The Hemingses of Monticello

An American Family

By: Annette Gordon-Reed

Narrated by: Karen White

Length: 30 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Pulitzer Prize, History, 2009

National Book Award, Nonfiction, 2008

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.

©2008 Annette Gordon-Reed (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Fascinating, wise and of the utmost importance.... Gordon-Reed's genius for reading nearly silent records makes this an extraordinary work." ( Publishers Weekly Starred Review)
"This is a masterpiece brimming with decades of dedicated research and dexterous writing." ( Library Journal Starred Review)

A story every American should know

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This book is a thorough study of history that has had to be pieced together and inferred, because so few documents exist. I found it fascinating, relevant and revealing--history of our country, that many white people, like myself, are unaware of.

Who was your favorite character and why?

This is a non-fiction book. My favorite characters are all the black people who were so important to the development of America, but whose history is unwritten, hidden and invisible.

What three words best describe Karen White’s performance?

Rather mechanical, could have more color in her voice.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, but I enjoyed listening it every night for a month.

Any additional comments?

Some people have commented that the book could have been edited better. But in retrospect, after hearing the whole story, I appreciate very much having all the background information possible. It makes it all fit together.

An academic masterpiece

It is stunning how much meaning Gordon-Reed manages to find in the nooks and crannies of the histories of enslaved people about whom so little is recorded and known. Every bit of evidence and context is held up to the microscope and carefully considered.

I wish more people would read or listen to this brilliant and thoughtful book rather than simply lavishing Jefferson in either praise or condemnation. Humans and the relationships and societies we build are remarkably complicated for better and for worse. I’d rather listen to a skilled researcher like Gordon-Reed, who brings out the richness of that complexity, than the simple minded flamethrowers who dominate social media any day of the week.

All Virginians should Read this Book

I loved the fact that the author did not embellished. Instead Annette Gordon-Reed did the work of lining up historical letters written to Jefferson and from Jefferson. Also letters of his contemporaries male and female that referenced Jefferson or the people and events in Jefferson's Life. All these letters and other historical records flushed out the central family key to Jefferson's life, the Hemings. It is amazing how slaves are completely ignored but yet central to the daily running of the lives of early Americans. I enjoyed the book. It shed some light on my own family history. As a person with deep roots in the Virginia this was an essential book to read/listen to :). In my opinion every Virginian should read this book and stop being amazed when two dark skin Virginians give birth to a light bright almost white child or when two light skin Virginians give birth to a mocha from child. This book made me despise the mentality of colorism. Folks need to eradicate colorism from their thinking. Stop putting one skin color above another.
Virginia was like front and center at codifying laws to keep people enslaved. The state of Virginia attempted to close every possible loop hole that allowed freedom and or make freed black people lives miserable. mind blown.

Learned so much

This book gets behind the scenes of life on a plantation in the time of slavery. Jefferson wanted to be nice as a slave owner but the people were still slaves. At times the story went slow but I looked forward to listening to learn more. If he loved Sally it is too bad they could not marry as they could have today. Great story with lots of history.

Fascinating insight

This was very in depth. Thank you for this research! I could not put it down.

unparalleled treatment of the slave experience

This is an outstanding book, its National Book Award for 2008 well-deserved. And it is an outstanding audiobook too, not too dense to be followed on earphones or car-speakers, but also not a "popular history" made up of so much fluff & trivia to keep the reader's attention. It is very well narrated too ... the narrator goes at a good verbal speed, pronounces things correctly (often not the case in audiobooks), good emphasis. Not at all boring or dissertation-like. I am not sure what book the previous reviewer was listening to, but that reviewer's experience did not resemble my experience in the slightest.

fascinating information, way too wordy

this book was a fascinating, pretty well-organized, discussion of the lives of slaves at the Jefferson household in Monticello in Virginia over three generations. very well-researched, a lot of fascinating fact, but also way too many unsupported speculations about various people's personalities that were not supported by the facts. excellent portrayal of the realities of Life as a slave in the Jefferson home, but way way too long. This information could have been conveyed in a book half the length. too many statements of the obvious, too much speculating about possible reasons for people to have done the things they did. fortunately, the narrator was top-notch which helped me stick with the book all the way through.

Poor narration of fascinating background

What did you like best about The Hemingses of Monticello? What did you like least?

The text, while interesting, tends to be repetitive. The narrator consistently errs in inflection and has a monotonous voice.

Would you recommend The Hemingses of Monticello to your friends? Why or why not?

Yes, to read, not to listen to.

CORROBORATING EVIDENCE

“The Hemingses of Monticello” is a disappointment because it mixes facts with opinion when corroborating evidence is unavailable. It appears biased by a laudable but misguided agenda.

Though one easily agrees that slavery demeans humanity and distorts the truth of human equality, the Jefferson/Hemings social and emotional relationship is marred by the author’s psychological explanation of Sally Hemings’ thoughts and feelings. The author, Annette Gordon-Reed, is an educated historian, not a trained psychiatrist or psychologist. Gordon-Reed speculates when facts are not evident about Thomas Jefferson’s common-law-wife, Sally Hemings. Neither Jefferson nor Hemings left any written record of their conjugal relationship. The only facts of relationship are the genetic evidence of their progeny.

As a reviewer, one empathizes with Gordon-Reed’s biography of the Hemings because sticking to corroborated facts often defeats interest in an author’s writing. Personally, the biography of Washington by Ron Chernow, and Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff, were disappointing because they fail to reveal much about the thoughts and feelings of their subjects. Chernow’s and Schiff’s difficulty is related to their desire for corroborating facts. In contrast, Gordon-Reed reads between the lines a little more than is justified by the facts.

Too much conjecture .

Far too much conjecture and unfounded assumptions. And with the constant belittling of Thomas Jefferson, the story does not deliver the impact and power the reader wants and expects.