Michelle: A Biography

by Liza Mundy

Hardcover, 2008

Status

Available

Description

Washington Post writer Liza Mundy paints a revealing and intimate portrait of the most dynamic couple in politics today: Michelle, the highly organized, sometimes intimidating, list-making pragmatist; and Barack, the introspective political charmer who shoots for the stars. Michelle's story carries all the achievements and lingering pain of the post-civil rights era. She grew up on the south side of Chicago, in a neighborhood rocked by white flight. She went to Harvard Law School, became a corporate lawyer, then left to train community leaders. She can be funny and sharp-tongued, warm and blunt, empathic and demanding. Her relationship with Barack, like many couples with two careers and two children, has been strained at times by his political climb. In this carefully reported biography, drawing upon interviews with more than one hundred people, including one with Michelle herself, Mundy captures the complexity of this remarkable woman and the remarkable life she has lived.--From publisher description.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member ktsbentley
It is interesting to read this biography that has no real input from the person being written about. It seems to imply that you can know a person by looking at the time and area where they grew up and by talking to friends and classmates and others who grew up under similar circumstances. I found
Show More
this a hard book to swallow.
Some of the factual information in the book is interesting. It's more of an interesting way of discussing the times that Michelle Obama was formed during. Unfortunately by the end of the book I found myself wondering two things. First, do I really have any better sense of who Michelle Obama is? Second, what would she think of this biography of her life?
Show Less
LibraryThing member nancenwv
I read this just as we are coming in Obama's run for a second term and almost put it down because it was written before his first. I thought it would be out of date. However, what Mundy has written is still very relevant. I appreciate the insights and history she gives into the ordinary and yet
Show More
extraordinary lives both Obamas have found themselves in.
It starts out a little dry with the racial and political history of the country in general and Chicago in particular of our times but that really puts a lot of things clearly in perspective and I found it interesting. What drew me in and kept me reading was finding out more about both Obamas' personalities and their experiences as they enter politics. I've been able to internalize just a bit of Michelle's incredible strength, humor, and perspective and have appreciated getting to know her.
Show Less
LibraryThing member dukefan86
I enjoyed learning more about Michelle Obama in this book. By all accounts, she's intelligent, motivated, and usually quite grounded. Because the Obama campaign denied the author access to Michelle Obama for interviews for this book, however, the stories and insights about her come from other
Show More
people in Obama's history--teachers, classmates, her brother, co-workers, TV and print reporters, and campaign staffers, plus numerous speeches of Michelle's (and one previous interview between the author and Obama, unrelated to this book). After reading this book for a while, I felt like I was learning about Michelle Obama all secondhand, and I missed the meatiness of a story that would have had Michelle Obama's blessing and cooperation. I hope (and expect) that sort of book will come later.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Jape200
Great detailed aubiographical read on Michelle Obama. Although at times I felt that it was more focused on Barack I can understand how inextricably their lives are intertwined.
Page: 0.2737 seconds