Newly updated, the definitive biography of the forty-seventh Vice President
of the United States, Joe Biden, which examines the fascinating life of a
man who has shaped Washington politics for more than four decades,
including his years in the Obama White House. Raised in the working-class
towns of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware, and with
lackluster grades in school and no particular goals, Joe Biden shocked the
nation in 1972 when he became one of the youngest elected senators in U.S.
history. Over the course of four decades, he carved a legacy for himself as
one of the most respected legislators in the country, and was a close
friend and partner to President Barack Obama, who valued his vice
president's vast experience in domestic and foreign affairs. Yet Biden's
political success has been matched by personal tragedy and countless
challenges. Within two months of being elected in 1972, Biden lost his
wife, Neilia, and his young daughter in a tragic accident--a loss that
brought him to the nadir of despair and shook his resolve to stay in
politics. He suffered two brain aneurysms and career-threatening gaffes and
miscues. In 2015, he lost his eldest son, Beau, to brain cancer. Now, Biden
is back in the spotlight as the frontrunner in a crowded Democratic field
challenging Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Based on
exhaustive research by one of Washington's most prolific journalists,
including numerous exclusive interviews with Biden's confidants and family
members, as well as President Obama and the former vice president himself,
Joe Biden goes beyond conventional biography to track the forces that have
shaped a man who, with his plainspoken style and inspiring life story, has
resonated with millions of Americans and whose work has shaped modern
American life.