Dreams from My Father

By Barack Obama

This is an autobiography written by Barack Obama around 1995, after Obama was elected the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review but before his political career began. My little brother Josh read this for school and my mom then passed it on to me.

Dreams from My Father is Obama's first book and it follows his early life in Hawaii, Indonesia, Chicago, and a visit to Kenya. It was interesting to read about how he learned to deal with being African American. He writes about the confusion of looking African American but being raised with his Caucasian mother and her family. For a good portion of the book, Obama describes feeling guilty that he didn't experience the same hardships that many in the African American community do. He struggles with how he should best help his people and where his role is. At one point, Obama becomes a community organizer in Chicago and he writes about getting to know the people in the city and how he found acceptance and purpose there. The people there inspire him to be as successful as he can and he ends up going back to school at Harvard. Obama ends with an emotional trip to Kenya where he meets his father's side of the family and discovers the truth about their life. The book is well written and emotional, leaving you with the idea that is only important that you are authentically yourself, not that you fit into any race or cultural ideas.

I really liked reading this book. Like most autobiographies, it took me a little while to get into it. Once I got interested in his life and worried about him it went a little faster. I liked how personal the writing was, it is written just like someone would talk to you, not like a speech. I also really appreciated the honesty of the book. I know I can't really say if Obama was being honest when he wrote it, but I like that he included the doubts and questions that he had. It was interesting to read, knowing that he wrote it before he even thought about running for Senator. Kind of gives you some perspective on where he came from.

Josh says: "It was as good as it gets for a boring old senator." With the side note that he didn't read the last 50 pages. The 50 pages where things kind of get wrapped up.