Dreams from My Father

A Story of Race and Inheritance

Historically, this is a fascinating book. I can't think of another President who wrote a memoir before becoming President. Obama wrote this in 1995 when he probably would have laughed if you had told him he would be President one day. I imagine that if he had any inkling of the future, he would have probably left out some of the more personal passages. In the 2004 introduction, he describes these passages as "inconvenient politically, the grist for pundit commentary and opposition research," but the book would have been much the weaker without them.

"Dreams from My Father" is split into three sections: Origins, Chicago (about his work as a community activist there), and Kenya. The last third about his summer in Kenya is where the book really takes off. There, Obama meets the paternal side of his family and comes to grips with his history, as well as his deceased father, a largely mythic figure in his life who he met only once.

If anyone should write a memoir about his family, it's Obama who has one half-sister on his mother's side, one half-sister on his father's side, six half-brothers on his father's side, a couple of stepparents, and was raised largely by his grandparents. As an only child, I kept getting confused, and I wish I had this family tree in hand while reading the book.

This is a book by the President, so I feel as if I should say more. However, this isn't really my genre of choice. I usually don't read the deeply personal memoir, so it's safe to say that I wouldn't have bought this book, if Obama was still a community organizer in Chicago. Nevertheless, he has an inspiring story -- even before running for office -- and he's a great writer.

I know I'm entirely biased here, but I just like the idea of having a writer in the White House.  It must be a little like what the plumbers thought about John McCain.