This book is a "spin" piece released well in advance of Obama's political career to lay the groundwork: the BS myth was already well in place when he decided to run.

Now we know the TRUTH: That he was born in Kenya, not Hawaii (two cases are now before the United States Supreme Court to decide his eligibility since he is not a natural-born citizen); he did not go to Harvard law school on "student loans" as he stated but rather his education was financed by a Saudi billionaire; geneaologists state that there is ZERO Cherokee in his bloodline; and on and on.

WHO is this man? WHAT is his real name, is it Barry Sotero? WHO is his daddy, was it really Malcolm X (the likeness is uncanny!)? These and other questions MUST be answered.

This man is a PHONY, a FRAUD, and a LIAR. If you fall for the BS in his book you are a moron.

Written in an intellilgent, clear style, Barak Obama lays out his life in a thoughful way. A most winsome and hopeful biography. Our future will be in the hands of a person who has dealt with adversity with verve, deep contemplation and patience.

He speaks and America listens with hope for the future as his dream unfolds.

This book is an excellent read and it allows the reader to gain a deeper understanding of President-Elect, Barack Obama. After reading this book, I gained a deeper understanding of him as a youth, a young man, a son and grandson. I also gained a greater understanding of his values, his beliefs and his purpose. It is a great book.

This was a very enjoyable read. I could not put it down. Not often are top political figures this transparent and offer such a naked glimpse into their personal thoughts and experiences.

What a candid and inspirational book !

No doubt there's little I can say that hasn't already been said, but I simply wanted to note that as a WASP and a somewhat cynical boomer, I rarely tear up, but I was frequently moved to tears by this insightful book.

Obama's life path was very different, and much more challenging than mine. Although I already intellectually knew that before reading this book, it impacted me emotionally; perhaps because I never knew my real father.

That a work with this depth and insight was written by a man in his mid-20s is even more amazing, and telling.

Read it, but bring Kleenex.

I am listening to the audio of this book, and am so much enjoying Pres. Elect Obama's narrating. It is a wonderful story, and I hope this book gets a resurrenge of interest.

I highly recommend this book to almost everyone. The writing is thoughtful and interesting, and the subject matter unique. In the end that "community" is really the community of humanity, but this book takes you on Barack's journey.

The Bobby Brown biography
Imagine being in one of the most successful boy bands of all time, New Edition; Then leave the group to become one of the biggest pop stars in the world; Date some of the most world renown celebrities, such as Janet Jackson and Madonna....
Bobby Brown: The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing But...

I read Dreams From My Father a couple of years ago and loved the book, but hearing Obama read this book is a unique and wonderful experience. I found it very moving and an exceptional experience. I bought one set for me and one for my grandson.

Published in 1995, long before Barack Obama could have even conceived of running for president, this coming-of-age memoir brilliantly reflects the confusion of having mixed race parents and of being a "black" man in today's America. It also finely tells the story of a boy and then a man and his elusive delusions about his missing father. Finally tracking down his heritage and the truth, through Kansas, then Hawaii, and then Kenya, Obama spins an insightful and authentic tale about losing and then finding himself through his father. This tale of the son seeking his father is an ancient one, and Barack does it justice here. He transcends race, and embraces his fragmented past in order to make himself as whole as he can be.

This is a literary work. Its metaphors and descriptions are well thought out and satisfying to read. It bears contrast with James Baldwin's "Go Tell It On the Mountain" and James McBride's "The Color of Water." Read it, and be amazed that we have this thoughtful, brilliant, introspective, self-aware person as our president. What a miracle!

Bill Ayers sure can write a good book. Some great fiction mixed with some nice platitudes that everyone can project on to - like the candidate himself.

Published in 1995, long before Barack Obama could have even conceived of running for president, this coming-of-age memoir brilliantly reflects the confusion of having mixed race parents and of being a "black" man in today's America. It also finely tells the story of a boy and then a man and his elusive delusions about his missing father. Finally tracking down his heritage and the truth, through Kansas, then Hawaii, and then Kenya, Obama spins a truthful and authentic tale about losing and then finding himself through his father. This tale of the son seeking his father is an ancient one, and Barack does it justice here. He transcends race, and embraces his fragmented past in order to make himself as whole as he can be.

This is a literary work. Its metaphors and descriptions are well thought out and satisfying to read. It bears contrast with James Baldwin's "Go Tell It On the Mountain" and "The Color of Water." Read it, and be amazed that we have this thoughtful, brilliant, introspective, self-aware person as our president. What a miracle!

Barack Obama has written an insightful and powerful book of self-discovery that shaped him and his father's legacy. Obama's search for the truth about race and faith has revealed the powerful character of this great American leader. This book guides us to a further study of identity, class and race alongside Jeffery Leving's www.ourblackheritage.com.

This man has a truly inspirational and amazing life and history. I devoured the book and came back for more. I've since recommended it to friends and family who have felt that they "don't really know the man".

Now that he's been elected, I hope everyone will seek out his books and get to know him a little better and let him touch your life as he's definitely touched mine.

I have rarely been so privileged to read a book such as DREAMS OF MY FATHER. Obama reveals his thought processes as he struggled to find his place in the larger sicial fabric. Were that all, this would not be so great a book. But, he describes his maturation in thinking as he interacted and learned from others. And, while personally growng, he was able to empathize with others from virtually all walks of life, to relate to them and to abstract the essence of their needs and being. Finally, he was able to integrate those observations into a larger vision of society and how to effect it in a positive way. All of this is written in the most compelling language. He is a great and poetic writer.

It's hard to see how anyone could validly ask "Do you really know Barack Obama?" when this little book is readily available and so readable. In the Information Age we've got so many sources about most of our political candidates that ignorance is no longer an excuse in the voting booth (or elsewhere, if you opt for a mail-in ballot).

Barack's narrative is modest, self-disclosing and completely lacking in the hubris that has poisoned the administration in Washington for the last 8 years. In short, I found this book completely genuine and honest. It convinced me that "what you see is what you'll get" in President #44.

"No Drama Obama" is *so* cool under pressure, and sets such high standards for personal responsibility that I feel I know him. Those traits come through in this book. He raises the bar for all of us: Blacks, Whites, Democrats, Republicans, Men and Women, GLBTS's, and religious minorities. Isn't that what our great experiment in Democracy is supposed to be all about?

I read most of "Audacity of Hope". My interest waned when I realized Pres. Obama's policies were pretty much a carbon copy of my own. Dreams from My Father convinced me that I share his ultimate objectiives, values and worries as a father, husband and human being as well.

I am an unrepentant Progressive, concerned more about our grandchildren's futures than those of my own generation. If you are a hardcore social Darwinist who espouses economic "survival of the fittest" and "May the Devil take the Hindmost" this book is not for you.

a truly amazing book. an in depth look at Obama's life from childhood to adulthood. i recommand this book to young scholars who are curious about our next president's life.

I am impressed by Obama's ability to analyze himself. In "Dreams from my Father," he readily points out his adolescent flaws, frustrations, and misunderstandings in a way no sitting politician ever could. Historians should be very grateful that he wrote this before he ran for elected office. I cannot think of another memoir by a politician that seemed so unfiltered and human.

By the way, Obama is a beautiful writer. His sentences are smooth and at times lyrical. I look forward to having a president so well versed in the English language.

Memoirs by politicians tend to be tactical. They want to show you their blue collar roots, their ability to overcome social and personal obstacles, their perseverence. Barack Obama's memoir is so unusual that the normal rules need not apply. In contrast to the carefully chosen moments that define one's life, Barack gives a story somewhat typical of the average member of Generation X. He came from a split home, raised by his grandparents and traveled to various cities while developing his sense of self. The commonalities are simple but the specifics are fascinating. How he grew up in Hawaii, his ambitious Kenyan father, his trip to his father's homeland and eventual ascendency into the Illinois legislature. This is not the path most would have imagined for a future president.

This was one of the most boring books that I have ever read! Obama's writing is just like his "speaking", Nothing Is Told In Any Real Order, You Feel Like You Are Going in A Big Circle...But Never Receiving A Complete "Answer"!
There Is Much About His "Life Story" That Is Left Out By Him, Or Whomever Really Wrote This Memoir! I Could Never Figure Out Where Barry Got His Money That Allowed Him To Travel All Over The United States And Throughout Other Countries, While Being Able To Attend Some Of The Finest Schools In America! What Really Convinced Him To Move from New York To Chicago To Accept A "Community Organizer" Job That Only Paid $1000 A Month??? Actually It Sounded As If He Really Did Not Preform His "Job" Very Well!
What Is Clear To Me Though Is The RACIST Side Of Obama Against WHITES, His Experimentation With DRUGS Like Crack Cocaine, And His Stated Learnings & Interests About Socialism, Marxism, and Communism!!
Too Bad More People Did Not Read This Book And Learn The Same Things About Him...Coz It Made Up My Mind That I Could Never Vote For Him!!!!! STILL TOO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS CHICAGO POLITICIAN!! I Am Very Concerned Now, About America's Future!

Of all the books that deserve ALL multiple formats, it is this one! There needs to be a cassette tape version that is unabridged. There needs to be a cassette version that is abridged. There needs to be a CD version that is unabridged. Any version that would increase access to the reading public to this book should be done. Please, please, please, publishers, yes, there is a market!!!!

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.

I remember reading somewhere that conservative columnist George Will believed that this book could quite possibly be the best memoir penned by a politician. Though his assertion is debatable, Mr. Will's alleged statement highlights the quality of this memoir. The writing and depth of introspection in Mr. Obama's book is admirable. It is a journey about racial identity, spiritual awakening, social responsibilty and a search for the meaning of family. My wife and I are both Caucasian and our two, young sons are African-American. Over the decades, I've read a plethora of books/memoirs pertaining to race and, easily, this is one of the books I will recommend for my boys to read. A truly inspirational and gutsy book.

I have liked Barack Obama ever since he stopped to speak in the small Iowa town that I was living for the past few years. He has a true sincerity that can instantly be felt and he comes across as a very likable person. My Husband and I decided to read this book as well as THE AUDACITY OF HOPE before giving the man our vote and let me tell you I am glade we did. From reading the story of his life you understand how Obama has been shaped as a man and a politician. Every issue that the US is facing today is seen in the life of Barack and his family. The story was very elegant, thought provoking and all inclusive in it's view of the world. Any American can read this book and see there self in Obama's experiences. Based on this book I believe Obama will be a wonderful president of the likes never before seen in these modern days.

This reviewer decided to read Barack Obama's 1994 revised autobiography "Dreams from My Father" since he is one of the US presidential candidates in 2008. This revised version of the book was released in 2004.

Autobiographies are very useful means to learn from the author's experiences. Autobiographies by authors that were highly successful in their lives, or had a major impact on history, can provide information revealing as many of the valuable lessons the author has learned and recorded for the benefit of the reader. Autobiographies also reveal how authors think.

Overall: the author only believes everything in terms of his liberal dogma beliefs. He is highly critical of blacks that want to just get along and fit into the mainstream. He advocates "social justice", a euphuism for mob justice. He only rationalizes lawless behavior and will not label anything bad except what contradicts his liberal dogma beliefs. He believes that all the black problems are due to the whites.

The cover of the Three Rivers Press paper-back version states that it is: "A Story of Race and Inheritance," and indeed it is. The author presents all of his experiences and acquired knowledge in terms of race and a quest to learn of his Kenyan dad's background. These two issues thoroughly permeate the entire book.

He interprets every experience and thing he knows of in terms of liberal sociological and psychological teachings. It comes through, often seemingly illogically, in his interpretation of every experience and thing he acquires knowledge of on almost every page of the book.

At the end of his Columbia University days, he decided to become a community organizer (or social activist). The author had previously transferred from Occidental college (Oxy) to Columbia University in New York city since most blacks at Oxy wanted to get along with and be successful in the mainstream and were not interested in social activism. He viewed Columbia as being "in heart of a true city, with black neighborhoods in close proximity." Oxy is located near Pasadena, a highly enviable and pristine town near Los Angeles, noted for its prosperity and resistance to crack-pot ideas and politics (from what this reviewer knows of that town). The author describes the Oxy environment as being similar to Hawaii, "The students were friendly, the teachers encouraging," and the author labels any such behaving blacks as "compromise."

While at Oxy, he preferred to associate with: "The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets. We smoked cigarettes and wore leather jackets. At night, in the dorms, we discussed neocolonialism, Franz Fanon, Eurocentrism, and patriarchy. When we ground out our cigarettes in the hallway carpet or set our stereos so loud that the walls began to shake, we were resisting bourgeois society's stifling constraints. We weren't indifferent or careless or insecure. We were alienated." And the author appeared to be diligent about being as alien and uncivil in society as he could be with this group of clones of his maternal grandfather.

The harsh and bleak realities of portions of New York City that he stayed in and visited while at Columbia compel the author to cease using drugs and practicing other related dissipations that he indulged in while at Oxy. In other words, he fits very comfortably into the harsh and bleak areas of the NYC environment, but could not tolerate the relatively plush, prosperous, and pristine Pasadena environment. This attitude appears to this reviewer as being a very familiar symptom of the firm blessed-be-the-poor type beliefs, whose roots comes from the Roman Catholic Church, which is the mother of socialism (minus the church's assorted deities).

The author has little else to say about his Junior and Senior years at Columbia. The highlight of his stay at Columbia is a visit from his mother and his sister, to check up on him and to show her daughter all the sights to see in the city as well as other locations in the continental US.

After college, he became a research assistant in a consulting house to multinational corporations -- with the intent of staying only long enough to pay off his college expenses. He described himself as "spy behind enemy lines," still in the mind-set of an hostile alien. He was the envy of the other black employees at that firm and they were proud of him but disparaged of his plans to become a community organizer. After he was promoted to financial writer, he left the company (and it leaves him in excellent financial condition) to pursue his community organizer interests. His initial community organizer work proves to be unprofitable (and leaves him in poor financial condition).

Then he interviewed with a Chicago based community organizer (highlighting that he looked very out-of-shape and unkempt, and was Jewish). The community organizer asked him, "Hmmph."..."You must be angry about something." The author replied: "What do you mean by that?" The community organizer answered: "I don't know what exactly. But something. Don't get me wrong -- anger's a requirement for the job. The only reason anybody decides to become an organizer. Well adjusted people find more relaxing work." So this preferred career choice showed that the author had developed a large measure of anger about race.

His dad (Barack Obama, Sr.) was from Kenya. His dad was resourceful and intelligent enough to get a scholarship to attend college in Hawaii. That is where he met his white mother (Ann Dunham). He digressed to describe her parents (Stanley (family familiar: "Gramps") and Madelyn (family familiar: "Toot") Dunham) and their backgrounds. It is his white grandparents who perform a major portion of the author's upbringing (the cover photographs show that author bears a striking resemblance to his white maternal grandfather - the text makes no mention of this). His white grandfather always preferred the company of blacks as he was something of a wild rebel and simply did not fit into main (white) society. This likely influenced his daughter decision to marry Barack Obama Sr.. His daughter's marriage only lasted a short while. Barack Obama Sr. Received a scholarship to do graduate work at Harvard, so he just left the author at about age two and his mother in Hawaii with the grandparents and went to Harvard. He turned downed a more generous financial offer from another university in New York city that would have allowed the entire family to go there but he preferred the prestige of Harvard - but with its less generous financial offer. So he went to Harvard by himself.

Meanwhile, Stanley Dunham received a long and harsh letter from Obama Sr.'s severe father (Hussein Onyango) denouncing the marriage and it became apparent to the author's mother from the other contents of the letter that Barack Obama Sr. was still legally (or by local tradition) married to his first Kenyan wife and so she divorced him since she did not approve of polygamy. Before the marriage, Barack Obama Sr. had told Ann Dunham that he had separated from his first Kenyan wife that he had married in a traditional village marriage. The narrative later explains that polygamy is a Kenyan tradition (ditto the rest of sub-saharan Africa) and when a Kenyan marriage ends, the children go to the father, if he wants them. African traditions are like laws and are treated as having more authority than civil laws (the book does not discuss this matter but you cannot miss it if you know any Africans or have visited the continent). Hussein Onyango was vehemently opposed to that marriage since he had become very familiar with western culture (he had immersed himself in it when the British showed up in order to learn their ways and to learn how to defeat them) and knew that no white woman would put up with a polygamous African husband. His long and harsh letter to Stanley Dunham effectively torpedoed his daughter's marriage to Barack Obama Sr.

After Harvard, Barack Obama Sr. went back to Kenya with his next American white wife (Ruth, 2 children) while still married to the first Kenyan wife (2 children). He worked for the local Shell oil division and then used his connections to get a government job in the Ministry of Tourism. It lasted until his well known imperious manner got him into trouble with Jomo Kenyatta himself. He had to scrape by on handouts until Kenyatta died and then he got another government job in the Ministry of Finance. Meanwhile, he routinely became drunk so that his third wife Ruth left him after his first DUI car accident that killed the other driver (a white farmer). The author only saw him for a few days while he was living in Hawaii (when his dad came to stay to recover from his first major auto wreck). He then had a young fourth wife (1 child). Later his dad got killed in his final auto wreck.

This missing dad later motivates the author to search out information about him since he was never really raised by him at all and only sent him a number of short general type letters. His dad was spread too thin from one continent to another, one wife and the children by her (not "her children" according to Kenyan tradition), and with other wives and the children by them. Therefore, he ended up not being an effective real-time dad to any of the children he fathered. Only one of the author's male Kenyan relatives realizes that polygamy simply does not work. The author was somewhat shattered by what he found out from his relatives in Kenya about his father.

The author's mother married an Indonesian student (Lolo) after divorcing Barack Obama, Sr. and moved to Indonesia with the author. His step-father fathered his half-sister Maya. The author's step-father took a genuine interest in his development and upbringing, teaching him how to survive and cope in a hazardous, corrupt, and wretched society. This training appears to be the basis of the author's unrivalled political skills. This marriage lasts until the author's mother decided that this husband was too cooperative with that country's corruptive practices to get by (her impractical idealism clashed badly with his practical reality methods) and did not like how the author was being treated in the local schools (since Asians are intolerant of racial differences). The author's step-father tried hard to provide for and shelter his family -- at a level far above the norm for Indonesian society, but the author's mother resented it all since none of this conformed to her ideals of absolute ideological perfection. One can afford to have these ideas, courtesy of a rule-of-law society, such as in the US, whether these impractical ideas work or not, anywhere at all -- but not in a social Darwinist type society, such as Indonesia, where no one can survive on the ideals of absolute ideological perfection. So in the end, ideological incorrectness ended the marriage. The author labels his step father as a compromiser.

On the other hand, the author's mother was, to some degree, justified to object to the corrupt practices present in Indonesian society since that is what make a third world country a third world country. This reviewer has encountered a number of people from the third world who were raised on social Darwinist principles. They always look only after themselves, they will take advantage of you every time you have to work with them, they take credit for your work, they hide information you need - even if you have requested it, they walk all over you, they make you appear to be useless, and in the end - they cause you to be booted out.

The author's mother then took her children back to Hawaii (when the author was about 10 years old) to have their grandparents raise them while she was working on her social work and then divorced Lolo. That's right, her social work was more important than than raising her children. Sound familiar? The Dunhams seem to have been already immersed in the lower end of US self-serving, self-righteous, and all about-me social behavior.

Back in Hawaii, his maternal grandfather's boss used his alumni connections to get the author admitted to Punahou, a private secondary school in Hawaii. The author completed grades 5 to 12 at Punahou. A notable incident there was a white high-school friend's discomfort at an all-black party that made the author feel as if he was regarded as societal alien by all whites and this angered him very intensely. This incident appears to stir up his festering anger about race.

Later, his grandmother insists on being driven to work on a day following an incident where a black man had harassed her at the bus stop. This incident cements his anger about race.

The book even explains how he developed his renown smooth-saying abilities (from pages 94-95 of the Three Rivers Press and Crown Publishers paperback versions):

"...and one day she" (referring to his mother) "had marched into my room, wanting to know the details of Pablo's arrest. I had given her a reassuring smile and patted her hand and told her not to worry, I wouldn't do anything stupid. It was usually an effective tactic, another one of those tricks I had learned: People were satisfied so long as you were courteous and smiled and made no sudden moves. They were more than satisfied, they were relieved -- such a pleasant surprise to find a well-mannered young black man who didn't seem angry all the time."

So there you have the explanation for his smooth-saying: an effective tactic, that uses a courteous demeanor and reassuring smile to trick people into being satisfied with whatever he was saying (while hiding his anger). Moreover, he explains that this is also an effective means to deceive (trick) people. No wonder he defeated Senator Clinton in the democrat primary this year. She was merely a talented deceit-sayer. On the other hand, her opponent was a much more talented and seasoned smooth-sayer and deceit-sayer. This also explains why he manages the amazing feat of continuing to maintain his associations with radicals of all types while maintaining his popular appeal to the mainstream (it looks like the Lolo taught survival skills).

Those two pages of the revised 1994 autobiography grabbed this reviewer's attention more than any other portion of the book since they explain so very much about this author.

Until about three fourths into the autobiography, he views western religions (but not eastern religions) with some disdain except that he enjoys the singing and music. During his community organizer career period in Chicago, a number of people he was working with advised him to see a very popular minister (Rev. Jerimiah Wright, Jr.) who was very effective with getting social type work done. So he went to see Jeremiah Wright at the Trinity Baptist Church. The narrative radically changes its character here to portray Jeremiah Wright as a saint. Jeremiah Wright is the only adult male he describes positively and non-critically that he experienced up to 1994 in the book. Rev. Wright explains his background and how he got to be where he then was to the author. He explains that he sampled Islam and activist issues, but in the end, he decided to return to his religious "Christian" origins and obtained a PhD in the history of religion. He explains that the Trinity Baptist Church emphasizes African history and scholarship.

While visiting the Trinity Baptist Church that day, the author picks up a silver covered brochure entitled ""Black Value System" - that the congregation had adopted in 1979. At the top of the list was a commitment to God, "who will give us the strength to give up prayerful passivism and become Black Christian activists, soldiers for Black freedom and the dignity of all humankind." Then a commitment to the black community and black family, education, the work ethic, discipline, and self-respect." This black religious activism blends more-or-less homogeneously with the authors secular activist ideas and beliefs. The author highlights a portion in the brochure that encourages the pursuit of income but discourages the pursuit of class status. This specific anti-socialist principle explains the sustained growth and success of the church and the success and prosperity of the church's members. Other black activist churches limp along with their socialist baggage but the Trinity Baptist Church long ago dumped this specific socialist baggage it may have had and this apparently caused it to enormously prosper. Ingenious!

Rev. Wright also describes his social work and this impresses the young author since that is what he was focusing his career on. This motivates the young author to follow a suggestion by Rev. Wright to attend one of his sermons in the Trinity Baptist church a short while later. The author has a "religious experience" during the very first service, no doubt boosted by Rev. Wright's inflammatory black activist rhetoric. If you watch any of those sermons on YouTube, you will see Rev. Wright's radical inflammatory black activist rhetoric (G-- D--- America!, etc.) and how it puts the Trinity Baptist congregation into a rapturous state of ecstasy and joy. And in one of those videos, he gets the congregation so stirred up and excited, that one of the church officials has to rush up to Wright from behind to merely touch him, as if to reap the benefit of touching a god.

Before that point, the narrative mostly criticizes the state of the blacks in this country, blames all their problems and pathologies on everything and especially the whites but except themselves, and there is nothing good he does not condemn and nothing bad he does not rationalize and justify to himself. He even witnessed a street shooting (two black punks chasing a third) in Chicago that he has to dive out of the way from, but proceeds to rationalize the shooters deadly conduct once the action has passed. The narrative resumes its prior dogmatic tone after passing by the effusive description of Rev. Jeremiah Wright (who seems to be an idealized version of the author's not-so-ideal father).

Scattered in a few spots in the book, he singles out President Reagan with seething contempt and scathing criticism (pages 133 & 203).

Near the end of his Chicago community organizer days, he decides that politics would be a more effective means to achieve his community organizer related objectives. He then decides to enroll in the Harvard law school, where he was extremely successful.

The author describes several trips to Kenya to visit his dad's relatives in the last portion of the book. His female half-sisters and aunts tried valiantly to describe how the Kenyan traditions oppress them but he could only see their complaints due to the white colonists. Colonialism never erased any of the African traditions in any African country since they are so very intensely institutionalized. This portion of the book is very interesting but the author interprets everything in terms of liberal dogma and this detracts from it.

Later, the author is married by Rev. Jeremiah Wright in the Trinity Baptist Church.

The book shows that if he wins the election, he will surely appoint judges that believe in "social justice" and will rationalize and excuse every imaginable act of lawlessness.

Reading the 1994 autobiography was a thoroughly unpleasant and down-throwing experience. I have never read a book that was as unpleasant as that one. Even "Quotations from Chairman Mao," stuffed with nothing but highly repetitive totalitarian dogma is more uplifting than "Dreams from My Father." The author is obviously very articulate and has excellent powers of recall (he seems to possess a photographic memory) but there is far too much negativism, endless brooding, and bitterness in his thinking. And all that negativism is all written down in "Dreams from My Father." The book more or less provides the foundation that proves that the mixed raced society in the US is a total comprehensive failure.

Well yes, his dad thoroughly abandoned him, his mother often left him with her parents to do her social work overseas, and his liberal grandparents did most of his upbringing. But he grew up mostly in Hawaii, except for a brief time in Indonesia (where he was well provided for), attended mostly private schools in Hawaii, and graduated from a renown and respected college, and was a successful high achiever at the prestigious Harvard law school. So he was generously provided for, not necessarily by his parents, but by the people left to raise him. This enabled him to be capable of becoming highly successful at earning a living. So he had a much more privileged upbringing than most people in the US had but had a similar very faulty upbringing that many others have had in the US. The mixed race upbringing instilled much anger in him and it does not seem that he knows entirely how to live. And the author is a major candidate to become President of the United States. And the news media is overwhelmingly cheering him on. And finally, how will all that anger inside come out when he is the US President? The book suggests that in whatever it will be, this anger will come out smooth and sugar coated, but with nothing but terrible consequences inside.

One could argue that the authors views have changed since the book was revised in 2004 but that wasn't very long ago. The book explains the foundation of the author's opinions and beliefs.

As for rating the book, it is well written and detailed, and provides excellent insights into the author's thinking and experiences (a 5 rating). However, what it reveals is very negative and the book drones on and on throughout with the author preaching his dogmas and all of this makes the book a very unpleasant read, but it was a valuable experience (a 1 to 2 rating). So this reviewer gave it an average 3 rating overall. The narrative does not flow chronologically and the account needs to be pieced together as in the manner of solving a puzzle. That is a common literary style and this reviewer did not use that for the rating. This reviewer highly recommends that anyone planning to carry out their "civic duty to vote" in November 2008 read this book no matter how pleasant or unpleasant they may find it to read. It will be a basis for a much more informed experience than all of the useless noise emanating from all of the political campaigns.

I am a college educated, bi-racial female in my early twenties and the hypersensitive racial observations found in Barack Obama's book Dreams from my Father left me a bit miffed. It seems his preoccupation with race and heritage are more a symptom of the trauma he felt at his father's absence than an inspirational story as the subtitle suggests. Being bi-racial, I too had an "awakening" of sorts when I realized I did not look like all the kids at school--but my restlessness pertaining to this aspect of my identity vanished before the end of high school and I now see identity more as something a mature person makes of herself rather than something tied to one's racial heritage. In this aspect BO's narrative worldview came off as ridiculous. Each chapter drolls on endlessly with black, white, brown...a category for everyone with blame slathered on the "white folks". Excuse the pun, but I'm not inclined to look to someone with thinner skin than I as a leader.

I am uncertain of where BO gets his sense of whites ruling over blacks given his upbringing. After all, it was his grandmother who sacrificed her golden years to take a job and care for him while his mother was off seeing the world. His grandfather too was supportive. Yet, one cannot ignore BO's loathing "white" achievement and gloating over "white" misfortune. For example he mentions his glee at seeing European shrunken heads at a museum, laughing at this "cosmic joke" and describing the experience as [akin to eating Tiger meat, a form of taking control] pg. 145. Given his own White heritage and upbringing his words sound like those of a spoiled, self-centered brat. Consequently, his worldview demonstrates that he blames the alienation we all feel on the first day of school completely on his skin color and christened it as the scapegoat for all his emotional insecurities for years to come.

I would wish not to continue with examples of BO's racially divisive worldview but some of the scenes left me so disturbed I am compelled to make note of them. For example on page 124 BO states that "The emotions between the races [can] never be pure; even love [is] tarnished by the desire to find in the other some element that [is] missing in ourselves...the other race [will always] remain just that: menacing, alien, and apart." Then on page 127 BO writes, "What I heard from my mother that day, speaking about my father, was something that I suspect most Americans will never hear from the lips of those of another race, and so cannot be expected to believe might exist between black and white: the love of someone who knows your life in the round, a love that will survive disappointment. She saw my father as everyone hopes at least one person might see him...

These two passages demonstrate BO's cynical underestimation of all humanity. It reeks of paranoia--a type of racial hatred I have never experienced as a biracial person living in America.

In critique of BO's writing style I will say he has a keen sense of metaphor and simile. His prose paints a clear picture of each scene and person. Yet his use of dialogue is cumbersome. Dialogue between him and sometimes trivial characters lasts for pages at times with no clear point. I learned that good writing shows you a story and bad writing tells you everything. In this BO's use of dialogue would exemplify bad writing as he tells the reader every single detail instead of artfully weaving useful dialogue into key scenes.

I read the book through to the last page and was waiting for an "Aha" moment when he would say that he had found "beauty, worthiness, equality and strength in all of humanity and therefore concluded his quest for perfect racial identity" but in this I was disappointed.

Considering all the points made above it is generous for me to give BO's book two stars--especially considering that I consider his book even worse than Chuck Norris' biography which I read earlier this year. I hope this review was helpful and I would like to hear other's interpretations and opinions concerning the above passages.

This reviewer decided to read Barack Obama's 1994 revised autobiography "Dreams from My Father" since he is one of the US presidential candidates in 2008. This revised version of the book was released in 2004.

Autobiographies are very useful means to learn from the author's experiences. Autobiographies by authors that were highly successful in their lives, or had a major impact on history, can provide information revealing as many of the valuable lessons the author has learned and recorded for the benefit of the reader. Autobiographies also reveal how authors think.

Overall: the author only believes everything in terms of his liberal dogma beliefs. He is highly critical of blacks that want to just get along and fit into the mainstream. He advocates "social justice", a euphuism for mob justice. He only rationalizes lawless behavior and will not label anything bad except what contradicts his liberal dogma beliefs. He believes that all the black problems are due to the whites.

The cover of the Three Rivers Press paper-back version states that it is: "A Story of Race and Inheritance," and indeed it is. The author presents all of his experiences and acquired knowledge in terms of race and a quest to learn of his Kenyan dad's background. These two issues thoroughly permeate the entire book.

He interprets every experience and thing he knows of in terms of liberal sociological and psychological teachings. It comes through, often seemingly illogically, in his interpretation of every experience and thing he acquires knowledge of on almost every page of the book.

At the end of his Columbia University days, he decided to become a community organizer (or social activist). The author had previously transferred from Occidental college (Oxy) to Columbia University in New York city since most blacks at Oxy wanted to get along with and be successful in the mainstream and were not interested in social activism. He viewed Columbia as being "in heart of a true city, with black neighborhoods in close proximity." Oxy is located near Pasadena, a highly enviable and pristine town near Los Angeles, noted for its prosperity and resistance to crack-pot ideas and politics (from what this reviewer knows of that town). The author describes the Oxy environment as being similar to Hawaii, "The students were friendly, the teachers encouraging," and the author labels any such behaving blacks as "compromise."

While at Oxy, he preferred to associate with: "The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets. We smoked cigarettes and wore leather jackets. At night, in the dorms, we discussed neocolonialism, Franz Fanon, Eurocentrism, and patriarchy. When we ground out our cigarettes in the hallway carpet or set our stereos so loud that the walls began to shake, we were resisting bourgeois society's stifling constraints. We weren't indifferent or careless or insecure. We were alienated." And the author appeared to be diligent about being as alien and uncivil in society as he could be with this group of clones of his maternal grandfather.

The harsh and bleak realities of portions of New York City that he stayed in and visited while at Columbia compel the author to cease using drugs and practicing other related dissipations that he indulged in while at Oxy. In other words, he fits very comfortably into the harsh and bleak areas of the NYC environment, but could not tolerate the relatively plush, prosperous, and pristine Pasadena environment. This attitude appears to this reviewer as being a very familiar symptom of firm blessed-be-the-poor type beliefs, whose roots comes from the Roman Catholic Church, which is the mother of socialism (minus the church's assorted deities).

The author has little else to say about his Junior and Senior years at Columbia. The highlight of his stay at Columbia is a visit from his mother and his sister, to check up on him and to show her daughter all the sights to see in the city as well as other locations in the continental US.

After college, he became a research assistant in a consulting house to multinational corporations -- with the intent of staying only long enough to pay off his college expenses. He described himself as "spy
behind enemy lines," still in the mind-set of an hostile alien. He was the envy of the other black employees at that firm and they were proud of him but disparaged of his plans to become a community organizer. After he was promoted to financial writer, he left the company (and it leaves him in excellent financial condition) to pursue his community organizer interests. His initial community organizer work proves to be unprofitable (and leaves him in poor financial condition).

Then he interviewed with a Chicago based community organizer (highlighting that he looked very out-of-shape and unkempt, and was Jewish). The community organizer asked him, "Hmmph."..."You must be angry about something." The author replied: "What do you mean by that?" The community organizer answered: "I don't know what exactly. But something. Don't get me wrong -- anger's a requirement for the job. The only reason anybody decides to become an organizer. Well adjusted people find more relaxing work." So this preferred career choice showed that the author had developed a large measure of anger about race.

His dad (Barack Obama, Sr.) was from Kenya. His dad was resourceful and intelligent enough to get a scholarship to attend college in Hawaii. That is where he met his white mother (Ann Dunham). He digressed to describe her parents (Stanley (family familiar: "Gramps") and Madelyn (family familiar: "Toot") Dunham) and their backgrounds. It is his white grandparents who perform a major portion of the author's upbringing (the cover photographs show that author bears a striking resemblance to his white maternal grandfather - the text makes no mention of this). His white grandfather always preferred the company of blacks as he was something of a wild rebel and simply did not fit into main (white) society. This likely influenced his daughter decision to marry Barack Obama Sr.. His daughter's marriage only lasted a short while. Barack Obama Sr. Received a scholarship to do graduate work at Harvard, so he just left the author at about age two and his mother in Hawaii with the grandparents and went to Harvard. He turned downed a more generous financial offer from another university in New York city that would have allowed the entire family to go there but he preferred the prestige of Harvard - but with its less generous financial offer. So he went to Harvard by himself.

Meanwhile, Stanley Dunham received a long and harsh letter from Obama Sr.'s severe father (Hussein Onyango) denouncing the marriage and it became apparent to her from the other contents of the letter that Barack Obama Sr. was still legally (or by local tradition) married to his first Kenyan wife and so she divorced him since she did not approve of polygamy. Before the marriage, Barack Obama Sr. had told Ann Dunham that he had separated from his first Kenyan wife that he had married in a traditional village marriage. The narrative later explains that polygamy is a Kenyan tradition (ditto the rest of sub-saharan Africa) and when a Kenyan marriage ends, the children go to the father, if he wants them. African traditions are like laws and are treated as having more authority than civil laws (the book does not discuss this matter but you cannot miss it if you know any Africans or have visited the continent). Hussein Onyango was vehemently opposed to that marriage since he had become very familiar with western culture (he had immersed himself in it when the British showed up in order to learn their ways and to learn how to defeat them) and knew that no white woman would put up with a polygamous African husband. His long and harsh letter to Stanley Dunham effectively torpedoed his daughter's marriage to Barack Obama Sr.

After Harvard, Barack Obama Sr. went back to Kenya with his next American white wife (Ruth, 2 children) while still married to the first Kenyan wife (2 children). He worked for the local Shell oil division and then used his connections to get a government job in the Ministry of Tourism. It lasted until his well known imperious manner got him into trouble with Jomo Kenyatta himself. He had to scrape by on handouts until Kenyatta died and then he got another government job in the Ministry of Finance. Meanwhile, he routinely became drunk so that his third wife Ruth left him after his first DUI car accident that killed the other driver (a white farmer). The author only saw him for a few days while he was living in Hawaii (when his dad came to stay to recover from his first major auto wreck). He then had a young fourth wife (1 child). Later his dad got killed in his final auto wreck.

This missing dad later motivates the author to search out information about him since he was never really raised by him at all and only sent him a number of short general type letters. His dad was spread too thin from one continent to another, one wife and the children by her (not "her children" according to Kenyan tradition), and with other wives and the children by them. Therefore, he ended up not being an effective real-time dad to any of the children he fathered. Only one of the author's male Kenyan relatives realizes that polygamy simply does not work. The author was somewhat shattered by what he found out from his relatives in Kenya about his father.

The author's mother married an Indonesian student (Lolo) after divorcing Barack Obama, Sr. and moved to Indonesia with the author. His step-father fathered his half-sister Maya. The author's step-father took a genuine interest in his development and upbringing, teaching him how to survive and cope in a hazardous, corrupt, and wretched society. This training appears to be the basis of the author's unrivalled political skills. This marriage lasts until the author's mother decided that this husband was too cooperative with that country's corruptive practices to get by (her impractical idealism clashed badly with his practical reality methods) and did not like how the author was being treated in the local schools (since Asians are intolerant of racial differences). The author's step-father tried hard to provide for and shelter his family -- at a level far above the norm for Indonesian society, but the author's mother resented it all since none of this conformed to her ideals of absolute ideological perfection. One can afford to have these ideas, courtesy of a rule-of-law society, such as in the US, whether these impractical ideas work or not, anywhere at all -- but not in a social Darwinist type society, such as Indonesia, where no one can survive on the ideals of absolute ideological perfection. So in the end, ideological incorrectness ended the marriage. The author labels his step father as a compromiser.

On the other hand, the author's mother was, to some degree, justified to object to the corrupt practices present in Indonesian society since that is what make a third world country a third world country. This reviewer has encountered a number of people from the third world who were raised on social Darwinist principles. They always look only after themselves, they will take advantage of you every time you have to work with them, they take credit for your work, they hide information you need - even if you have requested it, they walk all over you, they make you appear to be useless, and in the end - they cause you to be booted out.

The author's mother then took her children back to Hawaii (when the author was about 10 years old) to have their grandparents raise them while she was working on her social work and then divorced Lolo. That's right, her social work was more important than than raising her children. Sound familiar? The Dunhams seem to have been already immersed in the lower end of US self-serving, self-righteous, and all about-me social behavior.

Back in Hawaii, his maternal grandfather's boss used his alumni connections to get the author admitted to Punahou, a private secondary school in Hawaii. The author completed grades 5 to 12 at Punahou. A notable incident there was a white high-school friend's discomfort at an all-black party that made the author feel as if he was regarded as societal alien by all whites and this angered him very intensely. This incident appears to stir up his festering anger about race.

Later, his grandmother insists on being driven to work on a day following an incident where a black man had harassed her at the bus stop. This incident cements his anger about race.

The book even explains how he developed his renown smooth-saying abilities (from pages 94-95 of the Three Rivers Press and Crown Publishers paperback versions):

"...and one day she" (referring to his mother) "had marched into my room, wanting to know the details of Pablo's arrest. I had given her a reassuring smile and patted her hand and told her not to worry, I wouldn't do anything stupid. It was usually an effective tactic, another one of those tricks I had learned: People were satisfied so long as you were courteous and smiled and made no sudden moves. They were more than satisfied, they were relieved -- such a pleasant surprise to find a well-mannered young black man who didn't seem angry all the time."

So there you have the explanation for his smooth-saying: an effective tactic, that uses a courteous demeanor and reassuring smile to trick people into being satisfied with whatever he was saying (while hiding his anger). Moreover, he explains that is also an effective means to deceive (trick) people. No wonder he defeated Senator Clinton in the democrat primary this year. She was merely a talented deceit-sayer. On the other hand, her opponent was a much more talented and seasoned smooth-sayer and deceit-sayer. This also explains why he manages the amazing feat of continuing to maintain his associations with radicals of all types while maintaining his popular appeal to the mainstream (it looks like the Lolo taught survival skills).

Those two pages of the revised 1994 autobiography grabbed this reviewer's attention more than any other portion of the book since they explain so very much about this author.

Until about three fourths into the autobiography, he views western religions (but not eastern religions) with some disdain except that he enjoys the singing and music. During his community organizer career period in Chicago, a number of people he was working with advised him to see a very popular minister (Rev. Jerimiah Wright, Jr.) who was very effective with getting social type work done. So he went to see Jeremiah Wright at the Trinity Baptist Church. The narrative radically changes its character here to portray Jeremiah Wright as a saint. Jeremiah Wright is the only adult male he describes positively and non-critically that he experienced up to 1994 in the book. Rev. Wright explains his background and how he got to be where he then was to the author. He explains that he sampled Islam and activist issues, but in the end, he decided to return to his religious "Christian" origins and obtained a PhD in the history of religion. He explains that the Trinity Baptist Church emphasizes African history and scholarship.

While visiting the Trinity Baptist Church that day, the author picks up a silver brochure entitled ""Black Value System" - that the congregation had adopted in 1979. At the top of the list was a commitment to God, "who will give us the strength to give up prayerful passivism and become Black Christian activists, soldiers for Black freedom and the dignity of all humankind." Then a commitment to the black community and black family, education, the work ethic, discipline, and self-respect." This black religious activism blends more-or-less homogeneously with the authors secular activist ideas and beliefs. The author highlights a portion in the brochure that encourages the pursuit of income but discourages the pursuit of class status. This specific anti-socialist principle explains the sustained growth and success of the church and the success and prosperity of the church's members. Other black activist churches limp along with their socialist baggage but the Trinity Baptist Church long ago dumped this specific socialist baggage it may have had and this apparently caused it to enormously prosper. Ingenious!

Rev. Wright also describes his social work and this impresses the young author since that is what he was focusing his career on. This motivates the young author to follow a suggestion by Rev. Wright to attend one of his sermons in the Trinity Baptist church a short while later. The author has a "religious experience" during the very first service, no doubt boosted by Rev. Wright's inflammatory black activist rhetoric. If you watch any of those sermons on YouTube, you will see Wright's radical inflammatory black activist rhetoric (G-- D--- America!, etc.) and how it puts the Trinity Baptist congregation into a rapturous state of ecstasy and joy. And in one of those videos, he gets the congregation so stirred up and excited, that one of the church officials has to rush up to Wright from behind to merely touch him, as if to reap the benefit of touching a god.

Before that point, the narrative mostly criticizes the state of the blacks in this country, blames all their problems and pathologies on everything and especially the whites but except themselves, and there is nothing good he does not condemn and nothing bad he does not rationalize and justify to himself. He even witnessed a street shooting (two black punks chasing a third) in Chicago that he has to dive out of the way from, but proceeds to rationalize the shooters deadly conduct once the action has passed. The narrative resumes its prior dogmatic tone after passing by the effusive description of Rev. Jeremiah Wright (who seems to be an idealized version of the author's not-so-ideal father).

Scattered in a few spots in the book, he singles out President Reagan with seething contempt and scathing criticism (pages 133 & 203).

Near the end of his Chicago community organizer days, he decides that politics would be a more effective means to achieve his community organizer related objectives. He then decides to enroll in the Harvard law school, where he was extremely successful.

The author describes several trips to Kenya to visit his dad's relatives in the last portion of the book. His female half-sisters and aunts tried valiantly to describe how the Kenyan traditions oppress them but he could only see their complaints due to the white colonists. Colonialism never erased any of the African traditions in any African country since they are so very intensely institutionalized. This portion of the book is very interesting but the author interprets everything in terms of liberal dogma and this detracts from it.

Later, the author is married by Rev. Jeremiah Wright in the Trinity Baptist Church.

The book shows that if he wins the election, he will surely appoint judges that believe in "social justice" and will rationalize and excuse every imaginable act of lawlessness.

Reading the 1994 autobiography was a thoroughly unpleasant and down-throwing experience. I have never read a book that was as unpleasant as that one. Even "Quotations from Chairman Mao," stuffed with nothing but highly repetitive totalitarian dogma is more uplifting than "Dreams from My Father." The author is obviously very articulate and has excellent powers of recall (he seems to possess a photographic memory) but there is far too much negativism, endless brooding, and bitterness in his thinking. And all that negativism is all written down in "Dreams from My Father." The book more or less provides the foundation that proves that the mixed raced society in the US is a total comprehensive failure.

Well yes, his dad thoroughly abandoned him, his mother often left him with her parents to do her social work overseas, and his liberal grandparents did most of his upbringing. But he grew up mostly in Hawaii, except for a brief time in Indonesia (where he was well provided for), attended mostly private schools in Hawaii, and graduated from an renown and respected college, and was a successful high achiever at the prestigious Harvard law school. So he was generously provided for, not necessarily by his parents, but by the people left to raise him. This enabled him to capable of becoming highly successful at earning a living. So he had a much more privileged upbringing than most people in the US had but had a similar very faulty upbringing that many others have had in the US. The mixed race upbringing instilled much anger in him and it does not seem that he knows entirely how to live. And the author is a major candidate to become President of the United States. And the news media is overwhelmingly cheering him on. And finally, how will all that anger inside come out when he is the US President? The book suggests that in whatever it will be, this anger will come out smooth and sugar coated, but with nothing but terrible consequences inside.

One could argue that his the authors views have changed since the book was revised in 2004 but that wasn't very long ago. The book explains the foundation of the author's opinions and beliefs.

As for rating the book, it is well written and detailed, and provides excellent insights into the author's thinking and experiences (a 5 rating). However, what it reveals is very negative and the book drones on and on throughout with the author preaching his dogmas and all of this makes the book a very unpleasant read, but it was a valuable experience (a 1 to 2 rating). So I gave it an average 3 rating overall. The narrative does not flow chronologically and the account needs to be pieced together as in the manner of solving a puzzle. That is a common literary style and I did not use that for the rating. I highly recommend that anyone planning to carry out their "civic duty to vote" in November 2008 read this book no matter how pleasant or unpleasant they may find it to read. It will be a basis for a much more informed experience than all of the useless noise emanating from all of the political campaigns.

I highly recommend this book. It provides a unique insight into Barack Obama's strong character.

HE IS NOT WHO YOU THINK HE IS - HE'S A MONSTER

From Dreams of My Father:'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.'

From Dreams of My Father : 'I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race.'

From Dreams of My Father:'There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.'

From Dreams of My Father: 'It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.'

From Dreams of My Father:'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

It isn't often that one finds a celebrity figure who is honest enough to not only admit their flaws, but draw attention to them. In Barack Obama's memoir, he does just that. Regardless of his portrayal in the media and his appeal as a politician, Obama wrote a story that tells of his tribulations growing up, and what he learned along the way.
His story is wrapped around his search for his father's true identity. Growing up Obama gained little influence from his father and only dreamed of what the man truly was. Even in school he spun yarns about his father's life in Africa: "My Grandfather, see, he's a chief. It's sort of like the king of the tribe... So that makes my father a prince. He'll take over when my grandfather dies" (63). Behind his mythical tales, Obama dreams of the real life behind his father's mysterious exterior, hoping to one day discover a man of true wonder behind the stories.
Before Barack can find anything out, though, his father dies in a car accident. Obama is sent reeling, and begins a journey throughout the rest of the story to find how he relates to his unknown father's identity. However, he struggles to undertake this task until he begins to delve into his own identity, a difficult task for a young, stubborn Barack.
Throughout his early years Barack is faced with a number of outside changes that shift his identity. He lives in Hawaii, Indonesia, New York and Chicago, searching for something that provides meaning to him. One of Barack's first breakthroughs is in finding his desire to help others. He begins work in Chicago as a community organizer, his platform from which he goes on to do great things. It is his toil along the way, though, that shapes his character. He confronts numerous obstacles on his way to gaining influence. In one instance, when speaking with a Chicago public school principle, he asks for any suggestions. Her response suggests the scale of the task Obama takes on: "Short of tearing this whole place down and giving people a chance to start over, I'm not sure" (232). This exemplifies the trouble with Barack's situation, knowing that he cannot easily solve problems such as poverty and race issues. Obama grapples with his character, at times striving to take on the world, at others not sure where to begin. This personal battle is what makes the story behind his strife fascinating, as the reader watches him grow, while searching for the man who fuels his courage.

This is a well written book by very articulate and insightful man. Growing up with his white mother and later with his white grandparents, the author appears to be absorbed by his "blackness" and by the continuous process of finding himself. He definitely does not dwell on his "whiteness".

It is quite apparent that the author is drawn to his African roots to "try to understand" his ancestry. With his father procreation habits, there is apparently plenty of opportunity. While reading about his "identification" with Malcolm X writings, one can clearly see the racism of the author's views.

After reading the book, I found myself wondering what exactly were the dreams of his father. Apparently he was generous and wanted to provide for everybory. This, however, is quite common attitude among alcoholics.

It is clear, that the author sees the world through Africa. It appears that in his view most problems of the world are caused by greedy white folks. Given the level of education he received, I am amazed at his total lack of understanding of what Western Culture accomplished and how it was done.

Tackling Identity

Barack Obama's memoir, Dreams from My Father, recalls his adventure into understanding his heritage and identity. He effectively presents his story of searching for his self-identity in various ways. His memoir, which is separated into three parts- his childhood, life in Chicago and his journey to Africa, includes details of his hardships with belonging to two worlds. Obama's talent to write adds to the overall, heart-warming story of a boy growing-up in a half-white, half-black world, realizing his unknown heritage and family history.
The scenes he includes in his memoir effectively draws a picture to the readers of how difficult it was to live in a mixed culture. Obama explains his journey with the selected scenes from his past- those that were perhaps the hardest, the most interesting and those that forced him to live in the middle of two, fighting worlds. While living in Indonesia, Obama learned, "The world was violent, I was learning, unpredictable and often cruel" (37-38). As a bi-racial child living in a segregated world, there was no safe ground for a young, confused boy. He adds this scene in to show readers that even as a child, he found conflict with his identity. Later, as a college student, Obama asks himself, "Where do I belong?" (115). This infers that the concept of identity hadn't been a one-time problem, but one that had been building up inside him over years. In addition, Obama added some scenes that created ethos with the readers. He mentioned that as a teenager "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it" (93). A senator and presidential candidate, or a national leader, admitted to doing illegal activities. Obama specifically chose this scene to create ethos. He decides upon his scenes wisely; scenes that draw a picture to readers about his difficulties he encountered with his race and those that made the readers trust his words and story.
Obama also made the choice to divide his memoir into three parts- Origins, Chicago and Kenya. This created good transitions from one point in his life to the next. It showed the reader that the author grew, matured and discovered more about himself, but most importantly, his identity. As a teenager, he "[was] always playing the white man's court...by the white man's rules" (85). At that age, Obama doubted his ability to succeed and only played by the rules, never taking a step outside the lines. Even as an adult living in Chicago, he recognized the boundaries with a white girl friend:
I realized that our two worlds, my friend's and mine, were as distant from each other as Kenya is from Germany. And I knew that if we stayed together I'd eventually live in hers. After all, I'd been doing it most of my life. Between the two of us, I was the one who knew how to live as an outsider (211).
With time and a trip to Africa, Obama, while still struggling with his identity, took a more mature approach to the situation. After a journey into his heritage he realized that "black and white, they make their claim on this community we call America" (439). Finally, after a life of living in two worlds, Obama accepted his mixed identity. His choice to divide the book into three allows the reader to transition successfully. Moreover, his choice to order Origins, Chicago and Kenya in that specific order adds to show the reader that the author matured through his life and found a solution to his inner conflict.
Furthermore, Obama used significant literary techniques to strengthen his overall writing and caught the attention of his readers. He used dialogue to successfully illustrate a scene. While in Kenya, Obama played basketball with his younger brother. Bernard says, "'Maybe I will come to America. I can help you with your business'
`I don't have a business right now. Maybe after I finish law school-'
`It must be easy to find work'
`Not for everybody. Actually, lots of people have a tough time in the States. Black people especially'" (326).
Obama's choice to use dialogue instead of a narrative to explain a scene, shortens the passage and also makes the scene more interesting to the reader.
Overall, Dreams from My Father was an impressive memoir for its content and its writing. The story validated that America has become more of a melting pot- because Obama is a product of it. No longer are we racially separated, but becoming a mix of races and cultures. His story is one of the mixed heritage stories of America- but merely every American has their own.


H.Surman

sen.obama demonstrates a gift for telling a compelling story and shareing
it with the reader in an intimate way i.e,living early on in both hawaii
and indonesia and later his mainland continuing search for identity &
meaning.after page one i was hooked and went along on the journey with
this emerging {at the time)fine writer.let the legend grow...peace.

oliver j moore sr
olmec1