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Description:
When Barack Obama learns of the death of his African father, whom he hardly knew, he is compelled to trace his unusual family history. Obama, who became a nationally known figure in 2004 when he gave the keynote address at the Democratic Convention, writes movingly about being raised in Hawaii by his white mother. He goes on to describe his years at Harvard (where he was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review), his illuminating visit to family members in Kenya, and his work as a community activist in Chicago, where he eventually entered Illinois politics. Elected the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, Obama was offered a book contract, but the intellectual journey he planned to recount became instead this poignant, probing memoir of an unusual life. Born in 1961 to a white American woman and a black Kenyan student, Obama was reared in Hawaii by his mother and her parents, his father having left for further study and a return home to Africa. So Obama's not-unhappy youth is nevertheless a lonely voyage to racial identity, tensions in school, struggling with black literaturewith one month-long visit when he was 10 from his commanding father. After college, Obama became a community organizer in Chicago. He slowly found place and purpose among folks of similar hue but different memory, winning enough small victories to commit himself to the workhe's now a civil rights lawyer there. Before going to law school, he finally visited Kenya; with his father dead, he still confronted obligation and loss, and found wellsprings of love and attachment. Obama leaves some lingering questionshis mother is virtually absentbut still has written a resonant book. Copyright 2005 Publishers Weekly.
- Author:
- Obama, Barack
- ISBN:
- 9781400082773
- Format:
- Paperback
- Pages:
- 448
- Publish Date:
- 08/31/2004
- Publisher:
- Three Rivers Pr
- Language:
- English
Customer Reviews
GREAT BOOK CANT PUT IT DOWN UNTIL YOU FINISH. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO EVERYONE.
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Great background history on Obama. Reads more like a novel.
- How often do you shop at Overstock.com? Few times a year
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This was an excellent book. It was one of those novels that once you start to read you do not want to put down. If you want to know the true story about Barrack Obama and how he became the Man and the Presidential candidate that he has become, this is a must read book.
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I was pleasantly surprised, this is a really good book to read. I couldn't put it down. This is a great personable look into the author's life and background. Very enriching and well written with lots of compassion. Great father's day gift.
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- Are you a Club O Member? Yes
I haven't finished reading the book yet...it's the type of book you CAN put down. But you want to pick it up again in a couple of days. The story is okay...I think just too long. May instead of 300+ pages it could have easily been 100.
- How often do you shop at Overstock.com? Few times a year
- Are you a Club O Member? No
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