Steve Dougherty

This is a nice coffee-table book about Obama -- very appropriate for Obama fans who want to have something for house guests to look through. It is richly illustrated, and in a large format, so the pictures are splendid. It's light on text, which is why we have so few excerpts, and the text mostly deals with Obama's personal life.
Not a book for policy wonks! But there are other books about Obama for that purpose. And also not a book for Obama opponents who want to find some dirt -- it's way too supportive for that. And finally, not a book for supporters to discuss deep details of Obama's positions -- it's just for an introduction.… (more)

Hopes and Dreams: The Story of Barak Obama is a pictorial biography published just after the historic US presidential election of 2008. It offers a highly sympathetic account of the life and career of Barak Obama, illustrated with hundreds of photographs. The book contains the following chapters: (1) ‘Obamania’; (2) ‘Young Barry’; (3) ‘Finding his Way’; (4) ‘Political Apprenticeship’ and ‘Man on the Go’; (5) ‘Senator Obama Takes Off’; (6) ‘The Road to the Presidency’; (7) ‘The Historic Election’.

The many photographs are the highlight of the book. All are in color and printed at fine resolution in 1-3 per page. A few take up a two page spread. They offer views of Obama from childhood, in high school and college, as a community organizer, as a law student at Harvard (where Lawrence Tribe chose him as an intern -- he later was to describe Obama as “one of the two most talented students I’ve had in 37 years of teaching”); as a state senator (in which position he served for 8 years); as a US Senator; as a contender for nomination by the Democratic Party; as a presidential candidate; and as the new president- elect. Also included are several photos of his wife and daughters, and the Obamas at home, as well as images of his parents and other ancestors (including his relative Jefferson Davis, President of the southern confederacy during the Civil War), and his distant relatives in Kenya.

As indicated by its title, Hopes and Dreams is celebratory in tone; indeed it is nearly adulatory. One will find only hints of the vitriol sent his way by political opponents and the conservative establishment, and any controversies raised during the election campaign are presented in a sympathetic light. More than two years later, US citizens can consider from this book whether he lived up to the soaring rhetoric and idealistic tone of his presidential campaign. Overall, this book offers a fine introduction to Barak Obama as he was seen by his supporters at the time of the 2008 election, with photographs that humanize him in ways that words alone cannot.… (more)