Ten Letters

August 15, 2011
Saslow, staff writer at the Washington Post, samples the American mood by surveying the letters sent to President Obama in this disappointingly superficial survey. Every day, 20,000 Americans write the president, and the White House mail staff selects, and the president reads, 10 letters and e-mails each evening—he considers them “his most important daily reading.” The author selects 10 such letters, tracking down their writers, and reporting on their backstories in an effort to personify, if not dramatize, issues—including health care reform, failing schools, gay bullying, and immigration reform. As Saslow notes, “the unmistakable message” of these missives is that America is struggling, but while he notes that the White House mail staff picked the most representative 10 pieces daily, he neglects to reveal the basis for his own 10 selections. The president claims that he “learned more about key issues from some letters than he did from his own staff” and admits revealingly that he is often frustrated that he can’t help the letter writers on an individual basis and be their “social worker” and “advocate.” There is much that is moving in such passages, but the writers of the letters—and the issues themselves—do not emerge clearly enough to sustain our interest or really edify us on the issues at hand.

September 1, 2011

Every evening, President Obama sits down to read ten letters selected from the 20,000 that arrived in the day's mail. Who are these people, and what are their stories?

In his first book, Washington Post staffer Saslow narrates the stories of a small sample of these correspondents. A Michigan couple faces a multiple array of problems, from skin cancer to the threat of bankruptcy. A top student at a Catholic high school in Philadelphia is inspired by the president to run for class president, and wins; his mother, who can't find work, worries about how she'll afford his college. A military wife in Richmond, Va., worries about her husband in Afghanistan and tries to cope with his erratic behavior when he comes home. In Arizona, a young Hispanic woman describes the culture of fear and racism created by an immigration bill. When the president responds to these letters, as he often does, the recipient gets a boost of enthusiasm, and sometimes, national celebrity. When Natoma Canfield, a 50-year-old cleaning woman suffering from cancer, presented a perfect horror story about her maltreatment by her insurance company, the president was so impressed that he cited her case at length while discussing the health-care bill. One of the standout letters came from an amazingly mature 10-year-old girl named Na'Dreya Lattimore, who wrote the president on conditions in her Ohio classroom; the president included parts of it in one of his speeches on education.

Certainly, this is an Obama-centric book in which every chapter shows the president nobly dealing with the larger issues addressed in these letters; only one of the letters is negative, and some of the stories are bland. The best, however, offer an intimate glimpse into the lives of people who are hopeful, and sometimes desperate, to be heard.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 1, 2011
Every day, tens of thousands of letters, faxes, and e-mails pour into the White House Correspondence Office. Every night, President Obama sits down with a folder containing 10 of the most compelling messages, reading every one and responding to several with a handwritten note of acknowledgment and encouragement. Pledged on his second day in office, Obama's vow to stay in touch with Americans by acknowledging their passionate words of concern and criticism, quickly became a practice that inspired oratory and instigated policy. Washington Post reporter Saslow tells the stories of 10 of the president's correspondents during those three years, revealing their motivations for writing and examining their letters' repercussions on their writers and the country. In this testament to the power of the written word, the country's most vexing challenges, from health care to housing, are seen through the eyes of both persons directly affected by them and one person uniquely positioned to do something about them.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)