<![CDATA[The Hemingses of Monticello]]>

false <![CDATA[The Hemingses of Monticello]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1245343760m/3364462.jpg 3364462 7 "Pathbreaking....and very moving" (Edmund S. Morgan)the multigenerational story of Thomas Jefferson's hidden slave family. This epic work tells the story of the Hemingses, whose close blood ties to our third president had been systematically expunged from American history until very recently. Now, historian and legal scholar Annette Gordon-Reed traces the Hemings family from its origins in Virginia in the 1700s to the family's dispersal after Jefferson's death in 1826. It brings to life not only Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson but also their children and Hemings's siblings, who shared a father with Jefferson's wife, Martha. The Hemingses of Monticello sets the family's compelling saga against the backdrop of Revolutionary America, Paris on the eve of its own revolution, 1790s Philadelphia, and plantation life at Monticello. Much anticipated, this book promises to be the most important history of an American slave family ever written. Advance Praise for Annette Gordon-Reed's The Hemingses of Monticello: "Annette Gordon-Reed has broken a path into territory that has hitherto eluded historians: what happens to intimate human relations, those between lover and loved, parent and child, brother and sister, when one among them is enslaved to another. In a richly detailed narrative of events, public and private, she reconstructs the feelings of the participants: Thomas Jefferson, his slave mistress, and her blood relatives. The result is not simply a fascinating story in itself, but a new perspective on how the humanity of slaves and a slave owner could adjust and survive in circumstances designed to obliterate it. We have had other studies of master-slave relationships, but none that has penetrated to the depth of this one."Edmund S. Morgan, author of American Slavery "Thomas Jefferson often described his slaves at Monticello as 'my family.' Annette Gordon-Reed has taken that description seriously. Surely more seriously than Jefferson ever intended! The result, the story of the Hemings family, is the most comprehensive account of one slave family ever written. It is not a pretty story, but it is poignant beyond belief. And it demonstrates conclusively that we must put aside Gone With the Wind forever and begin to study Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom."Joseph J. Ellis, author of American Sphinx "This is not only a riveting history of a slave family on a grand scale, it is also a rarely seen portrait of the family in the Big House, with a remarkable account of the relationship of white and black families. This work catapults Gordon-Reed into the very first rank of historians of slavery."John Hope Franklin, author of From Slavery to Freedom "Jefferson's Monticello is a great American icon. But this book allows us to see the place a never beforeas the Hemingses' Monticello. And when Jefferson is in Paris, so are James and Sally Hemings. From years of painstaking research and deep personal engagement with all the Jefferson controversies, Annette Gordon-Reed has crafted a brave, compelling, and moving family saga about slavery and freedom. This is a thoroughly human story about an inhuman institution, told from the inside looking out. Jefferson owned the Hemingses and fathered some of them as he tried to scientifically manage their lives and labor in minute detail; Gordon-Reed never lets us forget that. But more importantly, this work is a beautifully written, textured story about race, tragedy, and sometimes hopeAmerica's story. If this country has a modern Shakespeare looking for material, Gordon-Reed has provided it."David W. Blight, author of A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom, Including Their Narratives of Emancipation "Annette Gordon-Reed is a prodigiously gifted historian and The Hemingses of Monticello is her masterpiece. Bringing the Hemings family out of the shadows and into vibrant life, Gordon-Reed restores them to their proper role at Thomas Jefferson's mountaintop home. As she reconstructs the lives and times of Elizabeth Hemings, her children, among them, James and Sally, and many, many other family members, Gordon-Reed illuminates the history of slavery and race in the Old Dominion. Jefferson's Virginiaand Jefferson himselfwill never look the same again."Peter Onuf, author of Jefferson's Empire: The Language of American Nationhood and The Mind of Jefferson "Annette Gordon-Reed's splendid achievement will have the last word on Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, for one cannot imagine another historian matching her exhaustive research and interpretive balance."David Levering-Lewis, author of W. E. B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century 3403769 book 29 9 2008 The Hemingses of Monticello total:290|5:72|4:99|3:78|2:29|1:12| 290 1060 1092 142 2 5 false false Mon Dec 08 14:47:40 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 11 11:02:49 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 4 false false Sat Jan 10 04:57:47 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 06 13:13:14 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 10 04:57:47 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 4 false false Wed Oct 29 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 29 19:42:38 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 30 08:50:34 -0700 2008
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 tho...more...]]> 3 3 false false Sat Feb 28 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 16 10:04:10 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 01 15:47:02 -0800 2009 more...]]> 1 2 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed May 27 15:02:41 -0700 2009 Wed May 27 15:02:41 -0700 2009
Here is the review I wrote for Amazon:
I bought this book out of an interest in the s...more...]]> 5 0 false true Tue Dec 23 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 03 06:58:29 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 03 07:10:44 -0800 2009 1 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 02 07:02:19 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 06:18:25 -0700 2009
I had read the author's earlier book about the relationship before DNA proved he...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Apr 19 05:38:24 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 19 05:58:40 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 24 18:22:11 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 24 18:36:34 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Sep 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 06 12:32:42 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 15:44:51 -0700 2009
For the second time I've picked this book up and I've been caught by the author's very good writi...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Aug 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 16 17:55:47 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 30 14:10:47 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Nov 05 08:09:28 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 05 08:15:40 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Feb 10 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 21 07:09:27 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 10 07:46:24 -0800 2009 Jefferson in Paris, when it was released. The film's release was the first time that I had heard of this omitted chapter of Jefferson's life. I simply could not picture Nick Nolte as Jefferson...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 08 06:00:29 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 08 06:00:29 -0800 2009 The Hemingses of Monticello as a work of history, they were impressed with how Gordon-Reed built a compelling story from scant evidence, yet never seemed unreasonable in her conclusions. Both professional his...more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Sep 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 17:51:19 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 17:57:21 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun May 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 07 08:39:33 -0700 2009 Sun May 10 19:42:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sat Oct 31 22:00:58 -0700 2009 Tue Nov 24 12:58:59 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jul 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 17 21:18:03 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 17 21:24:16 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Aug 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 17:58:56 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 16:26:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Aug 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 20:37:43 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 14:27:17 -0700 2009 almost what i got... almost. it wasn't juicy at all, and while it was definitely factual, there was absolutely NO jui...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=3364462