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BookDragon Blog

16 Mar / Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama

Dreams from My FatherThe inaugural post for a historic inaugural year!

While finding out so much more about our first African American president, you can also discover his Asian Pacific American cultural heritage, as well. He was born in Hawai’i, his father-figure ages 4-6 was an Indonesian man, Lolo Soetero, who would eventually become his stepfather, he lived in Indonesia fitting right in with the locals during formative years 6-10, has a hapa Indonesian American sister, Maya Soetero-Ng, who is herself married to a Chinese Canadian, learned Indonesian in six months, and returned to Hawai’i to finish his pre-college education at Punahou School. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Of course, the book has so many memorable characters and stories to offer. The preface to the latest re-issued edition is a heart-breaking homage to his late mother. The memories of his maternal grandmother are especially wrenching with the realization that she passed away just before she could witness her beloved grandson’s victory as the 44th U.S. President. And his experiences in Kenya with his absent, late father’s side of the family are both comedy and tragedy combined.

Tidbits: The audible version of the book, which Obama himself reads, is quite the experience – that voice makes you believe he’s personally telling you his stories. The final track is a bonus: his 2004 Democratic Convention keynote address as the good Senator from Illinois, thumping for John Kerry and John Edwards. But if you take out those names, that speech still remains eerily now – war, economic woes, still too much inequity. Now that he’s the one who’s moved into 1600 Pennsylvania … ‘Yes, we can,’ and ‘Yes, we will!’

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 1995, 2004 (re-issued with new preface)

By Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Indonesian, Indonesian American, Nonfiction, Pacific Islander, Pan-Asian Pacific American, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American, Young Adult Readers Tags > Barack Obama, BookDragon, Civil rights, Coming-of-age, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, Family, Father/son relationship, Grandparents, Identity, Immigration, Mixed-race issues, Parent/child relationship, Politics, Race/Racism, Siblings
4 Comments
  • Janet Riehl

    I, too, love this book. I found it on a remainder table several years ago and since then have passed it around many times.

    It’s wonderful to read now, as a retrospective glance of how a man who believed in a multi-cultural society was formed.

    Janet Riehl
    http://www.riehlife.com

    Reply
    • terryhong

      Indeed, he gives us all the audacity to hope for a better world. Thanks so much for visiting!

      Reply
  • neha

    I, too, love this book. Indeed, he gives us all the audacity to hope for a better world. Thanks so much for visiting!

    Reply
  • MBA Schools

    I, too, love this book.

    Reply

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