I am currently listening to the book Obama Nation. (It isn’t worth the time it takes to read it, I can listen faster.) The author (Jerome Corsi of swift boat fame) is a certifiable loon, and the Obama team does an ok job of discussing the source. Obama Nation gives you some perspective on his history, but if a biographer/historian can’t get basic facts right, how can you trust the bigger facts? It’s worth a read before November (then send it straight to Half-Price Books), but not without this document from the Obama camp: obama.3cdn.net/a74586f9067028c40a_5km6vrqwa.pdf
In today’s media, you can’t find fair an balanced sources. Find one from the left and one from the left, and assume the center is true.
If you’re not an Obama fan, and want some information, I suggest the book The Case Against Barack Obama. It’s written by National Reviewer David Freddoso, so at least it’s not written by a total loon. It’s written in a tone you can at least tolerate without feeling like you’re dipping a toe in the pool of political slime. It’s also well footnoted.
I’d also pick up a copy of Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. It will help shade in some of the beliefs held by members of the left in America.