Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

A very normal, White American couple, by all accounts, typical midwesterners, start out in Kansas. The couple has an only child in a daughter, who, it seems from the start was rather unconventional. Eventually, the couple migrates to Hawaii. The daughter goes off to college and is entranced by a fellow African student, a brilliant man by the name of Barack Obama. The two fall in love at a time when interracial marriages were still outlawed in at least one American state. What is even more remarkable is that the parents of the young lady accept their new son-in-law, wishing the best for him and his new wife. The couple has a son and name him after the father. Though the son is technically “bi-racial,” the “one drop rule” of American society does not recognize that categorization, since any person with at least “one drop” of African blood in one's veins is ruled as Black. Interestingly, this child, the product of an African man and an American White woman, is by any true definition, genuinely African-American, a unique Black male in America who does not have slavery as a legacy in his genealogical heritage. When his father abandons his family, the young man struggles for his identity, combing great literature in search of who he is. He finds some comfort in the respect and intelligence of Malcolm X, but shies away from Malcolm's critique of his White ancestry. He goes to live with his mother in Indonesia, just one of the many symbolic cosmopolitan feathers that he will eventually have in his cap. His father haunts his dreams, and reappears for a brief period when he is age 10. He does ok, after a brief teenage experimentation with drugs, landing at a college in Los Angeles. Before he knows it, he can say that he has lived in the 3 largest cities in America, after transferring to a school in New York, and then moving onto Chicago. Everywhere he goes, he must wrestle with his unique racial ancestry, but somehow through it all, he reconciles his past to become an intelligent and strong personality, brimming with confidence. Unlike most memoirs of those who have been president, this is no “as told to” written account. Barack Obama is a very careful and brilliant crafter of words, this book written in a very sensitive and compelling lyrical style, almost as if he is telling it to you-and to you alone-across from him at a living room table. He is simply a great writer. This is an excellent book, on so many levels and is highly recommended. This book can be complemented by another, “Reality's Pen: Reflections On Family, History & Culture,” by Thomas D. Rush. Rush's book can be found right here on Amazon. In Rush's work, we get to see the “average Joe's” fascinating 1989 account of two very long conversations with what will eventually become the first African-American President in American History. It's good to get this account because it occurs long before Obama is famous, between two people just going about the daily business of their lives. What makes the interaction even more compelling is the fact that Obama innocently lays out an image of what he hopes to see occur within his romantic life, a romantic life prior to the time of his introduction to Michelle. It is oh so fascinating, and can be found in the piece on page 95 of Rush's work called, “You Never Know Who God Wants You To Meet.”

I liked the persistent & stubborn self-awareness of the main character, called Barry by his family & friends, who ostensibly needed to recognize & consent or accept his inner emotional self for a multitude of conflicting cultural reasons, as someone he might like to know & learn to love, in perpetual pursuit of his chosen life’s work – in the profoundly thorough (1995) book by the not yet President of the United States, Barack Obama entitled, Dreams from My Father – A Story of Race and Inheritance.I had to often remind myself while I read the book that I shouldn’t think about the penultimate conclusion, or that this was a precursor & not yet the actual or final ending to this young man’s remarkable legacy, in the many years before he became President in 2009, almost 15 years after the book was written in 1995, but the idea of a super-star status was never mentioned as even a possible pipe-dream in his Memoir.I like Mr. Obama that much better now, as just a regular guy after reading his 1st of 2 books, since I have never met the man aka POTUS (President of the United States) in-person & can only surmise his current character from watching him intermittently in the news on TV; still a dream of mine for the past 8 years while he has been in residence in the White House, mostly just to shake his hand & offer some hopefully sensible utterances with regard to my admiration & gratitude, as well as some polite & respective well-wishes for his post-presidential profession. While this book review is a pre-production preparation for a letter I plan to write to the President, just to let him know that he will certainly be missed, in my estimation, after the election this year (in 2016) - but then again that’s another story.I’d like to think I can identify with Mr. Obama’s journey of self-discovery, on some level, because I too am tall & have always felt or been told by others that I am thereby different & something I needed to fix in my apparently awkward state-of-affairs, by fearful, if not exasperated mindsets, who seem to rely on regulation labels before they can proceed with the uniform business at-hand. And the fact that Mr. Obama is smarter than most, helped & sometimes hindered his ability to find an easier way to answer his personal questions about race & inheritance, or whatever professional roles he was academically qualified for or subconsciously restricted by society to pursue.I liked his adamant persistence to find an acceptable answer to every problem he needed to solve. Although, I was not so patient with the community service line-item on his resume, especially at the Altgeld Gardens Public Housing development in Chicago, since I didn’t have the required patience needed to wait so long for worrisome people to help themselves confront the elected powers that be, in order to fix something in a state of historic disrepair that should have been a foregone conclusion of sorts, or a regular procedure of anticipatory repairs. In other words, the owners of the Altgeld Gardens should have audited their property regularly for any subsequent repairs, in my adolescent opinion.I waited albeit virtually & altogether impatiently with Barry in the background while he admirably engaged with everyone & anyone involved, in order to kick-start the up-keep, but nobody cared apparently, as much as Barry was a complete stranger on a mission of self-help who seemed more compelled to get the job done than the careless or too careful local residents. I immediately wanted to start fixing imaginary broken stuff around the place, while we waited infinitum for the city emissaries, so snug & secure in their suits & ties to make a better-late-then-never & last-minute appearance, just to cut a regulation ribbon to start the overdue removal process of the unseen & imaginatively bizarre amount of dangerous asbestos from so many kids’ hazardous bedrooms.However, Mr. Obama achieved what he had set out to do on his vision quest of sorts (picked a profession & found a job & followed-thru in pursuit of self-satisfaction) & he also discovered another more apparent avenue of interest to explore (at Harvard), which may not have happened had he not chosen to live in Chicago, in the first place, all within the fantastic status of a particular predicament aka within the altercation of the Altgeld Gardens situation.As Barry says in the book; ‘The continuing struggle to align word & action, our heartfelt desires with a workable plan – didn’t self-esteem finally depend on just this? It was that belief which had led me into organizing....’Another favorite line about what I consider the opposite of arrogance when Barry concedes to the moment at-hand & unquestioningly gives attention to a wider unknown audience apart from himself & somewhere out there in the unknown universe, which parenthetically made me suddenly twitch as I realized something comparable, in my shaky effort to stop & persuasively think about what might also be the woeful matter in my own world, when Barry reminds himself about respect & contemplates the task of requisite self-awareness, as he says; ‘Look at yourself before you pass judgement. Don’t make someone else clean up your mess. It’s not (always) about you.’ I had to add the word, (always), because most of us need to relinquish however many self-centered reasons, that it’s almost always about ourselves, once again in my guilty opinion!There are lots of good words of wisdom within the book to ponder, still his personal scenarios might not be so familiar or quite comfy for everybody all of the time, but that is the measure of what a wise & eventually great man once imagined, somewhere I’m sure, about the best thing we should do as individuals on this overpopulated & getting-smaller-by-the-minute tiny blue planet, to stop for a moment & consider the alternative or aftermath, in fact and/or in faith, to sincerely aspire to help another similar or unlikeable person somehow find themselves, or get to wherever they’re going a little bit easier, in order that you too might finally find yourself by osmosis or acquaintance, in a safer place on the planet & not so forlorn anymore.Barry realized early in the book that he needed to define his residence as a place to commence from a point of familiarity, while at the start of his journey of self-discovery – ‘And if I had come to understand myself as a black American, and was understood as such, that understanding remained unanchored to place. What I needed was a community, I realized....’Another favorite line he acknowledges; ‘I can see that my choices were never truly mine alone – and that that is how it should be, that to assert otherwise is to chase after a sorry sort of freedom.’‘Hate is the culprit,’ he later surmises & so this obviously contemporary idiom could also be the sub-title for this or another book review, perhaps.A favorite line from his Grandmother always reminded him to look for the good; ‘There’s a bright side somewhere...don’t rest till you find it.’I wondered afterwards how he would help his extended family in Kenya, whether that constitutes more of a personal commitment rather than a national prerogative & thereby a slight hindrance certainly while he’s the President. Still, I want him to help his brother, Bernard & the other little guy named Godrey, to define their place & purpose in the world, as that certainly seems to quantify a measure of selfless community service, as well as a prerequisite to help a select few family members, but not to give them everything for free without a lesson of sorts inserted, in order for them to help themselves, first & foremost!And be sure to read the Preface & the Introduction, to appreciate the overall effort, either before or after you read the main story of <500 pages; for example on page xvi – ‘...what has found its way onto these pages is a record of a personal, interior journey – a boy’s search for his father, and through that search a workable meaning for his life as a black American.’When I recommend this book to my friends who are in search of something spiritually similar, I always remind them that it’s not about the color of his skin; for example, as I see him (and maybe that’s easier for me to say, than it would be for Barry to agree with this superficial summation from a white man), but I always only see him as tall & smart! And that’s what I like about Mr. Obama, something I think we both have in common, for sure & that’s a justifiable start for wanting to help another person reach their goal aka for the good of all concerned, certainly?! - Review by Jack Dunsmoor, author of the book, OK2BG

buona lettura, che esplora la vita d'infanzia e adolescenza dell'ex presidente. Ricco di dettagli e anneddoti sul rapport conflittuale con il padre. Una lettura interessante.

Molto realista

I read this book and it challenged me to become a successful man despite my limited background. there is a lot to learn from this book.

As has been said before, one of the best, if not the best autobiography by a politician, ever. Love the man, love his intelligence, his humanity, his beautiful writing style.

A refreshing, extremely-well written account of Barack's early years. Written before he got into politics, it is propoganda free and really just talks relationships, and a man's struggle to reoncile his heritage - both family and race - to who he was/is.Although it is in no way political, and was written many years ago, you can start to understand why Obama was drawn to one of the hardest jobs in the world, and also connect the dots in terms of some of his recent policies, manifesto and general fight for social change.