by Janny Scott
First published 2011
Stanley Ann Dunham lived an unconventional life that spanned from Kansas to Indonesia. Award-winning reporter Janny Scott interviewed nearly two hundred people who knew Dunham, including both her children. Scott examined personal papers, letters, and photo albums to reconstruct the full story of this fiercely independent woman. Dunham's journey began when interracial marriage remained illegal across much of America. She raised Barack Obama with extraordinary faith in his abilities through her untraditional approach to mothering. Her story travels from the American heartland to Hawaii and Southeast Asia. Scott reveals how Dunham's character shaped the man who would become president. The book explores how a parent's influence passes to their child across continents and decades. Dunham died at fifty-two, never witnessing her son's rise to the presidency or his greatest achievements that reflected her teachings.
Genres: 20th-century, american, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Hawaii, Indonesia, Kansas
Period: 20th Century, 21st Century
376 pages · Hardcover · Riverhead Books