George Trosky
No way I could ever read a book from someone that promised to make things better and instead made them worse. This is no longer America land of the free but more like land of the fascists. Its not really a secret, corporations and banking institutions pay for the laws they want to get passed and ignore its own people. He is just another brick in the wall of terrible leaders we have had to suffer over the past 100 or so years howeve the people still don't get it or care as long as they get paid every week
33 people found this review helpful
A Google user
President Barack Obama’s books (”The Audacity of Hope,” and “Dreams from my Father”), are the work of a mind our contemporaries recognise as that of a man who came from unique circumstances and rose to be the leader of the world. The Election of President Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America means many things to different peoples: To African-Americans, he is a fulfilment of the Dream of Dr. King. To my LUO people of Kenya, he is their first President. To the world, he perhaps is the right medicine to a world divided and bedevilled by interracial, religious and ideological strifes.
He inherited world hungry for food and medicine; he took over a world at war; he is managing a world threatened with total economic collapse; he is soothing a world tittering on a new scramble for increasingly scarce resources.
Reading President Obama’s books (”The Audacity of Hope,” and “Dreams from my Father”), one has a reason to hope for the better from America, even though he is a product of a particular manner of governance.
The first book, “Dreams from My Father,” introduces Obama to the world, and must be judged as a “master stroke” in the art of political persuasion, even before his Red-Blue-States Speech of 2004.
In this first book, “Dreams from my Father,” Author Barack Obama, now President Barack Obama, tells the world this: this is me; this is how I was born; this is how I was raised; these are my beliefs and doubts; and this is what my journey has been, so far. By spilling out the cultural delicacies, including a cocktail of religious beliefs to have come his way–thanks to the mind of his inquisitive mother–; by admitting to having done all that is doable by a young man; by revealing that he struggled with questions about his race to the extent of even doubting himself and kin, Obama told the world in general, and America in particular this: I am not a perfect man; I know you; I am one of you; I understand your pain; I empathise with your daily struggles and doubts, even if you doubt my authenticity as an American, as an African, as a black man, as an African-American man, or as a Christian of Muslim ancestry.
According to the narrative in “Dreams from my Father,” what is missing in his life as a young man is his mythical Kenyan father, whom he sees once before Obama Sr dies. The title of the book is a cry of what his youth could have been: perhaps a less troublesome; having someone to talk to man-to-man. But this is only a dream, because one cannot choose his parents!
A Google user
The fact that this book was written before his presidency definitelty gives insight to the real Barack Obama. Seems like a very easy read, but being as analytical as I am there are so many foreshadows to his candidacy and journey; many of which brought me to watery eyes from time to time (read and analyze the last paragraph on pg 147, and pg 148 to see what I mean). This book is GREAT because this is a journey that many people all over the world face, finding and accepting themselves; and being able to, nearly, see all that he went through and how he overcame certain obstacles is so inspirational. I would definitely reccommend this book to anyone and everyone who is able to fully understand it's contents.
P.S. This may also be a head start for some because I am a freshman in college and this is one of our readings.