Obama's Brother Writes About Abuse

President Barack Obama's half brother is publishing an autobiography that details the domestic abuse that served as the theme for his earlier semiautobiographical novel, which featured an abusive parent patterned on their late father.

Mark Obama Ndesandjo also recounts his sporadic but intense encounters with his brother over the years in "Cultures: My Odyssey of Self-Discovery." The self-published book, to be released in February, also tries to set the record straight on some points in the president's bestselling 1995 memoir, "Dreams From My Father."

As in his first book, Ndesandjo wanted to raise awareness of domestic abuse by using his family's story, although he said in an interview with The Associated Press this week that the president's relatives have not universally welcomed his airing of private matters in public.