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The Hemingses of Monticello
- An American Family
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 30 hrs and 36 mins
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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.
Critic reviews
"This is a masterpiece brimming with decades of dedicated research and dexterous writing." ( Library Journal Starred Review)
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Brilliant scientist and witty conversationalist, best-selling author and architect of the great surveys that mapped the West after the Civil War, Clarence King was named by John Hay "the best and brightest of his generation". But King hid a secret from his Gilded Age cohorts and prominent family in Newport: for 13 years he lived a double life - as the celebrated White explorer, geologist, and writer Clarence King and as a Black Pullman porter and steelworker named James Todd.
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Race and Identity
- By Roy on 03-22-10
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They Were Her Property
- White Women as Slave Owners in the American South
- By: Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Bridging women's history, the history of the South, and African-American history, this audiobook makes a bold argument about the role of white women in American slavery. Historian Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers draws on a variety of sources to show that slave-owning women were sophisticated economic actors who directly engaged in and benefited from the South's slave market.
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Women ARE just like men
- By Mary on 08-22-19
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Twilight at Monticello
- The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson
- By: Alan Pell Crawford
- Narrated by: James Boles
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Much has been written about Thomas Jefferson, with good reason: His life was a great American drama, one of the greatest, played out in compelling acts. He was the architect of our democracy, a visionary chief executive who expanded this nation's physical boundaries to unimagined lengths.
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After Leaving Office
- By Roy on 09-23-10
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The Invisibles
- The Untold Story of African American Slaves in the White House
- By: Jesse Holland
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Jesse J. Holland's The Invisibles is the first book to tell the story of the executive mansion's most unexpected residents: the African American slaves who lived with the US presidents who owned them. Interest in African Americans and the White House are at an all-time high due to the historic presidency of Barack Obama and the soon-to-be-opened Smithsonian National Museum of African American Culture and History.
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Riveting Book
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A Perfect Union
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An extraordinary American comes to life in this vivid, incisive portrait of the early days of the republic—and the birth of modern politics hen the roar of the Revolution had finally died down, a new generation of American politicians was summoned to the Potomac to assemble the nation's newly minted capital. Into that unsteady atmosphere which would soon enough erupt into another conflict with Britain in 1812, Dolley Madison arrived, alongside her husband James.
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A great first lady!
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New England Bound
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In a work that fundamentally recasts the history of colonial America, Wendy Warren shows how the institution of slavery was inexorably linked with the first century of English colonization of New England. While most histories of slavery in early America confine themselves to the Southern colonies and the Caribbean, New England Bound forcefully widens the historical aperture to include the entirety of English North America.
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Don't waste your time or money
- By Dis Carded on 09-03-17
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The Honor Code
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In this groundbreaking work, Kwame Anthony Appiah, hailed as "one of the most relevant philosophers today" (New York Times Book Review), changes the way we understand human behavior and the way social reform is brought about. In brilliantly arguing that new democratic movements over the last century have not been driven by legislation from above, Appiah explores the end of the duel in aristocratic England, the tumultuous struggles over foot binding in 19th-century China, the uprising of ordinary people against Atlantic slavery, and much more.
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Horribly Boring
- By Merle N. Savedow on 02-10-21
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Frontier Grit
- The Unlikely True Stories of Daring Pioneer Women
- By: Marianne Monson
- Narrated by: Caroline Shaffer
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Discover the stories of 12 women who heard the call to settle the West and who came from all points of the globe to begin their journeys. As a slave Clara watched helplessly as her husband and children were sold, only to be reunited with her youngest daughter as a free woman six decades later. As a young girl, Charlotte hid her gender to escape a life of poverty and became the greatest stagecoach driver who ever lived. As a Native American, Gertrude fought to give her people a voice and to educate leaders about the ways and importance of America's native people.
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only ok
- By Jane Orr on 06-14-21
By: Marianne Monson
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The Devil's Half Acre
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- By: Kristen Green
- Narrated by: Deanna Anthony
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New York Times best-selling author Kristen Green draws on years of research to tell the extraordinary and little-known story of young Mary Lumpkin, an enslaved woman who blazed a path of liberation for thousands. She was forced to have the children of a brutal slave trader and live on the premises of his slave jail, known as the “Devil’s Half Acre”. When she inherited the jail after the death of her slaveholder, she transformed it into “God’s Half Acre”, a school where Black men could fulfill their dreams.
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Preachy
- By Elizabeth Combs on 09-13-22
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Sugar in the Blood
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- By: Andrea Stuart
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- Length: 14 hrs and 57 mins
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Overall
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In the late 1630s, lured by the promise of the New World, Andrea Stuart's earliest known maternal ancestor, George Ashby, set sail from England to settle in Barbados. He fell into the life of a sugar plantation owner by mere chance, but by the time he harvested his first crop, a revolution was fully under way, binding together ambitious White entrepreneurs and enslaved Black workers in a strangling embrace....
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A sweet, historical gem
- By Adrian on 06-29-13
By: Andrea Stuart
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What listeners say about The Hemingses of Monticello
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Michael E. B.
- 07-07-19
A magnificent epic saga of American History
All men are created equal! So penned Thomas Jefferson
America is loved by the the defendants of slavery, despite the
cruelty, of slavery and its past and current apologists. We love
America especially when the truth... Historical truth is told.
Thomas Jefferson, "the planter" who wrote of freedom...
Never planted any thing... He is emblematic of the American paradox.
He could not abide the tyrannical of King George but held hundreds
enslaved. A 15 year old child cannot give consent to a powerful middle
age man.... especially when he literally owns her... Was Jefferson a rapist?
Is water wet? Is fire hot?
All Americans must recognize the immense contribution of Jefferson,
despite his multitude of paradoxical flaws, to our current wonderful country.
It must be recognized that he could not have accomplished these deeds without
Sally Hemings and her sons and family. They gave him the time and space to
accomplish his goals.
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- Jessica
- 09-20-21
A wonderful researched, highly informative narrative
I listened to this history of the Hemings family with rapt attention and was amazed at the level of detail, as well as the intelligent analysis of the author. As an amateur genealogist who is researching my own families roots and enslaved and free people of color in Virginia, I found this work invaluable. The performance was great as well. I appreciate the orator’s pace and clear, engaging voice.
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- Ryan S.
- 10-27-21
Good chronological history however very left wing
Author does a good job telling the story of the Hemings but reader/listener beware - this a very liberal, SJW, over use of hyperbole, over-damning of white men just because type history. This is not a great historical work. The author attributes her speculative opinions to TJ and other characters In His and Sally’s life leading the reader off the historical trail. The author is a lawyer by education and northwest Ivy League university mentality. Lots of passages will make you roll your eyes. Others are interesting pieces of historical material. Just beware and don’t let this be the only book you read on the Hemings and or Thomas Jefferson
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- Sarah Nicklin
- 10-12-17
Worth every moment!
An incredible story researched with meticulous detail, told in a remarkably engaging and accessible way, without judgement. A masterful gift to our understanding of our history and, thus, to our present and future. Thank you, thank you! Also, perfectly narrated!
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- Claire Daniel
- 02-19-23
Riveting and enlightening
Riveting and enlightening. The Hemingses will stay on my mind for some time. I will read it again.
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Overall
- D. Littman
- 11-30-08
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.
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46 people found this helpful
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- Rosalind
- 03-26-19
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.
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- patricia bitker-golan
- 11-10-12
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.
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- chetyarbrough.blog
- 05-26-16
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.
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- Gussy36
- 10-11-18
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.
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