Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Book Review: Important Read for All Americans
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a well-written and inspiring non-political account of an American's life like no other. We can be a better people.Book Review: Best to read it through the prism of current events
Summary: 3 Stars
I picked this book up because Obama most likely will be our next President. It seemed strange that this might happen and I had not yet read what was said to be his well received memoir. The book was published 13 years ago by someone whom Im sure never expected he would be a candidate for President. What politician with those ambitions would reveal so much about him self in a memoir? I wondered as I read along what my reaction might have been if I had picked this up in 1995. In presenting a review of the book one has a hard time separating Politian Obama from writer Obama. Obama is a good writer and he does a fairly good job of letting the reader into his thoughts and conflicts as he tries to search for an identify through his black father (and his extended family during visits to Kenya). Most of the book is a coming of age perspective on how Obama was raised by his white mother and grandparents in tolerant multi racial Hawaii and his search for his identity as a tolerant black man. You sense that Obama is observant of others, their views, cultures and belief systems. He seems interested in how various people establish their own value judgments. He makes observations much like a novelist and at one point I felt Obamas book read a bit like a Paul Theroux travel book without the sarcasm (Black Star Safari I think my recommendation of the book is contingent upon what you as a reader and voter want to know about Obamas background. What Obama offers up is more than you will get from any other politician. I doubt, however, that I would have finished the book if I had tried to read it in 1995. Although interesting, the narrative is not very compelling unless you read it through the prism of current events. (My three star review is based on reading this without the prism of current events.)Book Review: Dreams FromMy Father by Obama
Summary: 4 Stars
A revelation of the struggles of blacks in general to find a place where the color of a person's skin makes no difference whatever in the way he is treated by the over all population no matter where he might be. Extremely well written.Book Review: Worth Reading Whether You Support Obama or Not
Summary: 5 Stars
Don't let other people tell you what's in Obama's autobiography. Just read it yourself. You may be surprised.
Whether you agree with him or not, Barack Obama is worth getting to know. You may find, as I did, Obama is thoughtful, self-critical, and honest about his personal journey, which has not been an easy one. Not only that, he's a heck of a writer.
Instead of relying on other people's opinions (including mine) via e-mails and blogs, think for yourself, and read the book. Get it from the library if you don't want to buy it.
Book Review: Beware the deceiver
Summary: 1 Stars
Quotes from this book. Talented? Eloquent? Complex? Inspiring? Come on people wake up before it is too late.
'I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.'
'I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race.'
'There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.'
'I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa , that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself , the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.'