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The cover of Becoming

Becoming

Michelle Obama, 2018

Follow Michelle Obama from a loving South Side home through work, family, campaigns, and the White House as she learns that identity, service, and hope remain unfinished.

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14 parts, about 26 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Michelle Obama reclaims her own story, from a South Side apartment to the White House, as a life still in progress
  • Shows how family, mentors and loss shaped a turn from prestige toward purpose, and what that change actually cost
  • Candid about limits: the unequal load of marriage and motherhood, public caricature, and how little a platform can fix

Who it is for

  • Professionals questioning a safe but unfulfilling career
  • Working parents balancing a partner's demanding ambitions
  • First generation students who wonder if they belong

What the summary covers

  1. The Story I Choose to Tell1 min
  2. Euclid Avenue2 min
  3. Learning to Speak Up2 min
  4. The Question of Belonging2 min
  5. Meeting Barack2 min
  6. From Prestige to Purpose2 min
  7. Becoming a Family2 min
  8. The Door to National Politics2 min
  9. Scrutiny, Distortion, and 20082 min
  10. Making a Home Inside an Institution1 min
  11. A Garden and a Platform2 min
  12. No Tidy Victory2 min
  13. Widening the National Story2 min
  14. Still Becoming2 min

Recommended by

  • Oprah WinfreyMedia executive and founder of Oprah’s Book Club

About the author

  • Michelle ObamaFormer First Lady of the United States, lawyer and author
    • Born in Chicago and raised on its South Side.
    • Her father Fraser, a Chicago Water Department pump operator, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis young yet seldom missed a day of work.
    • Studied sociology and African American studies at Princeton after attending Chicago public schools.
    • Graduated from Harvard Law School in 1988 and joined the Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin, where she met Barack Obama.
    • Later worked in Chicago's City Hall as assistant commissioner of planning and development, then became founding executive director of the Chicago chapter of Public Allies.
    • Joined the University of Chicago in 1996 to bring campus and community together.
    • The first African American to serve as First Lady.
    • As First Lady she launched Let's Move! in 2010, a nationwide effort against childhood obesity.

Read it alongside

  • Puts it into practiceHidden Potential

    Michelle Obama sees talent as widespread and opportunity as not, while Adam Grant proposes that selectors weigh performance in context, read the trajectory, and use work samples and second chances.

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