Rising Star (book)

Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama is a 2017 biography of former President of the United States Barack Obama by American author and academic David Garrow.[1] It is Garrow's fifth book.[2][3]

Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama
Front cover art for Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama.
AuthorDavid Garrow
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SubjectBarack Obama
GenreBiography
PublishedMay 9, 2017
PublisherWilliam Morrow
Pages1,460
ISBN978-0-06-264183-0 (hardcover)
OCLC994144693

Background

Working on the book for nine years,[4] Garrow interviewed Obama on several occasions for the book, though much of those conversations remain off the record.[5]

Reception

The book was published by William Morrow on May 9, 2017, to mixed reviews.[6] In The New York Times, Michiko Kakutani called the book "a dreary slog of a read: a bloated, tedious and — given its highly intemperate epilogue — ill-considered book that is in desperate need of editing, and way more exhausting than exhaustive."[7] In Time, Sarah Begley said the book nevertheless did "contain intriguing insight into the growing pains of a 20-something who would go on to become the leader of the free world, most vividly in the form of letters he wrote to friends."[8] The book also details an unpublished 1991 essay Obama co-wrote with law school classmate and economist Robert Fisher,[9] in which they argue that black Americans should "shift away from rights rhetoric and towards the language of opportunity."[10] In suggesting a lack of such opportunity, the essay mentioned businessman and future president Donald Trump:

[Americans have] a continuing normative commitment to the ideals of individual freedom and mobility, values that extend far beyond the issue of race in the American mind. The depth of this commitment may be summarily dismissed as the unfounded optimism of the average American—I may not be Donald Trump now, but just you wait; if I don't make it, my children will."[10]

Rising Star debuted at number 14 on the New York Times bestseller list for hardcover non-fiction.[11][12]

References
  1. Ray Locker (8 May 2017). "New bio questions Barack Obama's motives in marrying Michelle". USAToday.com. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  2. Meg Dalton (1 March 2018). "With Making Obama, post-presidency Obama narratives move beyond nostalgia". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  3. Pat Morrison (17 May 2017). "Let's take a moment to remember Barack Obama". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  4. David Smith (7 May 2017). "Obama biography stirs controversy with tales of politics, sex and a rising star". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  5. Jamie Weinstein (5 April 2017). "Think You Know Everything About Obama? Guess Again, Says David Garrow". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  6. Micah Mattix (20 June 2017). "Prufrock: The Real Obama, the Effects of Power on the Brain, and a History of al-Qaida". Weekly Standard. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  7. Kakutani, Michiko (May 1, 2017). "A Long, Long Look at Obama's Life, Mostly Before the White House". New York Times. New York City, New York. Retrieved May 3, 2017.
  8. Begley, Sarah (May 3, 2017). "New Barack Obama Biography Documents Growing Pains and Young Love". Time. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  9. Lozada, Carlos (2017-05-02). "Before Michelle, Barack Obama asked another woman to marry him. Then politics got in the way". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2017-06-11.
  10. Preyser, Eve (May 12, 2017). "Young Obama Said the American Dream Is to Be Donald Trump". Vice. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  11. Greenberg, David (19 June 2017). "Why So Many Critics Hate the New Obama Biography". Politico. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  12. "Hardcover Nonfiction Books - Best Sellers - May 28, 2017". The New York Times. May 28, 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-08.


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