Like, legit, loathed them! Journalist and historian Craig Fehrman's new book, Author in Chief, tells the story of America’s presidents as authors—and offers a new window ...In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. He was thirty-three at the time of its publication, a graduate of Harvard Law and practicing in Chicago. There is no way of reading this book now except as the biography of a US president, and be astonished to read an honest biography about a young man who did all the things that many young men do : sex and drugs and rock and roll. Apart from any of the political ideas in the book or whether or not one is excited by his presidency, Obama is a fantastic writer -- this is one of the best memoirs I have ever read. In fact, he was still at law school.Dreams From My Father is a remarkable story, beautifully told, and inspired by its author's divided family history. The "plot" of "Dreams From My Real Father" is not worth discussing because it lacks any facts whatsoever. That's the kind of self-critique with which this book abounds—honest and very deliberately even-handed. And if Obama makes it to the White House, his publishers will certainly celebrate an inspired wager. It is in this exposure of his vulnerabilities, his fears, his insecurities that he becomes like us--simply human. For that reason, it's a very honest account of an American coming to terms with who he is and where he's from. Years later, after many vicissitudes, Obama received a call from Nairobi to say that his father had been killed in a car crash.This news triggered a quest in which Obama sought to discover the truth about his father, in the process becoming reconciled to his troubled inheritance. This is a symptom. 5 out of 16 found this helpful. As an African myself I was taken back in time to my own experiences good and bad. He's like a little gossiping drama queen, who wanted to do as much damage as he could to Obama. The last 1/3 of the book and his homecoming to Kenya was great because I got to see a more intimate glance of his fractured immigrant family and his reflections for how his lineage influenced the person he is today. 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. Was this review helpful? I am still reading the book and have completed reading the "Origins" portion. 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.I'm really sorry to say I am so disappointed by this book. 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. Stick to the concrete and provable facts--not weird speculation. 46 out of 85 found this helpful. It is captivating. 27 out of 66 found this helpful. It is an election prompted piece of character assassination. The negative reviews are based on people not liking information that flows against the norm, and their own political bias.
Dreams of My Father is a very personal story of how Barack Obama struggles to hew out meaning from his multiple racial and cultural heritages. To order a copy for £7.99, go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. Travelling to Kansas, Hawaii and finally Kenya, Obama undertook a journey of heart and mind into a family maelstrom of identity, class and race.Many American reviews of Dreams From My Father singled out the exceptional grace of Obama's prose, its honesty and freshness. Was this review helpful? (signed) Joel Gilbert" The terms "...probable events, using reasoned logic, and approximated conversations..." are the real meat of this piece of junk. Barry could have been a rapper! But before I go on, I should honestly point out that I have zero intention of voting for Obama--I really hate his policies and feel he's divisive when he really should be focused on lowering out of control government spending. It's really not fair for one person to be that good at everything. This "documentary" will take its place in history alongside every pseudo-scientific film Joseph Goebbels and the Nazis created to "prove" Jews were a sub-human species. Dreams From My Father is a remarkable story, beautifully told, and inspired by its author's divided family history. Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Anyone who really watches this movie based on the summary shown on IMDb must be seriously impaired or just blind. Absolute trash, verifiably false, produced by and for hate filled racist idiots. It’s difficult for me to rate this memoir because I deeply respect Barack Obama as a person. The ability to do this is an essential tool in your problem solving kit and brings you to a place of True personal Effectiveness