Former US President Joe Biden will release a memoir titled 'Promise Me, America' on 17 November 2025, offering a candid first-person account of his four years in the White House and the 'deeply agonising calculation' behind his decision to withdraw from the 2024 Presidential race. The book, published by Little, Brown and Company, is already available for pre-order following Biden's announcement on Tuesday, 15 July.

What the Memoir Covers

According to the publisher's description, the book spans Biden's full Presidential arc — from his campaign and early administration through his decision to seek a second term and his eventual withdrawal from the race. The publisher characterises it as a candid account of the challenges, triumphs, sorrows, and accomplishments that defined Biden's Presidency during what it describes as one of the most turbulent periods in modern American history.

Biden entered the Oval Office on 20 January 2021, inheriting a country fractured by the 6 January Capitol attack, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and a severe economic downturn. The memoir will recount his administration's efforts to restore institutional trust and demonstrate that democratic governance could still deliver tangible results for ordinary Americans.

Domestic and Foreign Policy Record

The book will detail Biden's domestic legislative record, including a multibillion-dollar infrastructure programme, efforts to revive American manufacturing, and legislation aimed at lowering healthcare costs and addressing climate change. Biden repeatedly framed his economic philosophy as building prosperity 'from the middle out and the bottom up' — a formulation the memoir is expected to revisit in depth.

On foreign policy, Biden will provide first-person accounts of rebuilding traditional US alliances, modernising NATO, and assembling the international coalition that backed Ukraine against Russian aggression — a chapter of his Presidency that remains contested in ongoing global discourse.

The 2024 Withdrawal Decision

A central section of the memoir focuses on Biden's exit from the 2024 Presidential contest. The publisher says Biden will reveal for the first time the full reasoning behind stepping aside — described as placing his party and the country ahead of personal ambition. Biden formally withdrew on 21 July 2024, following a widely criticised debate performance against then-Republican nominee Donald Trump. He subsequently endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate.

The withdrawal remains one of the most consequential decisions in recent American political history, coming less than four months before the general election and reshaping the Democratic Party's trajectory heading into the vote.

Biden's Political Career in Brief

Biden served as the 46th President of the United States from 2021 to 2025. Before the White House, he represented Delaware in the US Senate for 36 years and served eight years as Vice-President under President Barack Obama. The memoir is expected to draw on that full span of experience to contextualise the choices made during his single term.

With the book's release set for mid-November, it arrives roughly a year after the 2024 election — positioning it as both a personal reckoning and a political document that will likely shape how historians assess Biden's legacy.