In this memoir written at the age of 33, Barack Obama, son of a black African father and a white American mother, describes the search for meaning in his life as a black American. He begins in New York where he learns that his father, more a myth than a man to him, has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey that sees Obama travel to Kansas, Hawaii and Kenya in search of his family's roots. BARACK OBAMA is the U.S. senator-elect from Illinois. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Michelle, and daughters, Maia and Sasha. On 10 February 2007 Obama announced his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election.