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Barack Obama: The Story Hardcover – June 19, 2012

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David Maraniss (Author)
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David Maraniss (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars 161 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 672 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (June 19, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1439160406
  • ISBN-13: 978-1439160404
  • Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1.5 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (161 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #583,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsEarly Life of an Unusual Man
By Joseph Palen on August 30, 2012
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
This is a very well researched story of the young Barack Obama, his father, Kenyon Barack Obama Sr. (whose brilliance was compromised by arrogance and alcohol), his mother Anne, (who gave him the genes of an explorer of life, as an escapee from Kansas ), and the before-Michelle women in his life (notably, all white). It not only digs much deeper into his early life than Obama's "Dreams from My Father", it also spends a lot of time (too much I think) correcting and explaining the 1995 autobiography, which was a work of art, but by Obama's own admission played fast and loose with timelines and characters. The theme of the book is how, through a first class education, life experiences in Hawaii, Indonesia, Kenya, California, New York, and Chicago, Barack Obama became the person he is today, with the brilliance and ambition of his father, and the compassion infused fix-the-world-spirit of his mother.

Obama's mother's Midwest roots did not come from exactly an ideal white picket fence family, and included a grandmother who committed suicide, a father who was a big talker, but could not hold a job, and a mother who worked - something unheard of in Kansas, until WW II made it more necessary and then respectable. Moving many times for father to find a new job, and gradually moving west, they all ended up in Hawaii where Obama's mother briefly married his father from Kenya and bore him, then married an Indonesian and moved with Barack to Jakarta. Barack later went back to school in Hawaii, and on from there to Occidental, Columbia, and eventually to Harvard, where his father also studied.

His Father from Kenya was recognized by everyone he knew as exceptionally brilliant, but somewhat arrogant and difficult to deal with.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsStrengths and weaknesses defined by nature and nurture
By jem on June 28, 2012
Format: Hardcover
Maraniss has the ability and the commitment to confront the age-old issue: how is our unique identify defined by our genes and our environment? Barack Obama is an exceptionally rich, but difficult, subject. The author is not writing a typical biography, but delivers the deepest and most revealing analysis of Obama that I've read.

However, this book is not for everyone. If you firmly believe Obama was not born in Hawaii, save yourself arguing with an author determined to discover truth. If you are an Obama loyalist who will be distressed to find that in "Dreams From My Father" he compressed chronology and assigned pseudonyms save yourself the disappointment.

If you find yourself both amazed and frustrated by Obama's abilites to function in interracial and international environments, his negotiating and compromising skills in problem-solving situations, his inspiring speeches and his aloof coolness, you will be rewarded with deeper understanding of a very complicated person.

Maraniss relies heavily on personal interviews rather than secondary sources and he finds many, many details not previously published. Traveling to Kenya, Kansas, Indonesia, Hawaii, California, New York, Chicago and Washington,DC he questions relatives, friends, and competitors, to create a thorough perspective of his very diverse subject. This book does not extend into Obama's political career, but focuses on his formative years moving through family, school, and community environments in which he is invariably -- and feels he is -- an outsider trying to find his place in the world.

I turned the final page feeling thankful for such an objective viewpoint during a time of high partisanship. It is comforting to realize our president is a human being shaped by the very institutions of the country he leads.
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5.0 out of 5 starsThe truest account of the forces that shaped Obama
By Z on June 26, 2012
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This book reminds me in a way of Robert Penn Warren's masterpiece, "All the King's Men." WIth its gripping writing, color, characters and narrative, David Maraniss' "Barack Obama: The Story" feels like a great American novel.

Yet it is a meticulously researched, journalistic and true account of the forces that shaped our president's life. It begins decades before Obama was born and ends when he is still in his 20s. At a time of fleeting accounts of political figures, this book is for history.

Individual chapters could stand on their own as masterful tales of shifting politics and culture in places like Kansas, Kenya, Hawaii and Chicago in the years preceding and following Obama's birth. But they are all tied together by Obama's journey, and you find yourself moving through time and place, seeing it all through Obama's eyes -- as well as those of his family, friends, romantic partners.

This isn't an anti- or pro-Obama book. Maraniss does not praise or criticize the president. He doesn't throw bombshells. Nor does he need to. Rather, Maraniss has found every fact he can about Obama's history, pieced them together in a story that finds drama in Obama as a regular human being struggling with the question of who he is.

In short, Maraniss has pulled back every layer of artificiality about Obama's past -- promulgated by both Republicans and Democrats -- and written the truest account of the young life that shaped today's president.
14 Comments 106 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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5.0 out of 5 starsDeeply Researched, Fair, Compelling Bio
By The Book Guy on July 10, 2012
Format: Hardcover
I found it interesting that in his published review of this book, Pulitzer Prize winner T.J. Stiles said he felt sorry for David Maraniss because he believed that many readers, on both sides of the political aisle, would dismiss this book without ever reading a page. They'd either think it was a hatchet job or a puff piece, just because that's how our political culture seems to work these days -- people are so unaccustomed to a political book without a slanted agenda. To Stiles' lament I'd add that it's a shame that many of the customer reviews on this page reflect less on the book itself than on the readers' opinions of the president. It's a shame, because this is a great biography. It's not a typical bio -- Maraniss calls it a "generational" biography, and the early chapters examine Obama's ancestors in both Kansas and Kenya, tracing the paths that led to the improbable meeting of Obama's mother and father in Hawaii. In its rich detail and terrific reporting (Maraniss traveled the globe to find friends, relatives and yes, ex-girlfriends) the rest of the book gives readers a deeper understanding of Obama's upbringing in Hawaii and Indonesia, his college years at Occidental and Columbia, and his first forays into the working world in New York and Chicago. We see how he made a very conscious decision to figure out who he was and what he wanted to do with his life. It was amazing to me to realize as I was reading this book just how little I really knew about the President of the United States, someone you'd think you know pretty well by this point. Maraniss has given us a deeper understanding of the president and the forces that shaped him, and because he avoids the politics of the moment (the book ends as Obama heads off to Harvard Law School), it's a book that will stand the test of time.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsGreat read.

A history of the Obama family in great detail. No holds barred narrative of Barack Obama's life ending with him going to Harvard Law. Enjoyed the book immensely.

Published 8 hours ago by S L Pennell
3.0 out of 5 starsMixed Bag

It seems, the book focuses heavily on the stories and history of the people around Obama, almost as much as on Obama himself. Read more

Published 8 days ago by Sophie
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Good read

Published 2 months ago by none
5.0 out of 5 starsEXTREMELY IMPORTANT BOOK. WILL GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS "A WARNING NOT...

GREAT BOOK but SAD THAT NO ONE LISTENED TO THE WARNINGS BEFORE HE WAS ELECTED TWICE. GREAT PRICE

Published 8 months ago by K. Grubaugh
3.0 out of 5 starsAmbiguity unleashed, provably not this authors fault, but partly at a...

Entertaining, but the lack of Obama knowledge on background, upbringing, history, etc... is quite frightening honestly, by this author, and others (if not everyone save the puppet... Read more

Published 12 months ago by Boomer
4.0 out of 5 starsA notable exception

Mr. Maraniss explains that there's something unique about this President.

Published 12 months ago by TR
4.0 out of 5 starswas raised by grandparents who weren't much better. The grandfather...

This book sets straight all of the lies, fabrications, and many untruths in Obama's autobiographical book. Read more

Published 13 months ago by C. page
1.0 out of 5 starsThe movie it better!

I didn't read the book, but I've been watching the TV series which is in its seventh season (they've already announced that season eight will be the last season - bummer! Read more

Published 14 months ago by Frederick G. Manteghian
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat Read

Interesting books wanted to read about our President of the United States

Published 14 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

love his book the story thank you very much

Published 14 months ago by walter j harris 3rd

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