My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir by Clarence Thomas Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir
Book Review: Inspiring story of overcoming hardship and something about a soda can
Summary: 1 Stars
Thomas recounts in vivid detail all the injustices and hardship suffered by his grandparents, parents and himself over the last century and how all of that attracted him to Republican conservativism, which embraced the ideals of racial equality, eradicating poverty and affirmative action - ideals which helped Thomas reach the heights of success. Huh?
He seems keenly aware of the fact that he did not possess the legal expertise or the intellectual depth to sit on the highest court in the land. But after spending time with the other underqualified and highly over-rated justices on the court such as Scalia and Rehnquist, Thomas came to realize that he had nothing to feel bad about. The one regret he has is the advent of C-SPAN, which provides an unwelcome measure of public exposure to the court. He worries that the blind reverence and assumption of supreme intelligence which the public held for the judges for over 200 years has come to an end. Instead, the public now has C-SPAN to show them that the court is really nothing more than a collection of simple-mided political suck-ups with giant egos who do strange things with soda cans and who will approve the torture and dismemberment of their own mothers and children at Guantanamo Bay if it will get them appointed to the court.
Although he still harbors a great deal of anger over his historic and divisive confirmation hearings, he hopes to find the infamous coke can, which he dreams of selling one day for a certain fortune at e-bay.
Book Review: A genuine and compelling portrait
Summary: 5 Stars
As a general rule I take what I read in a memoir with a grain of salt. It is only natural for people to put their best forward when writing about themselves for public consumption. In this case however I found myself accepting Thomas' words at face value. Whether it was his writing style or the way he spoke so openly about his human failings I did not question the honesty of his accounts or the sincerity of his emotions.
His life growing up in poverty was a compelling story. His angry youth was unsettling, but understandable and the struggles of his adult life make him all the more admirable. I always had difficulty reconciling the quiet humble man of the senate hearings with the accusations leveled against him, and though his views reflected my own conservative values I knew that the reality was that only he and Anita Hill knew the truth. After reading this book I no longer have any doubt that Clarence Thomas, with all of his human failings, is an honorable man and was an outstanding choice for The Supreme Court of The United States of America.
Book Review: Humble, but admirable
Summary: 4 Stars
Readers looking for a defense of Mr. Thomas's legal theories or time on the bench will have to look elsewhere. The book is the simple, straightforward story of a man's rise from shocking poverty to one of the most prestigious positions in the United States, and those he views shaped him throughout his life. In that sense, it is a useful companion piece to Mr. Thomas's personal friend Thomas Sowell's own autobiography, which the reviewer recommends even more highly.Book Review: This is a BRILLIANT book
Summary: 5 Stars
Where to begin with all the good things that I'd like to say about this book?
1. The prose is very clear, concise, easy-to-read and unpretentious. The entire book comes in at under 300 pages and there are no wasted words. (For a VERY LONG and VERY BLOATED autobiography of a politician, see Bill Clinton's "My Life.")
2. He fills in the missing gaps from Anita Hill's account of what happened. (It was fairly easy to surmise from her writing style in "Speaking Truth To Power" that Anita Hill was/ is a drama queen.) The type of antics that Thomas described (without going too far into detail) were not at all unexpected based on the personality type that I perceived from Hill's writing. The snippets are neither bitter nor abusive. Only discussed in a matter of fact way.
3. There is some interesting discussion of the dynamics of a government bureaucracy and how it starts off to solve some problem but eventually "hardens" into something completely different. There is no long, philosophical discussion of *why* this situation materializes (as you might find by reading the works of Hayek or Milton Friedman), but just observations that it does happen.
4. The thinking is very clear and straightforward. Thomas is not a mindless ideologue, but rather someone who has thought out his positions based on actual *life experience.*
5. He made observations that racism is not a uniquely Southern phenomenon (for example, noting that the first time that he was called a "nigger" happened when he moved up North and not in the South--where the blacks and whites there came to some sort of modus vivendi).
Bad points (only one):
1. The book had no index. That might have been nice when going back over fine points after finishing the book.
All in all, this book was well worth the purchase price of a new hardcover book.
Book Review: I highly recommend this book -- a 'must' read.
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this book out of boredom. I had nothing else, at the time, to read. I thought that I knew enough of this gentleman from newspapers and media. Was I ever wrong! This is book will enlighten one as to who the real Clarence Thomas is and the grandfather who became a role model for him. His portrayals of various members of Congress are indeed enlightening!
I no longer have the book. I had lent it out so many times that it finally never found its way back to me.