My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir | Clarence Thomas

My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir | Clarence Thomas | Riveting - couldn't put it down!

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My Grandfather's S...

	My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir Clarence Thomas Harper, 2007 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 290 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

From Pinpoint to High Point

From the crushing poverty of his upbringing in the Jim Crow South, to the nightmarish process of his nomination to the Supreme Court, Justice Thomas narrates his life story in a refreshingly candid delivery. The book is imbued with readability, and Justice Thomas does have a compelling story to tell. This will sound cliché, but I simply couldn't put the book down. Every night I kept reading well into the wee hours of the morning, seemingly unable to find a stopping place in which to insert my bookmark.

In the last three chapters of the book, Justice Thomas talks in bitter terms about the viciousness he endured in the hands of liberals during the process of his nomination to the Supreme Court. I watched the whole saga on C-Span fresh out of graduate school, and I somewhat disagree with Justice Thomas about what was really transpiring during those days. He saw himself as Tom Robinson, the character in "To Kill a Mockingbird", and that he was being high-tech lynched by a racist mob of white senators incensed by an "uppity black man who deigned to think for himself". As a black man myself, I hope that Justice Thomas has disabused himself of that notion. What was really going on was that Judge Thomas had then joined, perhaps unwittingly, the raging war of ideologies between neo-cons and liberals. Willingly or not, he was by virtue of his own publicly declared views a foot soldier in the conservative movement. The liberals weren't deceived by the idea that his nomination was on account of his legal bona fides. Reagan, and then Bush were packing the court with justices far right of center, and liberals were hell bent on stopping the trend. They had confirmed his nomination to the court of appeals without brouhaha, but the finality of supreme court opinions made the stakes much higher. Preserving Roe vs Wade, it seemed to me, was a far more pressing issue to these people than taking a black man to the "gallows" for speaking his mind. Be it as it may, this is really an excellent read. I recommend My Grandfather's Son without a trace of reservation.

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Riveting - couldn't put it down!

I absolutely loved this book, and I know you will, too!
I didn't know much about Justice Thomas, but after reading his story - I respect him immensely. This book was a true page-turner, and the style and quality of his writing and his attention to detail is phenomenal.
Whether or not you agree with his political views, I think you'll find
this book interesting enough to give it a chance. Just read the first page and you won't be able to put it down. It is by FAR the best
autobiography I have EVER read!

fascinating

This book is extremely well written. It reads very smoothly and crisply. It is easy to skim.

I did not expect to like this book, because I am a liberal and he's a conservative, but I do like it. It's a great piece of history. Thomas's life is fascinating and inspiring. He is refreshingly open about his drinking problems.

Curiously, though, he seems to have little or no insight into other people or his effect on them. Instead, other people seem like mere shadowy props in an isolating world where only he exists. I can see where he could easily offend others without being aware why, since he seems so completely inside himself.

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The first time I read the book I could not bring myself to read the parts about Anita Hill. I felt so sure that she was telling the truth and that he had somehow connived to discredit her, when she was the victim. I couldn't bear the thought of reading anything he would say about her. The second time through I allowed myself to be drawn in by his skillful writing and read the whole thing. I came out with a willingness to believe that she was lying for political reasons, just as he suggests.

I do certainly come out with a strong sense that he is a man of principle and of sincere faith.

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A quick read

This is a good overview of Justice Thomas' life (so far!). In very few countries could a person rise from utmost poverty to the Supreme Court. I would have liked a bit more detail on his personal side, especially wrt his divorce from his wife Kathy. Why did he feel unfulfilled in this relationship? He seemed to bail on it w/o much effort although it is hard to tell from this book. Perhaps this is part of his reticence to expose too much of his personal life but he did write the book. His grandparents were smarter than many and did an excellent job raising him.

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Justice Thomas - Biography and Insight to The Man

This book gave me an insight to Justice Thomas's personal thoughts, his political orientation (past and current) and his journey as a black man. You may be surprised how his views have changed / matured especially about racial issues, civil rights law and the plight of the so-called African-American peoples.

This is a rare insight to a powerful decision-maker on the USA Supreme Court.

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