What Obama Means - ..for Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Future (Paperback)

This is our moment. This is our time, Barack Obama declared in his victory speech on November 4, 2008. Such a moment is an opportunity to explore who we are, where we've been, and what the emergence of a leader like Obama can tell us about our culture, our politics, and our future. In "What Obama Means", Jabari Asim, author of the acclaimed "The N Word", provides the context needed to understand what the Obama presidency means to people of all backgrounds. Asim moves easily from the contemporary to the historical, showing how performers and athletes, such as Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan, laid the groundwork for Obama as much as did leaders such as Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. DuBois, and Martin Luther King Jr. He examines the impact of Sidney Poitier (whose "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" could have been the story of the president's parents) and how the actor's navigation of Hollywood was a forerunner for Obama's own path in wooing America's white voters. Asim places Obama within the history of the black rhetorical tradition, alongside such figures as James Baldwin, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Barbara Jordan. He also describes how the 'Obama phenomenon' grew from the ground up, focusing on the people who caught on even before their leaders did. He demonstrates how Obama turned the old civil-rights model of African American leadership on its head, and shows that Obama's election is evidence of the progress that has been made in healing wounds and broadening America's concept of leadership and inspiration.

General

Imprint:	HarperPaperbacks
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	2010
First published:	2010
Authors:	Jabari Asim
Dimensions:	203 x 135 x 14mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	288
ISBN-13:	978-0-06-171135-0
Categories:	Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Ethnic studies > Black studies Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political structure & processes > Political leaders & leadership Books > Humanities > History > American history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945 > General Books > History > American history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945 > General Promotions
LSN:	0-06-171135-7
Barcode:	9780061711350

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