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The Other Barack: The Bold and Reckless Life of President Obama's Father
Barack Obama Sr., father of the American president, was part of Africa's "independence generation" and in 1959 it seemed his star would shine brightly. He came to the U.S. from Kenya and was given a university scholarship. While in the Hawaii, he met Ann Dunham in 1961, and his son Barack was born. He left his young family to gain a master's degree from Harvard. After that, Obama's life became progressively more complicated. He was a brilliant economist, yet never held the coveted government job he felt should have been his. He was a polygamist, an alcoholic, and an ardent African nationalist unafraid to tell truth to power at a time when that could get you killed. Father of eight, nurturer of none, he was an unlikely person to father the first African American president of the United States. Yet he was, like that son, a man moved by the dream of a better world. Now, thanks to dozens of exclusive new interviews, prodigious research, and determined investigation, Sally Jacobs tells his full story.
338 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 7, 2011
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April 1, 2016
Sally Jacobs has done an impressive job in bringing together material on the life of Barack Obama, Sr. and describing the history of modern Kenya. The author relies on extensive interviews (there is 7 page list of interviewees in the bibliography), and has sifted through considerable material in the public record. There are several pages of well selected photos.
It seems that President inherited his intelligence and charm from the father he hardly knew; however, Barack Obama Sr. also had loud, rude and impulsive side to his personality and his son is quite the opposite. Had the 44th President of the United States lived with his father his life would have begun with turmoil and insecurity. In the classic debate on nature vs. nurture as predictors of success, the contrast in life stories of the 44th president of the US and his father, clearly points to the influence of nurture.
Obama Sr. came from an abusive home life and, despite a good education, opportunity and travel, he became a domestic abuser too. His bravado and his abuse of alcohol and women appear to be devises to mask his insecurity and to pump up his self-esteem. He sees people he considers less talented rise in the new Kenya. While he seems to be clueless, his life has a predictable downward spiral.
There are many interesting aspects to this story, a few being Obama, Sr.'s interface with Americans. First is the devotion of his mentor, Elizabeth Mooney. Next is Obama, Sr.'s friendship with Neil Abercrombie, Hawaii's current governor. Third is how the US Department of State kept watch over student visa holders in the 1960's which thoroughly contrasts with the supervision of the 9/11 hijackers. Fourth, and most striking, is the contrast in how Obama's American in-laws accepted their daughters' marriages and their part African grandsons. (I presume this was a major factor in Ruth Baker's return to Kenya to try to start anew with her husband and Ann Dunham's refusal.)
This book adds to (and does not duplicate) the work of Janny Scott in "A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother" and P. L. Firstbrook in "The Obamas: The Untold Story of an African Family". Like the others, this book is a only start at piecing together the lives of this extraordinary family. There is more work for future researchers/biographers of this family and particularly, Obama Sr. What is reason the Obamas never lived together in Hawaii? What of the address on the birth announcement? Ann Obama's trip to Seattle seems unusual in that she planned to go to Boston. In Kenya, what, exactly, did he do at these jobs that allowed him to leave the office for most of the day? Knowing how Obama Sr. supported himself through his jobless years including his trip to Hawaii and his considerable drinking habit could provide more info on his friends and family and perhaps clues about his suspicious death. Hopefully, many years hence, the letters he wrote to his son will be public.
The man honored in "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance", surely got a pass from his son. Perhaps Barack Obama, Jr. did not know the depths of his father's abandonment of him and his mother.
It seems that President inherited his intelligence and charm from the father he hardly knew; however, Barack Obama Sr. also had loud, rude and impulsive side to his personality and his son is quite the opposite. Had the 44th President of the United States lived with his father his life would have begun with turmoil and insecurity. In the classic debate on nature vs. nurture as predictors of success, the contrast in life stories of the 44th president of the US and his father, clearly points to the influence of nurture.
Obama Sr. came from an abusive home life and, despite a good education, opportunity and travel, he became a domestic abuser too. His bravado and his abuse of alcohol and women appear to be devises to mask his insecurity and to pump up his self-esteem. He sees people he considers less talented rise in the new Kenya. While he seems to be clueless, his life has a predictable downward spiral.
There are many interesting aspects to this story, a few being Obama, Sr.'s interface with Americans. First is the devotion of his mentor, Elizabeth Mooney. Next is Obama, Sr.'s friendship with Neil Abercrombie, Hawaii's current governor. Third is how the US Department of State kept watch over student visa holders in the 1960's which thoroughly contrasts with the supervision of the 9/11 hijackers. Fourth, and most striking, is the contrast in how Obama's American in-laws accepted their daughters' marriages and their part African grandsons. (I presume this was a major factor in Ruth Baker's return to Kenya to try to start anew with her husband and Ann Dunham's refusal.)
This book adds to (and does not duplicate) the work of Janny Scott in "A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother" and P. L. Firstbrook in "The Obamas: The Untold Story of an African Family". Like the others, this book is a only start at piecing together the lives of this extraordinary family. There is more work for future researchers/biographers of this family and particularly, Obama Sr. What is reason the Obamas never lived together in Hawaii? What of the address on the birth announcement? Ann Obama's trip to Seattle seems unusual in that she planned to go to Boston. In Kenya, what, exactly, did he do at these jobs that allowed him to leave the office for most of the day? Knowing how Obama Sr. supported himself through his jobless years including his trip to Hawaii and his considerable drinking habit could provide more info on his friends and family and perhaps clues about his suspicious death. Hopefully, many years hence, the letters he wrote to his son will be public.
The man honored in "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance", surely got a pass from his son. Perhaps Barack Obama, Jr. did not know the depths of his father's abandonment of him and his mother.
March 28, 2012
In some ways, The Other Barack by Sally H. Jacobs reads like a flawed Greek tragedy wherein a great person experiences the reversal of fortune caused by an inevitable and unforeseen mistake, a flaw in the person themselves. The audience, witnessing the suffering, feels a catharsis, a kind of satisfaction and peace.
This biography is subtitled “The Bold and Reckless Life of President Obama’s Father”. Bold and reckless does truly describe the “other” Barack Obama, Sr. Look at his picture on the hardback cover; that wide, inviting smile, pipe between his teeth, the stylish haircut, those black-rimmed glasses accentuating a well-modeled face with high cheekbones, glasses that reflect light seemingly emanating from the man himself.
“Baraka” means “Blessing” in Arabic and he was born blessed. In the words of his own father, Obama was “winyo Piiny Kiborne” which translates, “for the bird, the world is never too far.” As the firstborn son in a patrilineal culture of the Luo Tribe in Eastern Kenya, Obama was treated to the best the rural African village could offer. His father, Onyango, was a man whose criticism and punishment Obama had to contend with all his life, a harsh patriarch who walked 220 miles by foot to school (he became fluent in English and Swahili) and ended up a house servant for a “muzungo” (white) household in Nairobi.
Barack Sr’s story unfolds along with the dynamic history of 20th century Africa. It is told in an objective, well-researched way by Sally Jacobs, by all accounts a fair-minded, masterful journalist. The author has a list of imposing credentials that match her rendition of Obama’s vista, bigger than any epic tale. In her preface, Jacobs describes how, after writing short superficial pieces about the newly elected president’s father in 2008 for the Boston Globe, she determined to research and write a substantive piece. She details all the obstruction she ran into during her research from the president’s huge, far-flung African family (he has many African siblings). Unlike the chorus of a Greek tragedy, the African Obamas did not speak with one voice, though three have written books about their experiences. Jacobs does a masterful job of presenting the family’s conflicting versions of their life (or otherwise) with Obama Senior.
No one disputes Barack’s great determination, probing intellect, and drive to succeed; and yet there was also his blindness, self-deception, self-aggrandizement, and unchecked alcoholism. For a native boy from Africa, growing up in the 1940s, Barak Obama Sr. did the nearly impossible and he knew it. He was the first African student at the University of Hawaii where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He was one of only 81 African students at Harvard, where black students made up only 1%. Over-confident, argumentative, he pursued his aims at any cost. A classy dresser, superb dancer, with a deep sonorous baritone that no one could ignore, he charmed, seduced, abandoned and abused women. Jacobs emphasizes that as an African man from Kenya, Obama was often merely following the cultural norms; “it was natural for a man to collect many women and to engage sexually with them all.”
Leaving Harvard against his will, where he was not allowed to complete his studies, he came home in 1964 just eight months after Kenya’s independence from British colonial rule. In his speeches at the University of Hawaii, he had spoken of an autonomous Kenya where the white colonial system would be replaced with a land that supported Africans with economic justice for all (he majored in Economics); Barack Sr. did not find his dream when he returned to Kenya. Instead he walked into tribal animosity and betrayal, light years away from the Africa he had left six years before.
So much promise. So many opportunities. It’s fascinating to see him engage and then stumble away. There were the multitudinous sins of omission--his children never knew him and were too frightened to get close to him; three of his four long-suffering wives--two Caucasian, two African--divorced him.
Othello has his jealousy; Oedipus his blindness, the other Obama had his addition but more than that, even at the end, he was shrouded in recklessness and mystery. Somehow there’s a catharsis in that.
This biography is subtitled “The Bold and Reckless Life of President Obama’s Father”. Bold and reckless does truly describe the “other” Barack Obama, Sr. Look at his picture on the hardback cover; that wide, inviting smile, pipe between his teeth, the stylish haircut, those black-rimmed glasses accentuating a well-modeled face with high cheekbones, glasses that reflect light seemingly emanating from the man himself.
“Baraka” means “Blessing” in Arabic and he was born blessed. In the words of his own father, Obama was “winyo Piiny Kiborne” which translates, “for the bird, the world is never too far.” As the firstborn son in a patrilineal culture of the Luo Tribe in Eastern Kenya, Obama was treated to the best the rural African village could offer. His father, Onyango, was a man whose criticism and punishment Obama had to contend with all his life, a harsh patriarch who walked 220 miles by foot to school (he became fluent in English and Swahili) and ended up a house servant for a “muzungo” (white) household in Nairobi.
Barack Sr’s story unfolds along with the dynamic history of 20th century Africa. It is told in an objective, well-researched way by Sally Jacobs, by all accounts a fair-minded, masterful journalist. The author has a list of imposing credentials that match her rendition of Obama’s vista, bigger than any epic tale. In her preface, Jacobs describes how, after writing short superficial pieces about the newly elected president’s father in 2008 for the Boston Globe, she determined to research and write a substantive piece. She details all the obstruction she ran into during her research from the president’s huge, far-flung African family (he has many African siblings). Unlike the chorus of a Greek tragedy, the African Obamas did not speak with one voice, though three have written books about their experiences. Jacobs does a masterful job of presenting the family’s conflicting versions of their life (or otherwise) with Obama Senior.
No one disputes Barack’s great determination, probing intellect, and drive to succeed; and yet there was also his blindness, self-deception, self-aggrandizement, and unchecked alcoholism. For a native boy from Africa, growing up in the 1940s, Barak Obama Sr. did the nearly impossible and he knew it. He was the first African student at the University of Hawaii where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He was one of only 81 African students at Harvard, where black students made up only 1%. Over-confident, argumentative, he pursued his aims at any cost. A classy dresser, superb dancer, with a deep sonorous baritone that no one could ignore, he charmed, seduced, abandoned and abused women. Jacobs emphasizes that as an African man from Kenya, Obama was often merely following the cultural norms; “it was natural for a man to collect many women and to engage sexually with them all.”
Leaving Harvard against his will, where he was not allowed to complete his studies, he came home in 1964 just eight months after Kenya’s independence from British colonial rule. In his speeches at the University of Hawaii, he had spoken of an autonomous Kenya where the white colonial system would be replaced with a land that supported Africans with economic justice for all (he majored in Economics); Barack Sr. did not find his dream when he returned to Kenya. Instead he walked into tribal animosity and betrayal, light years away from the Africa he had left six years before.
So much promise. So many opportunities. It’s fascinating to see him engage and then stumble away. There were the multitudinous sins of omission--his children never knew him and were too frightened to get close to him; three of his four long-suffering wives--two Caucasian, two African--divorced him.
Othello has his jealousy; Oedipus his blindness, the other Obama had his addition but more than that, even at the end, he was shrouded in recklessness and mystery. Somehow there’s a catharsis in that.
May 21, 2012
A fascinating and thorough look at the life of Barack Obama's Kenyan father, also named Barack Obama. The Obama of this book's focus is incredibly talented and ambitious--but also arrogant and ultimately, sadly self-absorbed, his tumultuous life a long, spiraling descent into the depths where alcoholism, unacknowledged and unabated, can take anyone.
This other, earlier Barack had a troubled relationship and interaction with his own father, another person of great talent and social climbing status among his own Luo people. Learning the cultural practices and accepted norms of the Luo people during the British colonial period--and how President Obama's grandfather challenged them--offered a context to assess the changing world his father experienced. Jacobs does a very commendable job of helping the reader understand the political intricacies and status jockeying going on the Kenyan experience of President Obama's father, how he was in the right place at the right time (and possessed the extraordinary charisma needed) to be one of the lucky ones able to go to America for university education.
Both this man and his world famous son went to Harvard for a graduate school experience that would shape their future paths and opportunities. For me, ultimately, the story of this "other Barack" is a moral lesson about discipline, humility, and thinking of the good of others before yourself. Sometimes charisma, alone, is not enough. Now I also have a strong sense, though, of where our Chief Executive got his Al Greene song styling ability and the dance moves he briefly demonstrated once on the Ellen show. This other Barack might have burned his candle at both ends a little too long--but man, I bet that candle could sizzle on those early 60s dance floors.
This other, earlier Barack had a troubled relationship and interaction with his own father, another person of great talent and social climbing status among his own Luo people. Learning the cultural practices and accepted norms of the Luo people during the British colonial period--and how President Obama's grandfather challenged them--offered a context to assess the changing world his father experienced. Jacobs does a very commendable job of helping the reader understand the political intricacies and status jockeying going on the Kenyan experience of President Obama's father, how he was in the right place at the right time (and possessed the extraordinary charisma needed) to be one of the lucky ones able to go to America for university education.
Both this man and his world famous son went to Harvard for a graduate school experience that would shape their future paths and opportunities. For me, ultimately, the story of this "other Barack" is a moral lesson about discipline, humility, and thinking of the good of others before yourself. Sometimes charisma, alone, is not enough. Now I also have a strong sense, though, of where our Chief Executive got his Al Greene song styling ability and the dance moves he briefly demonstrated once on the Ellen show. This other Barack might have burned his candle at both ends a little too long--but man, I bet that candle could sizzle on those early 60s dance floors.
September 4, 2011
Turned out to be an interesting read...Barack Obama Senior was a complex character with both good and (very) bad qualities and the tumulteous history of Kenya after liberation from colonization was fascinating as well.
January 16, 2021
An intriguing biography of Obama Sr.'s four decades alive. This is a well-researched book especially about the scene surrounding Kenya's early years after independence. I particularly enjoyed following the politics and social life that shaped what Kenya came to be and Obama's role in it.
September 3, 2011
The other bookend to "A Singular Woman". A superbly talented man at a time of great opportunity in Kenya. Sadly, alcoholism frustrated his ambition. A fascinating read.
June 11, 2021
Sally H. Jacobs' The Other Barack is a candid and well-researched book. It reveals how Barack Obama, Sr. laid the tracks from coast to coast for his son who later rolled in to assume his role as America's only African-American President. Similarly, in the Bible, God told David that the building of altars was not for him to do, but was specially designated for Solomon, his son.
Barack, Sr. was brilliant, determined and filled with both spunk and anguish because he could not see the Greater Plan. He unknowingly planted many global seeds which later catapulted his namesake into the spotlight and onto the world stage. Thus, he gave us President Barack Obama who cracked that thick glass ceiling!
Barack, Sr. was brilliant, determined and filled with both spunk and anguish because he could not see the Greater Plan. He unknowingly planted many global seeds which later catapulted his namesake into the spotlight and onto the world stage. Thus, he gave us President Barack Obama who cracked that thick glass ceiling!
August 17, 2023
Absorbing Story
Barack Obama Senior was an extremely troubled man who suffered from alcoholism and was violent. His story from Kenyan independence and a man who was pegged to be one of the educated elite that would start Kenya off as an independent nation is a tragic one. Yet his son born in Hawaii became the great man and president of the United States. There’s a lot packed into Barack’s life which ended in a car crash. It’s very interesting to read.
Barack Obama Senior was an extremely troubled man who suffered from alcoholism and was violent. His story from Kenyan independence and a man who was pegged to be one of the educated elite that would start Kenya off as an independent nation is a tragic one. Yet his son born in Hawaii became the great man and president of the United States. There’s a lot packed into Barack’s life which ended in a car crash. It’s very interesting to read.
February 24, 2020
The hectic life and death of President Obama's father. Overall, it's a good read, however I got lost more than a few times due to the constant name dropping of anyone and everyone who was around Obama Sr and their backstory.
October 14, 2019
An exceptional history on the life of President Obama's father.
Read
April 18, 2023NYANYODHI
OCHWO
OBON'O
OPIYO
OBAMA-1
HUSSEIN ONYANGO
BARACK OBAMA SR>
BARACK OBAMA Jr. (President, USA)
The first Barack Obama is Kanyadhiang's greatest success story. Long before that name entered the global political lexicon, it carried great weight in these parts. Many among the older generation in the village remember Obama as a child swimming at Rapandu Beach, a point of the river reserved for men, and his prowess at the dance competitions in the lantern-lit dimness of the Kanyadhiang Social Hall. But Obama's mind was even faster than his feet, and he wielded his intelligent as a passport to transport him to the farthest reaches of the globe.
A quarter-century later another Barack Obama emerged, this one a cerebral U.S. Senator from Chicago who was angling, quixotically it seemed, for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidency. As that heavily laden name dominated the headlines and the nightly news, it triggered a flood of complex emotions among some of them the elder Obama's children. They were struck at how oddly the younger Barack's name was pronounced. The Old Man had also been called Barack, but he was a working man's name, with emphasis on the first syllable. The American pronunciation was heavy on the second syllable, giving the name a more formal, somewhat aristocratic cast. This particularly amused the elder Barack's three surviving wives- not that they were talking to each other.
Some of his children have pored over the letters and papers their father left behind, trying to pull all those inconclusive scraps and pieces together. Four of the five children indisputably fathered by Barack Obama have written books that are at least in part a rumination of the Old Man and his impact on their lives. Like Dreams from My Father, each of the works is a yearning of sorts, an effort to make some sense of their father's character and complex legacy.
OCHWO
OBON'O
OPIYO
OBAMA-1
HUSSEIN ONYANGO
BARACK OBAMA SR>
BARACK OBAMA Jr. (President, USA)
The first Barack Obama is Kanyadhiang's greatest success story. Long before that name entered the global political lexicon, it carried great weight in these parts. Many among the older generation in the village remember Obama as a child swimming at Rapandu Beach, a point of the river reserved for men, and his prowess at the dance competitions in the lantern-lit dimness of the Kanyadhiang Social Hall. But Obama's mind was even faster than his feet, and he wielded his intelligent as a passport to transport him to the farthest reaches of the globe.
A quarter-century later another Barack Obama emerged, this one a cerebral U.S. Senator from Chicago who was angling, quixotically it seemed, for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidency. As that heavily laden name dominated the headlines and the nightly news, it triggered a flood of complex emotions among some of them the elder Obama's children. They were struck at how oddly the younger Barack's name was pronounced. The Old Man had also been called Barack, but he was a working man's name, with emphasis on the first syllable. The American pronunciation was heavy on the second syllable, giving the name a more formal, somewhat aristocratic cast. This particularly amused the elder Barack's three surviving wives- not that they were talking to each other.
Some of his children have pored over the letters and papers their father left behind, trying to pull all those inconclusive scraps and pieces together. Four of the five children indisputably fathered by Barack Obama have written books that are at least in part a rumination of the Old Man and his impact on their lives. Like Dreams from My Father, each of the works is a yearning of sorts, an effort to make some sense of their father's character and complex legacy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 9, 2012
An interesting story, obviously well researche, since a lot of the cast is still alive. There is a lot of data about family members, several wives, several children etc.. From the story it appears that the Presidents Father was a brilliant man, on the road to a successful career in whatever career he chose, his life was filled with demons, alcohol being the worst of it, it ended up taking his life. It is a major credit to the life of President Obama that he became president, since anyone in politics has its past scoured and researched with a fine tooth comb, especially a black person.
It is a sad story, but something that had to be told, as god knows they are still checking to see if they can discredit him for perhaps not bein an American citizen.....
It is a sad story, but something that had to be told, as god knows they are still checking to see if they can discredit him for perhaps not bein an American citizen.....
September 22, 2014
Sally Jacobs provides an engaging narrative of the life of the father of our president. The strong narrative theme doesn’t provide much room for analysis of Barak Sr.
The early passages supply an accessible history of the transition of Kenya from a colony to sovereign country. We learn about the early leaders of Kenya, with a focus on their failed potential to turn a colony into a regional leader.
One takeaway is that sometimes the best thing a father can do is to provide good genes to his offspring and then get out of the way.
The early passages supply an accessible history of the transition of Kenya from a colony to sovereign country. We learn about the early leaders of Kenya, with a focus on their failed potential to turn a colony into a regional leader.
One takeaway is that sometimes the best thing a father can do is to provide good genes to his offspring and then get out of the way.
September 9, 2012
This is a very well-researched, well-written account of the President's father and his tumultuous life. It's fascinating and painful to read about his sometimes-brilliant but ultimately sad life. An exceptional student, he had the potential to be a large and powerful force in the newly independent Kenya in the early 1960s. But his personal troubles -- largely his excessive drinking and sharp tongue -- doomed him to a frustrated, stalled career.
May 15, 2012
The 2 stars are for a potentially fascinating story. The rest are for some pretty horrifying basic writing/editing that left me with a feeling that hurling this onto shelves to make a quick election season buck was the primary goal. I read this for work.
Read
July 18, 2012Great book, I enjoyed it. Very. Informative. I especially like how the author addresses the African tribal differences. The costumes, re: dating white women, all well research. And the great, tragic life of Obama sr. The moder African culture comes alive.
August 10, 2011
An outstanding bio of the President's father.
July 9, 2012
Outstanding research, marred by poor editing and clunky, repetitive prose.
October 23, 2011
timeline was a bit confusing at times, but it was obviously well researched.
December 21, 2011
I am sadden what a vice can do to impede potential.....This man was great put few people outside of Kenya know it...
Read
February 25, 2012Interesting read. Barack Obama Sr is the forgotten parent and this gives some idea to what kind of person he was although he was a marginal influence on his famous son.
March 10, 2013
Great read
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews