Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

I bought this book two years ago after first hearing about Mr. Obama. I bought it on audible.com and I enjoy listening to him read his own book, as we've all come to know very well, he can speak very well better than many professional audio book readers. It's my recommended format for this book. Try out the audio and get lost in Barack's life from day one in his own words ( and voice! )

Now that Obama's election has brought worldwide euphoria and made him the world's most famous man, his memoir is bound to become a lightning rod for cynics and dreamers alike. I suggest reading the book instead as an insight into the man he was becoming a dozen years ago. And whatever he might be today -- overburdened by a world of hope he can't possibly satisfy, and overhyped by our hunger for anyone but our current president -- he has written a remarkable book. Before we even knew his name, he was becoming Barack Obama, a sensitive, troubled searcher with an eloquent gift for crafting a story, collapsing time in narrative, and capturing a scene. I read "Dreams From My Father" hoping to understand our next president. I got far more out of it, coming to understand the duality of race in America, the struggles of sons and fathers, and the interconnectedness of cultures across oceans and centuries. We'll doubtless be saturated in the coming months and years with Obama this Obama that. That makes it all the more essential to read Obama before he became burdened by his own audacious hope. Don't take my word for it, or any other reviewer's, whether they consider Obama a monster or a god. Read about the man in the process of becoming a man.

This book has received a lot of scrutiny from Obama's detractors since he ran for president. It has also disappointed a lot of his fans.

This was written when Obama was much younger than he is now, so it should be read as a memoir about a reflection on family, race, identity. The book was clearly written by a man who knew he was going to go into politics, so it is not without its agenda. Despite this agenda (which is not overbearing), it still reads more like an honest self-reflection from a man starting to make his mark on the world. The honesty is unparalleled by any biography of an American politician I can think of (please tell me if I'm wrong) and that is very refreshing.

Those looking for any sort of insight into his policy ideas while president can use some inductive reasoning to fill out what ever they want (He's a socialist! He wants to cut taxes! He wants to raise taxes.) This should be avoided because his views since this book have changed on a lot of things. What you can see is how astute his observations are about a wide variety of people gained from his consistent outsider status. Given that he was relatively young when he penned this, one can only assume he has only matured farther.

Problems include some muddled prose when he tries to "out eloquence" himself (a criticism he admits in the preface to a newer addition), a lack of a family tree (it is a book about family), and about a fifty extra pages.

If you read this book for non-political reasons, you will enjoy most of his prose, observations on Americans, and honesty about himself: a young man of unusual origins struggling with an identity and lack of a father figure.) I would recommend reading it like this instead of digging for out-of-context snippets to further your preconceived notions of him (Messiah, drug-abuser, communist, racist, best politician ever, etc.)

I bought this book because I wanted to learn more about Obama before the election. It was well-written and interesting. Also, because it was written before he became a politician, I expected it to be more honest than his other book, "Audacity of Hope," which I have no intention of reading.

What is scary about it, though, is that he is very honest about how he came to reject his White heritage and embrace a kind of Black nationalism and racial separatism. (He certainly doesn't sound like that when he is on the campaign trail.)

Despite the fact that he doesn't experience much in the way of discrimination growing up, the turning point for him is when he goes to a "Black" party with some White friends, and the White friends soon leave, apparently because they were uncomfortable around a large group of Blacks. Obama is greatly offended by this and that seems to be when he "breaks" from his part-White identity.

What really shocked me was when he explained his opposition to inter-racial marriage. I'm Asian and my husband is White. I found it hard to believe that, being a product of a mixed marriage himself, Obama could have such views. He dated a White woman who loves him but he is against marrying her just because she is White. He explains that he doesn't want his children to be raised into "White American culture." You would think that Obama's own experience shows that children of mixed marriages do not necessarily assimilate into the culture of the White side. I find my marriage more interesting because of my and my husband's different ethnic backgrounds. Our children are being raised with an awareness of both their American and Chinese heritage, and there should have been no reason why Obama couldn't have raised his children in a similar fashion with a White wife.

I really got a picture of a man who was raised by Whites but who rejects them in favor of his African heritage, despite the fact that his African father essentially abandons him.

Obama does an amazing job at detailing his life story and connecting it to his continued struggle to find his true identity. Along the way he found his true purpose by helping others achieve change for the better. He is very open with the reader about his experiences and defeats. The writing is so well done that I often have to sit back and remind myself that this man is a lawyer and politician and not an author. He astonishes me with his intellect and ability to communicate with commoners and high-brows alike. Throughout his recollections I am continually reminded that his sole focus in life is to help out the less fortunate and to create a bigger middle class.