David Maraniss' highly anticipated — and incredibly dense — biography of Barack Obama finally hit the shelves yesterday, offering a fresh look into the early life and family history of the 44th president.


Although Obama doesn't make an appearance until the seventh chapter, Barack Obama: The Story does contain some pretty salacious stories about Obama's childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia, his college years in California and New York, and his early days as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago. (Hint: There's more nudity and pot-smoking than you'd expect.)

Many of the stories — including details about his New York girlfriends — have been previously reported. But we've dug up some other interesting intel about the President that might surprise you.

Obama once broke another kid's arm. He also used to spy on his step-cousins while they were naked.

Those who knew Obama when he was a child in Indonesia remember him as a little troublemaker, who neighbors used to tease by calling him "black berry, Black Barry."

As the tallest and biggest boy in his class, he was known as a big eater who liked horseplay. He even accidentally broke the arm of one of his playmates while the two were riding on a bicycle.

His step-cousins in Indonesia also remember that he used to spy on them while they were naked.


"Barry loved to peek at us when bathing," one of Obama's step-cousins, Noeke Soetoro, told Maraniss. "There was a small window at my bathroom, and he climbed at the window, then teased me and my sister."

Obama started a few "pot-smoking trends" among his high-school friends.


As a student at Honolulu's elite Punahou High School, Obama was a member of the "Choom Gang," a group of boys who liked basketball and smoking pot (choom is a verb meaning "to smoke marijuana").

Here are some of the "chooming" fads attributed to the future president:

TA, or "Total Absorption": In the Choom Gang, if you exhaled while smoking pot, instead of absorbing it completely in your lungs, the group punished you by skipping you on the next turn.

"Roof Hits": Otherwise known as "hotboxing," this is when you close the windows of a car while smoking pot inside.

Interceptions: When a joint was being passed around, Obama was known to steal it out of turn and yell "Intercepted!"

TO BE CONTINUED