Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance Paperback – August 10, 2004

Genuine autobiography without the politics

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Will Yan

March 30, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A well-written book with unique insight on the early thinking of our future President. Although it is not a traditional autobiography, it has an even-paced narrative that sounds genuine and non-political. The only downside from my perspective is the lack of closure with his experience as a community organizer in Chicago. It seems that he accomplished a lot in Chicago and he vowed to return after his time in Harvard. But I'm curious to know the progress of Altgeld Gardens. Did he pick up where he left off? Or did he simply moved on because there's not much else he could've done. All in all, it's a very good read.

6 people found this helpful

Fantastic memoir from someone who would become our 44th president.

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Joseph Thomas

July 2, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I wanted to read this over the length of his presidency, but it never happened. It was a great read. Really helped me understand inner city life and the struggles of the black community. I appreciate his honesty and how hard he fought to make people's lives easier. Makes sense why he was such a great president. I was especially moved with how he explained the challenges of being both white and black. Such a great memoir. Fantastic.

5 people found this helpful

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July 18, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

As Joe Scarborough has joked, Obama wrote his autobiography before he had really done anything. There are benefits
to this. The Audacity of Hope was written when he was already a Senator and about to run for President, and by then
his political skills had developed considerably. I expect that his next memoir will be extremely well written and polished.
But Dreams From My Father is the book that most explains who Obama is. His strengths and weaknesses, which make
him so admired by many and feared by his opponents, come out strongly. Opponents of Obama will find reasons to empathize
with his experience and that of his family, but also will see how that experience shaped his worldview that was imposed on
the American people. This book should also show why many people voted for him in the first place, not only because
he is an eloquent speaker and skilled writer, but because he has a compelling personal story.

Besides the trip to Kenya to search for his family roots, there is an extended reflection on his experience in Chicago as a
community organizer. I think this reveals a lot about Obama's qualities as well. There is a true desire to help and improve,
an intellectual talent, and yet there's always a geographical displacement and emotional detachment, an outsider's perspective
looking in, that somehow distances him even as he tries to immerse in the milieu. (Contrast Bill Clinton's I feel your pain). He is
sensitive, perhaps too sensitive and questioning, and yet somehow not empathetic enough for the opposing point of view (e.g.
pro life). The end of the book has a reflection from a few years later on being a law student, on justifying the justice system for the
powerless, making clear that he was not only liberal but radical. This shows how in his later political career, even when he tried
to transcend partisanship and made a lot of intellectual deliberation, he almost always arrived at conclusions on the left end of
the spectrum, because he was coming from the far left end. For instance, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, from whom he later had to
distance himself, is just a regular normal character in the narrative but was in fact a radical liberationist in his theology.
To me the book resembles, in some respects, even the gentle but dark humor, Dennis Kucinich's Courage to Survive, where
he did in Cleveland what Obama did in Chicago. I can see why Kucinich eventually endorsed Obama even though by 2008 he
had smoothed out his radicalism.

Despite the conflict between Western liberalism and traditional African values, Obama is very much a feminist and the Western position
won out despite his sympathy for Africa. And yet one of the more compelling passages of the book for me, not politically but personally,
is at the end where he reflects on how even in a family where the women have held together, the men have often been plagued by
doubts about their race and their masculinity and the cruelty that being male can bring with it. Regardless of politics, that is something
that the Obama family seems to have modeled well and overcome in the next generation, with his daughters although he didn't have boys.

One person found this helpful

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June 22, 2018

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

The best version of this is the audio version which Obama reads himself, even with different accents. This is a poignant book which describes his multi-cultural, biracial upbringing and thus explains his constant urge to help people understand each other, his desire to bridge divides. I had a paperback copy but I bought both the hardback version of the book, for enjoyment in the years to come, and the audio, which is captivating.

3 people found this helpful

This is well written but a tad boring.

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Marcel

June 26, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is well written but a tad boring. The author has enough sense of humor to season it a bit but didn't use it. Too bad.
This is an early work from our former president and it somewhat shows in the delivery.
That said, it addresses and evidences the difficulties inherent to a bi-racial/bi-families child.

One person found this helpful

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March 16, 2018

Format: Audio CDVerified Purchase

I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. Obama clearly did not expect to run for POTUS when he wrote it and I appreciate the honesty and candor with which he discussed his life. I enjoyed this much more than I expected. I listened to Hillbilly Eligy just prior to this and the books compliment each other well though the authors are on different sides of the political spectrum.

One person found this helpful

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April 14, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Dreams from My Father depicts a young boy searching to make sense of himself through his father's absence while fighting the daily racisms and backlashes of this country. Obama's voice jumps off the pages and into our own narratives as we, the reader, join his journey of family, love, lost memories, and identity.

One person found this helpful

I didn't think I could hold Obama in higher esteem. But now I do.

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