Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance | 
 enlarge | Author: Barack Obama
Publisher: Crown
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $15.21
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Avg. Customer Rating:  262 reviews
Sales Rank: 455
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.5
ISBN: 0307383415
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.04960730092
EAN: 9780307383419
ASIN: 0307383415
Publication Date: January 9, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Nine years before the Senate campaign that made him one of the most influential and compelling voices in American politics, Barack Obama published this lyrical, unsentimental, and powerfully affecting memoir, which became a #1 New York Times bestseller when it was reissued in 2004. Dreams from My Father tells the story of Obama’s struggle to understand the forces that shaped him as the son of a black African father and white American mother—a struggle that takes him from the American heartland to the ancestral home of his great-aunt in the tiny African village of Alego.
Obama opens his story in New York, where he hears that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has died in a car accident. The news triggers a chain of memories as Barack retraces his family’s unusual history: the migration of his mother’s family from small-town Kansas to the Hawaiian islands; the love that develops between his mother and a promising young Kenyan student, a love nurtured by youthful innocence and the integrationist spirit of the early sixties; his father’s departure from Hawaii when Barack was two, as the realities of race and power reassert themselves; and Barack’s own awakening to the fears and doubts that exist not just between the larger black and white worlds but within himself.
Propelled by a desire to understand both the forces that shaped him and his father’s legacy, Barack moves to Chicago to work as a community organizer. There, against the backdrop of tumultuous political and racial conflict, he works to turn back the mounting despair of the inner city. His story becomes one with those of the people he works with as he learns about the value of community, the necessity of healing old wounds, and the possibility of faith in the midst of adversity.
Barack’s journey comes full circle in Kenya, where he finally meets the African side of his family and confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life. Traveling through a country racked by brutal poverty and tribal conflict, but whose people are sustained by a spirit of endurance and hope, Barack discovers that he is inescapably bound to brothers and sisters living an ocean away—and that by embracing their common struggles he can finally reconcile his divided inheritance.
A searching meditation on the meaning of identity in America, Dreams from My Father might be the most revealing portrait we have of a major American leader—a man who is playing, and will play, an increasingly prominent role in healing a fractious and fragmented nation.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 257 more reviews...
 A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS July 23, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Just when my faith in America was at an all-time low, along comes Barack Obama and his very human, extraordinary memoir, full of hope, suffering, loss, joy, redemption, and an abiding faith in God. This is an amazing life: born of a white, American mother and a Kenyan father, he embodies the world spirit at its best. If Obama becomes President, I just know that the whole world will praise America and rejoice. Just think about it for a moment. Fathers and mothers all around the globe will know that their grandchild can potentially grow up to become President of the United States of America. The respect and love America will receive shall eclipse anything She has ever known. It will know no bounds. People we never thought would love America will shed tears of joy. Obama is a Godsend. This memoir is quite explicit, describing even his drug use and loneliness. But it's refreshing to see such a forthright, honest account of a politician's life. Barack Obama made me fall in love with America all over again. God bless this wonderful Country! Finally, a politician I can believe in! I'm so excited for the Future. I had first read "The Audacity of Hope," which I enjoyed, but it already reads like somebody writing as a politician. I much prefer "Dreams from My Father" for its candidness. This is truly a man to remember. Here's to hope!
A good listen. July 22, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A great story, made all the more interesting by the political prominence that the author has achieved subsequent to its publication.
 He is a good writer! July 21, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Barack Obama has a gift of writing. This is my second book from him. I liked this book because it was only speaking on how things were.As I've seen some people have had issues and called him a racist. If you really read the book then I would not know why you would call him that.They obviosly missed the point.
Because of his backround i believe that he can unite people within the states and he can also unite America with other countries again.GO OBAMA!
 "Where's the Beef?" July 18, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I will admit that I was among those Republicans early on who were intrigued, almost swept away, by Obama-mania. His oratory skills, his charisma, his down to earth style had me almost believing that he could join our two warring parties and make everything all right again. Knowing this, my husband nestled Barack's autobiography in with my valentines gifts last February. With great eagerness I began to read and at first I was totally absorbed. I loved Obama's writing style and his honest reflections. But as I turned the pages I began to find myself asking that old commercial question "Where's the beef?". It was an interesting story but, after I got well past the middle of the book I found that he was, in fact, just like thousands of successful social activists, idealistic, self-reflective and magnetic. But what else set him apart? The fact that he is bi-racial? Or that he did not know his father? That he was raised by his grandparents? No, these are common experiences for many Americans. Instead of revealing what kind of leader Obama would be, the book seemed a very long and winding story that never really found its point. I was let down, not by the style of the book (Obama does all his own writing and it is very good), but rather that, in the end, I knew so little of his political views on any subject of importance. On one level I can recommend this book as a well written, easy to read story of a young man finding his way. But if you are looking for guidance as to how to cast your vote, I suggest you skip this book and go on your knees.
utterly amazing book July 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is truly an amzing story that provides much insight into the life of Barack Obama. It was hard to put down for even a moment. His life has been one incredible journey that has led him to where he is today. The details of his life and the impact on him help you better understand what drives him and has given him the strength to pursue his goals. Great read and a must for everyone.
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