Traditionally, candidates for the Office of the President of the United States write a book telling the public a little bit about themselves and their history (most are technically memoirs after all). Primarily, though, these books are meant to establish the policies which the candidate supports. Shortest Way Home: One Mayor's Challenge (released in 2019 in time for the Democratic Primaries) is no exception. Shortest Way Home is Mayor Pete Buttigieg's presidential memoir. In the book, Buttigieg chronicles his early life, his hobbies (like piano and learning new languages -- he speaks a number of languages, including Arabic, fluently), his time in the military, his experience as a gay man, and his time as mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Buttigieg also discusses a number of policies which he agrees and disagrees with.
Charles Kaiser of The Guardian loved the book, writing that "The 37-year-old mayor [Buttigieg] of South Bend, Indiana, has written the best political autobiography since Barack Obama." Adam Nagourney of The New York Times enjoyed the book, but worried that Buttigieg "airbrush[ed] his life story," which let the book feeling "sanitized." While it's not known if this book will affect the Democratic Primary Election or the General Election (neither of which have occurred at the time of writing), there is no doubt that Shortest Way Home is an incredibly well-written and interesting book.
