Rating: 
Summary: One of the best non-fiction books I've ever read
Review: I could not put this book down! Many found Ball's journalistic style cumbersome, but for me, it was of great benefit. I don't like the way most non-fiction writers set out to prove a point and do so at all costs (ie, not presenting the fullest picture possible). This is a book that didn't give into that. He combined amazing fact-finding with his own soul-searching, but in such a non-obnoxious way. Also, the book flows very well, contrary to what some people have said. A story involving generations and generations of many different families is, naturally, going to be complicated, but the maps, geneological trees, and pictures (in the paperback version only, I think), all helped a great deal. Overall, this book is a fascinating read. It has helped me to understand so much more about the effect that slavery has had upon this country. Slavery is a topic that, for all the bandying about of the term "race relations" by politicians and such, we really have managed to sweep under the rug entirely. I agree with another commentator that this book should be required reading in American History classes -- high school and college.
Rating:
Summary: Remarkable story
Review: This is a remarkable story of Edward Ball's search for the descendants of the slaves acquired by his family once upon a time. The author's pursuit takes him across the U.S., and to Africa.I enjoyed reading about the origins of Mr. Ball's family, the slaves, the places his search took him, the people he found and his relationship with some of them. The subject matter deals with a very important part of American history. You won't regret reading this book. Fafa Demasio
Rating:
Summary: Eye Opener
Review: I read this book on a bus trip from Virginia to Texas (and back) with my three year old daughter. We were heading home for a family reunion. I had not been on a bus ride in over 15 yrs so I knew that I would need something to get me through. This was a well writen book, and even if some think it was not, just the people and research alone makes it a must read for any African American doing research.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Put it Down
Review: I read this book during a vacation in Hawaii; I found it so compelling I couldn't put it down. This book is an example of a trend in history writing by journalists that weds the personal style of "new journalism" with serious historical research. The book is both a "personal" account of the Ball family ownership of slaves and a well-researched and thoughtful history of slavery in the United States. Some readers have commented that the book was difficult to read; I thought the writing was elegant and easy to follow - much easier to digest than academic writing. Some readers have felt the book was superficial or self-indulgent on the part of the writer. I didn't find it to be either - the winding of the story made sense and like a good plot led naturally from one part to the next. The research underneath the story was thorough, and the analysis was thoughtful.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is full of gifts
Review: 'Slaves In The Family' is amazing. The research Edward Ball was able to do for this book was tantemount to a sisyphean feat. By tracing the heritage of several slave decendants back to the mid 1600s, he fullfilled something so profound for those families, almost no words can describe it. Most African Americans in this country are resigned to the fact that we'll never know who our great, great, grandparents were, where in Africa our ancestors once lived, or who we are beyond stolen people. To be able to say 'I've traced my heritage as far back to a relative named Binah, which is a common name in Sierra Leone, so my people are probably from there' is one of the most spiritual, life-altering pieces of information an African American (who is searching) can be given. In my personal experience, there has always been lack of understanding of myself. I can read and study and dance and commune, and on one level that is all of the knowing I need. But is that because that satisfies my soul, or because that's all the knowing I'm likely to get in this lifetime? Whatever the case, all my life there's been this yearning to know who my people are, and it's a yearning I've heard echoed in my sisters and brothers all over the country. Edward Ball is also a brilliant story teller. There are times when I'm reading, that I have to remind myself that it's non-fiction. Not only because it's so well written, but because I'm so far removed from the brutal, chattle existence my acestors survived, it is often times impossible to reconcile on the D train to Brooklyn that this country (and on a larger scale - the world) has a continually unpleasant history of treating fellow human beings deplorably, and in some instances, ungodly. Ball's able to relay American history, not black history (because there is no such thing in this country - we're all intertwined), in such an unbiased, sometimes humorous, sometimes somber way, that you really can't believe he's a descendant of one of the largest, earliest, and longest held plantation owners in South Carolina. The book dedicates equal time to his European relatives, and is unique in that no one is demonized, nor depicted as saintly. It is what it is. I highly recommend it. Just came out in paperback. And there are glossy pictures.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling In Every Way
Review: This book is an extraordinary achievement. As family history, it reflects enormous work and reach. As American history, is it unusual in that it uses a family's history to inform a region's history. And, anyone wanting to better understand race relations in this country needs to read this book. As Mr. Ball suggest, Americans today ,may not be responsible for the sad history reported here, but we are accountable to know about it and to tell about it. Slavery seems to be something we'd just rather not talk about. But it is part of this nation's past. This book is a huge stride in coming to grips with this past. It is also a masterful achievement.
Rating:
Summary: Enlightening
Review: The common practice of taking slave concubines is brilliantly portrayed and talked about in this book by Mr. Ball. A little slow going with all the names that he throws out, it was riveting when he describes the encounters with re-discovered black cousins. His expectations, their reservations about him pursuing this topic made it terribly difficult for me to put the book down at times. This will teach you about both the black and white races; where we were, and where we're going. A must read.
Rating: 
Summary: Worthwhile, but difficult reading.
Review: Edward Ball's ancestors were the owners of South Carolina rice plantations from about 1700 until 1950. They also owned slaves. This book shows how the Ball family and the slave families lives became so intertwined that the connections last even today. Though it is a chronicle of one family, it is also a chronicle of slavery from the 1700's until slavery was abolished after the Civil War. But it doesn't stop there. Mr. Ball is able to follow some of the former slave families into the present to see how they've fared. Did I like this book? Yes. I happen to like history and I especially like to see how history affects us today. However, I think the book needed more of a chronological presentation. There was too much jumping back and forth, too many names to keep track of, so eventually toward the end of the book I felt overwhelmed. There are many interesting stories in this book that make it worth slogging through, but it is a slog.
Rating:
Summary: A Marker on the Slavery Issue Timeline
Review: This book is a significant marker on the Slavery Issue timeline and I urge the future readers of this book to see it as such. For those of us in the present generation, slavery is only a topic in history, not something we have personally experienced. This book should be required reading in high school and college history classes. Ball is a reporter so he writes like one. Get used to it--he is writing fact as he has found it--this isn't supposed to be literature! I like reading social history and I didn't mind the occasional descriptive phrase or the reminder of a date here and there. This book took a long time for me to read, but only because my time for reading is limited to the last moments of awakeness I have at the very end of the day. And, by the time I get there, I am wishing that I had some help with all my chores, but I can't imagine what it must have been like to actually own a slave---I feel like I am one to my family and one to my own type-A personality! Thank you to Edward Ball for writing this book. I wish I could have attended the lecture he gave recently at the Phoenix Public Library.
Rating:
Summary: heart and soul--all of it
Review: I agree, this is a fascinating book. Ball takes the reader on an amazing journey of personal and historical discovery. A good edit would have made it a lively story as well.
| 
