Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings or Firefight

Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy

Author: Annette Gordon Reed

In light of DNA evidence supporting a Jefferson-Hemings relationship, Gordon-Reed has added to her acclaimed study a new Preface in which she finds fresh reasons for seeing Thomas Jefferson as a complicated metaphor for the American character.

Publishers Weekly

Gordon-Reed takes on the historians who would deny that Thomas Jefferson had a 38-year relationship with Sally Hemings, one of his slaves, and she does so both by presenting historical evidence of that relationship and by critiquing their denials. While her account is reasoned and logical, Gordon-Reed is a law professor (at New York Law School) who writes like a lawyer. She justifies this legalistic tone in her preface by pointing out that historians often use legal phrases when debating the controversy, but that doesn't make this dry presentation of the facts any more readable. Primary sources (Madison Hemings's recounting of his mother's relationship with Jefferson, in which he claims Jefferson as his father; the memoirs of Israel Jefferson, a former slave of Jefferson's who corroborated Hemings's story; and a pair of letters discussing the Jefferson-Hemings relationship) are the most lively reading, but they have been banished to an appendix. Gordon-Reed approaches the various players in this drama chapter by chapter and dissects the collective denial of traditional historians with regard to each. She not only handily refutes theories such as the idea that one of Jefferson's nephews, either Samuel Carr or Peter Carr, fathered Hemings's children, but points out the racism inherent in insisting, for example, that Madison Hemings's story of his life cannot be correct because the language is too sophisticated. Her contention that "Thomas Jefferson's racism was not extraordinary" is believable and intriguing, but too much that is of interest here becomes obfuscated by legal devices, including a chapter titled "Summary of the Evidence." History Book Club dual main. (Apr.)

Booknews

Explores evidence of Jefferson's involvement with his slave Sally Hemings, his wife's half sister, arguing that evidence for the alleged 38-year liaison has been denied a fair hearing. Chapters are based on key figures in the families involved. Includes a key to important names, the memoirs of Madison Hemings and Israel Jefferson, and letters. For general readers and historians. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

What People Are Saying

Gore Vidal
Gordon-Reed's is a thorough, balanced, tactful treatment of this issue that goes deep into the United States psyche on race and sex.

Table of Contents:

	Preface
	Genealogical Tables
	Introduction	1
1	Madison Hemings	7
2	James Callender	59
3	The Randolphs and the Carrs	78
4	Thomas Jefferson	105
5	Sally Hemings	158
6	Summary of the Evidence	210
7	Conclusion	224
Appendix A	Key to Important Names	239
Appendix B	The Memoirs of Madison Hemings	245
Appendix C	The Memoirs of Israel Jefferson	249
Appendix D	Henry S. Randall to James Parton, June 1, 1868	254
Appendix E	Ellen Randolph Coolidge to Joseph Coolidge, October 24, 1858	258
	Notes	261
	Bibliography	273
	Index	281

Books about:

Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11

Author: Patrick Creed

Amid all the stories of tragedy and heroism on September 11, there is one tale that has yet to be told–the gripping account of ordinary men and women braving the inferno at the Pentagon to rescue friends and co-workers, save the nation’s military headquarters, and defend their country.

Pentagon firefighters Alan Wallace and Mark Skipper had just learned the shocking news that planes had struck the World Trade Center when they saw something equally inconceivable: a twin-engine jetliner flying straight at them. It was American Airlines Flight 77, rushing toward its target. In his Pentagon office, Army major David King was planning a precautionary evacuation when the room suddenly erupted in flames. Arlington firefighters Derek Spector, Brian Roache, and Ron Christman, among the first responders at the scene, were stunned by the sight that met them: a huge flaming hole gouged into the Pentagon’s side, a lawn strewn with smoking debris, and thousands of people, some badly injured, stumbling away from what would become one of the most daunting fires in American history.

For more than twenty-four hours, Arlington firefighters and other crews faced some of the most dangerous and unusual circumstances imaginable. The size and structure of the Pentagon itself presented unique challenges, compelling firefighters to devise ingenious tactics and make bold decisions–until they finally extinguished the fire that threatened to cripple America’s military infrastructure just when it was needed most.

Granted unprecedented access to the major players in the valiant response efforts, Patrick Creed and Rick Newman take us step-by-step through theharrowing minutes, hours, and days following the crash of American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon’s western façade. Providing fascinating personal stories of the firefighters and rescuers, a broader view of how the U.S. national security command structure was held intact, and a sixteen-page insert of dramatic photographs, Firefight is a unique testament to the fortitude and resilience of America.

The Washington Post - John N. Maclean

It took five years for authors Patrick Creed, a volunteer firefighter and Army officer, and Rick Newman, a writer for U.S. News and World Report, to pull together this story. Combing public records and conducting 150 interviews, Creed and Newman have done a monumental reporting job. Firefight tells the tale moment by moment through the accounts of dozens of participants and eye-witnesses. The book needed an editor with a sharper blue pencil—it's too long, and the writing can be monotonous. Not unlike the heroes whose stories they tell, however, Creed and Newman faced a daunting challenge, rose to the occasion and rescued a piece of history from the ashes.

Publishers Weekly

Creed, a U.S. Army officer and volunteer firefighter, and U.S. News and World Report staff writer Newman (Bury Us Upside Down) interviewed thousands of people who were involved after terrorists crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon at 9:38 the morning of 9/11, while personnel were grouped around TV sets watching the Twin Towers attack in New York. Within two minutes, fire crews from Arlington, Fairfax, Alexandria and Washington, D.C. converged on the site, joining military and civilian personnel working to rescue those trapped in the building-Surgeon General P.K. Carlton working to help the injured, Navy SEALS stationed to catch people jumping from windows. But it was the firemen who took the lead in the search and rescue effort, fire control and helping to secure classified material in structurally compromised areas. Creed and Newman provide a minute-by-minute account of operations during the first two days, carrying the story through 9/21 when, with the situation under control, the FBI took charge of the crime scene. This gripping account of national tragedy and personal heroism gives readers a you-are-there look at the disaster that claimed 189, and a real appreciation for the work that kept it from claiming more.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

David Alperstein - Library Journal

Creed, a U.S. Army officer and volunteer firefighter, and Newman (U.S. News & World Report; Bury Us Upside Down) interviewed over 100 people who endured the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon and its aftermath. Their book describes the epic struggle of firefighters, police, first responders, and others from the time of the attack through the completion of rescue and recovery operations ten days later, when the matter was turned over to the FBI. About 90 people are listed at the front of the book as "recurring characters," and their heroic efforts are detailed in firsthand accounts that, in a concise, readable manner, show just how difficult it was to operate effectively in the midst of one of the largest structure fires in U.S. history. The task simply of coordinating government, fire, and rescue agencies in battling the inferno and rescuing victims and then of conducting forensic and related crime-scene investigations was monumental. The authors also discuss how the Pentagon maintained its command infrastructure despite the attack and how victims, rescuers, and their families were affected. It is the personal stories, told moment by moment, that should keep readers interested and inspired. This gripping, often harrowing story of courage, conviction, and survival is recommended for all collections, although those looking for a more comprehensive account should also consider Pentagon 9/11 from the Department of Defense Historical Office.

School Library Journal

Adult/High School

A well-paced, well-written account of a successful battle. It was fought by numerous civilian firefighting companies from the Washington, DC, area, especially those from Arlington County, where the Pentagon sits. The response by firefighters from the Virginia and Maryland suburbs, the District, and also from nearby Reagan National Airport was admirably rapid and the dangers to them were immense; the relatively small loss of life in the Pentagon is a tribute to their courage and skills. Hundreds of workers-civilian and military-risked their lives and certainly harmed themselves by breathing toxic fumes laced with petroleum and building dust to save coworkers, and readers will learn of the many people deserving recognition. What many who are familiar with the 9/11 attacks do not know is that those gathered to save the Pentagon, normally occupied by 25,000 people, were warned that another commercial airliner was potentially inbound, perhaps to finish the job. This saga is much less well known than the story of the New York City Fire Department responding to the attacks on the World Trade Center. Teens will be enlightened and inspired by this valuable book.-Alan Gropman, National Defense University, Washington, DC

Kirkus Reviews

An intimate, almost minute-by-minute account of the emergency response to the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. Prior to 9/11, the Pentagon's iconic status easily exceeded that of the World Trade Center. Nevertheless, that date's dramatic events in New York, particularly the unimaginable collapse of the towers, have since obscured the almost simultaneous assault on the very symbol of America's armed forces, where, write the authors, "about two million square feet of office space-the equivalent of the entire Empire State Building-was [rendered] uninhabitable due to fire, smoke, and structural damage." U.S. Army officer and firefighter Creed and U.S. News & World Report journalist Newman (co-author: Bury Us Upside Down: The Misty Pilots and the Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail, 2006) remind us of the devastation wrought in Arlington and of the almost superhuman effort required to quell the resulting inferno. From the moment the hijackers flew Flight 77 into the building, killing 59 passengers and crew members and 125 people who worked there, the Pentagon was transformed into a war zone. Using the eyewitness testimony of dozens of people inside and outside the building (a helpful index to many of the recurring names precedes the narrative), the authors painstakingly reconstruct the sequence of events, focusing particularly on the initial 48 hours and the efforts of first-responders. Though a host of government agencies were involved, the authors highlight the firefighters, particularly the Arlington County Fire Department. For these men the Pentagon's unique design and construction-memorably explicated in Steve Vogel's The Pentagon: A History: The Untold Story of the Wartime Race to Buildthe Pentagon-And to Restore it Sixty Years Later, 2007-the intensity of the explosion and the persistent flames combined to produce a "career fire," the professional challenge of a lifetime. Thoroughly, but never tediously, the authors demonstrate how the firefighters-despite private fears and worries, exhaustion, dehydration and smoke inhalation, multiple threats of renewed attack, competing priorities of law enforcement and various military and political exigencies-responded brilliantly to the horror. A remarkable piece of journalism, and a service to history. Agent: Jane Dystel/Dystel & Goderich Literary Management