| Since he delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, Barack Obama has been very much in the news. Today he's one of the most outspoken of the Democrats in the U.S. and he has a brand new book out that discusses today's political climate and changes he thinks the US should make. Reading that book made me go back to find this one, which is very different. It's an autobiography that covers Obama's life before he was in the limelight, ending about ten years ago.
Barack Obama is the son of a Kenyan man and an American woman. They met while enrolled in graduate school in Hawaii. When their baby was just two years old, they divorced and Barack Obama, Sr., returned to Kenya. His son would see him very little after that. Soon Ann remarried and she and her new husband and the young Barack moved to Jakarta. When he was ten, however, they moved back to Hawaii, where he would be thenceforth be raised by his mother and grandparents. It was while he is the fifth grade that Barack began to realize how different he was from most of his classmates, being of mixed race. It was around the same time that he spent a long period with his father, of about a month. This was a painful period. His father was a very demanding man who really put Barack through his paces, demanding he read works of black literature that were above the boy's head. Graduating from high school, Barack Obama got a rocky start at Occidental College, where he indulged in drugs and alcohol. But eventually he settled down, enrolling at Columbia. When he graduated he went to live in Chicago, where he became a community activist. Just before he enrolled at Harvard's law school, he decided to take a trip to Kenya to visit the relatives of his father, who had since died. | ||
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Plot & Themes Political/social rights fight Yes Plotlet: Ethnic/Relig. of subject (inside) If this is a culture clash: - minority culture living in majority area Ethnic/regional/gender Yes Period of greatest activity? - 1950+ Subject of Biography Gender - Male Profession/status: Ethnicity - Black Nationality - American Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 6 () United States Yes The US: - Hawaii Africa Yes Kind of Africa: - Black Africa City? Yes City: - Chicago Century: - 1980's-Present Writing Style Book makes you feel? - thoughtful Pictures/Illustrations? - A lot 11-15 B&W How much dialogue in bio? - significantly more descript than dialog How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life? - 0-25% of book |
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