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Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance | 
 enlarge | Author: Barack Obama
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $6.95
You Save: $8.00 (54%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  278 reviews
Sales Rank: 89
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 480
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 1400082773
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.04960730092
EAN: 9781400082773
ASIN: 1400082773
Publication Date: August 10, 2004
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Product Description
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. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey—first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 273 more reviews...
 i loved it but it took me forever September 5, 2008
i love this book and i think the writing is amazing. idont know how he found time to write all of this but it was amazing. on the other hand it took me foreever. esepily the chacogo part. it was still amazing
 Disappointing September 5, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I read this book because I wanted to know more about Obama. I wanted (and expected) to like him, but unfortunately I was disappointed. This book has a very whiny, "poor me" kind of tone. Not to say that black people don't have a tough time, but there seems to be a lot of blaming "the white man" and "white folks" in general. News flash: we "white folks" don't just sit around plotting how we can make black folks' lives difficult.
Recommended reading: The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes
Past politics, this is an entertaining and educational, readable book September 1, 2008
Having read "The Audacity of Hope" and been incredibly inspired by it, I expected more of the same thoughtful discussion when I moved on to "Dreams From My Father." Was I ever surprised to discover an American Novel - with soaring descriptions, gifted human characterization, and appropriate suspense. Those who read this book hoping to get an inside look at a potential president will get what they paid for. Those just hoping to read a good story about the American experience will find what they want as well - even if they had never heard of Barack Obama (due to living on another planet, no doubt). As a white woman in the younger generation, with a less jaundiced view of race relations, I cringed early on at all the racial obsessions Barack entertained as a young man. Then I was grateful to get this inside look at what are true issues for my fellow citizens of color. (It's been a while since I read Alice Walker and Toni Morrison.) Once I understood that Obama was presenting his struggles with identity as an honest attempt to explain the complex issues that being interracial present, I relaxed and appreciated the candor. My only criticism, from a casual reader's perspective, is that the departures from narrative on his MULTIPLE soul-searching musings go on for pages and pages and toward the end of the book seem extensive. His editor should have just trimmed some of those for the sake of flow. The ease of reading isn't quite what it is in "Audacity," but obviously it is far and away above what most attorneys can produce in attempts at entertaining fiction.
 Dreams from My Father August 31, 2008
Anyone who reads this story will be touched by the humanity and journey of a man who had a long way to go in any endeavor. His humility and determination along the journey is inspiring and touching. His path gives all American's the encouragement that the "American Dream" is still alive and possible to achieve.
It's even better than 5 stars August 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I wish that every American could read this book! I was moved and impressed as I learned about who Barack Obama is. This book was written shortly after graduating from law school and before Obama entered politics. It highlights what an intelligent, perceptive, philosophical and principled person he is.
This is so much more than a simple bio. Obama's relections about the events of his life are poignant and insightful. I learned so much about the man as he recounted his real education (the one he got on the south side of Chicago) after Occidental, Columbia, and Harvard Law.
Obama's capacity to weave something handsome and strong from the disparate threads of his inheritance gives me hope that through his vision and leadership he can help our country appreciate and make good use of our diversity.
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