Reviews
"This is a work of genuine discovery. Sally Jacobs portrays the senior Obama with boundless humanity and unflinching candor. Through his fractured family quest, she illuminates both the pitfalls and promise of freedom in a shrinking world. Her biography will enrich our concept of a founding father." -Taylor Branch, author of Parting the Waters and The Clinton Tapes "My favorite injunction to historians-or biographers-comes from the Nigerian playwright and poet Wole Soyinka: 'Leave the dead some room to dance.' The other Barack certainly knew how to dance, literally, intellectually, socially and sexually. Sally Jacobs has wonderfully restored him to life in the contradictory contexts of colonial and independent Kenya, the one exploitative and repressive yet capable of social mobility, the other exciting, full of unprecedented opportunity yet also divisive and chilling in its rivalries. Barack, like Icarus, flew too high. The many women who loved him have borne the burden of his fall. Jacobs brings triumph and tragedy brilliantly together." -John Lonsdale, Emeritus Professor of Modern African History, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom "Sally Jacobs has pieced together the wayward career of President Obama's African father with skill, verve, and insight, prising out the quirks of fate that led him to the shores of the United States. From interviews with family members, friends, and colleagues, she paints a vivid portrait of a clever, charming, callous, and secretive man, a prolific drinker and philanderer, who squandered the many chances that came his way and died in Kenya in straitened circumstances, the victim of his own inner demons, hardly knowing the son who was to scale the pinnacle of power." -Martin Meredith, author of The Fate of Africa, Taylor Branch, author of Parting the Waters and The Clinton Tapes "This is a work of genuine discovery. Sally Jacobs portrays the senior Obama with boundless humanity and unflinching candor. Through his fractured family quest, she illuminates both the pitfalls and promise of freedom in a shrinking world. Her biography will enrich our concept of a founding father." John Lonsdale, Emeritus Professor of Modern African History, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom "My favorite injunction to historians-or biographers-comes from the Nigerian playwright and poet Wole Soyinka: 'Leave the dead some room to dance.' The other Barack certainly knew how to dance, literally, intellectually, socially and sexually. Sally Jacobs has wonderfully restored him to life in the contradictory contexts of colonial and independent Kenya, the one exploitative and repressive yet capable of social mobility, the other exciting, full of unprecedented opportunity yet also divisive and chilling in its rivalries. Barack, like Icarus, flew too high. The many women who loved him have borne the burden of his fall. Jacobs brings triumph and tragedy brilliantly together." Martin Meredith, author of The Fate of Africa "Sally Jacobs has pieced together the wayward career of President Obama's African father with skill, verve, and insight, prising out the quirks of fate that led him to the shores of the United States. From interviews with family members, friends, and colleagues, she paints a vivid portrait of a clever, charming, callous, and secretive man, a prolific drinker and philanderer, who squandered the many chances that came his way and died in Kenya in straitened circumstances, the victim of his own inner demons, hardly knowing the son who was to scale the pinnacle of power." The Spectator , July 7, 2011 "I had expected to dip briefly into this tale of hubris, but found myself strangely mesmerized, hooked until the end. With the meticulousness characteristic of a certain breed of American foreign correspondent, Sally Jacobs pulls off an impressive double-hander of her own, painting a detailed portrait of an emerging African nation while tracking the dogged self-destruction of a braggadocio crippled by the conviction of his own superiority." Kirkus , July 15, 2011 "A pioneering, full-scale biography of President Obama's father, a promising but troubled man. Boston Globe reporter Jacobs puts her investigative skills to work in following the elder Obama's trail across continents and years& A thorough study of a subject who is hard to pin down-a welcome, evenhanded addition to the lively literature surrounding President Obama's genealogy."
