The Obamas

October 15, 2010

Multigenerational history of the president's African ancestors.

Former BBC documentary director and producer Firstbrook (Surviving the Iron Age, 2003, etc.) takes care to note that Barack Obama is, of course, of mixed ethnic ancestry, "about 37 percent English, with additional contributions from German, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and Swiss forebears." Even so, he adds, the Luo people who claim the president as their own do not consider him in any way white. He is instead both a "near demigod" and—fodder for right-wing critics, no doubt—might as well be the president of Kenya as well as of the United States, so highly esteemed is he there. Obama has written sensitively and well of his search for his African roots, since his father was absent from his life. Firstbrook brings some news to his account by suggesting that Obama senior may not have died accidentally, though his death in 1982 was ruled an accident while driving drunk. He notes that many Luo dissidents—Obama senior was an outspoken critic of the government—have been assassinated over the years. The author announces three aims: to trace the story of the Obama family as far back as possible; to chronicle the Luo's forced migration from southern Sudan to Kenya; and to describe the transformation of Kenya from British colony to independent nation. In each of these, he does yeoman work, painting a vivid portrait of Luo village life. He falls clearly on the side of nature in the nature/nurture debate, too, which finds him sometimes trending into difficult, un-PC territory: "Barack junior is a very different man from either his father or his grandfather, but certain family characteristics seem to flow from his African bloodline; intelligence, resourcefulness, motivation, and ambition can all be traced back several generations."

Firstbrook's account complements Obama's own, though it is of much more limited appeal.

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November 1, 2010

While Steve MacDonogh's Pioneers: The Frontier Family of Barack Obama (see LJ review, p. 67) relates the history of Obama's Irish ancestors, Firstbrook takes readers through Obama's Kenyan family history, going back 23 generations across 400 years. [See the Q&A with Firstbrook and fellow biographer Stephen MacDonogh in 10/21/10 BookSmack!--Ed.]

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 1, 2010
The most famous family in Kenyaand, indeed, the worldprovides the context for exploring the broader history of that nation as documentary filmmaker Firstbrook explores the Obama family legacy. He draws on academic historical research as well as oral history and interviews to trace Barack Obamas family history back 23 generations. Part of the Luo, the second largest tribe in Kenya (following the Kikuyu), the Obama family traversed through several ancestral lands before religion (some were Seventh-Day Adventists, and others were Muslims) and distance separated them into the towns of Kendu Bay and Kogelo. He highlights Obamas paternal grandfather, Onyango, who traveled beyond the ancestral lands, prospered, fought in two world wars, and witnessed bloody revolt against British colonialism as well as Kenyan independence. His son, Barack, similarly restless and ambitious, was educated in Hawaii (where he met President Obamas mother) and the continental U.S. before returning home to continue straddling tribal tradition and the demands of modern Western culture. Obama senior was critical of the government and friendly with Tom Mboya, an activist, who was killed during the Jomo Kenyatta administration, adding to suspicion later when Obama was killed in a car accident. Enhanced with maps and photographs, this is an epic look at the history of a nation and a family. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The story of Barack Obamas Kenyan roots, this title is the product of dozens of interviews with Obamas African relatives, presented by the first person to trace Obamas family history back 400 years and 23 generations.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)