Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama

Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama chronicles the future president's life from his birth through his decision to run for the nation's highest office. David Garrow's biography draws from over 1,000 interviews and extensive research to reconstruct Obama's early years in Hawaii and Indonesia, his college experiences, and his time as a community organizer in Chicago. The book devotes significant attention to Obama's political development and career trajectory in Illinois, from his Harvard Law School presidency through his work as a civil rights attorney and constitutional law professor. It examines his campaigns for state senate and U.S. Senate, placing these pivotal moments within the context of Chicago's political landscape. Through detailed accounts of Obama's relationships, career choices, and evolving worldview, Rising Star reveals the forces that shaped his political identity. The biography explores questions of ambition, race, identity, and the American dream that would later define his presidential campaign and historic presidency. The work stands as a comprehensive study of how personal history, cultural forces, and strategic decisions intersect in the making of a transformative political figure. Its extensive documentation provides a foundation for understanding the complexities of power, public service, and leadership in modern American politics.

Readers found the book thorough but overly long at 1,460 pages. Many noted Garrow's extensive research and interviews with Obama's early connections in Chicago and Indonesia. Positive reviews highlighted: - New details about Obama's early relationships and career choices - Deep coverage of his community organizing years - Documentation of his time at Harvard Law - Insights into his political evolution Common criticisms: - Too much focus on Obama's dating life and relationship history - Repetitive passages and unnecessary details - Perceived negative bias from the author - Limited coverage of his presidency Ratings: Goodreads: 3.7/5 (258 ratings) Amazon: 4.0/5 (331 ratings) One Amazon reviewer wrote: "Exhaustively researched but exhausting to read." A Goodreads reviewer noted: "The pre-presidential years are fascinating, but the book gets bogged down in minutiae." Many readers suggested the book could have achieved its goals in half the length while maintaining its key insights.

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🔹 The book reveals that before Michelle, Barack Obama proposed twice to another woman, Sheila Miyoshi Jager, who turned him down partly because her parents felt she was too young for marriage. 🔹 Author David Garrow spent eight years researching and writing the book, conducting over 1,000 interviews and producing a manuscript that exceeded 1,400 pages. 🔹 Before becoming an author, Garrow won the Pulitzer Prize for his biography of Martin Luther King Jr., "Bearing the Cross" (1987). 🔹 The book's title "Rising Star" comes from Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe's early assessment of Obama, whom he called "the most impressive student I'd ever had" and marked as a future political star. 🔹 Despite the book's critical acclaim and extensive research, Barack Obama himself declined to be interviewed for it, though he had previously cooperated with Garrow for a New Yorker article in 2008.