Obama published Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance in July 1995, before he launched his political career. A literary agent in New York named Jane Dystel had contacted Obama in 1990, after reading about his editorship of the Harvard Law Review in a New York Times article. Dystel sold Obama’s book to Poseidon Press, a branch of Simon & Schuster, for an advance of $100,000. Obama received $50,000 on signing the contract.

It took him several years to the write the book. A new edition of the book was published after Obama hit the national political stage at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.