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The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family
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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.
In the mid-1700s the Engl ...more
In the mid-1700s the Engl ...more
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Hardcover, 798 pages
Published
September 17th 2008
by W. W. Norton Company
(first published 2008)
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Start your review of The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family
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
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
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
Perhaps there are some redeeming qualities to this book - it did win the National Book Awa ...more
My opinion on this book isn't a popular one. For that reason and because the subject matter is so sensitive, I debated whether to write a review as my thoughts are a bit complex. I've done my best to explain why I feel the way I do.
The author does a really good job of showing how it's possible for people to have complex feelings about their circumstances in life. While I can't begin to compare my hardships to those slaves have faced, it does showcase a universal themes of people doing their bes ...more
The author does a really good job of showing how it's possible for people to have complex feelings about their circumstances in life. While I can't begin to compare my hardships to those slaves have faced, it does showcase a universal themes of people doing their bes ...more
Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction 2009; National Book Award for Nonfiction 2008. Thomas Jefferson’s paternity of Sally Hemmings’ children was confirmed with DNA testing showing a link between a male Jefferson and Eston Hemings, putting to rest the adamant denials by the white descendants of the former President. Gordon-Reed researched the voluminous Jefferson papers and multiple sources to uncover the experiences of the Hemings family over three generations. It was not an easy task as Jefferson took
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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 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
This was difficult to get into at first. At first, I felt like I was hacking my way through a thicket of speculation and scholarly argument. But Gordon-Reed faced a daunting challenge--how to tell the story of a family that has in many cases been intentionally erased from the record. We never hear from Sally directly. Much of what we know about her comes from the oral history of her descendants. And though Jefferson produced reams of documents during his lifetime, they were artfully crafted and
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I admit, I chose this book to read because I was looking for details of the affair between Thomas Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemings. For someone who is interested in learning more about Thomas Jefferson, there are a lot of award-winning biographies to peruse. Interestingly, all of these books turn out to be written by white males who treat Sally Hemings as a footnote in Jefferson's life and discount the idea that she could have had a relationship with Jefferson or conceived his children. Th
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When I read the review Goodreads has on top of the pile for this book, I got a little outraged. The reviewer, after making what I now know to be some valid points, then goes on to put themselves in the corner reserved for white people who say they aren't racist because they have a black friend. The reviewer accuses the author of manipulating their emotions talking about slavery, which the reviewer already knows was horrible so why do they need to hear it any more about it, and mentions the "angr
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Truly amazing book. Gordon-Reed offered more than expected. She is extremely thorough, careful, and fair. You can tell she is very passionate about this topic. I was surprised by many of her arguments, but was convinced by most of them.
Learning about the lives of the slaves and how they dealt with their situation was incredible. Too often the oppressed American slaves are portrayed lacking individuality and even humanity. Yes they were oppressed, but little is explained how they creatively deal ...more
Learning about the lives of the slaves and how they dealt with their situation was incredible. Too often the oppressed American slaves are portrayed lacking individuality and even humanity. Yes they were oppressed, but little is explained how they creatively deal ...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
...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
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As I read this I kept grasping for things that would make me feel better about Jefferson as a slaveowner, and they were there: he never whipped a slave (although his overseers sometimes did); he treated the large Hemings family (Elizabeth Hemings and her descendents) well, exempting them from the hardest work, having them trained in trades such as blacksmithing, carpentry, gardening, and cooking; gave them spending money; allowed several of the males to ride freely about Virginia conducting his ...more
This book was a monster!
I dont know how Annette Gordon Reed did it. The amount of research that was put into this book. Not only going through Thomas Jefferson's papers but the papers of those closest to him. I wouldn't have even known how or where to begin researching newspaper articles and pamphlets.
This book is about an important American family that doesn't get the respect or attention that other families receive. The Hemings family is best remembered for it's most "notorious" member Sarah ...more
I dont know how Annette Gordon Reed did it. The amount of research that was put into this book. Not only going through Thomas Jefferson's papers but the papers of those closest to him. I wouldn't have even known how or where to begin researching newspaper articles and pamphlets.
This book is about an important American family that doesn't get the respect or attention that other families receive. The Hemings family is best remembered for it's most "notorious" member Sarah ...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
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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
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
This book is extremely well researched and presents a fascinating, and disturbing, lo ...more
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
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
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
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
The Hemingses of Monticello is a detailed in-depth biography of the Hemings family and their relationship with the Jeffersons. The author discusses historic and political dimensions of the Hemings and their blood ties to Thomas Jefferson. The relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings was better known in the early 19th century during Jefferson’s term as president. It was then suppressed for many years until around the 1980’s. Gordon-Reed traces the Hemings family from it’s slave ho
...more
I did not know what to expect from this book. A book about Jefferson's slave mistress? Doesn't sound too interesting.
I could not have been more wrong.
This book is one of the best books I've read this year.
Yeah, I've heard an inkling of stories about Jefferson and his mistress Sally Hemings, but I really could not have told you more than the fact that Jefferson had children with one of his slaves.
But this book is very eye-opening.
Gordon-Reed, an African American woman, does not understate or mis ...more
I could not have been more wrong.
This book is one of the best books I've read this year.
Yeah, I've heard an inkling of stories about Jefferson and his mistress Sally Hemings, but I really could not have told you more than the fact that Jefferson had children with one of his slaves.
But this book is very eye-opening.
Gordon-Reed, an African American woman, does not understate or mis ...more
This was my second reading of the book. My first came about when it was issued in trade paperback. The second reading was this year. I found this book to work on two levels: a narrative of the life of a woman, Sally Hemings, and those around her; and, secondly, the narrative of the time in which she lived. Foremost, and most importantly, this book places Sally at the center. There is also a journey story here, as her life represented a journey in both the literal and figurative sense. I'm glad I
...more
a brilliant piece of research where information on this lovely family had to be culled from ashes and dust and few documents. a big book. a real american story.
The first thing to understand about this book is that it is not just a story about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, nor is it in fact focused on Jefferson, although he naturally plays a large role in this history. The author took the opportunity provided by Jefferson’s fame and record-keeping to profile a slave family, the Hemingses, because accounts about the lives of slaves in early America are few and far between. As many as 70 members of the Hemings family lived in slavery at Monticello o
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This book probably deserves a much longer and more lucid review then I will be able to provide for it. I listen to this book in the Audible format and found it to be a fascinating view of a family that shared the life of Thomas Jefferson and yet is nearly invisible In US history.
This book tells the story of the impact of slavery in the United States on the large number of people who were enslaved. Somehow the author has been able to draw a portrait of a family the Hemmings that seems real and un ...more
This book tells the story of the impact of slavery in the United States on the large number of people who were enslaved. Somehow the author has been able to draw a portrait of a family the Hemmings that seems real and un ...more
I enjoyed listening the the audiobook version of this book, narrated by Karen White. I admit that I hadn't ever really considered the Hemingses. I had, like most people, heard the name "Sally Hemings." I had assumed that Thomas Jefferson had compelled her to be his, to use the word used in the book, "concubine." This seemed fairly common in early America, and I never wondered about the rest of her family or what she thought about any of it (I assumed she had no real choice).
This book challenged ...more
This book challenged ...more
Annette Gordon-Reed says, and I agree, that this is a story of white-supremacy and male dominance. Thomas Jefferson was 46 and Sally Hemings was 16 when they consummated their "relationship." Although Jefferson treated the Hemingses favorably over other slaves and they may have acted affectionately towards him, as Reed points out, they had obvious reasons for strategically acting a certain way; surely they would have given anything to leave this deplorable situation. The end of many biographies
...more
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
As much as I was impressed with Gordon-Reed’s scholarship and all the fascinating details of the lives of the members of the Hemings family and their relationship to our third President, it was something other than the stories of these lives that had the biggest impact on me. This book, though it is certainly the story of one famous, extended family, is really a powerful symbol for the whole of the American experience. The complexity of relationships, the love, violence, power, horror, political
...more
Ahoy there mateys! This was another fantastic audiobook. This is the story of the Hemings family from their 1700s beginnings in Virginia to what happened to them when Jefferson died in 1826. Sally Hemings was Jefferson’s mistress. She was first mentioned in a newspaper in 1802. And yet, the Hemingses were systematically erased out of history because of the problems that arose with the glorious Thomas Jefferson having fathered children with her.
I actually remember readin’ a book for young adults ...more
I actually remember readin’ a book for young adults ...more
What an amazing, thoughtful, considerate, sensitive, and beautifully written book. It opened my eyes to so many aspects of Slavery I did not know, reminded me of some things that I needed to be reminded of, and simply told a fascinating story about fascinating people from beginning to end.
This book, in addition to telling the story of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings affair, is also a sort of intellectual exploration of slavery, as well. It reminds us that slavery was not inflicted on some ab ...more
This book, in addition to telling the story of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings affair, is also a sort of intellectual exploration of slavery, as well. It reminds us that slavery was not inflicted on some ab ...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NonFiction Pulitzers: Hemingses of Monticello - Group Read Mar/Apr 2022 | 36 | 25 | Apr 20, 2022 02:45PM | |
| Hemingses of Monticello | 1 | 3 | Mar 17, 2021 08:35PM | |
| Live Chat with Annette Gordon-Reed | 2 | 33 | Apr 17, 2020 05:54PM |
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