Slaves in the Family

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Summary: Unique history of affects of slavery yesterday and today.
Review: This is a wonderful recounting of the lives and lineage of white plantation owners and their slaves in the Charleston, S.C. area. The author has done detailed research on the Ball family, their descendants and the descendants of their slaves, tracing them from the 1600s down to the current day. The most amazing aspect of the book is its perspective on how personal family history intertwines with and becomes the history of the U.S. The reader feels directly connected with people and events down through the centuries, and by the end of the book, understands how interrelated all our lives are. I couldn't put this book down and highly recommend it to anyone interested in U.S. history, slavery, U.S. cultural history, or genealogy.

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Summary: Although bulky, Mr Ball's family history is enlightening
Review: Mr. Ball could have written a great novel had he avoided the repetition of his family's geneology. A flow chart for reference in the beginning would have taken care of that. His family history was painstakingly researched from every angle. I found most interesting the time period of the civil war and immediately thereafter. That oral traditions match up with many written accounts in his family's story at times gave me chills. Finally his work identifies and explores the interrelationships and interdependence of the races in Charleston that is in existance until this day.

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Summary: As an African-American this is one of the best books I have
Review: This book Slaves InThe Family is a book that every American black and white should read. I am from Barbados which used to be the center of the slave trade. In Barbados, there is a Ball plantation and I am wondering if it was own by the Ball family. If anyone knows how I can get in contact with Edward Ball, please let me know. I have to ask him because members of my family worked on the Ball plantation in Barbados.

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Summary: A cause for reflection and thought provoking.
Review: Coming from a southern family that had one timeowned slaves, the family lore was of the kindmaster. I didn't think it truly possible. NowI know it wasn't. Mr. Ball did an excellentjob of research. I commend him for meeting withthe slave descendents. It took alot of courage.Where do we go from here with race relations?How can we continue with historical reenactments that only romanticize the(white) one side of the Old South?

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Summary: An excellent read; honest and fascinating!
Review: It is with much suprise that I found myself unable to put down Mr. Ball's bravely writtten book. Mr. Ball approaches the subject with great candor, integrity and honesty. It is a fascinating read and those with a bent for history will be exceptionally pleased. I found his writing to be such that you are easily moved along the pages and certainly not bogged-down by the hours of intensive labor that Mr. Ball has endured for his exceptional research. Thank you Mr. Ball for telling the story of your family.

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Summary: Ugh; Overhyped
Review: A book that has nothing going for it but its hyped up PC subject matter. Ball writes with a leaden pen, his treatment of his subject is trite and condescending. A topic that deserves a better author. Pass on this one.

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Summary: A journalistic, sometimes boring, attempt at history.
Review: While Edward Ball attempts to bring the issue of race relations into a historical perspective his writing falls short of the mark when he utilizes his journalism background. Indeed, this piece of work would have been better handled if written in an historical methodology instead of a journalistic 'reporting' method. I found it interesting in parts, but completely skipped whole sections due to the dry and reporter-like stance in his writing. The book did bring into question the ethics of the Ball family and their treatment of their slaves, but lacked a continuity to pull the story together. One instance that I found particularly out of place at the end when the author goes to Africa. Africa is where the story began with the slave trade, not where it ended, this reader finds it an ironic twist.An explanation of the slave trade would have been considerably more helpful in setting the stage had it been in the first part of the book instead of the last chapter. All in all, not a terrible account of family history, but done in apparently what Ball knows best, journalistic style.

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Summary: Reading this book was trudgery
Review: While it is fascinating to contemplate the time Edward Ball spent researching his family history, I found reading this book to be quite a chore. Some parts of the book, particularly about the way the Ball family and slaves lived during slavery and reformation, were fascinating and I wanted more of it. But many parts of the book were completely dull and poorly written. I had to force my way through most of it. Congratulations to Ball and his publicists for a well-hyped novel, but I believe that's what most of it was -- hype. I was extremely disappointed.

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Summary: A triumph of honest journalism
Review: I can't imagine spending years slogging all over the United States and then all the way to Sierra Leone to revivify events that happened two centuries ago, but Mr. Ball has done it and done it well. The result is a monument of research and intellligence that measures up to the best historical work ever done on our national disgrace of slavery. This book has Pulitzer Prize written all over it.

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Summary: He placed his family into history well.
Review: This was a well-written and well-researched book. I admired the lengths to which the author went to research his family and the slaves that they had held. He also did well in placing the events of his family into their historical context and setting so that the reader could easily see how everything fit together as to whether the Balls were typical of their time period or not. There is a lot of good information here for a student of history as well as for someone researching their only family and in need of a few pointers. Job well done.