While the book is received well, Gordon-Reed is criticized for using modern common sense to explore the evidence, which could differ from what common sense could have been during the time of Jefferson. Her ability to overcome the obstacle of 'shaking off unfounded assumptions that contain unscrutinized racial, sexual, and class stereotypes' is credited to her ability to see things from the point of view of an African American and a female. This review explores the organization and style of argument employed by Gordon-Reed. Review of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy by Annette Gordon-Reed. He commends her style and directs no criticism towards her. He focuses mostly on Gordon-Reed's attempts to demonstrate the ''warped view of black people and of the history of the South as well'' presented by historians.

Allison is most impressed with Gordon-Reed's ability 'to shift the focus of inquiry from the Jefferson family to the Hemings family' (307). Allison looks at these two works in conjunction to highlight their similarities in criticizing historians' presentations of information about Jefferson, specifically Gordon-Reed's argument that historians ''have mishandled' the story, and how they have 'mistreated black people in the process,'' and O'Brien's argument that historians have 'misrepresented Jefferson's support for the French Revolution' (307).

This review of Gordon-Reed's book is presented simultaneously with a review of The Long Affair: Thomas Jefferson and the French Revolution, 1785-1800 by Conor Cruise Oâ€™Brien. Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 122.3 (1998): 307-9. A review of Gordon-Reed's Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy. 'Looking Beyond Jefferson the Icon to a Man and His Slave Mistress.' New York Times 29 June 1997: 4.7.

Sally hemings annette gordon reed