Barack Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention instantly catapulted him into the national spotlight and led to his election four years later as America’s first African American president. In this penetrating biography, David J. Garrow delivers an epic work about the life of Barack Obama, creating a rich tapestry of a life little understood, until now.
Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama captivatingly describes Barack Obama’s tumultuous upbringing as a young black man attending an almost-all-white, elite private school in Honolulu while being raised almost exclusively by his white grandparents. After recounting Obama’s college years in California and New York, Garrow charts Obama’s time as a Chicago community organizer, working in some of the city’s roughest neighborhoods; his years at the top of his Harvard Law School class; and his return to Chicago, where Obama honed his skills as a hard-knuckled politician, first in the state legislature and then as a candidate for the United States Senate.
Detailing a scintillating, behind-the-scenes account of Obama’s 2004 speech, a moment that labeled him the Democratic Party’s “rising star,” Garrow also chronicles Obama’s four years in the Senate, weighing his stands on various issues against positions he had taken years earlier, and recounts his thrilling run for the White House in 2008.
In Rising Star, David J. Garrow has created a vivid portrait that reveals not only the people and forces that shaped the future president but also the ways in which he used those influences to serve his larger aspirations. This is a gripping read about a young man born into uncommon family circumstances, whose faith in his own talents came face-to-face with fantastic ambitions and a desire to do good in the world. Most important, Rising Star is an extraordinary work of biography—tremendous in its research and storytelling, and brilliant in its analysis of the all-too-human struggles of one of the most fascinating politicians of our time.
加罗33岁时凭借为美国民权运动领袖马丁·路德·金所作传记,获得1987年的普利策奖。30年后,他完成了美国首位黑人总统的传记《新星——贝拉克·奥巴马的成长》。
两次向前女友求婚
上月,首次为新书面市接受采访的加罗说,他为完成这部长达1500页的传记,做了超过1000个采访,书内的尾注就超过200页。“它涵盖了一切,从上世纪50年代末他的父亲离开肯尼亚,一直到2016年。不过这本书主要关注的是2007年之前的时期,”加罗说。
市面上已有数本关于奥巴马的传记,而奥巴马本人2009年开始首个总统任期时也出过自传回忆录《我父亲的梦想》和《无畏的希望》。据说,奥巴马和妻子今后可能分别出书,记述白宫岁月。
美国《华盛顿邮报》报道,加罗的这本传记包含一些奥巴马个人生活中未被披露过的内容,例如他在芝加哥遇到米歇尔之前曾两次向当时的女友求婚。
在《我父亲的梦想》中,奥巴马也曾提到这位名为希拉·三芳(音译)·贾格尔的女性,但着墨不多。
加罗的书中提到,现年53岁的贾格尔有荷兰和日本血统,是一名人类学家,对朝鲜半岛问题有深入研究。贾格尔接受加罗采访时,将她与奥巴马相处的那段经历描述为“只有我们二人的孤岛”。她说奥巴马将家庭生活和工作区隔开来,她平时不会见到他的同事。1986年,当他们看望贾格尔的父母时,奥巴马第一次向她求婚,但遭到她父母的反对,理由是仍在攻读博士学位的贾格尔年龄太小。
被米歇尔催着去赚钱
贾格尔回忆,到了1987年初,25岁的奥巴马忽然变得壮志满怀,“有了成为总统的想法”。
按照贾格尔的说法,奥巴马认为,一名非黑人配偶会影响他作为黑人的政治前途。两人进行了大量关于种族和政治话题的讨论,而不再谈婚论嫁。奥巴马前往哈佛大学法学院读书前,邀请贾格尔同往并再次向贾格尔求婚。贾格尔当时则认为,奥巴马是在两人终将分离的绝望心情下提出求婚,并且当时贾格尔即将前往韩国完成博士论文研究,她为奥巴马不为她的学业着想而心生怨恨,两人最终分道扬镳。
1990年到1991年,贾格尔也进入哈佛大学就读,而那时奥巴马已经与米歇尔结识。不过,据贾格尔回忆,她与奥巴马当时仍不定期地约会了一段时间,她“一直为此感到羞愧”。
书中写道,婚后米歇尔常常劝说奥巴马不要参与公职选举,当他不能陪伴自己和两个女儿时多有不满。书中记录,奥巴马曾向一名朋友抱怨说,米歇尔常常谈到钱,质问他:“为什么不去找份好工作?你是律师,可以赚到我们需要的钱。”
按照加罗的说法,他数次与奥巴马见面,讨论这本传记的内容,但二人的对话并未被记录下来。他承认,奥巴马“强烈反对”书中的一些说法。对此,加罗认为:“我可以公正地说,我们常常看到这样的事发生,即当一个人成为美国总统,这个人很容易认为,其他所有人对一件事的记忆,都不如自己的那个版本(准确)。”