Rating: 
Summary: Insightful But A Little Too Wordy
Review: After seeing Barak Obama give his keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, I knew right then a star was born. I became a huge fan instantly and therefore decided to read Dreams From My Father. While the book gives a highly insightful view of race relations from a deeply personal perspective, it also comes across as a little too self-indulgent. Now I know this is what it is, an autobiography, but according to the 2004 Preface, I think Obama would agree with me in saying that he was young when he wrote this work and it would be written much differently by him today. Dreams From My Father has it's high moments, one of them being Obama reflecting on his college years where he dropped his slacking, weed-smoking ways and truely came into his own - a highly intelligent, deep thinker, with a burning desire to know all of himself (his Mother's family history as well as his Father's)and help others. I tended to get lost and a little bored at times whenever he went into way too much detail about not so pivotal moments, i.e. some of the Chicago council meetings during his stint as an activist. Getting to the lesson learned rather than discussing what his friend Johnnie was eating and drinking would have sufficed. I also found that the end of this book, Obama's trip to his Father's homeland in Kenya, was by far the most riveting part of the story. To read about how his long lost family interacts with him along with his finally putting the many pieces of his life together was deeply moving yet educational. While I definitely think this book serves as a work in progress, I still recommend it for the sheer fact that Barak Obama is going to be a key figure in American history. Read this book now and you'll be able to better understand it's sequel (surely he will write another book) and the man.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful
Review: <br />Greatly insightful, and a wonderful memoir style of novel. Well worth the time to read. One day will be a classic. He argues with himself and the book is a politically based book, but I found it extremely interesting. <br />Other excellent books-NIGHTMARES ECHO,FATHER JOE,RUNNING WITH SCISSORS,PAPER LIFE<br />
Rating:
Summary: Insightful Book from Political Leader
Review: As a first-time writer, Obama does a wonderful job in relating the stories that affected his life. Obama details his personal reflections on his family, his childhood, race in America, and what it means to be biracial in a multi-ethnic society. Obama is painfully honest in discussing his life, which is not only rare for a politician but requires a tremendous amount of self-understanding and respect for the reading public. This book is a must read for those who are interested in Obama as a politician and for those who have an interest reading first-hand accounts of growing up in America as an "other".
Rating:
Summary: A future president of the United States
Review: Barack Obama is the junior Senator from Illinois, and only the third African American who was elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction.
He bested Republican nominee Alan Keyes in a historic contest which had pitted two African American candidates against each other.
Re-release of Obama's 1995 biography provides the additional national attention which he definitely has earned.
Obama received national accolades for his primetime Democratic convention 2004 speech, but the thrust of his book is his life story. Born in Hawaii to a family with high aspirations, Obama also temporarily lived in Jakarta before coming back to the United States to live with his grandparents, but his mother returned later.
Those life experiences have provided Obama with the grounding he needed to succeed in education and the work environment. Undertaking and completing challenging tasks is routine for Obama.
His first post-college job was organizing Altgeld Gardens's residents in Chicago.
After graduating from Harvard Law School (where he made the prestigious review) he resumed a career in Chicago, this time helping to register voters in the 1992 election. Obama subsequently lectured at the University of Chicago until his Senate election.
Demonstrated through his convention speech, Obama is thoughtful and articulate. Even if he's actually not intending to use this book as a presidential campaign launching pad, I can't help but admire a person who has accomplished so much---and still wants to accomplish much more. Resting on their own laurels would have been very easy for a person with his credentials, but he chose hard work.
This book will make you believe: Obama for President.
Rating:
Summary: A document for a generation
Review: Barack Obama's "Dreams from My Father" is one of the few really good memoirs written by a post-Civil Rights generation African-American that is not hip-hop or gang-culture oriented.
Along with his personal path to self-discovery and confronting his status due to his mixed heritage, we get a lot of insight of what African-Americans who grew up on the 1970s and 80s (as I did a few years after Mr. Obama) went through. We also get some rather pointed, but not mean-spirited criticism of the rhetoric oriented politics of Black nationalism of the 1990s and of Min. Louis Farrakhan and his followers in particular. Fortunately, Mr. Obama offers some constructive alternative solutions along with his constructive cirticism of this phenomenon.
The current edition of this book closes with the 2004 Democratic Convention Speech that is Mr. Obama's current claim to fame. Aside from a few dated references to the John Kerry campaign and the red state/blue state controversy, future readers should also be inspired by this work that appeals to unity and not division, unlike so much of the political rhetoric of recent times.
Overall, a great piece of work from a voice that many people hope to hear more from in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful
Review: Greatly insightful, and a wonderful memoir style of novel like that of NIGHTMARES ECHO and RUNNING WITH SCISSORS, Well worth the time to read. One day will be a classic. He argues with himself and the book is a politically based book, but I found it extremely interesting. <br />
Rating: 
Summary: Not what I expected - but in a good way
Review: I first heard Barack Obama's command of the English language in his address before the Democratic National Convention. His speech brought to mind leaders of the past who had the eloquence and passion to light a fire in people with words alone. When I saw his book, I bought it to read more of his firey, inspirational leadership. What I got instead is an insightful, sometimes painfully honest apprisal of the beginnings of that leader's life, and it surprised me. This book was written when Sen. Obama was just out of Law School. He was offered a publishing deal after being elected the first black President of the Harvard Law Review. What he wrote is a memoir that is very obviously written by a brilliant young man. I say brilliant because his observations and examinations on racial constructs and communications in America is astute and deeply personal. As a bi-racial man growing up in both white and black America, his viewpoint is unique and his eyes were wide open. I say young because unlike most memoirs written after great accomplishments and long careers, the voice of this story is at the beginning of what may be greatness, not the end. Obama gets a chance to look back and examine his formation, and in doing so gives a beautiful and wonderfully full 'state-of-the-union' as regarding race. It's not the same old stuff, and it is. It felt like my favorite college professors who could make you stop in the middle of a class and realize that you just saw something you thought you knew in a whole new light, and you could never see it the old way again.
Rating:
Summary: A Surprise Find
Review: I highly recommend this book to almost everyone. It should really get more attention! The writing is thoughtful and interesting, and the subject matter unique. The book follows Barack Obama as he grows up and defines himself and his view of the world, as he finds the community that he wants to count himself a member of. In the end that "community" is really the community of humanity, but this book takes you on Barack's journey. The author examines his heritage of white, midwesterners on his mother's side and later in the book explores the world of his father, a Kenya of the Luo tribe who came to the U.S. to study. Three parts of the book I found especially well done. First, the evocation of what it was like to be in Barack's head as a young black man with few black role models in his life and the difficult philosophical (internal) conversation of the African-American community defining itself in white America. Second, his work as a community organizer in Chicago really dealt well with the complex problems of declining inner cities. Third, the idealization of his absent father by both himself and his mother and the gradual discovery of the real character of his father and grandfather. Overall, this book was about his struggle to be true to himself and to figure out what that meant.
Rating:
Summary: Excellence from page to page
Review: I loved this book and highly recommend it for anyone.
Obama traces his earliest memories and introduces us to his caucasian and african families.
His honesty in expressing his feelings is a trait that is hard to find in many.
Again, I strongly recommend this book for anyone who loves good literature.
Rating:
Summary: Common Experiences
Review: I starting reading this book about 7 years ago when I was in college. Due to time constraints, I never finished it. However, I recently found the time to pick it up again and realized that I could not put it down. Even though I am a Mexican-American woman, I found so much of my story in what I was reading. As a child of immigrants, I often longed for that recognition of me in my predominantly Caucasian surroundings. It wasn't until my first trip "home" that I fully understood myself and culture. What a wonderful journey to relive through the words of one our great Illinois (and national) leaders.
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