The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family

I loved the book, but I have a considerable interest in history, anthropology and the law. I have read the other reviews, and believe they reflect that this book is not for everyone, but is very much for some. I found the details about the legal system pertaining to slavery in Paris, Virginia, and elsewhere in the U.S. VERY interesting. I also loved the detail about the daily life of Sally Hemings, her brother, Thomas Jefferson and his household. For some, an abridged version would probably be a better choice, but I loved all the detail.

For the first 30 minutes or so I was pretty worried that this was going to be very dry and disappointing. After getting into it, however, I found that it was extremely informative. Rather than just providing sterile facts, it really goes into the laws and history and helps the listener understand what contributed to creating the environment that the Hemingses lived in. I would highly recommend this book.

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.

Using the same documentary evidence as Jefferson's many historians but much common sense in arriving at conclusions, the author has built a believable case and convinced me that the days of protecting the icon from "scandal" are over. In fact she convinced me that there was no scandal in the fact of a lonely man's attraction to a beautiful young girl who happened to be his beloved wife's half-sister.

Ms. Gordon-Reed is so thorough in all this that at times one gets to be a little anxious for the next part to begin. Stay with it - it's well worth it.

This book provides great historical value of not only the lives of Jefferson and the Hemingses; but also of the values of the time. It provides insight into the thoughts of the era. I found it fascinating. We should become educated of the thoughts and customs of the times as provided in this book before we judge the actions of our historical leaders.

The strength of this book is that doesn’t merely provide a narrative of two families’ lives ~ the Jeffersons and the Hemingses of Monticello ~ although it certainly does that very well. Equally important, it explores the underlying issues that frame the story of these two families, especially in terms of race, class, gender, and the condition of being enslaved as opposed to free. For some, these underlying issues may seem tedious; for others (and I’m among these), they greatly enrich the narrative.

This book was doubtless ground-breaking, and I found the historical facts to be fascinating. But writing was tediously repetitive, and the reader/narrator really hard to endure for long periods of time. Although I'd like to finish the book, I don't know if I can get through it. Probably a better "read" than "listen."

Perhaps an abridged version would be better, but this book is just too long with too much minutia for an unabridged audiobook. Gordon-Reed's research is amazingly detailed, but it makes for a tedious audiobook. Two hours in and I have yet to hear anything about Thomas Jefferson or Sally Hemmings. We're still on one of Hemmings' white grandfathers, having completed some introductory material about her black grandmother and a good bit of stage-setting about slavery in Virginia.

I own the book itself and had purchased the audiobook because I never got around to reading the book. Now I think my best strategy is to go to the book to skim the early material and find where the real meat begins. Then I'll skip forward in the audio. Perhaps that will solve the tedium problem.

Dry, dry dry! I was excited to listen to this book but was sorely disappointed. It is written in a very academic style in which the author verifies her point over and over again with citations that would be better left for footnotes. I felt like the author was preparing to defend her dissertation in front of a review committee. Couldn't take it any more after 5 hours.

A unique perspective on T. Jefferson. The author tries to embellish and fill in historical information left vacant over the centuries. For the most part, she does a pretty good job at it. The narration is slow....but if you put your MP3 player on fast audio speed...the narrtive picked up to a more reasonable listening pace. The first half of the book there is some repetition of facts, etc. The publisher should find better editors. All in all...a nice read.