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The Dream Begins: How Hawaii Shaped Barack Obama

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This book explores the early formative years of Barack Obama in Hawai'i and Indonesia. It presents the pieces of Barack's life that he and his opponents have attributed to shaping his world view, without slanting the data for reaching a partisan conclusion, allowing the reader to reach their own opinions.

Stu and Jerry, both long time Hawai'i residents and writers for the Honolulu Advertiser, draw on their decades on knowledge of not just Hawai'i politics, but Oahu politics and pedestrian life to craft a protrait of Barack's Punahou years.

Stu and Jerry skillful use all available research to provide a look at Barack's time in Indonesia and give the reader the facts about his schooling while aboard, including his time at a Muslim school registered with the last name of his step father, and consequently his step father's religion.

I recommend this book to everyone who is simply looking for the facts on Barack Obama, unshaded by partisan spin or foredrawn conclusions.

I read the book and was facinated how the authors described Hawaii during the time of statehood through the 1970s. I grew up in Hawaii and have been wondering when will our country hear about his Hawaii roots and values. I always told people Obama's draw is the Aloha Spirit. He made a speech on his vacation in Hawaii in August. As a fellow, Hawaiian living on the mainland, I am proud of Mr. Obama and what he has accomplished. I was surprised and delighted to read Dr. Ronald Takaki's perspective on Barack Obama's campaign. Ronald Takaki wrote the theory of race in the US and created the first African American Studies Program at UCLA. Dr. Takaki is also from Hawaii.

I also learned more about Hawaii during the time that I lived there and was unaware of some of the political and social forces around the 1970s, and around statehood. I would encourage anyone who wants to learn about Barack Obama to read this book as it covers his first 18 years of life. Thank you for writing this book.

This politically unbiased book takes us through the early years of Barack Obama. It also reaches further back to inform us about his parents and grandparents. "The Dream Begins..." is an easy and informative read for both Republicans and Democrats. Stu and Jerry have provided us with a book that doesn't take sides, it tells the story of a man and his families and I appreciate the experience of reading an unbiased book, a book that doesn't berate or denigrate anyone. I found the book fascinating to read and enjoyed every word.

The quote of Michelle Obama on the cover of the book "You can't really understand Barack Obama until you understand Hawaii reminded me of the day to day reality I experienced while living in Hawaii. The remembering of the Ohana spirit of Hawaii, loosely translated, the family spirit and the learning to get along. The authors were able to relay that spirit to us the readers, the spirit of Hawaii. That is the spirit I see emanating from Barack Obama as he winds his way through the political process. It seems to me in the year 2008 the world is now an island and we need the Ohana spirit to stretch around the world, our island.

The authors, long time writers on the Hawaii scene have furnished us with a very in depth understanding of how Hawaii shaped Barack Obama.

This description of the impact described in this book of different ethnicities in Hawaii was as honest and authentic an explanation as I have seen. The authors avoided the hackneyed and simplistic platitudes that are common descriptions of Hawaii race relations and undertook a description, through common experiences that anyone who has lived in the Islands for years will easily identify. When I moved to Hawaii as a young ACLU civil rights lawyer in 1973, race was part of our collective consciousness and the lens through which we tried to sort out the differences and similarities of our friends and enemies. It was part of our effort to understand some concept of social justice in such a confusing ethnic mix. I found this book's descriptions of Obama's navigation through similar confusion that resulted in shaping his own identity eerily familiar. I am not sure why but I suspect it is because it is a process that many of us go through in understanding ourselves when we are forced to confront the reality that no one is an ethnic majority in Hawaii. That is what the authors captured in the book and I think it will be fascinating to Hawaii readers.



I also think The Dream Begins: How Hawaii Shaped Barack Obama will be interesting to an anxious world trying to understand Obama. Never has there been a candidate with such a diverse and very interesting background or one who has been subject to the particular forces that shaped who he is. In many ways who Obama is and where he came from seems to be one the big questions of the campaign which this book has answered. In fact, it goes one step further. This books connects his unique experience and background to values and ideals that will shape a cosmopolitan world view as President. I also compliment the authors for avoiding a rash of conclusions about that topic but instead allow the reader the space to draw conclusions from your many anecdotes and quotes. The books describes Hawaii's institutions like Punahou, unions, state government with a candor and dignity that feels free of value judgments and I think is substantially fair and accurate.

I have to say also, that there is a bit of affectionate nostalgia that Hawaii readers will experience as they relive those tidbits of contemporary culture of the 70s in Hawaii. To me that was very entertaining that made the book readable and fun.

This book will comprise one of the essential elements in the puzzle that seeks to understand Obama and Hawaii.

The Dream Begins is a wonderful book about Barack Obama's life in Hawaii. I was a haole then, living and working on the Islands. The authors have captured a unique time - Hawaiian Nationalism was rising, new immigrants were flowing in from Asia, intermarriage was celebrated among all ethnicities. The authors have given us a portrait of Barack Obama that can't be found anywhere else - even in his own memoirs. I was a haole, a distinct minority, which was a new experience for this mainlander. The islands held within them a whole new people and this book shows how Barack Obama was shaped by this beautiful world. This new Eden.

"Aloo's" review, and the others so far, make me realize what is so fascinating about this book - its very deft description of an amazing multi-cultural place, and how that can have a great (positive) effect on someone growing up there. It's more than a cliche to say that growing up in Hawaii is probably at the core of who Obama is, now that I've been reading the book and read these reviews. I'm from New Mexico, and our multi-cultural society and its effects could be described much the same way, as this book makes me aware. And that "rainbow" effect on someone proposing to lead a multi-cultural country (which, sorry folks, this is!) is critical, in fact perhaps necessary. Obama seems to have internalized an understanding of people at their core, not just dealing adeptly with "constituent groups" or whatever. Congratulations to authors Glauberman and Burris for some very, very thoughtful and sensitive writing about an elusive culture and its positive effect on a young man.

I've ordered a second copy of this book for East Coast friends who were surprised to learn "Obama's not from Chicago." It would be hard to overstate the impact of a Hawaii-based childhood on any person. The multicultural, multiracial mix in the islands is at once liberating and constraining. It doesn't matter what you are, you'll be fully accepted on one hand and tragically discriminated against on the other. It gives one a walk in others' shoes.

Burris and Glauberman are clearly journalists cut from old cloth -- the kind that just give you the facts without hitting you over the head with opinion. Their style is clean and clear. Whether you're an Obama fan or not, knowing the cultural roots that fed him will point to some level of understanding. Besides, Punahou School is a thing unto itself. More diverse and interesting than Lawrenceville, it has turned out quite a few masters (and mistresses) of the universe.

It is easy to see how our President has been influenced by the importance of "Ohana" (the family) so strong in the culture of the islands. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has not experienced the "Aloha" spirit of the islands, and how our President learned to respect the diversity of cultures in the world. The President is the pride of the islands...as written in a Hawaiian song dedicated to his spirit and his great accomplishments.

No one who didn't grow up in the unique atmosphere of Hawai`i -- particularly Hawai`i in the heady 1970s, when Barack Obama was attending the state's second-best preparatory school -- can ever entirely grasp what that place was like and how it shapes a person. I was there too for while (except for the school part), so I can attest that "The Dream Begins" is not another hagiographic biography of The One (though it has a few elements of that). It is also a pretty impressively done review of the unique cultural conditions in the Aloha State and how they, combined with Obama's own complex family background, helped create the man we inaugurate today.

As befits two longtime journalists, "The Dream Begins" reads sort of like an extended newspaper feature article. It's a fast read, but not oversimplified or cliched, and a balanced look at Hawai`i's racial tensions past and present. Glauberman and Burris cover a lot of ground, and even readers in or familiar with Hawai`i will appreciate the authors' ability to make connections and present history in an engaging way. If it is true, as the quotation from Michelle Obama on the cover argues, that "You can't really understand Barack until you understand Hawai`i," "The Dream Begins" is a good way to get the foundation you need.

Understanding the environment in which someone was raised gives insight as to how they developed their values. In "The Dream Begins: How Hawai'i Shaped Barack Obama" A truly remarkable book, authors Glauberman and Burris examines Barack Obama's early years in Hawai'i. This timely book discusses the history of Hawai'i including, cultural influences, values, and tradition. Obama's paternal and maternal family histories as well as his years in Indonesia are included. Interviews of teachers and classmates of Punahou School where Barack attended give personal insight to the narrative. Easy to read, with multiple facets of Hawaii's history and culture this book reveals how it has shaped Barack Obama and still influences him today. A must have addition to any library. Recommended for anyone wanting to know more about Barack Obama's personal background.