Joe Biden has said he will do only limited promotion for his upcoming White House memoir because of his advancing cancer. The former president made the announcement in a social media post on Sunday night, days before the book's release.
The memoir, titled Promise Me America, is due to be published on 17 November. It is Biden's account of a one-term presidency that began in 2021 in the shadow of the insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, when supporters of Donald Trump tried to overturn the outgoing Republican president's defeat by his Democratic rival in the 2020 election.
Biden, who was diagnosed with an "aggressive" form of prostate cancer in May 2025, four months after leaving office, said in the post on X that the number of speaking engagements he can manage in support of the book's publication will be limited.
"Some days are better than others," he said. "It hasn't stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down. What that means is, unfortunately, I won't be able to do as many conversations about my book as I'd hoped."
Instead, Biden said he was "hopeful the words on the page speak for themselves". He added that he and his wife, Jill, were touched and grateful for the support of the American people since his condition became known.
The memoir examines at length the deadly violence in Washington DC fomented by supporters of Trump, who was seeking to remain in office after losing to Biden in 2020. The attack on the Capitol came as Congress was due to meet to certify Biden's victory, following a rally near the White House where Trump urged his supporters to go to Congress and "fight" for him.
"Donald Trump led an insurrection," Biden wrote. "The rioters weren't 'peaceful protesters'. They came armed to stop the official certification of a legitimate election." Noting that Trump later pardoned more than 1,500 people convicted of offenses related to the riot, Biden wrote: "You don't get to turn a blind eye to cops being punched, speared, sprayed, and brutalized and call yourself a friend of law enforcement." He said of Trump that it "should follow him to his grave".
The book also scrutinizes Trump's actions since returning to office in January 2025, including the chaotic creation of the so-called department of government efficiency, or Doge, which put hundreds of thousands of people out of work but failed to yield its touted savings. Biden wrote that while all presidents fear their legacy is vulnerable to the pendulum of politics, in his case that feeling was magnified by "the dismissive and destructive nature of Donald Trump", and said Trump "took a wrecking ball to our traditions".
In his post, Biden said the book explores "the challenges we faced, the decisions I made, and why I made them", covering a pivotal period that included the Covid-19 pandemic, economic troubles and efforts to restore alliances with allies frayed during Trump's first term. He said he realized as soon as Trump took office again that much of what he had worked to achieve was about to be dismantled.
Biden previously published a memoir, Promise me, Dad, about the death of his elder son, Beau, from cancer. The Associated Press contributed reporting to the original story.
