# Is Obama's Dreams From My Father most personal presidential memoire?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obamas-dreams-from-my-father-most-personal-presidential-memoire/474379>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 25, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obamas-dreams-from-my-father-most-personal-presidential-memoire/474379 "2008-11-25T03:18:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obamas-dreams-from-my-father-most-personal-presidential-memoire/474379/1 "2008-11-25T03:18:13Z")

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I’m no expert on presidential memoirs, but as I’m reading _Dreams From My Father_, I can’t help but think how interesting it is to have such an in-depth, personal account from the man who will soon be our president.

I’ve read plenty of books about different presidents (Lincoln, FDR) and books that provided a lot of insight into the lives of certain presidents (_Nixon and Mao_, _American Gospel_, _1776_), but this, aside from _The Audacity of Hope_, is the first autobiography written by a president (even though he wasn’t president when he wrote it).

Even compared to his second and more popular book, Obama’s first book is far more honest than anything I’ve ever read by a politician, probably because he wasn’t a politician when he wrote it.

Are there other presidential autobiographies like this?

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**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obamas-dreams-from-my-father-most-personal-presidential-memoire/474379/2 "2008-11-25T04:54:35Z")

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I haven’t read them, but Ulysses S. Grant’s memoirs might belong in this category.

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**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obamas-dreams-from-my-father-most-personal-presidential-memoire/474379/3 "2008-11-25T06:02:02Z")

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Jimmy Carter’s written a couple of books about his life, and about his mother. I haven’t read them, or Obama’s books either, but they seem pretty personal and autobiographical.