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    My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir
    My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir
    My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir
    Ebook399 pages8 hours

    My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir

    By Clarence Thomas

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Provocative, inspiring, and unflinchingly honest, My Grandfather's Son is the story of one of America's most remarkable and controversial leaders, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, told in his own words.

    Thomas speaks out, revealing the pieces of his life he holds dear, detailing the suffering and injustices he has overcome, including the polarizing Senate hearing involving a former aide, Anita Hill, and the depression and despair it created in his own life and the lives of those closest to him. In this candid and deeply moving memoir, a quintessential American tale of hardship and grit, Clarence Thomas recounts his astonishing journey for the first time.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 12, 2021
    ISBN9780063235922
    Author

    Clarence Thomas

    Clarence Thomas is Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Born in Pinpoint, Georgia, he is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and Yale Law School. He lives with his wife and great nephew in northern Virginia.

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    Reviews for My Grandfather's Son

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      I came away with a new respect for Clarence Thomas. I listened to the audio version and it was something special to hear the author read his work. Great stuff!
    • 3/5
      First portion of the memoir provides lots of insight into Thomas' upbringing and the extraordinary difficulties, including poverty and lack of family stability he survived, and the freedom from those difficulties that religion, hard work, and education promised him. His gratitude to teachers and family for requiring much of him is clear, as is his angst and anger during his college years and his regrets for his having held others in contempt during his black panther-supporting college years etc. The final portion of the book which concerns his Supreme Court confirmation hearings and the Anita Hill debacle lack the clarity that the earlier portions of the book have. I think that he's just still so angry and hurt by that process that he is unable to provide the same combination of objective and subjective analysis that make the other portions of the book successful.
    • 4/5
      A good accounting of Justice Thomas' upbringing by his grandparents, and of the Catholic schools he attended, sometimes as the only black.
    • 4/5
      This is a story that needed to be told. Whether you agree with the positions taken by Judge Thomas on various court cases or not, there is no denying that he is living proof of the American dream. Within his lifetime, he went from a country that treated minorities in shameful ways to a country that is accepting of all colors, creeds, etc. This book gives a decent overview of his early childhood in Savannah,Georgia and his relationship with his grandparents. That sets the stage for the later parts of the book in which chronicle his college years, his time in Missouri, and his remaining years in DC prior to his Supreme Court nomination. About the last quarter of the book is spent on his Supreme Court nomination and the confirmation process. I appreciated hearing his side of the story when it came to the confirmation process. There is no word to describe what the media and the Senate did to Judge Thomas. I would suggest "shameful", but I don't think that's strong enough language. He spends a fair amount of time discussing his problems with alcohol, his shortcomings when dealing with his promises to his Grandfather, and his abandonment of his first wife and son. It takes a lot of guts to admit one's shortcomings in a national platform like this book. I don't condone some of the things he did, but I get the feeling he doesn't either. He doesn't justify his behavior. He just kind of lays it out there and lets the reader decide. Did he need to include the things he said about leaving his wife and son? Of course not. He could give the same tired answer that many divorcees give when leaving their spouse: "We were just incompatible." I am not condoning what he did. I am just glad he had the guts to say it. Here's what he said on page 135 about leaving his wife and son: "I left my wife and child. It was the worst thing I've done in my life....I still live with the guilt, and always will." There were two things I wished the book would have included. First, I wanted him to include some of his time on the Supreme Court. I wanted to know how he felt about being a Supreme Court justice. Was it everything he imagined it would be? Better? Worse? Second, I wished the book would have been a little bit longer. I wanted to know more about his college years when he was struggling with the notion of his ability to succeed in a country dominated by people of another race. I think he made some very interesting points that people need to consider, no matter their skin color. I wanted to hear so much more from him about this.If stories like this interest you, I recommend the JC Watts book "What Color Is A Conservative?".
    • 2/5
      Two caveats 1. I am not a fan of Clarence Thomas. He has been on the wrong side of most decisions. 2. The Anita Hill debacle was an abomination. The Democrats could not defeat Thomas' nomination based on his record so they chose sleaze.I have never before read an autobiography which diminished my opinion of the author. My Grandfather's Son is 289 pages of Clarence Thomas whining about his poverty and how badly he has been treated. At the same time, Thomas provided so few personal details that I never felt like I came to know him. Somewhere there is a compelling story of a fatherless African American, raised in the deep south, who brought himself out of abject poverty to become a Supreme Court justice. It is ashamed that Clarence Thomas never managed to tell that story.

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    My Grandfather's Son - Clarence Thomas

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