Audiobook12 hours
American Tapestry
Written by Rachel L. Swarns
Narrated by Claudia Alick
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
A remarkable history of First Lady Michelle Obama’s mixed ancestry, American Tapestry by Rachel L. Swarns is nothing less than a breathtaking and expansive portrait of America itself. In this extraordinary feat of genealogical research—in the tradition of The Hemmingses of Monticello and Slaves in the Family—author Swarns, a respected Washington-based reporter for the New York Times, tells the fascinating and hitherto untold story of Ms. Obama’s black, white, and multiracial ancestors; a history that the First Lady herself did not know. At once epic, provocative, and inspiring, American Tapestry is more than a true family saga; it is an illuminating mirror in which we may all see ourselves.
Author
Rachel L. Swarns
Rachel L. Swarns has been a reporter for the New York Times since 1995, reporting on domestic policy, the presidential campaigns of 2004 and 2008, the First Lady, and the modern American family. She has also worked for the New York Times in Russia, Cuba, and South Africa, where she served as the Johannesburg bureau chief. She lives in Washington, D.C.
Related to American Tapestry
Related audiobooks
Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Snow-Storm in August: Washington City, Francis Scott Key, and the Forgotten Race Riot of 1835 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Truth Be Told: Three Classic Black Women’s Narratives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle That Brought Down the Klan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ida B. the Queen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fritz Pollard: Pioneer in Racial Advancement Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarch Forward, Girl: From Young Warrior to Little Rock Nine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGirl in Black and White: The Story of Mary Mildred Williams and the Abolition Movement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sometimes Farmgirls Become Revolutionaries: Florence Tate on Black Power, Black Politics and the FBI Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGiving A Damn: Racism, Romance and Gone with the Wind Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Negroes at Harvard: The Class of 1963 and the 18 Young Men Who Changed Harvard Forever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Isn't Her Grace Amazing!: The Women Who Changed Gospel Music Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Of Greed and Glory: In Pursuit of Freedom for All Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Of Blood and Sweat: Black Lives and the Making of White Power and Wealth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black Women, Ivory Tower: Revealing the Lies of White Supremacy in American Education Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerican Histories: Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President's Black Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Walk with Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Striving for Justice: A Black Sheriff in the Deep South Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMagic City Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Price of A Child Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Absolutely Indispensable Man: Ralph Bunche, the United Nations, and the Fight to End Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County: A Family, a Virginia Town, a Civil Rights Battle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow We Win the Civil War: Securing a Multiracial Democracy and Ending White Supremacy for Good Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLife of a Klansman: A Family History in White Supremacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
History For You
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret History of the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Endurance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Korean War: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Who Cooked the Last Supper?: The Women's History of the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mary Magdalene: Women, the Church, and the Great Deception Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Palestine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Razorblade Tears: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black Boy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Swingtime for Hitler: Goebbels’s Jazzmen, Tokyo Rose, and Propaganda That Carries a Tune Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for American Tapestry
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
9 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A fairly exhaustive genealogy of Michelle Obama's family, backed by some good research. There is sometimes a little too much "Oh, gee!" -- as in "Oh, gee! I didn't know that white slaveowners sometimes impregnated their slaves, did you?" "Oh, gee, I didn't know there were free black people before the Civil War, did you?" And, the constant jumping back and forth in chronology and between different parts of the family could become confusing. Since I read it on Kindle, it was hard to see the family trees (I've found this on other Kindle books, charts are difficult to see clearly), which would have helped track the various branches. Still, I enjoyed reading this.