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Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance Hardcover – January 9, 2007

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Publisher

Crown
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January 9, 2007
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Product details

ASIN : B0029LHWFO
Publisher : Crown; Reprint edition (January 9, 2007)
Item Weight : 2.45 pounds

Best Sellers Rank: #4,275,517 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews:
5,671 ratings

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5 star		83%
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Top reviews from the United States

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Kindle Customer

This was a difficult book for a 66 year old white woman to read.

Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2019

Verified Purchase

Reading this book gave me a look into the struggles of being black in America. It made me uncomfortable at times as it should have. I'd recommend this book to anyone who is willing to look into the soul of what it feels like to be black.

146 people found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2018

Verified 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.

91 people found this helpful

A Poignant Book

Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2018

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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.

51 people found this helpful

I particularly liked reading about his family in Africa and the time ...

Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2017

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It's clear how from Obama's life how he became such a eloquent, elegant, intellectual, disciplined, balanced and compassionate man. I am impressed at how fascinating his life has been and by that I mean before his presidency. I am a big fan of Obama and his family based on what he achieved as our 44th president but after reading the book I know he earned every bit of his soulful nature. Well written and enjoyably readable, he is candid about his achievements and failures. His humanness but yet his extraordinary perseverance make him a fascinating main character. I particularly liked reading about his family in Africa and the time he spent with them. I have no doubt how formative it was for him to be a biracial, half African, half midwestern American living his childhood largely with his grandparents in Oahu having also spent a few of his young years in Indonesia with his mother and stepfather. This is a treat to read!!!!

62 people found this helpful

A memoir that will stand the test of time

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2017

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It's a wonder I haven't read this book before. Since I first heard about it, I knew it would eventually drift my way and I am thankful it has. Barack's story, like so many others, is one of identity, affirmation, and of his profound sense of being present. Through eloquence and a seemingly poetic choice of words, we ride with him on a bumpy train of curiosity, loss, self exploration, personal development, persistence and joy. We visit each home and at each instance he brings it to life wrapping it in context and history and forcing readers to consider its impact on those involved.

As an African American man who has gained some momentum in being authentically me, I appreciate how much of him is also an amalgamation of those closest to him. Thank you Barack for sitting down and taking the time to share your journey with me, it was a worthy venture to explore this chapter in your life. However, as it should be, I'm left wanting more.

41 people found this helpful

What an amazing book!

Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2018

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I remember being astounded when Senator Barack Obama spoke at the 2004 Democratic convention, by his eloquence, compassion, intelligence and humanity, not to mention his poise and magnetic presence. While you expect political speeches to be impressive, his have consistently exceeded his peers. Nevertheless, I put off reading this book for many months after buying it not expecting to experience a book that is as well written and compelling as the best authors of all time. This book will join the select few books I read many times.

I grew up visiting my great, great aunts and uncles, and great grandmother/genealogist/treasure keeper/artist. It's staggering to read of President Obama's father's complex family and seems overwhelming to imagine being introduced to the family and country in such a short time. It's also difficult to fathom the hole it would leave to not grow up with generations of family. His story of discovering his roots is magnificent.

17 people found this helpful

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

Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2017

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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.

28 people found this helpful

Top reviews from other countries

GEORGINA R.

Should be mandatory reading

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 23, 2019

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Barack Obama is a superb writer. You might expect that from such a persuasive orator, but remember he wrote this book long before he reached the heady-heights of running for US President. And he writes with such literary skill. You can almost see, feel, touch and smell the faraway lands of which he writes... Hawaii, Indonesia, Kenya and then of course the grittiness of NYC, Chicago. More than this though, which is beautiful and worthy in its own right, this book offers insight. Insight into what it means to be mixed race in a developed nation such as America, a minority, and the constant drive to find meaning and your place of comfort in the world.

Personally I think we should all read this book. Firstly, because for those of us who are non-black we will learn an awful lot that we didn't know about how it feels to be black in America. And secondly, because the majority of us are part of a minority group in some aspect of our lives. This book teaches us what being a minority can do to you, how difficult it can be, including how hard it is to come together as minorities and organise ourselves to bring about change. This book also teaches us that determination and small wins matter. That they can help make a difference. And that bringing about change is important at grassroots level and at leadership levels. It has also helped me to learn about 'organisation', which in itself is also fascinating.

Superb book. Someone should make this guy President.... ;-)

22 people found this helpful

SocialBookshelves.com

and it’s pretty easy to see how his early life is still ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 22, 2015

Verified Purchase

You might have heard of Mr. Obama before – you know, he’s the president of that country that everyone keeps banging on about. This is his first book, written and released before he even got in to politics, and created at the behest of a publishing company after he became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.

In many ways, that seems to make the book somehow pure, as though it’s a preserved distilling of the president’s personality when he was a younger man, and it’s pretty easy to see how his early life is still shaping him, even today. In fact, after reading this, I’ve found that it feels as though I know him, as though I could predict how he’ll react in different situations.

But really, that’s not what this book is about – he may be the president now, but that wasn’t always the case, and his book looks back at his early life and examines his feelings towards the father that was never there, his African roots and what being a black American actually means. It’s a fascinating study of race relations in America in the 1970s and 1980s, and what’s more poignant is the fact that while Obama does indeed look at the differences between black people and white people, he eventually concludes that the colour of our skin doesn’t define us.

That’s not to say that he doesn’t face struggles along the way, though – Obama also examines his own biases, and the unintentional way in which we come to judgements all of the time. He himself is guilty of stereotyping, but he tries to correct himself and that in itself is honourable.

Of course, it’s also fascinating to read about his exploits as a kid, and his trips to Kenya and Indonesia, or his work in Chicago trying to make the city a better place before he eventually applied for and was accepted in to Harvard. Turns out that Barack is a pretty good writer, and it shows – it was of a professional quality, with no typos or unnatural sounding sentences. Even the dialogue that he recreates sounds natural and fits perfectly with the character, who are of course real people.

Overall, I’d say that this is well worth a read whether you’re an American or not, and whether or not Obama is still president by the time that you read this. The identity of the author doesn’t really matter – the book speaks for itself, and it has a lot of stuff to say to you, too.

52 people found this helpful

Anon

Excellent

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 10, 2017

Verified Purchase

Beautifully written. As an African myself I was taken back in time to my own experiences good and bad. Obama conveys his journey with emotion and frankness. I struggled on many occasions to put this book down. It is captivating. Highly recommended...and hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I am proud of this book from my African brother from another mother.

22 people found this helpful

E J FLETT

A good, honest man

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 22, 2017

Verified Purchase

Finished this book just before Donald Trump's election, talk about chalk and cheese, what a fantasic, humble, decent guy Barack seems to be.I loved reading about his family life and how it formed his personality.

22 people found this helpful

Jane Trueman

A great insight

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 4, 2017

Verified Purchase

I had this on my Kindle for months, thinking I must read it but wondering if it might be a bit heavy. How wrong I was. It's beautifully written and draws you in from the beginning. Obama's early life is full of surprises.

19 people found this helpful

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