Former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has written a memoir that will be released two weeks after the midterm elections this fall, he said on Wednesday in a video on social media.
The book, set to come out on Nov. 17, is called “Promise Me, America” and will address his term as president. Mr. Biden said the book would cover how he made decisions responding to the coronavirus pandemic, the economy, conflicts in Afghanistan and Ukraine, and “restoring our democracy” after the attack on the Capitol by President Trump’s supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.
Mr. Biden also said the book would cover what became perhaps his most fateful decision as president.
“It’s about why I chose to run for re-election and why I chose to step aside,” he said. “Most of all, it’s about my faith in the promise of America.”
Mr. Biden, 83, has largely stayed out of public view since he left office nearly 18 months ago. But his wife, Jill Biden, published her own memoir last month, and his son Hunter Biden has emerged as an energetic defender of the family legacy on social media and in podcast appearances.
The former president inadvertently revealed the existence of his book last month at one of his wife’s book-tour stops, when he told the crowd that his book would be released in September.
That caused much consternation among Mr. Biden’s fellow Democrats, who are mostly trying to move on from the former president as they seek to win back control of Congress in the midterms.
Mr. Biden abandoned his re-election bid two years ago after his standing in polls collapsed because of a disastrous debate performance. Since then, his decision to run again, when polls showed that majorities of Americans preferred a younger president, has been a source of regret for Democrats.
The book’s title is a reference to Mr. Biden’s 2017 memoir, “Promise Me, Dad.” That book centered on his relationship with his older son, Beau, who died of brain cancer while Mr. Biden was vice president.
In the social media video, Mr. Biden appears to be sitting in his home office. He said he had been spending time with his family and “dealing with a cancer diagnosis,” for which he has received treatment.
