Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

by Barack Obama

published

January 9th 2007 (first published 1995) by Crown

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binding

Hardcover, 464 pages

isbn

0307383415 (isbn13: 9780307383419)

description

Nine years before the Senate campaign that made him one of the most influential and compelling voices in American politics, Barack Obama published thi...more

[close] Nine years before the Senate campaign that made him one of the most influential and compelling voices in American politics, Barack Obama published this lyrical, unsentimental, and powerfully affecting memoir, which became a #1 New York Times bestseller when it was reissued in 2004. Dreams from My Father tells the story of Obama’s struggle to understand the forces that shaped him as the son of a black African father and white American mother—a struggle that takes him from the American heartland to the ancestral home of his great-aunt in the tiny African village of Alego.

Obama opens his story in New York, where he hears that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has died in a car accident. The news triggers a chain of memories as Barack retraces his family’s unusual history: the migration of his mother’s family from small-town Kansas to the Hawaiian islands; the love that develops between his mother and a promising young Kenyan student, a love nurtured by youthful innocence and the integrationist spirit of the early sixties; his father’s departure from Hawaii when Barack was two, as the realities of race and power reassert themselves; and Barack’s own awakening to the fears and doubts that exist not just between the larger black and white worlds but within himself.

Propelled by a desire to understand both the forces that shaped him and his father’s legacy, Barack moves to Chicago to work as a community organizer. There, against the backdrop of tumultuous political and racial conflict, he works to turn back the mounting despair of the inner city. His story becomes one with those of the people he works with as he learns about the value of community, the necessity of healing old wounds, and the possibility of faith in the midst of adversity.

Barack’s journey comes full circle in Kenya, where he finally meets the African side of his family and confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life. Traveling through a country racked by brutal poverty and tribal conflict, but whose people are sustained by a spirit of endurance and hope, Barack discovers that he is inescapably bound to brothers and sisters living an ocean away—and that by embracing their common struggles he can finally reconcile his divided inheritance.

A searching meditation on the meaning of identity in America, Dreams from My Father might be the most revealing portrait we have of a major American leader—a man who is playing, and will play, an increasingly prominent role in healing a fractious and fragmented nation. [close]

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Sarah rated it:

(review of isbn 1400082773)

02/04/08

Read in February, 2008

recommended to Sarah by: Liz
recommends it for: the undecided

As Super Tuesday approaches and we try to separate empty promises and strategic moves from real, actual thoughts and goals, I couldn’t have read a better book than Dreams From My Father.

Here’s why: even though I didn’t realize it when I picked it up, Obama wrote this book over ten years ago, when he was fresh out of law school and long before he was worrying about what people wanted to hear. It is, I think, a great way to “get to know” the candidate outside of the media, the hype, ...more As Super Tuesday approaches and we try to separate empty promises and strategic moves from real, actual thoughts and goals, I couldn’t have read a better book than Dreams From My Father.

Here’s why: even though I didn’t realize it when I picked it up, Obama wrote this book over ten years ago, when he was fresh out of law school and long before he was worrying about what people wanted to hear. It is, I think, a great way to “get to know” the candidate outside of the media, the hype, and the confusion that comes along with a presidential bid.

The book follows Barack through his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia, his community work in Chicago, and his journey to meet his father’s family in Kenya. Along the way, he has to come to terms with the death of his absent father, being raised primarily by his white grandparents (you don’t hear about this much), and learning the ropes of being a community organizer in inner city Chicago.

The thing that amazed me most about the book was watching Obama 1) work through problems and 2) analyze both sides on an issue. These two traits came through in two different ways in the book: in personal situations (how he comes to understand and accept his troubled father and his Kenyan ancestry) and in political situations (how he comes to understand the long-standing and deep problems facing the urban poor).

It would have been very, very easy to have bad guys in this book. Evil high-up government officials who prevent community centers and jobs from reaching the impoverished in Chicago. His adulterous and alcoholic father who seemed to abandon his loved ones at every turn. But Barack thinks his way through these simple binary good/bad categories and goes far beyond them. He is constantly striving to 1) understand situations from all points of view and 2) think his way through to a solution. He has an uncanny ability to step away from the emotions of a problem and then systematically chip away at it. He understands very well that you have to know why things are as they are before you develop a plan about how to fix it.

The best example of this might be his work in Chicago. Although it’s unheard of for anyone to criticize the black ministers who organize the urban black communities in Chicago, Obama quickly began to understand the huge problems that come with church-based activism in black communities. Churches would rarely work together to solve larger problems and ministers would rarely do more than preach (which, to be fair, is their job). The action that should have followed a sermon simply wasn’t organized. Because many black leaders were ministers, many black leaders were also, essentially, just talk. What followed was three years of work in which Obama not only made major, innovative steps in Chicago but in which he also learned how to inspire both individuals and small groups into action.

I was also impressed by what Barack Obama didn’t leave out of the book. He made a lot of mistakes, he deals with a lot of anger, and he doesn’t succeed at everything. Still, you can not only see him learning from his mistakes, but immediately applying those lessons to his next challenge.

The book, as a more general read, was good as well. The writing wasn’t stellar (something Obama is quick to point out in the forward to the reprint) but it was still much better than one might expect from someone who isn’t primarily a writer. Getting to see the inner struggle of a biracial person growing up in 60s and 70s America was also really fascinating.

There are a lot of great candidates in the upcoming election, and I feel positive about more than two of them. But especially after reading this book, my doubts about Obama’s lack of experience are gone. He has something that trumps years in Washington: a stellar judgment and an almost eerie ability to put himself in someone else’s shoes and understand both sides of an issue. More than that, his ability to inspire individuals to action is something that America could truly benefit from. You can even see it in his campaign: ordinary people stepping up and acting, even if they’ve never been involved in politics before.

I know that after reading his book, I donated to a political campaign for the first time in my life. He’s nothing less than inspiring.
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Janine rated it:

(review of isbn 1400082773)

04/20/07

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in April, 2007

recommends it for: ppl interested in memoirs. specifically about African Diaspora

Reading Senator Obama's book reminded me of Umberto Eco's seminal work, Role of the Reader. (Hazily reminded me, as I read it over 10 years ago.) In the first part of that book, Eco conjures the idea of archetypical readers and discusses the different ways that each reader approaches a text. As I read Dreams from My Father I read it as two different readers. First, I read it as a book lover and critic; second, as a voter. (Listed in order of priority, I must confess.)
As a memoir, I thought thi...more Reading Senator Obama's book reminded me of Umberto Eco's seminal work, Role of the Reader. (Hazily reminded me, as I read it over 10 years ago.) In the first part of that book, Eco conjures the idea of archetypical readers and discusses the different ways that each reader approaches a text. As I read Dreams from My Father I read it as two different readers. First, I read it as a book lover and critic; second, as a voter. (Listed in order of priority, I must confess.)
As a memoir, I thought this book was well written. It follows a coherent temporal narrative that is basically linear. But it isn't bound by chronologic time. Obama is more sophisticated than that. I felt that the beginning of the book was particularly strong because Obama doesn't try to sentimentalize his childhood memories. By treating them very matter-of-factly, he allows us much better insight into his development. We are allowed to see his ruminations about that childhood later in the narrative, in his own adulthood, when he begins to contextualize and reflect on them more deeply. He describes his years in Chicago (before Harvard Law) with an honesty that reflects his doubts, guilt and uncertainty about himself and his future.
The aspect of this book that brought it down to just a "liked it" rather than a "loved it" was Obama's description of his trip to visit his family in Kenya. I felt that much of it was precious, stereotypical and not nearly as nuanced as the rest of his story. I attribute that principally to the fact that he spent so little time there and that his view of Kenya is colored by western values and American ignorance of the nations of Africa and the people who inhabit them. He did manage to avoid the typical conceit of letting one experience in one country act as a representative for understanding the whole of the continent, but not by much. It was particularly interesting because he spends a good deal of time discussing and wondering how colonialism has influenced the self-image of those who have lived with it and through it and after it but he remains interestingly ignorant of how growing up in (what I would call) an "imperial" culture has influenced his own interpretation of his family and Kenyans. He never really questions what his Americanness brings to his understanding, only his blackness.
Which brings me to my role as a voter. I had hoped to get some idea about Obama's political and organizing experience from this book. I had also hoped it would help me identify the priciples that guide his political position so I could get an idea of what his priorities are or will be for the country. The book doesn't really address either of those things. Of course, it's not meant to. This is a "memoir" of a man who is barely middle-aged. This is just volume one of "the Obama story". As a voter, I felt that it helped me to get to know the man as a person. And as a voter, I couldn't give a rat's ass about the man as a person. For example: I was shocked that he admitted to using cocaine as a young man in such a cavalier way but I cannot honestly say it will effect my vote or my opinion of him as public servant. All in all, I would say this was a good read but ultimately, it was just another memoir and Geishas are prettier....less

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Thomas rated it:

(review of isbn 1400082773)

05/28/08

Read in June, 2008

recommends it for: people who focus on race rather than character

This is a preview rather than a review. I am reluctant to read this book on many levels. First I have a bias; I know from obamas policies that he is an avowed socialist, an ideology that fails to inspire persons and countries to greatness but rather the lowest common denominator.

secondly, I am struck that such a well educated man, who was raised by the european side of his family, sees fit to view such people so negatively while he strives tirelessly to know the african side that never lif...more This is a preview rather than a review. I am reluctant to read this book on many levels. First I have a bias; I know from obamas policies that he is an avowed socialist, an ideology that fails to inspire persons and countries to greatness but rather the lowest common denominator.

secondly, I am struck that such a well educated man, who was raised by the european side of his family, sees fit to view such people so negatively while he strives tirelessly to know the african side that never lifted a finger to attempt to raise him. Poverty is often used as an excuse. But many poor people at least attempt to raise their offspring. Having grown up in the US and lived in Ghana for 3 years, and having witnessed countless black american and Ghanaian men abdicate their responsibilities towards their children and leave their spouses or girlfriends to raise them alone, I still am amazed at how some children of these sorry excuses for men, pursue these "sperm donors" in order to connect with the neglegent side of their heritage to the negation of that one side of the family that did their best to nurture and love them.

Obamas character is called into question when he sees fit to criticize a "racist" grandmother who obviously wasn't racist enough to reject her african grandchild. If he cant see fit to castigate his sperm donor father I dont see how he will inspire american men to start taking responsibility for the children they help produce. Then again, perhaps he doesnt want to inspire them in this way, perhaps he wants to let them know that the government will soon become surrogate fathers (at least financially). The great social experiment since the depression has created a sub class of piglets at the trough, depending on government handouts all the while taking no initiative or risks to be responsible contributing members of society.

If a son of a leech wants to promote the leech rather than those who took his welfare seriously, then I suggest those who are considering voting for this man seriously ponder the consequences of making this man president. Learning about ones heritage is a natural inclination, but embracing people who outright rejected you sends a very bad message that doesnt inspire much hope, at least not in me.

as an added note, in response to Nancy #2, I really dont need to read this book given what I know about the background of Obama. I dont want to fill his pockets for one thing as he goes around telling people how he wants to unify everyone while he knocks "TYPICAL WHITE PEOPLE" as racist while pretending his racist spiritual advisor is misunderstood. I understand him enough. he is a typical socialist who has the arrogant belief that people outside his world are ignorant fools who could go no where with out government "help". If he were really so "human" I would suggest he get off his high horse and admit that his father was irresponsible, his pastor is a racist, and that perhaps maybe there is some goodness from his european side. Obama is another phony, pretending to be compassionate and caring while attempting to hide his hateful marxist ideology. But then again, i can admit my bias, and that is the most human thing we can really do!...less

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Michael rated it:

(review of isbn 1400082773)

02/13/08

Read in February, 2008

The above rating is highly tentative, since I don't read many memoirs, and I think this book deserves to be rated as serious literature. Obama's prose is smooth and even successful in its more purple passages. Although the book flows well enough as a continuous story, it also reads as a series of inconclusive anecdotes or even parables--characters, moments, stories to be pondered and turned over, ever-aware that storytelling is mythologizing, that stories are always incomplete, that lessons lear...more The above rating is highly tentative, since I don't read many memoirs, and I think this book deserves to be rated as serious literature. Obama's prose is smooth and even successful in its more purple passages. Although the book flows well enough as a continuous story, it also reads as a series of inconclusive anecdotes or even parables--characters, moments, stories to be pondered and turned over, ever-aware that storytelling is mythologizing, that stories are always incomplete, that lessons learned must always be re-learned, un-learned, qualified, and modified.

The subtitle is somewhat misleading--I don't see this as primarily a book about personal identity. It is at least as concerned with power and community--and reading this book today, these themes seem to converge more around the question of how to achieve meaningful political action, as opposed to how to form a personal identity.

I'm revealing my own preoccupations here, but I believe Heart of Darkness looms over this book both as a model (journey into Africa in search of truth) and as an inevitable starting point for understanding race relations. A college friend calls out the young Barack for reading Conrad's novel, citing its racist depictions of blacks. Obama quotes himself responding in agreement, but that he reads "because the book teaches me things. About white people, I mean. See, the book's not really about Africa. Or black people. it's about the man who wrote it. The European. The American. A particular way of looking at the world. If you can keep your distance, it's all there, in what's said and what's left unsaid. So I read the book to help me understand just what it is that makes white people so afraid. Their demons. The way ideas get twisted around. It helps me understand how people learn to hate."

An insightful reading--and also a clue to Obama's political approach. But the final revelation of the memoir comes also in deflating Heart of Darkness fashion--and the Kurtz figure is not his father, but his grandfather Onyango: "My image of Onyango, faint as it was, had always been of an autocratic man--a cruel man, perhaps. But I had also imagined him an independent man, a man of his people, opposed to white rule. [...:] What Granny had told us scrambled that image completely, causing ugly words to flash across my mind. Uncle Tom. Collaborator. House nigger."

The inheritance of the book's subtitle ultimately consists (in Faulknerian fashion) of documents--his grandfather's colonial workpapers and his father's applications to American colleges and universities. Obama attempts to make a final, more decisive revelation of this--a connection to his ancestors, a vow not to repeat their mistakes of self-reliance, their belief that they could master their own destinies. We find an echo of this in Obama's consensus, movement-based politics. But those feeble documents, the shattering of images, the recalcitrancy of power remain as well--revealing a complex thinker and a complex writer. If Obama becomes President, this will become a uniquely valuable historical document, a true literary memoir of merit from a politician of undeniable historical stature. If not, it will remain a curious historical footnote--and a good book....less

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Sarah rated it:

(review of isbn 1400082773)

05/05/08

Read in May, 2008

Barack Obama
Dreams From My Father
New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004
453 pp. $13.95
1-4000-8277-3

The United States is recognized as a nation of immigrants with the ability to re-invent themselves and adapt to the culture of their adopted home. However, it is the children of these immigrants who seek authenticity in forgotten and disregarded ethnic traditions, in search of their roots, of an identity. “Dreams From My Father,” Barack Obama’s autobiography recounts the odysse...more Barack Obama
Dreams From My Father
New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004
453 pp. $13.95
1-4000-8277-3

The United States is recognized as a nation of immigrants with the ability to re-invent themselves and adapt to the culture of their adopted home. However, it is the children of these immigrants who seek authenticity in forgotten and disregarded ethnic traditions, in search of their roots, of an identity. “Dreams From My Father,” Barack Obama’s autobiography recounts the odyssey Obama embarks upon, in hopes of discovering community and family, and ultimately himself.
Obama immediately whisks the reader into his atypical childhood, allowing one to experience firsthand, the trials and tribulations facing a cultural outsider, the offspring of a white mother and an African father, trapped between two dissimilar cultures. The readers travels alongside Obama and his peripatetic family, from the grasslands of Kansas to the white beaches of Hawaii, from Indonesia to Obama’s days as a campus activist in Los Angles, to his years serving as a community organizer in Chicago, and on to his arrival in his father’s birthplace of Kenya. Through his travels, Barack critically evaluates the battles confronting black Americans and intimately articulates his personal struggles to find his place in a world of black and white. He eloquently channels his anger and alienation into a fierce determination that later changed neighborhoods, and may well change the nation.
Feeling out of place in high school, Obama gravitates toward the black kids and works to embrace an African-American culture that matches others' expectations of his appearance, but is different from his upbringing and background. After graduating college, Obama sets off in search of community and purpose, with the great role models of the civil rights movement. However, the glory days of the civil rights movement were long gone when Obama gets an organizing job in a poor neighborhood on Chicago's South Side plagued by crumbling public housing, disappearing manufacturing jobs, and rising crime. During this time spent in Chicago, Obama develops a mix of idealism, political perceptiveness, and personal connection, later serving as the origins of his political career. Obama catalogs the ambiguities and subtleties of African-American identity, while relentlessly searching for his own. He constantly ponders his origin, “I was hoping you could tell. The name's Obama. Where do I belong?” (115). Barack insightfully illustrates the dilemmas challenging the livelihoods of African Americans.
This memoir follows Barack as he defines himself and his perspective on the world and finally finds himself welcomed into the community of humanity. One remains fully engaged as he/she embarks on Baracks’s journey into adulthood, addressing the concerns surrounding increasingly multicultural societies and individual attempts to navigate a constantly changing world. Obama struggles to be true to himself, but in order to do so, he must first figure out what that truly means.
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Leonora of rated it:

(review of isbn 1400082773)

12/27/07

Read in December, 2007

I enjoyed this autobiography very much. I read it in 24 hours, interspersed with work and sleep, and I was really carried along by Obama's story and ideas. It was deeper than I thought it would be. It's about a search for himself (and his father) and his transformation from innocent Hawaiin boy to angry college student to idealist Chicago organizer was painful and endearing and familiar. His ideas about race were uniquely expressed (to my ears anyway) and thought-provoking. More than ever, I bel...more I enjoyed this autobiography very much. I read it in 24 hours, interspersed with work and sleep, and I was really carried along by Obama's story and ideas. It was deeper than I thought it would be. It's about a search for himself (and his father) and his transformation from innocent Hawaiin boy to angry college student to idealist Chicago organizer was painful and endearing and familiar. His ideas about race were uniquely expressed (to my ears anyway) and thought-provoking. More than ever, I believe he's genuine.

His time in Chicago was most interesting. He wasn't put off by setbacks while helping to organize in South Side. To me, the reason he accomplished the things he did was because he became a member of the community. The church he currently attends is in the neighborhood. Obama's perceptions of people are at once incisive and forgiving. So, instead of being put off by the self-aggrandizing preacher or lying public official, he understands where they're coming from. This is an incredible quality. It's why, I think, he's a successful deal-maker with other Senators and I think this would serve him well as President.

Speaking of the race, it's amazing that he wrote this in 1995, after just graduating from Harvard Law School. Toward the end of the book, as he puts forth his ideas (whereas most of the book is experiences, thoughts, and conversations), he sounds like himself today. Perhaps he thought all along of becoming President and didn't write that in the book; in any case, it seems clear that he has a Presidential quality, and it comes from idealism rather than a gluttony for power. Although, after making a speech in college, he mentions how much he liked speaking in public.

He comes across as quite a man: thoughtful, intelligent, wise. He reminds me of other incredible men I have known like my grandfather and father. He himself tries to live up to the example of his father. Maybe this story is universal in that sense.

There were only two things I found off-putting. One was that while he talks about the complex thoughts he's had about race, his father, his mother, etc., he never says "I felt" this or "I really didn't want to do" that. He puts his experiences into words beautifully, but not so much his feelings.

The other thing was that I felt the book ended abruptly. I wanted to read about his conversion to Christianity and he leaves us hanging in the church. I wanted to hear more about Harvard Law and how he reconciled what he learned there with what he learned in South Side.

But all in all, this is a really good book. He mentions being drawn to Malcom X's autobiography and like that book, I'll probably read this one again. His experiences are electrifying, certain passages beautiful, and his thoughts are unsentimental, yet idealistic. The perfect combination.
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Siria rated it:

(review of isbn 1400082773)

06/22/08

bookshelves: autobiography, current-affairs, nonfiction

Read in June, 2008

In the introduction, Obama writes that looking back on this book after the passage of over a decade, he winces at inelegant phrasing, and wishes that he could excise perhaps fifty of its four hundred and fifty pages. That's the kind of self-critique with which this book abounds—honest and very deliberately even-handed. It's a critique I agree with, by the way—Obama has a tendency to go off on slight rhetorical flights which may sound good when delivered in a speech, but which need to be temp...more In the introduction, Obama writes that looking back on this book after the passage of over a decade, he winces at inelegant phrasing, and wishes that he could excise perhaps fifty of its four hundred and fifty pages. That's the kind of self-critique with which this book abounds—honest and very deliberately even-handed. It's a critique I agree with, by the way—Obama has a tendency to go off on slight rhetorical flights which may sound good when delivered in a speech, but which need to be tempered somewhat when confined to the page—but those quibbles aside, I thought this was an astoundingly well-written memoir, especially given the fact that it was written by someone then only in his thirties. So few politicians have the ability to write with such vivid clarity and such honesty.

I found his discussion of the intersections of race, politics, and culture in modern America to be very interesting, particularly since I am from a country which doesn't have a history of absorbing many people of other racial backgrounds, but which is beginning to be forced to face its own latent racism thanks to a growing tide of modern immigration. It was compelling and thought-provoking; many times I caught myself thinking "But..." and then wondering why I had that reaction, why my own defensiveness, and unpacking some of that while I read took time.

The opening half of the book, in which Obama describes his childhood and his experiences in college and working in Chicago, interested me the most; perhaps, I think, because he was very good at showing the ways in which he was situated within wider (white) American culture, and the difficulties and the confusions and the hurts that this had caused him and the black community. I thought the latter half, set in Africa, wobbled a little because it displayed a self-indulgence that Obama had not previously been prone to, and because for all that Obama examined his relationship to Africa in terms of his own blackness, he seemed curiously unwilling to do so in terms of his own Americanness.

There's one strange thing I noticed: Obama, in what I've seen of him in interviews and on television, has always seemed to be very charming and very personable, with a ready wit. Very little of that came across in this book; he didn't seem to laugh at himself very much—intelligent and personable, yes, but some of the spark of charisma was missing. I wonder how much of that is selective editing, how much the influence of the topic of his memoir, and how much because he would slowly grow into the person we see now over the course of the last decade....less

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Bettynz rated it:

(review of isbn 1400082773)

09/30/08

Read in September, 2008

Goodness! Well, having never previously read the autobiography of a politician, this book was a pleasant surprise in lots of ways. Who'd have thought his family was more complicated than mine (as one of my friends commented last night!). I was seriously losing track of brothers, (sisters were easy - just the 2) and to still be meeting new ones right up till the end was amazing. Let alone uncles, step-uncles and aunts, grandmothers and step-grandmothers and so on and on!

There were so many po...more Goodness! Well, having never previously read the autobiography of a politician, this book was a pleasant surprise in lots of ways. Who'd have thought his family was more complicated than mine (as one of my friends commented last night!). I was seriously losing track of brothers, (sisters were easy - just the 2) and to still be meeting new ones right up till the end was amazing. Let alone uncles, step-uncles and aunts, grandmothers and step-grandmothers and so on and on!

There were so many poignant bits - like, having been abandoned by his father, his mother remarrying and then moving to Indonesia for several years. It wasn't till he came back to Hawaii to go to school that he noticed that people minded what colour his skin was. And sometimes even his own grandparents. The return of his father when he was about 10, briefly, and that that was the last time he ever saw him. There's a great photo of that here.

The subsequent striving to meet expectations - those he'd imposed on himself, and those he took on board from his father. And all the time to not know/understand what a disaster his father had made of his own life. He may have had an "easy charm with the women", and certainly managed to procreate abundantly hither and yon, but in spite of all that he was lousy at communicating with any of them - wives, children, siblings, parents. Serious intimacy issues. Probably no more than a man of his time, but to hear the story from his family, quite an extreme case. The work as a community organiser, in Chicago - not a concept I'd come across before, but total grass-roots, justice-seeking stuff.

And so the book comes to a conclusion, with "Barry" sitting between the graves of his father and grandfather, weeping. "When my tears were finally spent, I felt a calmness wash over me," he writes. "I felt the circle finally close. I realized that who I was, what I cared about, was no longer just a matter of intellect or obligation, no longer a construct of words. I saw that my life in America -- the black life, the white life, the sense of abandonment I'd felt as a boy, the frustration and hope I'd witnessed in Chicago -- all of it was connected with this small plot of earth an ocean away, connected by more than the accident of a name or the color of my skin. The pain I felt was my father's pain."

A Washington post article has this great quote: "The abandoned son is still working to carve out something positive from the legacy of the goat herder, who also dreamed of changing a nation."

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Khrys rated it:

(review of isbn 1400082773)

04/09/07

bookshelves: poliphiltheohistory

Read in April, 2007

recommends it for: Americans.

Barack Obama's life not only makes for a great story, it shows a lot about the character of the man telling it--both in the way he tells it, but also in the events that happened and the way he handled them. I am impressed by his level of honesty about himself--he does not paint himself to be pristine, but makes himself very human. It is in this exposure of his vulnerabilities, his fears, his insecurities that he becomes like us--simply human. On that level, we can connect to the story of his lif...more Barack Obama's life not only makes for a great story, it shows a lot about the character of the man telling it--both in the way he tells it, but also in the events that happened and the way he handled them. I am impressed by his level of honesty about himself--he does not paint himself to be pristine, but makes himself very human. It is in this exposure of his vulnerabilities, his fears, his insecurities that he becomes like us--simply human. On that level, we can connect to the story of his life and let it enrich our own experience.

On a personal note, one of the interesting bits for me was the chapter about his community organizing efforts in Chicago because he was working with an affiliate of the Gamaliel Foundation which ran the leadership program I went to last summer, so the language and methods he was using was all very familiar to me.

I said months ago that if Barack Obama tossed his hat in the ring for the 2008 Presidential race that I would change my registration to Democrat for the first time in my voting life so that I could vote for him in the primary. After reading this book, I am only more convicted in that decision. Senator Obama is the kind of man I want running my country. He is a man of integrity, who cares about the working poor of our nation. He has a global vision--he inherited that in part by the simple accident of his life, but he could have turned his back on the complicated messiness of his existence and tried to erase it all. He is a very smart man, and he could have just taken advantage of his Punahou education to go off to college and head into the corporate world forever. He could have made a good living, taken care of his own. Instead, he chose to explore and find a place in which he could call his soul his own, in which he could be authentically himself.

Obama does not have all the answers to the world's ills, but I am confident that he will look at the hard questions facing this nation and our global community with compassion, intelligence, and ethical values. I don't want a "Decider"--at least not at the cost of careful deliberation that keeps peace, liberty, and justice for all as the marks of success.

It is time for this nation to again be called to return to itself. To seek the beloved community, to become a beacon on the hill--calling the world to hear the call of our founding fathers for democracy, justice, and equality. It is time again for us to suffer the audacity of hope. It is time again for us to dream......less

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John rated it:

(review of isbn 1400082773)

08/13/08

Read in August, 2008

This book is really hard to review as I would any other book. The thing is, if this was just a book by a random state senator from Illinois, I would not give it a very good review. It has many problems. It is clear that this is a first effort, and it is frequently poorly written. It's filled with clumsy metaphors, unnecessarily long descriptions, stilted dialogue...and parts of it are really dull. He gets really wordy about things that don't require wordiness, for example, instead of just talkin...more This book is really hard to review as I would any other book. The thing is, if this was just a book by a random state senator from Illinois, I would not give it a very good review. It has many problems. It is clear that this is a first effort, and it is frequently poorly written. It's filled with clumsy metaphors, unnecessarily long descriptions, stilted dialogue...and parts of it are really dull. He gets really wordy about things that don't require wordiness, for example, instead of just talking about his college experiences, he has to present them as his memories, as he sits up with insomnia after an all night party, writing things like "me and Billie Holliday, her voice warbling through the darkened room, reaching towards me like a lover." It's when he gets to talking about people he knew, what he learned from them, that the book works, all his imagery, metaphor, self reflection stuff gets old quick.
But the thing is, he acknowledges all this in his preface, written while he was running for the US Senate four years ago. He talks about his clumsy words and how he wishes he could cut fifty pages now that he reads it over. And having read that, the overwhelming feeling I got while reading this was that, hey, he's a normal guy. I can identify with this guy, 30 years old, finishing grad school, trying to write a book about his family and experiences and giving it his best shot. Sure it's not perfect, but he's not pretending to be Hemingway here, he's just trying to tell his story. And really, how often do you get that from Presidential candidates, an unvarnished look at what they were thinking at age 30? And he's honest, when remembering times in his life when he was too quick to lecture, to be overly sensitive, to be condescending. He doesn't pretend that he's always had it all figured out.
Plus, you realize reading this, this guy has worked a day in his life. He's worked many days. He's worked really hard, and lived in small apartments, and had to go without luxuries. He's taken jobs that paid less than he could have made, in order to try to do things to help people. And he comes from people, on both sides of his family, who also are smart and kind and hardworking. Is he going to need to make some compromises in order to be elected president? Sure. But I think that inner guy will still be there. The guy who actually knows what it's like to work for a living and who gives a crap about people. It would be nice to have a guy like that for a president, instead of ol' silver spoon texas rangers owning heck of a job brownie Bush. ...less

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Donna rated it:

(review of isbn 1400082773)

07/05/08

bookshelves: biography

Read in June, 2008

As someone who came of age in the mid- to late sixties, I’ve been confused ever since about what those years really meant. My children have teased me about being a “hippy,” and until now, I never knew what to say to that. Somehow, I embraced many of the values of the sixties, but in no sense was I a “hippy.” At the time, I felt that our generation was doing something wonderful and important to move the world in a better direction; however, most of the real “hippies” I knew weren’...more As someone who came of age in the mid- to late sixties, I’ve been confused ever since about what those years really meant. My children have teased me about being a “hippy,” and until now, I never knew what to say to that. Somehow, I embraced many of the values of the sixties, but in no sense was I a “hippy.” At the time, I felt that our generation was doing something wonderful and important to move the world in a better direction; however, most of the real “hippies” I knew weren’t going anywhere, much less leading others in the right direction.

A combination of experiences in the past few weeks have led me to a much better understanding of what happened in the sixties and where I fit in—or would have fit in, had I been in the right place at the right time.

The youth movements of the era began with the “free speech” demonstrations at Berkeley. The fifties had been a period of social conformity and repression of ideas, and the Berkeley “radicals”—no doubt, in part, in reaction to the outrages of McCarthyism—blew that wide open. After their successful efforts to gain the rights to free speech and assembly on campuses, others of our generation had the freedom to take on the social issues of the day—most importantly, segregation, the Vietnam War, and assaults on the environment.

In the sixties, there was some Mecca-like quality to San Francisco, but I realize now that what made me feel like I should be there was not the make-love-not-war dropouts in Haight-Ashbury but the political activists across the Bay in Berkeley (most of whom had graduated and moved on by then). The values I admired were moral courage, intellectual honesty, and social commitment.

I've spent my entire adult life feeling that, as a nation, America missed her chance back then to incorporate those values into our national culture. But suddenly I find that maybe the truly great ideas of the sixties have been dormant, not dead. Suddenly, I woke up to a world in which the three contenders for the presidency of the United States were members of groups that have, until very recently, been marginalized in this country: a woman, an African-American, and a Vietnam veteran. And one of those leaders is a visionary and charismatic man who really may have the power to bring out the best in America and Americans.

Furthermore, I'm delighted to report that it's possible in America for a political leader to also be a literary writer. I thought that could only happen in France.

The book—and the man—have my vote....less

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Andreas rated it:

(review of isbn 1400082773)

06/25/08

Read in June, 2008

recommends it for: Political geeks, American voters

Despite Barack Obama's recent metamorphosis from the larger-than-life orator, the Messiah upon whom all our hopes for a better world could be placed, to what some people refer to as "Fast Eddie Obama, the promise-breaking, tough-minded Chicago pol who’d throw you under the truck for votes”, I remain a huge fan. As such, it was with great anticipation I sat down to read his 1994 best-seller "Dreams From my Father".

In short, part 1 grapples with Barack's upbringing as a mix...more Despite Barack Obama's recent metamorphosis from the larger-than-life orator, the Messiah upon whom all our hopes for a better world could be placed, to what some people refer to as "Fast Eddie Obama, the promise-breaking, tough-minded Chicago pol who’d throw you under the truck for votes”, I remain a huge fan. As such, it was with great anticipation I sat down to read his 1994 best-seller "Dreams From my Father".

In short, part 1 grapples with Barack's upbringing as a mixed-race kid in the USA of the 1960s and 1970s. He fights his sense of not belonging and reflects upon what being 'black' actually entails in a modern world. It describes in detail his sorrow for not knowing his father, and analyzes with great eloquence the influence his mother's nomadic life style has had on the personality he himself has turned into as a grown man. It is captivating, insightful and, as always when the great speechifier communicates pieces of his mind, done with great eloquence.

In the rotten environment that is US politics today, this book has acheived notoriety for two reasons, a total of about 50 words in a book of roughly 450 pages: Barack's admissions of his occasional dabbling in cocaine as a youth, and his attending a Muslim school during the time he spent in Indonesia. To pundits of a certain orientation, this is sufficient evidence of Barack's being both a junkie and, even worse, a Muslim. To them I have nothing to offer but contempt and a tired shake of the head.

Part 2 describes his years as a community organizer in Chicago. A personal story as it is, it is also an insightful account of the undoing of black society in the 80s. Where everyone seems to revel in the (possibly imagined, what do I know?) sense of belonging and community present in the 1940s and -50s, Barack's account is of a black community turning on itself. The lack of hope and subsequent frustration is described with a heartfelt sense of powerlessness that leaves the reader with a profound sense of emptiness. It seems eerily fitting when Barack, the black kid with options, decides to go to law school and is accused of abandoning his brethren to their fate.

Part 3 tells the tale of Barack's return to his father's homeland Kenya. Although doubtlessly an experience of great personal value to him, I felt this bit could have been edited down.

All in all, and I feel I use this phrase to an excessive degree in this forum, it is a compelling read. ...less

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Michael rated it:

(review of isbn 1400082773)

08/29/08

Read in July, 2008

It occurred to me that the easiest way to know more about Obama was to read this book and I was pleased (and a little surprised) to find it at the American University in Cairo bookstore.

I gave this three stars, but I don't know that I have a "my rating" for a book such as this. In some ways, it is a five star book (it tells so much about Obama that you don't otherwise hear) but at the same time it gets a bit tedious in places (a two star book).

Since this book was written lon...more It occurred to me that the easiest way to know more about Obama was to read this book and I was pleased (and a little surprised) to find it at the American University in Cairo bookstore.

I gave this three stars, but I don't know that I have a "my rating" for a book such as this. In some ways, it is a five star book (it tells so much about Obama that you don't otherwise hear) but at the same time it gets a bit tedious in places (a two star book).

Since this book was written long before Obama was a U.S. senator, one hardly imagines he wrote it thinking of himself as a future candidate for president in mind - and given what he reveals about himself, that must be true.

I found much that he said about his earlier life to improve my view of him, although I don't think it was written with that sort of self-serving goal in mind. In particular his description of his community organizing work in Chicago - it seemed to be incredibly frustrating yet he kept at it until he achieved some successes.

The only complaint I had about the book is that the last section that describes his visit to his father's family (or families) in Kenya goes on quite long and in more detail than seems useful to serve the author's purpose (or to interest the reader). Of course, the books _is_ "Dreams from my Father" but I'm not sure that the blow-by-blow account of his trip to Kenya adds much to understanding his relationship with his father. (One quickly realizes that his relationship or relationships with this hyper-extended family is complicated, to say the least.)

Certainly reading the book changed my view of Obama. For one thing, my God, what a complicated life history, yet punctuated with ordinary periods and activities for long stretches of time. It also became clear that while he is gifted, he grew into being someone who was a high achiever later than I would have guessed given that he graduated from Columbia and went to Harvard Law School - he started his college education at Occidental College after a somewhat indifferent high school career.

If he is going to be our president - and even if he isn't - it's worth reading. It's not like anything any president in the last hundred years has ever written before. If you skip or skim the last eighty or so pages, you won't miss anything.
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bill rated it:

(review of isbn 1400082773)

06/11/08

okay. first of all, i found it impossible while reading this book to forget, even for a moment, that its author might be our next president. this means it is very difficult to appraise the book on its own merits. but i will try. i should mention at the outset, in a spirit of full disclosure, that i am cautiously a supporter of obama, although i do not drink the kool-aid. i think he is a natural leader, well-organized & given to introspection, and i think this might be a nice change of pace f...more okay. first of all, i found it impossible while reading this book to forget, even for a moment, that its author might be our next president. this means it is very difficult to appraise the book on its own merits. but i will try. i should mention at the outset, in a spirit of full disclosure, that i am cautiously a supporter of obama, although i do not drink the kool-aid. i think he is a natural leader, well-organized & given to introspection, and i think this might be a nice change of pace for the US.
i just hope he knows what he's planning to do in office, because i sure don't. now on with it.

it's a good book. it's a thoughtful book exploring issues of race & family & community. mostly well-written with ocassional lapses into unnecessary dramatic-ness.
obama's background is an interesting one from which to reflect on race. most of his early comments, as he relates the story of his school years, read like recycled Baldwin & Wright. which he pretty much cops to when he gives us his reading list in college: Baldwin, Wright, DuBois, Ellison & Hughes.
his story acquires greater complexity when he writes about community organizing on the South Side of Chicago, and even more so when he finally goes to Kenya to meet his father's family.
this is not a great book, but it is a thoughtful & interesting book. and it is intelligent throughout.

as far as the possible president thing goes, this book confirms my feeling that his pride & arrogance are his weak spots, but also that those traits are balanced by a sort of humility, albeit an egotistical one. i suspect no one was ultimately more upset by his "clinging to their guns & religion" comment than he was, if only because i suspect he expects better from himself. if that's what keeps him centered, then fine.
the other thing that caught my attention was his repeated references to the world of "men". there's definitely a streak of male-centeredness in his worldview, although he treats his female characters sympathetically.

on the other hand, he wrote this book when he was 33, which was 13 years ago. hopefully his wife has educated him somewhat in the meantime....less

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Tien rated it:

(review of isbn 1400082773)

02/01/08

bookshelves: activism, currently-reading, memoir, politics, race-ethnicity

When Barack Obama’s father was a young man, he went with his father-in-law and friends to a bar in Hawaii where a man loudly complained about having to sit “next to a nigger.”

“The room fell quiet and people turned to my father, expecting a fight. Instead, my father stood up, walked over to the man, smiled, and proceeded to lecture him about the folly of bigotry, the promise of the American dream, and the universal rights of man.”

The man apologized, and he tried to show how sor...more When Barack Obama’s father was a young man, he went with his father-in-law and friends to a bar in Hawaii where a man loudly complained about having to sit “next to a nigger.”

“The room fell quiet and people turned to my father, expecting a fight. Instead, my father stood up, walked over to the man, smiled, and proceeded to lecture him about the folly of bigotry, the promise of the American dream, and the universal rights of man.”

The man apologized, and he tried to show how sorry he was by giving Obama’s father a hundred dollars.

This story expanded my idea of what is possible. I was inspired by Obama's father strength of spirit and by the bar patron who listened to him, let go of his prejudices, and was able to see their common humanity. The story healed a part of me that was broken, a part of me that had grown afraid over the last seven years to hope that people could change.

Obama's campaign fills me with such hope for the future -- hope that the federal government will establish universal health care, repair our relations with other countries, and finally begin to seriously address climate change. It has given me hope that we could have a president who listens to us.

These challenges we face are great, and we need everyone to get involved to create stronger, greener, healthier communities.

What impresses me the most about Obama is his ability to empower others with the belief that their actions do make a difference. The record turnouts at primaries is a testament to his power to inspire action. His message has motivated one of my friends in Massachusetts to organize her college campus and another friend in California to serve as precinct captain. When I read Obama's Myspace page, I am moved by the young people of color who write that he has inspired them to pursue careers in public service.

Obama and his millions of enthusiastic supporters have inspired me to make a donation, phone bank, and, on Tuesday, I will vote in my first primary. Like Obama's story of his father, they have inspired me to re-envision what I think is possible.

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