AUTOBIOGRAFI PRESIDEN BARACK OBAMA

Autobiografi Barack Obama Dreams From My Father (Canongate, 2007) tiba di perpustakaan saya pada lewat malam ulang tahun hari jadi saya, 1 Julai 2009.

Dreams From My Father pertama kali diterbitkan di Amerika Syarikat (USA) oleh Times Book pada 1995, ketika Barack Obama belum merenangi arus politik perdana negara kuasa besar itu tetapi telah memikul tanggungjawab sebagai presiden jurnal akademik Harvard Law Review di Harvard Law School.

Dua belas tahun kemudian, tatkala Barack Obama ialah Senator Barack Obama, penerbit buku di Scotland, United Kindom, Canongate, mengambil langkah berani menerbitkan edisi kulit lembut autobiografi tersebut. Langkah berani itu, sebagaimana yang disifatkan oleh guardian.co.uk, menjadi azimat yang membolehkan Canongate dianugerahi Publisher Of The Year 2009 dalam British Book Industry Awards sempena Booksellers Industry Conference kelolaan Booksellers Association of the United Kingdom and Ireland Limited.

Petikan daripada guardian.co.uk edisi 2 Jun 2009:

Obama helps Canongate become publisher of the year

A gamble taken on two obscure books by the man who is now US president but was then a junior Illinois senator has helped Scottish independent publisher Canongate see off competition from the conglomerates to be named publisher of the year.

Barack Obama's two books, Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope, were acquired by Canongate just after their author announced his candidacy for the US presidency, and have now – coupled with a rapidly rushed out book outlining his vision for America, Change We Can Believe In – sold more than 1m copies for the small publisher.

Nampaknya saya terpaksa membaca dua buah buku serentak - Barack Obama Dreams From My Father dan Ha Jin A Free Life. Kedua-duanya sarat dengan pengalaman indah, pengalaman warga Amerika berbenih kulit hitam dari benua Afrika dan pengalaman pendatang berkulit kuning dari benua Asia.