The Riddle of Barack Obama

The Riddle of Barack Obama: A Psychobiography is the first complete psychological biography of President Barack Obama written by a professional clinical psychologist. Covering Obama''s life to date as well as the lives of his parents grandparents and other ancestors this fascinating volume illuminates the personal professional political emotional intellectual and creative aspects of Obama''s personality as well as the motives--conscious and unconscious--for his beliefs and actions.Dr. Avner Falk draws on hundreds of biographies newspaper and magazine articles interviews investigative reports and more using psychoanalytic models developed by Sigmund Freud Donald Winnicott Peter Blos Heinz Kohut and Schiffer to probe Obama''s psychological development. Examining every facet of the president''s biography he delves into his earliest feelings of abandonment and helplessness his inner conflicts his protective relationship with his mother his ambivalent identification with his father and his quest for identity. Perhaps most intriguingly Dr. Falk explores the psychological origins of Obama''s fierce ambitions and the ingredients of his charisma.