David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, has given us the definitive biography of Barack Obama to this point in time. This one book will tell you everything you need to know.
Barack Obama is truly a man who had to define himself. The son of a white mother from the Midwest and a Kenyan father who abandoned the family, raised largely by white grandparents, Obama had to study and research his family in order to figure out who he was. In this sense, I consider him something of an existentialist in that as much as anybody I've read about, he was able to define himself.
Remnick gives us in depth perspective on every aspect of Obama's life. We read about Kenyan history & politics to understand Barack Obama, Sr. We learn some anthropology in order to understand the mother, who did graduate work in anthropology. We learn about Indonesia because the future President spent time in that country living with his mother and her second husband. I could go on and on. The point is that perspective is everything for Remnick. To understand is to see the full picture.
This is what makes this book such a joy. You feel like you truly have some understanding of the man when you're done.
The central thread of this book is race. We all know that Obama is our first African American President. This book lays out the full historical significance of this fact.
For example, Remnick pays tribute to Jesse Jackson, who paved the way for Obama by running for President in l984 and l988. Had there been no Jackson, perhaps there would have been no Obama. But before Jackson, there was Shirley Jackson in 1972. All must be given their due.
Remnick points that slave labor largely built the White House and the Capitol, and that 12 American Presidents owned slaves. This is a sobering reminder of the racial fault line that lies thru all of American history.
To fully understand Barack Obama, you have to understand where he came from and how he defined himself. Here is the book that tells you these things.
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