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　　"Fascinating...adds many interesting details to what we knowof the President’s heritage."
　　--David Remnick, TheNewYorker.com
　　On January 20, 2009, a few hundred men, women, and childrengathered under trees in the twilight at K’obama, a village on theshores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya. Barack Obama’s rise tothe American presidency had captivated people around the world, butmembers of this gathering took a special pride in the swearing inof America’s first black president, for they were all Obamas, allthe president’s direct African family.
　　In the first in-depth history of the Obama family, PeterFirstbrook recounts a journey that starts in a mud hut by the WhiteNile and ends seven centuries later in the White House.Interweaving oral history and tribal lore, interviews with Obamafamily members and other Kenyans, the writings of Kenyanhistorians, and original genealogical research, Firstbrook sets thefascinating story of the president’s family against the backgroundof Kenya’s rich culture and complex history.

"Fascinating...adds many interesting details to what we know
of the President’s heritage." 
　　--David Remnick, TheNewYorker.com 
　　On January 20, 2009, a few hundred men, women, and children
gathered under trees in the twilight at K’obama, a village on the
shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya. Barack Obama’s rise to
the American presidency had captivated people around the world, but
members of this gathering took a special pride in the swearing in
of America’s first black president, for they were all Obamas, all
the president’s direct African family. 
　　In the first in-depth history of the Obama family, Peter
Firstbrook recounts a journey that starts in a mud hut by the White
Nile and ends seven centuries later in the White House.
Interweaving oral history and tribal lore, interviews with Obama
family members and other Kenyans, the writings of Kenyan
historians, and original genealogical research, Firstbrook sets the
fascinating story of the president’s family against the background
of Kenya’s rich culture and complex history. 
　　He tells the story of farmers and fishermen, of healers and
hunters, of families lost and found, establishing for the first
time the early ancestry of the Obamas. From the tribe’s cradleland
in southern Sudan, he follows the family generation by generation,
tracing the paths of the famous Luo warriors—Obama’s direct
ancestors—and vividly illuminating Luo politics, society, and
traditions. 
　　Firstbrook also brings to life the impact of English colonization
in Africa through the eyes of President Obama’s grandfather
Onyango. An ambitious and disciplined man who fought in two world
wars, witnessed the bloody Mau Mau insurrection, and saw his
country gain independence from white rule, Onyango was also
hot-tempered and autocratic: family lore has it that President
Obama’s grandmother abandoned the family after Onyango attempted to
murder her. And Firstbrook delves into the troubled life of Obama’s
father, a promising young man whose aspirations were stymied by
post-independence tribal politics and a rash tendency toward
self-destruction—two factors that his family believes contributed
to his death in 1982. They say it was no accident, as described in
the president’s memoirs, but rather a politically motivated hit
job. 
　　More than a tale of love and war, hardship and hard-won success,
The Obamas reveals a family history—epic in scope yet intimate in
feel—that is truly without precedent.

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OBAMAS, THE(ISBN=9780307591401)

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