Dreams from My Father

A Story of Race and Inheritance

De: Barack Obama

Narrado por: Barack Obama

Duración: 14 h y 4 m

Resumen del Editor

Now available unabridged on audio for the first time

Number one New York Times best seller

One of Essence's 50 Most Impactful Black Books of the Past 50 Years

In this iconic memoir of his early days, Barack Obama “guides us straight to the intersection of the most serious questions of identity, class, and race” (The Washington Post Book World).

In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a Black African father and a White American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a Black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father - a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man - has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey - first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance.

©2021 Barack Obama (P)2021 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Fluidly, calmly, insightfully, Obama guides us straight to the intersection of the most serious questions of identity, class, and race.” (Washington Post Book World)

“Beautifully crafted...moving and candid.... This book belongs on the shelf beside works like James McBride’s The Color of Water and Greg Williams’ Life on the Color Line as a tale of living astride America’s racial categories.” (Scott Turow)

“Provocative.... Persuasively describes the phenomenon of belonging to two different worlds, and thus belonging to neither.” (The New York Times Book Review)

“One of the most powerful books of self-discovery I’ve ever read, all the more so for its illuminating insights into the problems not only of race, class, and color, but of culture and ethnicity. It is also beautifully written, skillfully layered, and paced like a good novel.” (Charlayne Hunter-Gault)

Beautifully written!

President Obama‘s handcrafted memoir is put together in such a lovely way, that you feel like you’re watching it all happen. Every book I listen to of his Dills me with more and more admiration for the life he has led, from his interesting beginnings to his successful career and finally his dignified continuous presence in our nation’s history. We have been fortunate to have him serve as such a wonderful model for all people

Knowledge

It’s an insight into Obama. You might not agree with all the policy directions. But you have to understand his humanness. We have a messy mixed up world. But it is one world.

Good read

I enjoyed hearing about President Obama’s thoughts before he was elected president.
I think he got a little long winded in a few sections.
Overall I liked it.

excellent memoir

An amazing tale of how president Obama grew up, his journey as a young black man in America, and the chase of his father's history in Africa. This memoir is sweet, sad, happy and hopeful at the same time. I can't recommend more.

Great book.

My only regret is that I should’ve read this BEFORE I read “ A promised land “ there are connections. Great book

Fantastic when paired with Audacity

A very different book than The Audacity of Hope, but nonetheless fascinating and immensely digestible with Obama reading his own story. His voice and cadence, like his presidential speeches, are velvety and melodious, making it very easy to listen to the story for long stretches of time without even blinking. The narrative itself is fascinating in describing his experiences growing up in a wide variety of cultural and racial environments. These include his obvious mixed race parentage, but also his experience for the portion of his life in indonesia, and the cultural precepts imparted by his tough stepfather there, as well as his experiences later on as a community organizer in Chicago, prior to his matriculation at Harvard Law school. The descriptions of his relations to his absent father, as the title suggests, are interwoven throughout the book and illuminating. His father was an incredibly intelligent man in Kenya, but whose pride derailed his career as a high level public official, not knowing when to hold his tongue or check his ego. Obama also lucidly reflected how his lack of interaction with his father painted a polarized view in his projections of what he was really like. Obama's father did not have the everyday stains of a person seen day-to-day, and Obama idealized him in this way, but also was left with negative images of a man who shot himself in the foot and negated his extremely high intelligence with some of his prideful personal characteristics. More a narrative and background story than the direct political analysis and perspective of Audacity of Hope, this is a terrific book and excellent complement to Audacity, with the paired books portraying very different perspectives of Obama's life and together forming an incredibly rich portrait of this legendary man, American, and president.

Amazing journey

I commend Obama for all his hard work, and for penning this journey into finding himself. Thank you for sharing with us, me POTUS

What a blessing to hear…

Mr. Obama, long before he had pierced the nation’s zeitgeist displays a brilliant mind and a writer’s gift of commanding eloquence. He teaches intimate and immense lessons while he explores questions that haunt all of mankind.

Mr. Obama’s voice work is as polished as one might hope from a professional actor. There are perhaps a few moments when his impersonations of the various characters might slip slightly but for the most part he is quite adept at recreating important conversations in the story.

Part 3 is fraught with tension and heartache. He has skillfully front loaded the obligatory exposition so the reader is fully invested emotionally in the pilgrimage to Kenya to meet his family. This part is so well done. There were moments when I wished I was reading the text simultaneously and seeing pictures of his family members that I suspect are included in the printed version of the book.

Overall: Mr. Obama’s meditations on origin, identity, faith and grace are transformative and healing. His stories conjure a wealth of personal reflections and leave me flush with understanding and inspiration.

The story was well detailed.

I was absolutely captivated. I didn't want this book to end . Yhe details of Africa,his family and the journey to the White house were astounding. He laid himself bare for all to see. I am both amazed and enamored by this man and his wife. Forever my President.

Review

This is a wonderful book about a boys assent to manhood and his inner journey to find peace with his race, heritage, his fathers absence in his life. I don't believe he knew then that his grass roots will lead him to a movement that made the American people proud of what he accomplished. Nor did he know that 8 years later another man would try to take it all away and fail miserably in his efforts to make racism acceptable again. I would honestly like to see Obama write another book on those years and how he formulated the coalition between Bush and Clinton to speak out once again on injustice. If you haven't listened or read this book, you should.