Dreams from My Father
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Author | Barack Obama |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Genre(s) | Autobiography |
| Publisher | Three Rivers Press |
| Released | 1995 |
| ISBN | ISBN 1-4000-8277-3(Paperback reprint), ISBN 1-56836-162-9(Paperback 1st ed) |
Dreams from My Father : A Story of Race and Inheritance is the autobiography of United States Senator Barack Obama. It was published in 1995 after Obama was elected as the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review but before his political career. The book was then re-released in 2004 following Senator Obama's widely admired keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. The 2004 edition version includes a new introduction by Senator Obama and a copy of his DNC keynote address.
[edit] Story
The book tells the story of Senator Obama's life. He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Harvard University-educated economist Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., of Kenya, and Ann Dunham of Wichita, Kansas. At the time of Obama's birth, both his parents were students at the East-West Center of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The absence of his father forced Obama to form an image of his father from stories told by his mother and grandparents.
Ann Obama then married Lolo Soetoro, a Muslim East-West Center student from Indonesia. The family then moved to Jakarta. When Obama was ten he returned to Hawaii under the care of his grandparents and later his mother, for the better educational opportunities. He was enrolled in the fifth grade at Punahou School. In an American school, Obama first became conscious of the realities of race in black American life. At this point, his father came to visit him and his family, the last time that Obama would see him before his father's untimely death in 1982.
Upon finishing high school, Obama enrolled at Occidental College, where he describes living a "party" lifestyle of drug and alcohol use. He then transferred to Columbia College at Columbia University, where he majored in political science. Upon graduation, he worked for a year in business. He then moved to Chicago, where he took up community organizing in the Altgeld Gardens housing project on the city's South Side. Obama recounts the difficulty of the experience, as his program faced resistance from entrenched community leaders and apathy on the part of the established bureaucracy. It was during his time spent here that Obama joined Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ.
Before attending Harvard Law School, Obama decided to visit with his relatives in Kenya. The book concludes with an emotional scene in which Obama visits the graves of his father and paternal grandfather.
As well as relating the story of Mr. Obama's life, the book includes a good deal of reflection on race and race relations in the United States.
[edit] Recognition and awards
The audio book edition earned Obama a 2006 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album.[1]
Columnist Joe Klein stated in an article about Obama for Time that the book "may be the best-written memoir ever produced by an American politician."[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Brooks Boliek, Sen. Obama finally gets his Grammy, Reuters/Hollywood Reporter, September 6, 2006
- ^ Klein, Joe. "The Fresh Face", Time, 2006-10-23. Retrieved on 2006-10-19.
