The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family

I had great hopes for this book, but my hopes were doomed to disappointment. Very little is known about the Hemmingses, and it could all have been conveyed in about 200 pages. The 800 pages that one is forced to wade through are, sadly, not worth the effort.

The extra pages of this book are filled with lengthy disquisitions on such things as the fact that opportunities for slaves were curtailed in the South in Jefferson's time; that the relationship of a husband to a wife is different from the relationship of a father to a daughter; that it is plausible that Jefferson and Sally Hemmings had a sexual relationship. That is, things virtually everyone knows. If you need these things explained in lengthy detail, this book is for you.

While this aspect of the book seems to assume that the reader is completely ignorant of history and of the basics of human interaction, the book's treatment of the history of the Hemmingses actually relies heavily on the reader's knowledge of these very things. Because little is actually known about the Hemmingses, the author frequently resorts to phrases such as "it is reasonable to assume that..." and "it would make sense that..." to fill in the facts that are simply not known about their lives.

I am certain that, contained somewhere in the many pages of this book, there is a history worthy of the prize this book has won. However, if I were you, I would wait for this smaller book to be produced.

Thoughtful best describes Gordon-Reed's treatment of the Thomas Jefferson-Sally Hemings relationship. The most important aspect of this work is her research of the attitudes and behaviors prevalent after the Revolutionary War. It is very easy for one not familiar with that timeframe (and how could we be, as it was two hundred years ago) to assign "Victorian" bias to an inter-racial relationship. The author's thoroughness in explaining and identifying morals and ideas of the post-revolutionary era, as well as European/French laws and philosophies, allows the reader to understand the basis of how this relationship was created and endured for 38 years. She is not critical of either party, even Jefferson, who ensured his career was not jeopardized by never formally acknowledging his mistress or his children. All of this takes place during "heavy" political times for Jefferson. The Hemings family history is exciting and very unusual for it's day. This is a great book.

The Hemmingses of Montecello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed is a fascinating look into the strange black/white family constellations that emerged under the weight slavery during the American Revolutionary period. Providing a glimpse into southern patterns of interracial mixing during 18th and early 19th century, it illimunites the ways in which standard race relation practices differed during the Antebellum and Jim Crow periods of time. These things, taken together with the interesting individual Hemings family stories, made the book hard to put down.

This book helps us rethink our past and remember what we have forgotten. America is a racially mixed country because of slavery and its legacy. Now we know definitively that Thomas Jefferson and Annette Hemings had a relationship--one that was tragic but also beautiful. The author takes the history of an interracial relationship out of the shadows and tells it with vivid detail. It opens up a new way of thinking about America's founding fathers--and mothers.

One star only because the Kindle version needs to start at $9.99, $17. . . .