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Mmars's Reviews > A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother
A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother
by
by
The author warns the reader that if they are looking for a book about Barack Obama and his mother this is not it. And won’t the majority of readers pick this book up out of curiosity about their relationship and what led his mother to Indonesia and why Barack was raised as much by his maternal grandparents as he was by his mother? Of course we will. Other books will undoubtedly address that issue more thoroughly. But this important book lays the groundwork for not yet written biographies of President Obama by examining his mother’s life and anthropological work.
In fact, I will say that it takes an interest in anthropology and public affairs to appreciate this book and its intent. It would also be of interest in women’s studies and feminism. For that is the substance of who Stanley Ann Dunham was. She married an Indonesian man, but her studies and work always came first � for herself and for her children. Though I, a layman, felt bogged down by the technicalities of her studies, by the end of the book I felt like I knew her very well. The author could hardly have been less thorough in interviewing people who had known her.
Ironically, the most difficult source work surrounded her family and ancestors. Though extensive in tracing her lineage, there was little to no written record and few alive or willing to be interviewed. And even then the author ran into admittedly unreliable information.
Even her young adult years in Hawaii and how she came to meet Obama Sr. and bear his child is largely unknown. But once her college years are done and she begins her fieldwork in Indonesia the book plumps up. And what she accomplished and how her personality shaped her ability to become as Indonesian as a western woman possibly could is highly admirable. This is a laudatory biography. But somehow it feels okay because she was so human and humane.
Unfortunately, I was not the best audience for this book. I highly recommend it to students interested in the above mentioned fields. I just too frequently had to push my way through.
In fact, I will say that it takes an interest in anthropology and public affairs to appreciate this book and its intent. It would also be of interest in women’s studies and feminism. For that is the substance of who Stanley Ann Dunham was. She married an Indonesian man, but her studies and work always came first � for herself and for her children. Though I, a layman, felt bogged down by the technicalities of her studies, by the end of the book I felt like I knew her very well. The author could hardly have been less thorough in interviewing people who had known her.
Ironically, the most difficult source work surrounded her family and ancestors. Though extensive in tracing her lineage, there was little to no written record and few alive or willing to be interviewed. And even then the author ran into admittedly unreliable information.
Even her young adult years in Hawaii and how she came to meet Obama Sr. and bear his child is largely unknown. But once her college years are done and she begins her fieldwork in Indonesia the book plumps up. And what she accomplished and how her personality shaped her ability to become as Indonesian as a western woman possibly could is highly admirable. This is a laudatory biography. But somehow it feels okay because she was so human and humane.
Unfortunately, I was not the best audience for this book. I highly recommend it to students interested in the above mentioned fields. I just too frequently had to push my way through.
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A Singular Woman.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
May 7, 2015
– Shelved
