Following up on her shining debut Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, Annette Gordon-Reed continues delving into the history of the residents at Monticello in The Hemingses. In this second book, the author investigates several generations of the famous family and how they came to live at Monticello as well as what happened after Jefferson’s death. Utilizing her investigative skills as an attorney, Gordon-Reed delivers little-known facts about Sally Hemings family from sources like Jefferson’s farm books, journals, and letters between the president and his connections. While duplicating some of her work from her debut, this book takes on a different tone from the earlier work and gives the reader a more directed glimpse into the Hemings family as a whole.
I give The Hemingses of Monticello 3 out of 5 stars. While this work achieved a more acclaimed status among scholars and literary reviewers, I found this book to read more like a textbook and less like the intimate portrait her debut gave into the Jefferson-Hemings relationship. The work is highly researched and documented, giving to no noticeable errors. I also connected with the motivations behind the decisions each family member made, but this was not nearly as enjoyable to read as the debut.
I would direct this book to history lovers and those looking to learn more about Monticello, Jefferson, and the Hemings family. With discussions of slavery, the potential freedom they could have achieved in France, and the power relationship between master and slave, this book would be best for more mature audiences over 13. I do think this would make great reading for college students and scholars – there is a wealth of information here I had not read in other sources!
I chose The Hemingses of Monticello for my March non-fiction read. After reading about this book last month, I wanted to dig in and see what all the hype was about. I was a little disappointed with this book, but that may also be because of how closely together I read the two Gordon-Reed books. I will be moving on to other writers for books about Jefferson moving forward – I think I have exhausted this author’s selection!
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