This episode is the perfect companion to Barack Obama's new autobiography, "A Promised Land." 

We talk with one of America's greatest writers, David Maraniss, about his stunning biography of Barack Obama. "The Story," explores not only Obama's early years, but his background that makes him the quintessential American. Maraniss argues that Obama's upbringing left him yearning for stability and for an answer to the question: Who am I? 

His biography traces both sides of Obama's family. How did a suicide in a Topeka garage lead the Dunhams on a westward journey that would eventually take them all the way to Hawaii? How did Barack Obama's dad wind up there at the same time his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was studying there? Why is there a slab of concrete near Barack Obama's high school with the word, "OBAMA" etched in it? Maraniss also explains the future president's journeys to Jakarta and Kenya. To understand Obama is to understand the remarkable, against-all-odds journey he has been on.

Maraniss is available on Twitter @davidmaraniss. His website is davidmaraniss.com.

Axelbank Reports History and Today is available on Twitter and Instagram @axelbankhistory

We do want to invite listeners to our Patreon page, to ask for your support in keeping the show going, which is www.patreon.com/axelbankhistory