Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

The Hemingses of Monticello

3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 · rating details · 1,395 ratings · 363 reviews

In the mid-1700s the English captain of a trading ship that made runs between England and the Virginia colony fathered a child by an enslaved woman living near Williamsburg. The woman, whose name is unknown and who is believed to have been born in Africa, was owned by the Eppeses, a prominent Virginia family. The captain, whose surname was Hemings, and the woman had a daug...more In the mid-1700s the English captain of a trading ship that made runs between England and the Virginia colony fathered a child by an enslaved woman living near Williamsburg. The woman, whose name is unknown and who is believed to have been born in Africa, was owned by the Eppeses, a prominent Virginia family. The captain, whose surname was Hemings, and the woman had a daughter. They named her Elizabeth.

So begins this epic work—named a best book of the year by the Washington Post, Time, the Los Angeles Times, Amazon.com, the San Francisco Chronicle, and a notable book by the New York Times—Annette Gordon-Reed’s “riveting history” of the Hemings family, whose story comes to vivid life in this brilliantly researched and deeply moving work. Gordon-Reed, author of the highly acclaimed historiography Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy, unearths startling new information about the Hemingses, Jefferson, and his white family. Although the book presents the most detailed and richly drawn portrait ever written of Sarah Hemings, better known by her nickname Sally, who bore seven children by Jefferson over the course of their thirty-eight-year liaison, The Hemingses of Monticello tells more than the story of her life with Jefferson and their children. The Hemingses as a whole take their rightful place in the narrative of the family’s extraordinary engagement with one of history’s most important figures.

Not only do we meet Elizabeth Hemings—the family matriarch and mother to twelve children, six by John Wayles, a poor English immigrant who rose to great wealth in the Virginia colony—but we follow the Hemings family as they become the property of Jefferson through his marriage to Martha Wayles. The Hemings-Wayles children, siblings to Martha, played pivotal roles in the life at Jefferson’s estate.

We follow the Hemingses to Paris, where James Hemings trained as a chef in one of the most prestigious kitchens in France and where Sally arrived as a fourteen-year-old chaperone for Jefferson’s daughter Polly; to Philadelphia, where James Hemings acted as the major domo to the newly appointed secretary of state; to Charlottesville, where Mary Hemings lived with her partner, a prosperous white merchant who left her and their children a home and property; to Richmond, where Robert Hemings engineered a plan for his freedom; and finally to Monticello, that iconic home on the mountain, from where most of Jefferson’s slaves, many of them Hemings family members, were sold at auction six months after his death in 1826.

As The Hemingses of Monticello makes vividly clear, Monticello can no longer be known only as the home of a remarkable American leader, the author of the Declaration of Independence; nor can the story of the Hemingses, whose close blood ties to our third president have been expunged from history until very recently, be left out of the telling of America’s story. With its empathetic and insightful consideration of human beings acting in almost unimaginably difficult and complicated family circumstances, The Hemingses of Monticello is history as great literature. It is a remarkable achievement.(less)

Hardcover, 662 pages

Published September 17th 2008 by W. W. Norton & Company (first published 2008)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

Best American History books

105th out of 769 books — 1,035 voters

Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson

Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer

What Hath God Wrought by Daniel Walker Howe

No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Pulitzer Winners: History

11th out of 87 books — 32 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Dec 06, 2010 Kimberly rated it 2 of 5 stars

I will not finish this book. For a non-fiction work there is too much conjecture and speculation about the character's feelings without sources to back it up. I also felt manipulated while reading. I do not need to be reminded over and over again about how morally wrong, cruel and degrading slavery was - I possessed this opinion long before I picked up this book. There seemed to be an angry tone throughout.
Perhaps there are some redeeming qualities to this book - it did win the National Book Awa...more

like 17 likes · see review

Jan 10, 2009 Bruce rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, biography, 2009-reading

This is an extremely well written and thought provoking boook. Gordon-Reed addresses the history of the Hemings family, the slaves whose live were so completely intertwined with the life of Thomas Jefferson. She focuses on them and their individual lives, not just as extensions of Jefferson, although he was of course, central to their existence.

I am surprised at some of the comments I have read about this book. I did not find Gordon-Reed to be particularly angry, although, God knows, people of...more This is an extremely well written and thought provoking boook. Gordon-Reed addresses the history of the Hemings family, the slaves whose live were so completely intertwined with the life of Thomas Jefferson. She focuses on them and their individual lives, not just as extensions of Jefferson, although he was of course, central to their existence.

I am surprised at some of the comments I have read about this book. I did not find Gordon-Reed to be particularly angry, although, God knows, people of African American heritage have every right to be angry about so much of this country's history. It is also true that she had to extrapolate some of her conclusions, but the fact that white Americans essentially made their slaves historically invisible, and white historians did not focus any of their attention on slaves, or people of color in general, so what primary sources there are are few and far between.

While I knew about Sally Hemings and her relationship with Jefferson there was so much I did not know that illuminates both sides of the relationship, freeing it from the cliche'd image of master and slave. It was that, but it was much more as well. Hemings was Jefferson's half sister in law, sharing a father with Jefferson's widow Martha.

Her brothers, James and Robert, were close to Jefferson throughout their lives as well, and the entire family were treated in Monticello as a special kind of "family", never treated as the other slaves on the "little mountain" were treated, but it was never ever forgotten that they were, indeed, Jefferson's chattel property.

I found it fascinating to learn that during the time that Sally and James were with Jefferson in Paris for five years, they lived in a city where slavery was essentially illegal. Had they wanted to sue for their freedom, Gordon-Reed argues that they almost certainly could have won it. This implies a certain willingness in their return to Virginia and legal slave status. The discussion of the "representations" made by Jefferson to Hemings is remarkable. The result was that Hemings spent thirty eight years in a relationship with Jefferson and ultimately, won the freedom for her children that she had demanded from him.

By dealing with the Hemings family, and their multigenerational relationship with Jefferson and his family, Gordon-Reed does much to illuminate not only their forgotten lives, but the forgotten (at least by white historians and culture) lives of so many other families in their same situation. It is a painful book to read in many ways, but a rewarding one as well. (less)

like 12 likes · see review

Oct 30, 2008 Sara W rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-w-book-club, non-fiction

I just cannot finish this book.

I found parts of this book to be excellent. When the author presented a narrative about what the people did based on primary sources (and some secondary sources), I was hooked. It was well written and incredibly interesting. I would easily have given those parts 4 stars.

The problem is, those parts are less than half of what I managed to read. A good part of the book is just speculation. She even tells the reader when she is departing from the narrative (at one poin...more I just cannot finish this book.

I found parts of this book to be excellent. When the author presented a narrative about what the people did based on primary sources (and some secondary sources), I was hooked. It was well written and incredibly interesting. I would easily have given those parts 4 stars.

The problem is, those parts are less than half of what I managed to read. A good part of the book is just speculation. She even tells the reader when she is departing from the narrative (at one point she mentioned that the next four chapters would be a departure - that was a warning sign to me). The author literally asks a bunch of unanswerable questions (such as what must Sally Hemings have felt doing x, y and z, what must have been going through James Hemings mind while he did a, b and c), and then proceeds to hypothetically answer them. I think her ideas would make for a pretty good novel (which I would read), but I just don't want to read that type of stuff in non-fiction writing (at least to the degree that it is done here). I am well aware that the author probably did not have many sources to work with due to the subject matter, so she may have to fill in some holes. However, the narrative fact-based sections that the author did write probably could have stood on their own without all this excess filler. The book may have been half the length, but I think it would have been much better to cut out the majority of the speculation and use it only when absolutely necessary.

In addition, the author constantly brought up the fact that Sally Hemings and her family were "human chattel", but that they were human beings as worth while as any other human being. Clearly this is true, and mentioning it once or twice wouldn't be a problem, but it came up time and time again. If someone is reading this book, I'm sure they are aware of what Sally Hemings' status was and realize that it was wrong to enslave people. I just don't need to be beaten over the head with it. I finally gave up on the book when the author went off on a lengthy tangent about the perils of teenage girls living virtually alone with heterosexual males - it seemed to go on forever. I managed to finish that chapter, but I decided to just stop reading the book at that point. (less)

like 9 likes · see review

Mar 01, 2009 Andrew rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a very ambitious attempt to reconstruct the world of the Hemingses who lived at Monticello with Thomas Jefferson. Given the absence of diaries, letters, paintings, or direct accounts from the subjects in the book that would provide direct evidence for such a project, this was a very tricky task.

Gordon-Reed's approach is primarily to use the context of slavery, psychology, and business transaction ledgers to figure out what must of happened. She relies heavily on supposition and logic to...more

like 7 likes · see review

Oct 27, 2012 Tony Diaz rated it 3 of 5 stars

When Southern white men like Thomas Jefferson took slave mistresses, the results could be uncomfortably complicated--especially if that meant children. Annette Gordon-Reed's "The Hemingses of Monticello" looks at the the most famous case. She shows how Jefferson & Sally Hemings' ambiguous genealogy and connections sometimes protected them, and even helped a few to escape. But she also stresses the limits: legal freedom didn't get them beyond working class status, and for some who could "pass...more

like 1 like · see review

Jan 17, 2011 Doug Piero rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like 1 like · see review

Jan 03, 2009 Cynthia rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Thomas Jefferson fans, students of slavery, women interested in the lives of enslaved women,

Recommended to Cynthia by: NY Times book list

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like · see review

May 05, 2013 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars

This massive book is difficult to catagorize. Gordon-Reed examines the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and the enslaved Hemings family, a relationship that began when Martha Wayles Jefferson inherited from her father Elizabeth Hemings and her children, some who were Martha's half-siblings. Within the confines of her study, Gordon-Reed writes of many aspects of the colonial and revolutionary years in Virginia. She analyzes the life of the enslaved people at Monticello and leads the reader i...more

like · see review

May 04, 2013 Jo-Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars

I found that this book aroused a good deal of discomfort in me.

Reading it from the vantage point of being Canadian, of United Epire Loyalist background, of white race and in a multiracial family tree, I experienced an incongruence of perspective in understanding the meaning of freedom and liberty among Founding Fathers of the United States of America who were members of the Planter Slave Holding classes. The hypocrisy in these conditions, as I experienced in this book, is my immediate "take away...more

like · see review

Apr 21, 2013 Louise rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: slavery, biography, us-history, presidents

Annette Gordon-Reed transcends the old debates and focuses on the Hemings family how they lived and how they might have felt about their situation.

Her research shows slavery as an even more peculiar institution than previously portrayed. Monticello appears to be an economic commune with 3 castes. One caste is born to rule, another to work the fields, and middle caste lives a precarious life between the two.

The Hemings family served as Jefferson's silent and hidden support system throughout his p...more Annette Gordon-Reed transcends the old debates and focuses on the Hemings family how they lived and how they might have felt about their situation.

Her research shows slavery as an even more peculiar institution than previously portrayed. Monticello appears to be an economic commune with 3 castes. One caste is born to rule, another to work the fields, and middle caste lives a precarious life between the two.

The Hemings family served as Jefferson's silent and hidden support system throughout his productive and retirement years. They profited little from his success and fell more deeply with his failures than their biological brothers and sisters who had the legal claims to not only Jefferson's but their grandfather's properties. This book provides a discussion of these and similar issues and their ramifications in the lives of individuals.

The family life presented in this work has implications not only for history, but also for the fields of sociology, family dynamics, psychology and organizational behavior. It was undoubtedly common for male heads of plantations in the US and abroad to have children with their enslaved females. While you can find research on slave homes, clothing, diets and other circumstances, to my knowledge there is little work on the sociology of the "master's" children. How were they raised? How did they cope with and relate to their overseeing relatives? How did the many like Sally and her children feel to be the unacknowledged spouse(equivalent) and children of the famous man who declared all men created equal?

(Fidel Castro is a more modern day product of a similar system, how much did resentment of his life vs. those in the "big house" fuel his political views?)

The Hemings of Sally's generation respectfully kept the secret, and Jefferson's white progeny protected it, so we know little of the relations of half sisters, brothers, parents, aunts and uncles. Hemings and her family, not Jefferson, were descended from the wealthy John Wayles whose estate came to Jefferson through marriage. Instead of receiving benefits from their father's wealth, their lot in life was to serve his other family.

While at times wordy, Gordon-Reed makes the case for the Hemings Family. Of Sally we have only clues. She was young and had lost her own powerful father at a young age. She was alone in Paris with the kindly, grieving widower of her half sister, in a real life this man would be her brother in law. Of Jefferson, grieving for his wife in Paris, his comments on a painting of Sarah bringing Hagar to Abraham stays with you. In later life I cannot imagine how Sally looked at her Hemings relatives, knowing that their fate (and hers) hung on Jefferson's good will and health. Similarly, I cannot imagine Jefferson looking at his own children (who resembled him) by Sally (who may have resembled his deceased wife) thinking that his famous words were a far away goal and not a reality.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the topic and hope to see more research in this area.
(less)

like · see review

Mar 08, 2013 JoAnn W. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very enjoyable, detailed story of Thomas Jefferson and the entire Hemings family over the decades, starting with his childhood, youth, marriage up until his death and intertwined with the Hemings family -- Sally Hemings' mother, sisters and brothers, and children.

The book makes it clear how these slave families linked by blood to the families of the masters and explored the inter-relationships and how they all tried to cope with this reality. It's a page of American history that needs to be exp...more

like · see review

Jan 24, 2012 Sheri rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jefferson has always been one of my favorite presidents for a variety of reasons. But I've always been troubled by his ownership of 100+ slaves until his death, and then his failure to free them when he died because they were valuable property needed to pay his debts & leave some assets to his white heirs.

This family biography by Gordon-Reed of the Hemings family -- an extended family of slaves owned by Jefferson and which included Sally Hemings, Jefferson's slave mistress for nearly 40 yea...more

like 1 like · see review

Dec 03, 2011 Hava rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: american-history-books, nonfiction-books

I just read another review which said that she couldn't continue with this book because the author belabored the point that slavery is evil, and that her tone can came across as being angry. I couldn't agree more. I just started this book (I was listening to it in the audio form) and finally had to quit. I am absolutely, un-equivocally, 100% against slavery. I totally agree with the fact that slavery is evil and that its abolishment was one of the great struggles in our nation's past that needed...more I just read another review which said that she couldn't continue with this book because the author belabored the point that slavery is evil, and that her tone can came across as being angry. I couldn't agree more. I just started this book (I was listening to it in the audio form) and finally had to quit. I am absolutely, un-equivocally, 100% against slavery. I totally agree with the fact that slavery is evil and that its abolishment was one of the great struggles in our nation's past that needed to happen.

However, once I agree with that sentiment and espouse it wholeheartedly, I don't need to be beat over the head with it again and again. No, Jefferson was not a perfect man, and anyone who immortalizes him as such is flat-out wrong. But many, many people had slaves during his time, and the fact that he did have slaves does not immediately put him into the "shit pile" either. There is a middle ground between saint and ass, I promise.

There was a lot of PC in here too, which made me roll my eyes. Many times, people were not referred to as "slaves" but rather "enslaved people." Okay, I get the fact that the intentions are good - this historian is trying to make the point that slaves were people, and that being a slave wasn't who they were, it was just a set of circumstances that was forced upon them. But I think anyone who is predisposed to read this book would know that to begin with. Referring to a slave as a slave is no more demeaning than to refer to me as a librarian. No, my job title doesn't encompass 100% of who I am, but it certainly encompasses a large part of it. Working at a library shapes my view of the world - any long-term life status will do that, whether you're a banker, a lawyer, or yes, a slave.

So call a librarian a librarian, and call a slave a slave. Anything else is pure PC and doesn't deserve the place in a serious study of history.

For these two reasons, I had to quit listening to the book fairly early in. Perhaps it gets better; I don't know. I don't have the time to waste to find out.(less)

like 3 likes · see review

Aug 08, 2011 Jagad5 rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history

This book would be twice as good if it were half as long. I listened to the first third or so in the car. Every point is explained six different ways - except that, at least as far as I survived, the author did not discuss the evidence of Jefferson's paternity or not. The DNA evidence is compelling that a Jefferson fathered children with Sally Hemmings but it is impossible to verify that the Jefferson was Thomas.

Considering how much time the author spent reviewing the paternity of Martha Wayles...more

like · see review

Jul 30, 2011 James (JD) Dittes added it · review of another edition

As a work of scholarship and intuition, this book ranks five stars. Gordon-Reed has followed up her groundbreaking work on Sally Hemings with a book that focuses on the Hemings family as a whole--anchored by Elizabeth Hemings, herself a product of an African mother and English father, and the mother of seven children by her owner, John Wayles, Jefferson's father-in-law.

The Hemingses of Monticello are central to this account--although they provide key insights into Jefferson's morality, his decis...more As a work of scholarship and intuition, this book ranks five stars. Gordon-Reed has followed up her groundbreaking work on Sally Hemings with a book that focuses on the Hemings family as a whole--anchored by Elizabeth Hemings, herself a product of an African mother and English father, and the mother of seven children by her owner, John Wayles, Jefferson's father-in-law.

The Hemingses of Monticello are central to this account--although they provide key insights into Jefferson's morality, his decision-making, and his true financial status. Some achieve freedom during his lifetime, others like Sally and her children with him, achieve it at his death. There is the tragic tale of James Hemings, whose becomes a French chef during time in France with Jefferson, but whose failure to take the same job at the White House leads to suicide. There is Robert Hemings, Jefferson's personal servant at the time of the Declaration of Independence, gaining his freedom and living in Richmond for 20 years. But there is also the bizarre tale of Joseph Fossett, whose wife, Edy, becomes cook in the White House. When Fossett leaves Monticello one summer to visit his wife in Washington, Jefferson has him declared a runaway and has him hunted down.

The reason my rating for this book isn't higher is because I felt the work was overlong. There is scant evidence for the lives of the Hemingses--mentions in Jefferson's fiscal records, 2nd-hand accounts in letters, recollections of Hemingses who lived generations after Sally. Gordon-Reed has the legal and analytical skills to glean 660 pages of information out of these thin resources. I kept thinking, "I'm putting this book away, it's just too long," but then I'd hit another brilliant idea, and I'd keep plowing along. There are certainly enough unique insights to make the book interesting for the lay reader, if not excellent.

Gordon-Reed builds the dignity of slaves in Virginia. She comes back, time and time again, to the unequal relationship. The term "enslaved people" wakes the reader up to any romantic interpretations of Jefferson's actions.

Again, this was a great work. I learned a lot. The book could easily have been half the length, though. That's my one, overlong, quibble.(less)

like · see review

Aug 20, 2010 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars

While not an easy read, this is a fascinating book that deserved every honor that it was given when it was published. When Thomas Jefferson married Martha Wayles Skelton she brought with her, and then Jeffrson inherited from her father, a family of slaves (Hemings) who were the product of John Wayles's long sexual relationship with a slave women. These slaves were half-brothers and half-sisters of Martha Jefferson. Unfortunately Martha Jefferson died at the age of 34 leaving Jefferson with three...more While not an easy read, this is a fascinating book that deserved every honor that it was given when it was published. When Thomas Jefferson married Martha Wayles Skelton she brought with her, and then Jeffrson inherited from her father, a family of slaves (Hemings) who were the product of John Wayles's long sexual relationship with a slave women. These slaves were half-brothers and half-sisters of Martha Jefferson. Unfortunately Martha Jefferson died at the age of 34 leaving Jefferson with three young daughters to raise. Jefferson had always treated the Hemings slaves differently from the other slaves at Monticello because of their blood relationship to his wife. In fact, the slaves who were the offspring of Wayles all had three white grandparents and one African grandparent. When Jefferson was the American Minister to France, he insisted that his two daughters (one had died shortly after he left for France) join him in Europe and 14 year old, Sally Hemings, was also taken to France to serve as a maid. Sally grew to closely resemble her half-sister, Martha, and during her time in France, she became Jefferson's mistress. Sally Hemings and her brother, James, who had been taken to France to be trained as a French chef, knew that they could easily achieve their freedom while in France yet each elected to return to Virginia with Jefferson. Gordon-Reed speculates that Sally negotiated an agreement with Jefferson while still in France that any children born of their relationship (who would be 1/8 white and, therefore, considered white under the Virginia law of the day) would be freed when they reached adulthood. The couple had five children together and most of those children enter into the white world as soon as they became adults. This book details Jefferson's relationship with the entire Hemings family over several generations at Monticello and how his relationship with Sally affected his political career and his dealings with both his white family and his family with Sally. A compelling look into how complex the institution of slavery was and how its interpretation was left up to each participant.(less)

like 2 likes · see review

Jul 08, 2010 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to DNA testing, we can know definitively that Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings had children. Lots of white Jeffersons tried to deny that over the years--and lots of white Hemingses who didn't wany to acknowledge their black ancestor also tried to deny it. This is a fascinating domestic biography based for the most part of conjecture and the history of the period. The author, a historian and fine writer, does have the annoying habit of writing statements such as "we may never k...more

like 1 like · see review

Apr 23, 2010 Jeff added it

Shelves: u-s-history

The Hemingses of Monticello, by Annette Gordon-Reed , poses and answers a question which should have been asked long ago; what if the Thomas Jefferson/Sally Hemings controversy isn’t really ‘about’ Jefferson at all? What if instead we put the surprisingly well-documented story of the Hemings family front and center? Viewed in that light, the entire picture changes. Gordon-Reed brilliantly and sometimes movingly draws the group portrait of several generations of slaves who had both a keen intere...more The Hemingses of Monticello, by Annette Gordon-Reed , poses and answers a question which should have been asked long ago; what if the Thomas Jefferson/Sally Hemings controversy isn’t really ‘about’ Jefferson at all? What if instead we put the surprisingly well-documented story of the Hemings family front and center? Viewed in that light, the entire picture changes. Gordon-Reed brilliantly and sometimes movingly draws the group portrait of several generations of slaves who had both a keen interest in freedom and an acute awareness of just how much their mixed-race ancestry — in some cases 7/8 white — and their varying degrees of kinship to Jefferson counted for in terms of bettering their own lives. (Fifty years later these things would have made no difference at all.) Sally Hemings herself, described as “mighty near white” with “long straight hair down her back” looked far more like half-Indian Norah Jones than the Aunt Jemima caricature drawn by Jefferson’s enemies (and latter-day defenders).

And Jefferson — anxious to do the right thing (as he saw it), provided always that it didn’t inconvenience him too much or force him to confront the harsher realities of slave ownership — comes off far better than one might expect. Unsettling as it may be to 21st-century sensibilities, Jefferson and Hemings appear to have set up a situation between themselves in which all parties concerned got what they wanted. Much has been made of his failure to free her in his will; the author shows how difficult this would have been to legally do. Instead he simply saw to it that she was allowed to go free after his death without any embarrassing paperwork.

On page after page here you will find incisive discussions on a range of topics — the meaning of race in America, the nature of slavery, the dynamics of power between master and slave, intimate relationships between men and women (free white women as well as enslaved ones), relationships within families — which are full not merely of insight and common sense but of profound wisdom. (We are shown the irony of two generations of Jefferson’s womenfolk grappling with the very unwelcome reality that both they and a widowed father or father-in-law might be better off if he kept a slave mistress instead of marrying a hostile stepmother with an agenda of her own.)

I cannot say enough good things about this book.

-Alan(less)

like 2 likes · see review

Mar 22, 2010 Suzanne rated it 2 of 5 stars

I have just finished reading this book and have to admit I was throughly disappointed. As an amateur historian (my undergraduate degree is in this field), I feel I have read and studied enough history to have a feel for when an author is taking facts and analyzing them as compared to taking facts and making conjectures based upon them. Ms. Gordon-Reed's book falls into the latter category.

Many of Ms. Gordon-Reed's premises are based upon sheer speculation. For example, she suggests that Sally an...more

like · see review

Jan 08, 2010 Elena rated it 4 of 5 stars

"The Hemingses of Monticello" by Annette Gordon-Reed is an historical epic about Thomas Jefferson and the enslaved family who served him. Anyone who has ever done research based on the letters, memoirs and records of a family will know how difficult it can be to piece the information into a coherent narrative. For this reason, Dr. Gordon-Reed's work is truly awe-inspiring, in that she pulls together scraps of information about the Hemingses from the writings by and about the Jeffersons in order...more "The Hemingses of Monticello" by Annette Gordon-Reed is an historical epic about Thomas Jefferson and the enslaved family who served him. Anyone who has ever done research based on the letters, memoirs and records of a family will know how difficult it can be to piece the information into a coherent narrative. For this reason, Dr. Gordon-Reed's work is truly awe-inspiring, in that she pulls together scraps of information about the Hemingses from the writings by and about the Jeffersons in order to craft a moving and insightful chronicle of slave life in America. Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and our third President, was quite outspoken about the rights of the man, rejoicing in the French Revolution and the overthrow of monarchy. Jefferson, however, exercised more power over his slaves than did any absolute monarch over their subjects. Jefferson chose to govern his slaves with a certain benevolent paternalism, letting the Hemings brothers James and Robert come and go pretty much as they pleased as long as they came when he called. Nevertheless, the fact that his entire existence was entwined with an unjust institution from which he never sought to extricate himself is one of the great ironies of American history.

The book delves into the origins of slavery in Virginia, and how the "peculiar institution" became deeply ingrained in the culture of that time and place, not going away when free Virginians won their independence from Great Britain. Dr. Gordon-Reed relates how John Wayles, Jefferson's father-in-law, made his fortune as a lawyer who oversaw the buying and selling of slaves. Through his wife Martha Wayles, Jefferson inherited the Hemings family, many of whom were the children of John Wayles and his slave mistress, Elizabeth Hemings. Therefore, many of the enslaved servants of the Jefferson family were close relatives. When Jefferson made the teenage Sally Hemings his mistress, after Martha died, the situation became even more complicated. Even if Sally had not been enslaved, Jefferson could not have married her because under Virginia law it was illegal to marry the sibling of one's spouse. Jefferson kept a promise which he had made to Sally in Paris, where their liaison began, that he would free each of her children when they came of age, and it was a promise he kept. Most of the other Hemingses and the Jefferson family slaves remained in slavery and were sold at auction after Jefferson's death to cover his enormous debts.

One aspect of the book which I found distracting was the author's propensity to remind the reader every few pages that various injustices were the result of the "doctrine of white supremacy." With such impeccable research presented in a flowing and compelling manner, it was unnecessary to be constantly preaching to the reader about the evils of such a "doctrine." It would have been better to let the injustices speak for themselves. Furthermore, there were others besides enslaved Africans who suffered from exploitation in the early days of our country, including white indentured servants, although they, unlike the African slaves, could at least look forward to freedom. In the cemetery of the parish church in Maryland where I went as a child there is a mass grave of Irish workers who died of cholera while constructing the C&O Canal and B&O Railroad during the epidemics of 1822 and 1832. The Irish immigrants rather than the African slaves were sent to do certain dangerous jobs because the slaves cost money and the Irish cost nothing. This form of servitude still does not compare to chattel slavery, since the Irish could not (usually) be sold.

The power of Dr. Gordon-Reed's book lies in exposing once again the sad and tragic fact that many white Americans were convinced that Africans were subhuman. Examples are given in the book of Jefferson's conviction that Africans were biologically inferior to whites. That those who framed our system of government had such an approach to other human beings is a jarring commentary. It has always been a mystery how leaders like Thomas Jefferson could cry so loud for liberty and then live off the labor of those in chattel bondage. After reading The Hemingses of Monticello my understanding of the enigmatic Jefferson has been expanded as well as my compassion for those whom he held as slaves. (less)

like 2 likes · see review

Dec 07, 2009 Bruno Bouchet rated it 2 of 5 stars

Like many people reading this book I found its length and repetitiveness utterly frustrating. I ended up putting it aside for a few weeks before returning, persuaded by the glowing references on the cover to finish it. There is a fascinating story here of the slave family ‘owned’ by Thomas Jefferson. For a newcomer to writings about slavery there were many great insights into the realities and repercussions of slavery but so much repetition. Sometimes it felt like a record stuck on a long groove...more Like many people reading this book I found its length and repetitiveness utterly frustrating. I ended up putting it aside for a few weeks before returning, persuaded by the glowing references on the cover to finish it. There is a fascinating story here of the slave family ‘owned’ by Thomas Jefferson. For a newcomer to writings about slavery there were many great insights into the realities and repercussions of slavery but so much repetition. Sometimes it felt like a record stuck on a long groove, going over the same point over and over again. The Paris section was particularly frustrating, with about 40 pages of speculation as it why Jefferson had Sally come over with his daughter on their own. So what, he did?
For all the speculation that was included there was some surprising speculation missing. One of Sally’s older brothers who was also in Paris, trained to be chef, was a good looking man who had great friendships and ‘fallings out’ with other men never married, never any hint of a relationship with a woman, was wracked with personal issues when emancipated - he was a talented but troubled drama queen who sadly killed himself. For any reader this screams the question, was he gay? It could have lead to a fresh avenue of exploration, exploring the impact of homosexuality. Yet the author stubbornly avoids this. Given one of the biggest issues of the book is the free white-defined members of Jefferson’s family refusal to mention or talk about the taboo of Sally’s enduring relationship with Jefferson, to avoid speculating about someone's sexuality almost seems like repeating the mistake of deliberate omission.
The book contains vast amount of detailed speculation based scant evidence available about everyone else so this seemed lacking.

Having said all that, the main frustration is there is so much that is fascinating and important in this book and it’s lost in all the long-windedness and repetition. More than concrete evidence, what this book was really missing was a decent editor with a ruthless red pen.(less)

like 3 likes · see review

Jul 03, 2009 Andy Miller rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

This was a great book. Not necessarily an easy read, but it is so well written and provoking that I almost read it as a novel even though it has the references and research that you would find in a textbook.

I had read the author's earlier book about the relationship before DNA proved her right and had been impressed by the complexity of the relationships and times. Same with this book, In the past it seemed that books I read gave you a choice, believe Jefferson fathered Hemming's children and b...more

like 1 like · see review

Apr 19, 2009 Sheepshot rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the 3rd book that I have read about Sally Hemings and the most carefully researched.n It is also the first book I have read post-DNA evidence. Traditional scholars were always horrified at the thought that Sally Hemings was Jefferson love for 38 years. Parts are enlightening. Others are "well,duh". I found the section on Sally's arrival in Europe particularly irritating. She was the 14 year old maid to 9 year old Maria Jefferson. Abigail Adams met the ship and cared for the girls until t...more

like 1 like · see review

Apr 24, 2009 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

This is a really excellent historical work about the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and the Hemingses, a family of slaves he inherited from his father-in-law. At the center of this story (though by no means the only focus) is his relationship with Sally Hemings, whom Thomas Jefferson took as his mistress several years after his wife died. They had seven children together, four of whom lived to adulthood.

This book is extremely well researched and presents a fascinating, and disturbing, lo...more

like 2 likes · see review

Sep 14, 2009 Starling rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, non-fiction

I didn't get to finish the book, but I want to rate it anyway. It is a library book, and the rest of the books from this batch need to go back soon, and this one, being new, can't be renewed.

For the second time I've picked this book up and I've been caught by the author's very good writing style. In addition, right now the part of the book that I'm reading is more about what it was like to be a member of the Hemings family or any family black or white that was living around Thomas Jefferson, tha...more I didn't get to finish the book, but I want to rate it anyway. It is a library book, and the rest of the books from this batch need to go back soon, and this one, being new, can't be renewed.

For the second time I've picked this book up and I've been caught by the author's very good writing style. In addition, right now the part of the book that I'm reading is more about what it was like to be a member of the Hemings family or any family black or white that was living around Thomas Jefferson, than it is about Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson.

One of the things the author speaks about is that we don't know how the women who were living in slavery felt about the men who fathered their children. In many cases the relationships with those men, black or white, lasted a very long time. The term "concubine" was used for more than one of the Hemings women. And some of the children of those relationships took their father's last names, and some of them kept their mother's last name. It must have meant something depending on which they did, but we don't always know what it meant.

Some of the relationships were built on rape, but some were not. And it was an era when white women were also being forced into unwanted marriages. So it wasn't just black women who felt they could not control their own bodies.

The author also discussed that Elizabeth Hemings had a father who wanted to buy her out of slavery but her mother's owner would not sell the child. One of the reasons that Elizabeth Hemings, Sally's mother, had a last name of her own was that she had been acknowledged by her father as his child. Having a name and knowing what it was was important.

A lot of the reviewers here and at Amazon mention that the book was repetitive, and I agree. I think the author thought that what she had to say about slavery was so different from what other have said that she needed to make her point over and over again. Perhaps a single chapter with all of her arguments in one place early in the book would have worked better.
(less)

like 1 like · see review

Dec 19, 2012 Lauren rated it 5 of 5 stars

What an amazing book. I first heard about this book a few years ago, because the author, Annette Gordon-Reed, is a fellow Dartmouth alum, and her book (and the awards it won -- the Pulitzer and the National Book Award) was mentioned in our alumni mag. But I dismissed it at the time as not interesting to me.

Fast forward a few years to our book-club meeting a couple of weeks ago. We read "The Kitchen House," a lousy (IMO), quasi-historical-fiction melodrama purporting to be about the dynamics betw...more What an amazing book. I first heard about this book a few years ago, because the author, Annette Gordon-Reed, is a fellow Dartmouth alum, and her book (and the awards it won -- the Pulitzer and the National Book Award) was mentioned in our alumni mag. But I dismissed it at the time as not interesting to me.

Fast forward a few years to our book-club meeting a couple of weeks ago. We read "The Kitchen House," a lousy (IMO), quasi-historical-fiction melodrama purporting to be about the dynamics between the residents of a plantation: the white masters, the overseers, the slaves, and a white indentured servant. I thought the book fell far short of what it could have been in myriad ways, most notably that the characters were black & white (metaphorically and literally) vs. nuanced, and I was happy to hear that other women in the group (but not all!) agreed. One friend whose opinion I highly respect contrasted "The Kitchen House" to "The Hemingses of Monticello," which she described as a very nuanced exploration of the complicated racial dynamics at play during slavery. Even though this isn't a subject that typically "interests" me, I picked up the book, and I'm so glad I did. I learned so much about slavery, not to mention the long impact it has had on African-American culture and on race relations to this day. Shame on me for never reading more on this important subject.

"The Hemingses of Monticello" is long -- something like 800 page (I'm never sure, because I read on my Kindle) -- and dense. It took me two weeks of nightly reading and daily audiobook listening to get through it, but I was fully immersed and engaged in this world and am now rooting around for something as compelling to read. Gordon-Reed is a lawyer, and this comes through in her writing. She is very precise, very detail-oriented, and never hesitates to spend pages and pages dissecting something as seemingly minute as, for example, a single letter from Abigail Adams to Thomas Jefferson. Critics (on Amazon) complain that the book is long-winded and relies too much on speculation and inference, and after reading those criticisms, I do understand them. It's true that a fair bit of the content of the book is inferred from sparse primary-source material. That isn't to say that it isn't credible... but it's a bit like writing historical fiction and filling in details and emotions that simply aren't fully drawn out in "extant" (a favorite Gordon-Reed word) writings from the period. For example, Gordon-Reed writes about what it must have been like to have been a slave to Jefferson in Paris. She may not have a first-hand account of a slave to draw from, and so, instead she relies on the writings of those around Jefferson's household staff, as well as his own household records and facts about the period (e.g. the number of blacks living in Paris, the laws of the time, etc.). I didn't find this style of inference problematic at all, and instead it helped illuminate a world that I otherwise would have had difficulty truly imagining. I wouldn't have connected all the dots in the way that Gordon-Reed ably does.

And what a fascinating, troubling, complex world she writes about. At the heart of the story is the Hemings family -- a mixed black family born into slavery with very complicated familial relations to Jefferson. In short, the father of Jefferson's wife Martha had several children with one of his (half-white) slaves, and Jefferson had a multi-decade relationship with Sally Hemings, one of his father-in-law's children (his wife's half sister), and four of their children together survived into adulthood. In addition to his relationship with Sally, the lives of all of the other memories of the Hemings family are told in great detail, and a complex, fascinating, and ultimately very sad portrait emerges of the effects of slavery. We also learn much about Thomas Jefferson and life at Monticello -- fascinating!

One of the most interesting aspects of the book was the examination of the primary sources -- what they said and what they did *not* say. For example, many of Sally Hemings' family members are mentioned in letters between members of the Jefferson family, but Sally Hemings is almost never mentioned. Many of Jefferson's letters were expunged when his family prepared his correspondences for public consumption, and one supposes that Hemings' absence is a combination of purging, as well as Jefferson's own savvy in choosing not to leave a paper trail.

One final note: this book is not a scathing indictment of Jefferson. From my quick perusal of the internet on this subject, many Jefferson defenders are loath to admit a relationship between Jefferson and Hemings in part because it diminishes the greatness of the man in their eyes. Gordon-Reed is clear-eyed and certainly not an apologist, but she also views Jefferson in the context of his day and has empathy and the ability to think critically. She is able to describe the facets of his persona, public and personal, and the contradictions with which he lived -- some of which she can explain (e.g. why he didn't free Sally Hemings formally) and some of which she cannot.

Highly recommended for anyone living in America wishing to get a glimpse into this period of history, as well as a deeper understanding of interracial dynamics from that period onwards.(less)

like · see review

Aug 30, 2009 Jean rated it 5 of 5 stars

Gordon-Reed has written an meticulously researched epic of the Hemingses, an 18th century Virginia slave family. Thomas Jefferson inherited the Hemingses and other slave families from his father-in-law. The Hemingses received special treatment from Jefferson and Gordon-Reed argues that was because they were half brothers and sisters to Jefferson' s beloved wife, Martha. After Martha’s early death Jefferson began a thirty-eight year liaison with Sally Hemings, Martha's beautiful, mixed-race, half...more

like 1 like · see review

Nov 29, 2012 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars

I listened to about half of this book on CD before giving up on it. The author's main point--that Thomas Jefferson had a longtime sexual relationship with Sally Hemings with whom he had several children he never acknowledged or freed--is utterly convincing from the evidence that she cites. Her further point--that in fact Sally Hemings was the third or fourth generation of slave women in her family whose white masters had also fathered children with them and who, therefore, was scarcely "black"--...more

like · see review

Jul 24, 2011 Dominic rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: early-republic

The Hemingses of Monticello is an extremely long look at the lives of the famed Hemings family. Being that there were very few, if any, primary sources from the Hemings family their lives are generally told through other historians, contemporary or otherwise, and Thomas Jefferson himself. With that said there is a lot of information that is repeated through over 650 pages of material. Also there is great detail on the lives of the Hemingses in France, but Gordon-Reed quickly moves through their...more

like · see review

Dec 02, 2011 Stevefk rated it 3 of 5 stars

the narrative parts of this book were very good. problem was, they were less than half the book. as a piece of art, this is literature that crumbles under it's own weight. it is way too long. a better editor and an author with superior judgement about what to include and WHAT NOT to include, would have produced a sensational work. unfortunately, the repetiveness and petty details bog this book down into the mediocre category. and yes, i know that slavery was bad. all sane people know it. anybody...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Live Chat with Annette Gordon-Reed	1	15	Feb 23, 2010 04:56pm

combine
Other Editions (13)

More editions...

Genres

History

133 users

Non Fiction

87 users

Biography

45 users

History > American History

16 users

Cultural > African American

12 users

Politics > Presidents

6 users

Race

4 users

Biography Memoir

4 users

Book Club

4 users

Politics

3 users

See top shelves...

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About The Hemingses of ...

4 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

title link	preview: The Hemingses of Monticello
avg rating	preview: The Hemingses of Monticello Goodreads rating: 3.79 (1395 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3364462-the-hemingses-of-monticello?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348245865l/3364462.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3364462-the-hemingses-of-monticello?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed[/url]

The Hemingses of Monticello

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (13)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Annette Gordon-Reed

Books by Annette Gordon-Reed

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About The Hemingses of ...