A doomed mission, a crazy leader and a tale that inspired Apocalypse Now: Obama brings home Heart of Darkness for White House reading material at book store visit

• President chose classic novella as one of 17 books he bought today
• Made a trip to independent Politics and Prose store in Washington, D.C.
• Heart of Darkness was the inspiration for 1979 epic Apocalypse Now
• Work by Joseph Conrad was published in 1899 and is considered a classic
• Has been interpreted by some as critical of Western involvement overseas
• He also bought non-fiction and a children's story about farmyard animals

By Kieran Corcoran for MailOnline

Published: 20:42 EST, 29 November 2014 | Updated: 20:42 EST, 29 November 2014

It may be unusual bedtime reading for the President of the United States.

But Barack Obama today picked up a copy of the novel which inspired the dystopian war film Apocalypse Now at a publicity appearance to promote small businesses.

Alongside some children's titles weighty non-fiction books on medicine and China, the President picked up Joseph Conrad's classic Heart of Darkness on a visit to the Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C.

The novella, a mainstay of high school and university literature programs, was the main source material for Apocalypse Now, a film which details the madness and slaughter of the Vietnam War.

Shopping trip: The President picked up Heart of Darkness - which has anti-West undertones - on a visit to a Washington book store

Helping him choose? Sasha and Malia Obama (center and right respectively) accompanied their dad

Conrad's original, published in 1899, was set along the Congo River in Africa, and tells the story of ivory trader Marlow finding the feared Mr Kurtz, a European who has gone mad in the jungle and rules over a tribe of natives.

The work has been lauded for its feverish portrayal , and Kurtz's last words 'The horror... the horror' have become iconic.

Many have taken it as a criticism of the way Western civilization at the time asserted its dominance on the world.

Likewise, the Hollywood adaptation - which casts Marlow and Kurtz as U. S. servicemen in Vietnam - has been taken as a criticism of America's intervention in the affairs of other countries, as well as a more general examination of the darkness in human nature.

Inspiration: Heart of Darkness, the Joseph Conrad book on the President's reading list, was the basis for the Vietnam war film Apocalypse Now (pictured above starring Martin Sheen)

Meaningful? Apocalypse Now transferred the scepticism of the West's actions in Africa to the Vietnam war

'Small Business Saturday': Obama's trip to the store came as part of a push for consumers to visit independent retailers

It worked! Obama made a joke about his credit card to the checkout attendant, after he was declined in a New York City restaurant this year

Obama's visit came on a day increasingly advertised as 'Small Business Saturday', an attempt to lure shoppers to mom-and-pop retailers after the mass consumption madness of Black Friday.

Obama bought 17 books in total at Politics and Prose, which is owned by two former staffers at the Washington Post.

The President browsed the bookstore's racks with his daughters, Malia and Sasha. He held one shopper's baby and chatted with author David Baldacci. While paying at the cash register, another patron encouraged Obama to close the U.S. facility in Cuba where suspected terrorists are detained.

'Hope you can close Guantanamo,' the patron said.

Standing guard: The Secret Service were in force outside the Washington, D.C., store while Obama was visiting

'We're working on it,' Obama replied, then added to the crowd: 'Any other issues?'

Obama also joked, 'Hope it works,' when he handed his credit card to the cashier, in reference to an incident earlier this year when a New York City restaurant declined his card.

Obama bought a mix of titles apparently chosen to satisfy readers young and old. The White House declined to reveal how much he paid.

Obama and his daughters also shopped at Politics and Prose on the Saturday after Thanksgiving last year.

A PRESIDENTIAL SHOPPING LIST: WHICH TITLES OBAMA BOUGHT

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, by Atul Gawande (a non-fiction text about public health)

Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson (fiction, award-winning title about a black child growing up in the 1960s and 1970s)

Esteemed: Heart of Darkness is a set text in many schools and universities

The Narrow Road to the Deep North, by Richard Flanagan (fiction, Mann Booker Prize-winner a WWII prisoner of war)

The Laughing Monsters, by Denis Johnson (fiction, about two illicit businessmen in Sierra Leone and Uganda)

All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr (fiction, the story of a blind French girl and a young German orphan in WWII France)

Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad

Nora Webster, by Colm Toibin (fiction, the struggles of a widowed mother in Ireland)

Redwall, by Brian Jacques (fiction, a young adult's fantasy novel)

Mossflower, by Brian Jacques (fiction, sequel to Redwall)

Mattimeo, by Brian Jacques (fiction, another entry in the Redwall series)

Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, by Katherine Rundell (fiction, young adult's book about an African girl sent to boarding school)

Nuts To You, by Lynn Rae Perkins (fiction, a children's book about squirrels)

Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business, by Barbara Park (fiction, a children's title about 'the world's funniest Kindergartner')

Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus, by Barbara Park (fiction, another entry in the above series)

A Barnyard Collection: Click, Clack, Moo, and More, by Doreen Cronin (fiction, a children's animal book)

I Spy Sticker Book and Picture Riddles, by Jean Morzollo

Source: Vox