn't understood its meaning. “I think why the song has been appropriated: one is because it was so powerful; two is because its imagery was so fundamentally American," the singer said.
"But it did demand of you to hold two contradictory ideas in your mind at one time: that you could both be very critical of your nation and very prideful of your nation simultaneously. And that is something that you see argued about to this very day.”