26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Very Disappointing, September 22, 2009
This review is from: Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage (Hardcover)
This book seemed so promising. It was supposed to be a more intimate look at the Obamas' marriage. However, it is basically a rehash of what was already reported in newspapers, magazines, or culled from interviews and other public comments. It doesn't seem to really focus on the marriage so much as it retells Barack's journey to the White House. I didn't get the behind-the-scenes details the book promised. Several of the Michelle/Barack quotes inserted in the text as if the author interviewed them himself are actually quotes from network evening news interviews that I even remember watching. I think the author also rehashed bits from Barack's Dreams from My Father. There are a few tiny details that I didn't know about - his roommate in NYC and his impressions. That's about it. Everything else is pretty old news. Overall, this books offers very little insight into the Obama marriage and partnership.
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16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Save your money!, September 29, 2009
This review is from: Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage (Hardcover)
The book's quotations are almost all from articles written about the Obamas during the campaign, from Obama's own book, or from David Mendell's bio of Obama. Christopher Andersen's "research" consisted of pulling together work that others did to make a quick buck off of the public's interest in the Obamas. In addition, there are numerous errors throughout the book including getting addresses, dates, etc. You'll get a better sense of the Obama marriage by reading David Mendell's book (see, there's an author who actually conducted his own interviews), or any of the freely available profiles written about the Obamas.
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20 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Riddled with errors, conjecture and non-sourced assertions, September 27, 2009
This review is from: Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage (Hardcover)
I was looking forward to reading this, thinking the author might come up with some unique insight into the Obama marriage. I was aware that the Obamas and their close friends would probably not cooperate with such a book, and I was also aware that Christopher Andersen is a bit of a hackish celebrity biographer, but I still had hopes that he might do some actual investigative work and come up with some new interviews and sources of information.
I was wrong. If you've read magazine articles about the Obamas (or Obama's own 2 books), you've already read all the information about their marriage contained in this book. But that's not the worst part. The worst part is that Andersen makes blanket assertions that are not attributed to any named source or backed up by any discernible proof. (There are also no end-notes in the book that would indicate who was interviewed and what the sources for particular assertions are. Such end-notes are customary for any biography that wants to be taken seriously).
For instance, he makes the blanket assertion that Obama was in church the day the Rev. Wright made his "God D*** America" sermon. If you followed the 2008 campaign at all, you know that this was actually a very big topic of discussion. Obama says he was not in attendance during that controversial sermon. Hundreds of reporters could not find ANY proof that he was. Neither the Clinton or McCain campaigns, who would have dearly loved to find such proof, could find ANY indication that he was. In fact, the Obama campaign released proof of his official schedule for that day that showed he was actually in Florida on the day in question. Yet here comes Christopher Andersen in his book saying definitively that Obama attended that sermon. That's a pretty bold assertion. He's saying Obama lied. He's saying he found something no other reporter could find in a year of investigation. He should be proud of his "scoop" and tell us how he got this information. Who's his source?... Answer: there is no source. Andersen just makes the assertion, with NO named source or proof for it.
This brazen act of making stunning assertions with NO named sources is repeated throughout the book. He makes the stunning claim that former Weatherman Bill Ayers helped Obama write his first book. What? Who's the source for this? Again, there is none. Repeat, there is NO NAMED SOURCE for this or any other of these assertions. (I remember this bizarre allegation making the rounds of the right-wing blogosphere last year, again without any proof. Andersen simply repeats the fevered imaginings of certain websites here as if they are established fact. He adds no sources or proof of his own. He seems to have just collected any rumors or slanders that bounced around the internet last year and put them in his book as both filler and as a way to attract readers from both sides of the political aisle).
It inspires no confidence in any careful reader that the rest of the book is remotely truthful. It also doesn't help that there are numerous silly errors throughout the book, such as random misspellings of Barack's name as "Barrack" and CBS 60 Minutes reporter Steve Kroft is referred to repeatedly as "Steve Croft".
Pure and simple, this book is a cut-and-paste job combined with unsourced mudslinging. Avoid this travesty and wait for a real reporter to write a book about the Obamas.
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