During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama himself told veteran political reporter Richard Wolffe, ''You''ll get more access than anyone else''

and Renegade is his unique story of how a political newcomer with no money and an outsider''s name grew into the world''s most powerful leader. But it is also a uniquely intimate portrait of the person behind the iconic posters and the man codenamed ''Renegade'' by his Secret Service protectors. Wolffe portrays an historic candidate and his - until now - inscrutable character and campaign in untold, stunning detail, from his university lecturer''s office in Iowa to the Oval Office in Washington. With unprecedented access, gained over a dozen exclusive interviews with Obama, Wolffe shares with us his front row seat. We fly on the candidate''s plane and ride in his bus on an odyssey across a country in crisis; we stand next to him at a bar on the night he secures the nomination; and feel the tension backstage as he delivers his convention speech to a stadium crowd and a transfixed TV audience.

Renegade is not just an election epic but is also an insightful biography of the new President of the United States.