American Tapestry

Local interest: Michelle Obama's great-great grandfather was biracial, the result of a white father and black slave mother. He settled in Birmingham, Alabama, and helped found two churches. His business in downtown Birmingham was one of the few that had both black and white customers.......more

The book is meant to be a history of the ancestors of Michelle Obama, black and white. Such a good premise for a book and so poorly written and does not appear to have been edited at all. The early pages promise us a history through geneology of the great-great-great-great grandparents of Michelle Ro......more

This book humanizes the otherwise often off-putting subject of Black History by bringing alife the life stories of the many otherwise ordinary people who were Michelle Obama's ancestors. I loved the way the author used Mrs. Obama's celebrity and popularity to attract the attention of readers who mig......more

I didn't realize until I'd actually started reading this book that it's unauthorized and sorely lacking in both interviews and real information. The author retraced the steps of most of Michelle Obama's family in the sense of following their moves and enumerating the births of their children, but th......more

According to GoodReads rating, 5 stars stands for amazing, not for perfect, and that is what I give this book that I had a hard time putting down. It is a fascinating story -- lots of research, lots of thinking went into it. It is a popular history by a NY Times reporter who researched the many fami......more