Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama
Written by David J. Garrow
Narrated by Charles Constant
4.5/5
()
Unavailable in your country
Unavailable in your country
About this audiobook
The definitive account of Barack Obama’s life before he became the 44th president of the United States – the formative years, confluence of forces, and influential figures who helped shaped an extraordinary leader and his rise – from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Bearing the Cross.
‘Impressive … deeply reported’ New York Times Book Review
‘Engages, absorbs and mesmerises’ Library Journal
Barack Obama's keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention instantly catapulted the little-known state senator from Illinois into the national spotlight. Three months later, Obama would win election to the U.S. Senate; four years after that he would make history as America’s first black president.
Moving around the globe, from Hawaii to Indonesia to the American Northeast and Midwest, Rising Star meticulously unpacks Obama’s life, from his tumultuous upbringing in Honolulu and Jakarta, to his formative time as a community organizer on Chicago’s South Side, working in some of the roughest neighborhoods, to Cambridge, where he excelled at Harvard Law School, and finally back to Chicago, where he pursued his political destiny.
In voluminous detail, drawn from more than 1,000 interviews and encyclopedic documentary research, Garrow delivers the most authoritative account of the ambition, the dreams and the all-too-human struggles of an iconic president.
David J. Garrow
David J. Garrow is a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian who is presently professor of law and history and Distinguished Faculty Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Garrow, who earned his PhD from Duke University, is an acclaimed scholar of the United States’ black freedom struggle and reproductive rights movement, as well as of the US Supreme Court. His definitive biography of Martin Luther King Jr., Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was honored with the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for biography and the seventh-annual Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. Garrow’s other books are Protest at Selma: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr.: From “Solo” to Memphis, and Liberty and Sexuality: The Right to Privacy and the Making of Roe v. Wade. He also served as a senior adviser to Eyes on the Prize, the award-winning PBS documentary series on the civil rights movement.
Related to Rising Star
Related audiobooks
All Things Possible: Setbacks and Success in Politics and Life Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Barack Obama: 44th U.S. President Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Obama: The Ascent of a Politician Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inside the Clinton White House: An Oral History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Presidency of George W. Bush Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Feeding the Dragon: Inside the Trillion Dollar Dilemma Facing Hollywood, the NBA, & American Business Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fall Out: A Year of Political Mayhem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Barack Obama: The 60 Minutes Interviews: Introduced with new commentary by Steve Kroft Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Billionaires in World Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe President's Man: The Memoirs of Nixon's Trusted Aide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Triumph of Nancy Reagan Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Breaking History: A White House Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Franklin Delano Roosevelt: The American Presidents Series: The 32nd President, 1933-1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Faith of Barack Obama Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hillary the Other Woman: A Political Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Rare Recording of Robert Kennedy’s Speech on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Unlikeable: The Problem with Hillary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is Your Moment: Inspirational Commencement Speeches Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSecuring Democracy: My Fight for Press Freedom and Justice in Bolsonaro's Brazil Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Barack Obama: Conservative, Pragmatist, Progressive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Obama: An Oral History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First in Line: Presidents, Vice Presidents, and the Pursuit of Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Netanyahu Years Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Political Biographies For You
The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5To Rescue the Constitution: George Washington and the Fragile American Experiment Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Infidel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Watergate Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Benjamin Franklin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lincoln Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mornings on Horseback Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Peril Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear: Trump in the White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Happened Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A House in the Sky: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The White House Plumbers: The Seven Weeks That Led to Watergate and Doomed Nixon's Presidency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5V Is For Victory Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Team of Rivals Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Rising Star
11 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I do admit I would not have finished if it wasn’t an audiobook (62 hours of audiobook!), but I’m so glad I listened to it. More focus and attention to detail than virtually anyone wants, this is still an astoundingly great biography. I highly recommend it if you want to understand Illinois and Chicago politics, the self-making of Barack Obama, and some of the facts that were mired in hype and headlines as they happened.
I’d love to see a second volume really unpacking the years once inside Senate and White House, as those are basically all epilogue in this book. I think part of that might have been the very carefully manicured image that Obama had once he reached those high offices (Jeremiah Wright and Tony Rezko notwithstanding). - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I read an excerpt of this biography to my class before we start Obama's back to school speech during one of our units. I think this book gives insight on Obama and his beliefs.