I bought this book to learn about the man who has energized American politics this year - is he real? - who is he?
I expected a very dull genealogy and was surprised to find a very well written, fast moving life history of a black/white man, rough in spots, confused, searching -- not the sort of book I'd expect from a Harvard Law/ Harvard Review editor and 33-year old lawyer intent on "becoming somebody".
Rather, I found an honest story about an American white family, a post WWII furniture salesman in Kansas who ended up in Hawaii. Their daugher, an anthropology major who fell in love with a black student from Kenya. Their marriage produced Barack and ended when his father was prematurely recalled to Kenya. Her second marriage to a student from Jakarta took them there to live in the desperate cultures of South-east Asia which led to their return to Hawaii and civilization.
As his mother returned to study Asian cultures he lived with his white Kansas/Hawaiian grandparents, attended white schools where he was a stark minority, and eventually attended schools in L.A. and finally Columbia for his first degree.
The second half of the book describes his attempts to be a social activist in the slums of East Chicago. He was hired to do a job with virtually no pre-training where he learned 'on the job'. This was a very frustrating and difficult period where he learned he had to rely on the support of local Christian churches to achieve anything. It was through them he became involved with pastor Wright who ran the largest most effective church in the black community.
Not long after he decided to be more effective he should learn the law and applied to Stanford and Harvard. He was accepted to Harvard, left south Chicago, and before attending Harvard, made his first journey to the land of his father, Kenya.
The last third of the book describes his visit to his sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins in Kenya and their various attempts for survival in the cities and jungles of that 3rd world.
It describes the welcome, the cultural divides, and the pressures of being a 'rich' American relative in such poor circumstances. Of course, as a social worker, he was far from being rich himself.
Bottom line: It was a good, easy read! I found myself educated in many ways - especially as a white man who has never lived in Southeast Asia, Hawaii, in the slums of Chicago nor near the shores of Lake Victoria in Africa - I feel I got my money's worth and, I hope, a better understanding of our next President.
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Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance Books In Print, Audio Books.