Three Rivers Press - Revised Edition 2004.

Review published Mar 2007.

This is Senator Obama's book written when he was still in law school. After initial interest, the book virtually disappeared, to be reprinted in time for the current political campaign. We have now read both of his books and have found this first one the more moving.

He talks about his education, his first experiences in political activities, but most of all he tells the story of his family. The most interesting part to us was when Obama went to Africa to try to find his family. After our recent Slovak adventure, where we found a host of loving and welcoming cousins, we were moved by his discoveries of his family members who were struggling in many different ways in their homeland in Africa.

Perhaps our enjoyment of the book was because it was written so early in Senator Obama's political life, but what makes this book unusual is that the author comes through as a human being, unlike many other political figures.