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The Hemingses Of Monticello (2008)

by Annette Gordon-Reed(Favorite Author)

3.83 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0393064778 (ISBN13: 9780393064773)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

review 1: Fascinating story--read it just after having finished Meacham's excellent Jefferson biography The Art of Power. Makes a great, thought-provoking complement to the more traditional Jefferson narrative, glad I read it. But I agree with other reviewers who found it too long and too opinionated. There are things that just aren't known about the Hemingses. I wish the author had let those blank spaces be instead of filling them with speculation.
review 2: I decided to read this book because I thought it would be an interesting way to learn more about Thomas Jefferson. While I did learn some about TJ it was definitely a book about the Hemings family. As other reviewers have stated, at the beginning the author constantly reminded us of the evils of slavery (stating... more the obvious) and I almost stopped reading the book. I'm glad that I continued reading. Later in the book she actually tried to tease out the reasons why a mostly good person would actually own slaves based on the context of the times. The book was very well written and researched. The author presented her scholarly research in a readable way. It was tedious and slow in spots but I'm glad that I read it and it will likely stick in my memory better than most books I read. less

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