This review is a gross mischaracterizaton of Dreams from My Father. Bruce Bawer’s main beef appears to be that Obama focuses too much on his absent black father and neglects his white mother and grandparents. That’s not a illegitimate criticism, though one I don’t agree with, but Bawer pushes this frame much too far. It’s true Obama idealizes his father in the beginning, when he’s a kid and doesn’t know anything about him. But of course that’s not how the book ends, and it’s a complete misreading to say that Obama brushes over or excuses his father’s past. And it’s simply outright false to say that Obama’s “heart is Kenya, not America.” This is plainly and explicitly contradicted in the book. Again, I encourage everyone to actually read Dreams from My Father for themselves and not accept this review as the definitive one.
