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bill's Reviews > Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
by Barack Obama
by Barack Obama
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.
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.
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Eddie
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Jun 12, 2008 09:37am
Thanks for reading this for me. I doubt I'd ever get to it. Nice to know he's "given to introspection", but since I'd like to see him win I hope he doesn't get too introspective which might lead him to realize how crazy it is to even want to be president in the first place.
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