Question 52 of 236 · Books & Authors
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SSC

'Dreams from My Father' is the autobiography of:

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Answer: Option C — Barack Obama

Detailed Solution

"Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance" is a memoir by Barack Obama, first published in 1995, long before he became President of the United States.

About the book:

  • Obama wrote it after he became the first African-American president of the "Harvard Law Review" in 1990, when a publisher asked him to write about race relations.
  • It describes his childhood in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Jakarta, Indonesia; his mother Ann Dunham, an American anthropologist; and his father, Barack Obama Sr., an economist from Kenya whom he met only once as a child.
  • It covers his search for identity as a person of mixed race, his work as a community organiser in Chicago, and his journey to Kenya to learn about his father's family.
  • The audiobook version, read by Obama, won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album (2006).

Barack Obama's other books:

  • "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" (2006), which set out his political ideas before his presidential campaign.
  • "A Promised Land" (2020), the first volume of his presidential memoirs, covering his early political career up to 2011, including the operation that killed Osama bin Laden.
  • "Of Thee I Sing" (2010), a children's book.

About Barack Obama:

  • He was the 44th President of the United States (2009-2017) and the first African-American president.
  • He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.
  • He visited India in 2010 and 2015; in 2015 he was the Chief Guest at India's Republic Day parade.

Memoirs of other leaders:

  • Bill Clinton: "My Life" (2004).
  • Joe Biden: "Promises to Keep" (2007) and "Promise Me, Dad" (2017).
  • Nelson Mandela: "Long Walk to Freedom" (1994).
  • Michelle Obama: "Becoming" (2018).

Why not the other options?

  • ✗Bill Clinton's autobiography is "My Life".
  • ✗Joe Biden wrote "Promises to Keep" and "Promise Me, Dad".
  • ✗Nelson Mandela's autobiography is "Long Walk to Freedom".

Quick tip

Remember: Barack Obama = "Dreams from My Father" (1995), "The Audacity of Hope" (2006), "A Promised Land" (2020); "Becoming" = Michelle Obama; "My Life" = Bill Clinton.

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Books & Authors — Preparation

This question tests your understanding of Books & Authors, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.

This topic covers famous books and their authors, including ancient Indian texts, works of the freedom struggle, classic and modern literature, autobiographies of famous people, and recently published books by well-known personalities. Questions usually name a book and ask for its author, or the other way round. Ancient and historical books, such as Arthashastra (Kautilya), Indica (Megasthenes) and Gitanjali (Rabindranath Tagore), are tested most often. Autobiographies are another favourite, so learn titles such as 'My Experiments with Truth' (Mahatma Gandhi) and 'Wings of Fire' (A. P. J. Abdul Kalam). Practise the books and authors questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.