Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama

Read as part O of the “Along the Library Shelf” reading journey

Chosen because

There were few O’s on the fiction shelves but this jumped out of the biographies section. With the US election campaign nearing its climax it seemed topical, was not over long, and had impressive review snippets on the cover.

The Review

Written in 1995, some 13 years ahead of presidential status, this is Barack Obama’s personal memoir of his early life, written as his contribution to the race relations debate.

He was born in Hawaii where his parents met while studying at the University. His father was black from Kenya, to where he soon returned, keeping sporadic touch from afar until his relatively early death. His mother, white from Kansas, moved on to a second marriage in Indonesia giving young Barack a brief taste of Asia before returning him to Hawaii in the care of his maternal grandparents.

Middle class schooling provided a first taste of the casual racism of the 60’s, present even in the cultural melting pot of Hawaii, prompting the first questions of race and identity. Moving on to support social projects in Chicago’s South Side, he saw how segregation had resulted from unemployed blacks coalescing in the poor inner city streets, while those able, mainly white but also the more affluent black, shipped out to the suburbs.

From the perspective given by his unusual family background, he searches open-mindedly to establish where he and his fellow black Americans really belong – to their half of the community, to their country, to their race - or all of these if that’s possible. Refreshingly for a future politician, he does not lay claim to all the answers.

The final section of the book sees him “return” to Kenya where he meets his disparate half siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. This enables him to piece together the full story of his grandfather’s life in colonial Africa and his father’s, no less difficult times, in post-colonial Kenya.

It is very well written; the prose is clear, descriptions are atmospheric whether of the mean streets of Chicago or the dusty African bush, and characters are portrayed with empathy and respect. His range of writing style is impressive – Hawaii is entertaining, Chicago analytical and Kenya moving.

Whether he finds his answers or not it is a fascinating insight into what it is like to be black in what seems to be, still, very much a white man’s world - if no longer fashioned for him then certainly fashioned by him.

The book leaves a very favourable impression of the man and I was very glad to see him back in the White House.

Read another?

His “Audacity of Hope” looks like more of a political treatise so may not be for me, but a volume of how he managed to become President could be interesting.