I am not a regular reader of non-fiction books, let alone those about this topic and time period. Needless to say, I enjoyed this book. It was not one of those that I couldn't wait to pick up every morning (a comment mentioned by a few other reviewers, I believe) but once I started reading it I didn't want to put it down.

I've noticed a few reviews mentioning how Gordon-Reed seems to push her feelings and her own speculation onto readers. To this I'd like to say that I did not feel as if she were pushing them on to me. I feel as if she reiterated "slavery is bad" many times simply as a clarification. There are many times throughout the book where she introduces an idea that could easily be miscontrued and at these points she inserts her comments such as "in no way am I saying that slaves liked being treated this way" or "I am not condoning this horrible practice but..." and other phrases similar to these. I felt like if she hadn't added these comments then the book would seem much more flighty and inconsistent.

Overall I gave the book only three stars because I only "liked it." There was not a lot of eye-opening information but it was interesting to try to put myself in the Hemingses' shoes for a little while each day.