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Follow on Google News | Book Launch on President Obama's Childhood at Fordham University, Lincoln Center, NYC, Oct 14, 5PMHow was President Barack Obama shaped by his unusual childhood experiences in the USA and overseas? The author, Dinesh Sharma, will discuss his new book, "Barack Obama in Hawaii and Indonesia: The Making of a Global President" (ABC-CLIO Sep 30 2011).
By: Institute for Intl. and Cross Cultural Research The Making of a Global President by Dinesh Sharma How did a young, rookie Illinois senator, with a name derived from Swahili and Arabic, an African-American identity, and a biracial heritage, achieve the ultimate American dream: growing up to be President? To millions of Americans, including many who voted for him, the landmark election of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th President of United States remains a revelation. Much has been written about Obama’s mastery of the Internet, his victory for racial equality, and his charisma. Yet, the exceptional qualities that distinguish Barack Obama as a leader for our changing times—his multicultural roots and his international sensibilities— “Barack Obama is born of a multicultural America at the cusp of the age of globalization,” Informed by newly gathered insights from people who knew Barack when he was known as Barry (including his half-Indonesian sister Maya Soetoro-Ng and his teachers in Jakarta, where he attended both Islamic Public and Catholic schools, as well as at the Punahou School in Honolulu), Barack Obama in Hawai’i and Indonesia offers a chronological and psychosocial journey of Obama’s development as a globally-minded individual and political leader. Chapters shed light on: • The legacy of his parents’ short-lived marriage, with new insights into how his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, a white anthropologist and humanitarian from Kansas, idealized the native Kenyan father, Barack Obama, Senior, who abandoned him. Ann instilled young Barry with a sense of moral privilege as a black man and the steely determination to achieve greatness, including the impetus to be the first Black President. • The women who shaped Obama: his mother, Ann; his grandmother, Madelyn; and his wife, Michelle. His mother’s multicultural consciousness and progressive idealism, his grandmother’ • The impact of his early global education, until age ten, in Jakarta, where Obama lived on the “Islamic street” with colorful characters in his house, including a gay cook, and came to see how different religions, particularly Islam and Christianity, could live side by side. Facing abysmal poverty, he came to recognize the positive force of industrialized, developed economies on the lives of people in the developing world. • The truth behind allegations that Obama is a Muslim. While living in the largest Islamic democracy, Indonesia, Obama did not convert to Islam or go through any rite of passage or ritual circumcision; • Obama’ • The circumstances surrounding the death of his long-lost father and the ensuing autobiography, “Dreams from My Father”. Sharma delves into Obama’s haunting dreams, where his father is in a jail and Obama is trying to get him out. These dreams reverberate throughout his life story and political identity and make him, along with many other fatherless presidents from George Washington to Bill Clinton who raised themselves by their bootstraps, an American archetype. In the final chapters, Barack Obama in Hawai’i and Indonesia delves into Obama’s transition to the mainland, the affirmation of his African-American identity in New York and Chicago, and his calling as a global leader. As Sharma makes clear, Obama’s multicultural childhood and adolescence strongly influenced the formation of his character and values, his approach to global issues as President, and his vision for America. Bringing his unique vantage point as a new immigrant as well as his rigorous social science and research expertise to the table, Dinesh Sharma can discuss: Why Barack Obama is truly the first global President and an exemplary transformational leader. How President Obama’s initiatives, especially his renewed science, math, engineering, and technology policy in education, have the potential to revive the American dream for the next generation. How President Obama’s leadership has dramatically improved America’s image around the world (despite his plummeting approval ratings at home) and positioned our nation to proudly reclaim its role as a global leader. Providing a new understanding of a complex man and a controversial President, Barack Obama in Hawai’i and Indonesia is a biography of interest to Obama’s ardent supporters and his detractors as well. By delving into Barack Obama’s core self, driving motivations, and lasting dreams , Dinesh Sharma restores faith in not only the President’s ability to lead America, but also in America’s ability to lead the world in today’s challenging, global times. About the Author DINESH SHARMA, PhD, is a cultural psychologist and marketing consultant with a doctorate from Harvard University. He is a senior fellow at the Institute for International and Cross-Cultural Research at St. Francis College, New York. The author/editor of three previous books, he is a regular contributor to Asia Times Online, writing on globalization, politics, terrorism, AfPak region, and India-US relations. His articles have appeared in a range of other newspapers and journals, including the Wall Street Journal Online, Far Eastern Economic Review, Middle East Times, Health Affairs, and many other scientific publications. He lives in the Princeton, New Jersey area with his wife and two children. Title: BARACK OBAMA IN HAWAI’I AND INDONESIA: The Making of a Global President Author: Dinesh Sharma ISBN: 978-0-313-38533- Date: Sep 30 2011 Publisher: *Also available as an eBook. End
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