Book Review - Barack Obama: the making of the man by David Maraniss
Although I have read only a few Obama books, and within the range of middle-of-the-road authors (as far as can be), if ever there was a book which could delve into the narrative and detail of Obama's life pre-politics, this is it. Nearly 600 pages long, this book offers a forensic account of each stage of his life, starting with his grandparents from both sides and across two continents to the honest and open accounts of family and friends. What impressed me most about this book was the research. David Maraniss uncovered direct stories of people who knew and experienced Obama's various connections and brought it together in a single piece. Maraniss travelled to each location where Obama lived - Chicago, New York, LA, Hawaii, Indonesia (and Kenya where his father is from) - and went to great extents to learn of the history stretching back generations. To understand Obama this is important, because the strands of his thinking and persona, like all of us, find common thre