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American Tapestry: The Story Of The Black, White, And Multiracial Ancestors Of Michelle Obama (2012)

by Rachel L. Swarns(Favorite Author)

3.5 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0062189573 (ISBN13: 9780062189578)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Harper Audio

review 1: A fascinating story not so well told. The author delves into Michelle Obama's slave and mixed-race origins and follows the migrations of her paternal and maternal forebears from Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Alabama north through Kentucky and into Illinois. The problems with the story lie in its confusing timelines, occasional contradictions (a slave who "left no record of her existence" shows up later as having lived in several places), frequent and unnecessary repetition of information, and distracting assumptions and conjectures (Perhaps he walked down the same street and noticed . . .; She probably wondered why . . .; That unknown visitor may have been . . . ). If the publisher had bothered to pay for the services of a good editor, many of the problems would ha... moreve been fixed. Further, the audiobook would have benefited from a narrator who didn't sound as though she had a cold.
review 2: This is an interesting topic and so I wish that it had been made more accessible to the average reader. The history o Michelle Obama's black and white ancestors is one that must surely resonate with many people in this country, but the author's disconnected stories and the way she jumps around in time, plus the repetitiveness of the information, makes it hard to keep reading. The book should have been about 40% shorter and maybe had one chapter per character, giving us their whole story in one place. And whatever you do, do not read it as an eBook. You will need to be constantly flipping back and forth to remind yourself of who is who. less

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