Slaves in the Family

By: Edward Ball

Narrated by: Edward Ball

Length: 20 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

This program is read by the author.

Twenty years after this celebrated work of narrative nonfiction won the National Book Award and changed the American conversation about race, Slaves in the Family makes its audio debut, with a new preface by the author.

The Ball family hails from South Carolina - Charleston and thereabouts. Their plantations were among the oldest and longest-standing plantations in the South. Between 1698 and 1865, close to 4,000 Black people were born into slavery under the Balls or were bought by them.

In Slaves in the Family, Edward Ball recounts his efforts to track down and meet the descendants of his family's slaves. Part historical narrative, part oral history, part personal story of investigation and catharsis, Slaves in the Family is, in the words of Pat Conroy, "a work of breathtaking generosity and courage, a magnificent study of the complexity and strangeness and beauty of the word ‘family.'"

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©1998, 2014 Text copyright Edward Ball, Preface copyright Edward Ball (P)2019 Macmillan Audio

A history restored and families lost found

Amazing and courageous telling of a family story, the good and the bad. A sharing of the lives of those held captive for profit. American history told as it should be told - honestly. Thank you.

Gives a good insight for moving forward today

It was hard to keep the lineage and family tree straight. The author did a good job trying to help me keep it straight. I think maybe for me to read it in print would help. We like to think that the slave issue is not our issue and with freedom people should “get over it”. The author reminds us that even though the past can’t be changed we can change the future. The past should be a guide and a prod to help us all do better. White and black. We all see things through the filter of what had gone before. This book is a great reminder that to change there must be respect, kindness and most of all charity. If you like history or sociology this book is for you

Where's the movie!!!!!

This story needs to be put on the screen. it reminded me of Miss Jane Pitman.

Yes

This book was a very good and highly researched account of one’s family tree. It made me interested in learning about mine as well.

Fascinating Story

I could not stop listening to this story. I recently read an article that mentioned this book and wanted to know more about the Ball family. Well done.

A family history worth reading!

We couldn’t believe all the research that went into the writing of this book. But even more than that, we appreciate the author’s transparency and honesty in sharing his family story. The relationships developed between the author and descendants of slaves gives hope for tomorrow.

It's personal

Edward Ball is a toning for the misery his ancestors wrought in their slave owning. His tone is matter of fact. The writing is good.
It is a bit long. I recommend doing tasks while listening. Hiking, cleaning, and yard work were my favorites.
I am not sure I could summarize this in one sentence. It wasn't as focused as it might have been. If it were it would have been cut a bit. The Ball history is rich zand well-documented

Riveting

I found this book to be absolutely captivating. I am a big believer that history affects future generations in a thousand ways. This is such an important step to acknowledge the past which is something that seems to invoke terror in people. To acknowledge the horror of slavery… what will happen to me? What will happen to another person. In fact the terror is just the unknown. This kind of dialogue will begin nothing more horrible than healing a wound that has been open for almost 300 years. But broaching that cavernous, gaping lesion in our society looks like a mammoth undertaking. We can begin the process one apology, one acknowledgment, one word , one book, at a time. This is the start. Ten stars. I think I’ll listen again. Also the narration was amazing.

First person histories

Although I was interested in this story and thought it would be important to know, I didn’t realize it would be so captivating. I sometimes lost track of who specific people were in this complicated family, but it didn’t affect my overall understanding and appreciation of this detailed family history of enslaved people and their enslavers. But the best part was Edward Ball’s narration and his ability to give subtle differences to the voices of all the people he wrote about—I actually didn’t realize the author was the narrator until the end. Amazing!

thanks for the journey

i don't have enough words to describe how much i enjoyed this book. wonderfully wonderful