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Michelle Obamas Autobiography: How to become a political pop star?

Michelle Obamas Autobiografie VIRAGO SPRING Michelle Obama's autobiography

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Where are the Obamas’s? Well, many have asked this themselves in recent months. Especially the Obama supporters are dissatisfied with the political situation in the USA. The more they wish their heroes back. Now and then vacation photos of Barack Obama appear. He seems to enjoy his post-presidential life. But, what about Michelle Obama? Michelle Obama, role model of a whole generation, did not miss the opportunity to publish an autobiography after the era as the first dark-skinned First Lady of the United States of America.

Michelle Obamas Autobiography

The Obamas again appear in the news and make speech of themselves, which also the bestseller lists said these weeks. With Michelle Obama’s book “Becoming. My story.” She leads these lists. Even before the release, she was the number one bestseller list on Amazon.

In “Becoming. My Story.” Obama tells us about her path, childhood, life in and after the White House, and that with relentless self-criticism. Her book is divided into the three aspects “Becoming me”, “Becoming us” and “Becoming more”. The author tells it surprisingly private, political and thoughtful. She is sure about possible criticism, with so much openness and directly addressed matters as her miscarriage and artificial insemination.

With stories like this, it becomes a women’s book that fits into the generation of relentless feminism. Women want to be heard, including Obama. Feminism works throughout its history as an African-American woman who grew up in a working-class family, then studied at an elite Ivy League university in the United States and got to know the love of her life Barack Obama. The two gave birth to two daughters and finally climbed, with her always at his side, the Olympus of his political career.

Michelle Obama embodies the modern image of a strong woman who makes a career, has children, educates herself well, supports her husband, and so on. Because the power woman of today is tireless. But Obama does not say that if complacent, as if she had fallen in the lap or as if she had pulled the golden lot. No, it conveys the hard work and self-doubts that are hidden behind this woman. Early on in her youth, she asked herself over and over again the basic question “Am I good enough?”.

She was having a hard time with politics right from the start

Her time as First Lady of the United States influenced her greatly, which is why she often claims not to be elected as President of the United States of America. Because “there were days, weeks, months, in which I hated politics,” says Obama in her memoirs. That the long-lasting presidency Barack Obama for Michelle in the White House was also exhausting, the reader notes in the preface. After the time there, the family moved only a few streets into a house.

Obama describes the silence she has in the four walls as her husband and children fled. “It was just me, our two dogs, and a quiet, empty house that I have not known for eight years.” In this loneliness she was just hungry and wanted to make a cheese sandwich. When she was relieved that she could do that herself without any courteous help, the former First Lady almost felt like her old self, who was president of the country before that time. “Then I carried my plate outside to the garden. I did not have to tell anyone I was leaving, I just went. “

Michelle Obama’s stories about her childhood

Your old self grew up in Chicago. There, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson was born on January 17, 1964, and as a child of a working-class family, she has not grown as immovable as her own children are today. At the beginning of her childhood, Obama did not notice much of the differences that her skin color would bring in later years. “In 1950, fifteen years before my parents moved to South Shore [Chicago], the neighborhood was 96 percent white. By the time I graduated to college in 1981, she was about 96 percent black. “

But at the latest when she started to study at the “white” elite universities of America, she noticed that. Obama first studied sociology and African-American studies at Princeton University. After receiving her bachelor’s degree, she moved to Harvard University to study law. She completed her second degree with the Juris Doctor.

Until this part, the reader experiences sometimes tough pieces of their childhood and youth, from narratives in elementary school to little squabbles with peers. Obama experiences a normal childhood and youth despite poorer conditions. She has a boyfriend here and there, smokes one of them grass, and concentrates more on her grades than on social contacts. But, the first part “Becoming me” is going on. It is supported only by the developments of racial segregation and discrimination in the country. In addition, the reader eagerly awaits the key moment in their lives, in which the now 54-year-old Barack Obama meets.

Michelle Obamas Autobiografie VIRAGO SPRING Michelle Obama's autobiography

Michelle Obama’s autobiography also shows her vulnerable side

The moment is different than expected. If you think Obama mentioned her husband first in a romantic, loving sentence, she breaks the cheesy picture with the phrase “Barack was late on the first day.” The two got to know each other in the law firm, where M. Obama just completed her first year as a lawyer and B. Obama trained as a summer trainee. There is a crackling between the two colleagues over the summer and with each word the connection between the two becomes clearer. The romance is livened up with funny anecdotes. Fraser Robinson, her father, said after her first meeting with Barack Obama to her brother Craig, “Nice guy. Too bad it will not last long. “

The autobiography shows the vulnerable and approachable Michelle Obama. At the latest at the death of her beloved father this becomes clear. With an emotional intimacy, Obama lets the reader participate in one of the most difficult moments in their lives. In a few words she manages to stir one. These moments give strength to the memoirs. At the same time, however, there is the constant battle of discrimination and clichés of an African-American woman who is growing up more privileged. It seems as if she justified everything with these hostilities. The book is a mixture of history of development in black and white America, the journey of a woman who is looking for her own happiness and the observation of a presidency, as nobody can experience it closer.

Obama is still a role model for many. Because of that, it’s not surprising that she is hailed on her book tour like a superstar. A political pop star. In a total of 14 stations on the tour, she presents her autobiography to the overwhelming female followers. This sold so far more than two million times in the US. Thus, the book rises to the annual bestseller. A complete success for Michelle. In any case, she is good enough, with which Obama can finally answer the eternal question of her youth.

Michelle Obama: “Becoming”; Crown Publishing Group, New York 2018; 426 pages; EUR 26, -. Also available as e-book and audiobook.

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Founder of Virago Spring, formerly a journalist, she now works full-time as a Senior SEO Manager and leads the search strategy team for the German market at a major media publisher. Outside of work, she loves fashion, dogs and everything to do with interiors. She shares tips and tricks for a beautiful life - at home and at work. Whether it's about organization or self-care.