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Interviews | January 3, 2012

Jill Owens: IMG Naomi Benaron: The Powells.com Interview

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Naomi BenaronRunning the Rift is the most recent winner of the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, as awarded by Barbara Kingsolver. It's also an... Continue »
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8 Hawthorne African American Studies- General

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

by Barack Obama

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance Cover

ISBN13: 9781400082773
ISBN10: 1400082773
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey—first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mothers family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his fathers life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance.

Pictured in lefthand photograph on cover: Habiba Akumu Hussein and Barack Obama, Sr. (President Obama's paternal grandmother and his father as a young boy). Pictured in righthand photograph on cover: Stanley Dunham and Ann Dunham (President Obama's maternal grandfather and his mother as a young girl).

Review:

"[A] poignant, probing memoir of an unusual life....Obama leaves some lingering questions — his mother is virtually absent — but still has written a resonant book." Publishers Weekly

Review:

"Obama argues with himself on almost every page of this lively autobiographical conversation....Obama is candid about racism and poverty and corruption, in Chicago and in Kenya. Yet he does find community and authenticity..." Hazel Rochman, Booklist

Review:

"Fluidly, calmly, insightfully, Obama guides us straight to the intersection of the most serious questions of identity, class, and race." Washington Post Book World

Review:

"Obama's writing is incisive yet forgiving. This is a book worth savoring." Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here

Synopsis:

The son of a black African father and white American mother discusses his divided ancestry and his place in America's racial society, analyzing the demands of racial identity and culture, multiculturalism, and the quest for his own racial identity.
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About the Author

Barak Obama was elected President of the United States on November 4, 2008. He is also the author of the New York Times bestseller The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 9 comments:
Shoshana, May 31, 2010 (view all comments by Shoshana)
Obama's autobiography to 1995. It's a little dry at times, though all of the content is interesting. Since he wrote it before his presidential bid, it's much less guarded/sanitized than it could have been if written later. He describes a lot of the phenomena associated with being black or multiracial in the U.S., and some of the ways that colonialism affected Africans. I could see teaching with it in a graduate diversity course.
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LOrain, January 1, 2010 (view all comments by LOrain)
I think this book changed how I think about race and a persons ability to change society. The fact that Obama was able to write this book played an enormous role in his ability to get elected. I wouldn't have felt as confident supporting him if I hadn't read his story. He is an excellent communicator, but he mature understanding of himself and his place in the world show him to be wiser than most any other politician.
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itpdx, December 16, 2009 (view all comments by itpdx)
I resist reading political autobiographies because I am sure that they will be self-serving drivel. But this was selected by my book group and I am glad it was. It was written after law school and covers Obama's childhood and, what is now termed his "discovery years" as he drifts trying to figure out who he is and what he should do. This edition was printed in 2004 after Obama was elected to the senate and includes an introduction written at that time, but, supposedly, no revisions.

It focuses on two things--what it means to be African American in the US post WWII and his family background--his mother and her parents who were very involved in his childhood, his Indonesian step-father and his absent and elusive Kenyan father. Nurture and nature--what traits he possibly inherited and the values that were instilled and the ones that he adopted.

I really enjoyed imagining what some of the people in the book-Indonesian playmates, classmates at Punahoe, etc. have made of his election.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9781400082773
Author:
Obama, Barack
Publisher:
Broadway Books
Author:
Obama, Barack
Author:
Various
Author:
Kennedy, Patrick J
Subject:
People of Color
Subject:
Race relations
Subject:
Racism
Subject:
Personal Memoirs
Subject:
Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General
Subject:
cultural heritage
Subject:
African Americans
Subject:
Obama, Barack
Subject:
Political
Subject:
Biography - General
Subject:
General Political Science
Copyright:
2004
Edition Number:
1st
Edition Description:
Trade paper
Publication Date:
August 2004
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
16 pp b/w photos for insert
Pages:
464
Dimensions:
9.00 x 6.00 in 1.00 lb
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Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$7.50 In Stock
Product details 464 pages Three Rivers Press (CA) - English 9781400082773 Reviews:
"Review" by , "[A] poignant, probing memoir of an unusual life....Obama leaves some lingering questions — his mother is virtually absent — but still has written a resonant book."
"Review" by , "Obama argues with himself on almost every page of this lively autobiographical conversation....Obama is candid about racism and poverty and corruption, in Chicago and in Kenya. Yet he does find community and authenticity..."
"Review" by , "Fluidly, calmly, insightfully, Obama guides us straight to the intersection of the most serious questions of identity, class, and race."
"Review" by , "Obama's writing is incisive yet forgiving. This is a book worth savoring."
"Synopsis" by , The son of a black African father and white American mother discusses his divided ancestry and his place in America's racial society, analyzing the demands of racial identity and culture, multiculturalism, and the quest for his own racial identity.
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