Dreams from My Father

A Story of Race and Inheritance

By: Barack Obama

Narrated by: Barack Obama

Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Critic reviews

“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.

Enriching and enlightening

This deepened & enriched my understanding of a man I have admired since I interned as a social work student at the U of Chicago Law School where he was a professor as well as a candidate for US Senate. I am thankful he wrote this and that he has given our nation his reflections on being a Black man in this country raised by his white family.

I think this should be read by everyone and deem it an especially profound education for all in their late teens and early twenties.

Loved It!

I read this a few years ago. After listening to two other books by President Obama, I decided to revisit this. So very glad I did! A beautiful agility & narration.

AMAZING!!!!

I wish it had been 10 hours longer! President Obama mesmerized me, how wonderful

Amazing

Well read and well done from the former pres, I felt like I was in Kenya with him

Outstanding literary work

Another great work by one of the preeminent minds of our time. A journey of understanding and insight that is not to be missed.

Highly recommend

Obama did an excellent job reading his book- it was informative and interesting. I could not put it down. I wish I had read this book before he was president.