DREAMS FROM MY FATHER

To Read Dreams From My Father By Barack Obama

To Read Dreams From My Father By Barack Obama

In his first book, Dreams From My Father, A Story of Race and Inheritance, Barack Obama takes his readers along on a beautifully crafted journey of self-discovery. First published over a decade ago and recently re-published by Random House, it is a compelling tale not only of race and cultural inheritance, but also of human nature, human experience, life lessons, and personal growth. Obama tells his own life story (which is a fantastic story in itself) in a thoughtful and reflective way. This is the story of a wisely examined life. The fact that readers, regardless of skin color, social background, or cultural heritage can find themselves in its pages reminds us that as human beings we all share plenty of similarities as well as differences.

A few short months ago, when the Republican presidential and vice presidential candidates stood on stages around the nation asking, "Who is Barack Obama?" they could have easilly answered that question by reading Dreams From My Father. If they had read it, then they would not only know plenty about the man who will serve his country as the 44th president of the United States, but they might also know a bit more about themselves.

"Barack Obama wrote this memoir over ten years ago before he became the junior U.S. Senator from Illinois. In candid detail Obama shares his story of being raised by a white mother and grandparents in Hawaii while his father lived in Kenya. At the time of Obama's birth in 1961, his parents were enrolled at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His father, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a native of Kenya had left the states and return to Kenya when Obama was only two years old. Obama's mother, Shirley Ann Dunham, of Wichita, Kansas stayed in Hawaii for awhile until she married Obama's stepfather and then was moved to Indonesia until he was ten years old. His mother sent Obama back to Hawaii to live with her parents and it was there under the care of his grandparents his strong character started to form.

Education was emphasized in his family strongly and he went to college, moved to Chicago and took up community organizing in the Altgeld Gardens housing project on the city's South Side. While living in Chicago, Obama began to witness corruption, poverty, and racism and was compelled to make a change. He left Chicago for three years to study law at Harvard University and graduated magna cum laude. Obama returned to Chicago empowered with knowledge of law and pursued to make many changes.

After his father's death and not really knowing his father or his inheritance Obama goes to Kenya to met his African family and learn of his heritage and customs. At the end of the book Barack Obama shares his Keynote Address at the Democratic Convention on July 27, 2004.

Like most other Americans, I first heard of Barack Obama, the ...