2005 ( )

ALTHOUGH THIS BOOK HAS BEEN WELL RESEARCHED BY MR. BALL, I NOTICED THAT HE HAS TAKEN CERTAIN LIBERTIES WITH SOME OF THE INFORMATION HE OBTAINED VIA INTERVIEWS WITH MEMBERS OF HIS EXTENDED FAMILY. THIS CAUSES ME TO WONDER AT THE ACCURACY OF HIS TELLING OF THIS FAMILY HISTORY.

A huge study that tries to map the familial paths taken by the author's ancestors, some of whom were slaves owned by his other ancestors. Ball is descended from an old, formerly very prosperous Charleston family. He uses the extensive archives of the family's lives and business dealings to connect the troubling family histories to today's descendants. He writes that we cannot be responsible for the past, but that we must be accountable. Bell's way of being accountable is to pursue the writing of black people's histories, and by contacting descendants of the Ball slaves to gather their stories and hear their conclusions on slavery's legacy.

The people he interviewed have a range of responses: some angry, some interested, some sorrowful. Some thank him for his efforts, regardless of their own emotions about the past. Most seem to be moved by learning more about their own family's histories. This book was unusual to me in that Ball wrote the physical and affective details about the interviews he conducted. Although the author appears to be composed in these interviews most of the time, even in the face of anger, I thought this was an attempt to keep the writing from focusing on himself rather than on the black Americans he speaks with. It served as an attempt to let the interviewees' own questions and statements be, to not dismiss them through his own fear or guilt. This made the book a model piece of research, in my mind. Ball doesn't flinch when he writes of his archival research that documents people as chattel, and he doesn't flinch when he tries to understand how a white American could take accountability for how the past may have benefited him as a descendant of early Americans, and disadvantaged other descendants at the same time. ( )

This book is written by a descendant of a South Carolina slave holding family who used his family's records to search for and find many of the living descendants of the slaves who had been owned by his ancestors. The narrative tells the stories of his search and his many interviews, and along the way he also tells the history of slavery in America. As best I can tell, the book tells things like they really were and doesn't try to protect his family's reputation. It's interesting to note that many of the slave descendants he interviewed were his distant cousins. Strong research and writing lead to stunning results in this story that won the National Book Award. I have to confess that I listened to an abridged audio version of the book which was the only audio format available. (The audio version didn't show up in a search of current publications.) I found the book interesting and easy to listen to. ( )

Ball tackles the mystery of his South Carolina ancestors' involvement in slavery. Contains some very moving accounts between author and descendants of those slaves. An eye-opener into plantations and owning slaves it is too bad that the average person researching their African-American roots won't have access to the wondrous resources that Ball had. Small time "plantation" owners (those who owned 5 or fewer slaves) probably didn't keep the extensive financial accounts that Ball's ancestors did. However, these same researchers and anyone searching southern roots would do well to read this book. Not only will you discover possibilities for your own resesarch you will also learn much about slavery and come away with admiration for one man's quest to uncover his own family's intertwined history with slavery and his desire to at least begin to 'set things right'. ( )