My Grandfather's Son : A Memoir Paperback – 1873

I knew a little about Clarence Thomas from watching news items on the BBC many years ago, around the time of the Anita Hall hearing. My impressions of him was more or less based on the 'liberal media' and thought of him as some type of kneejerk 'sellout'. I am glad that I have read this book, because it has given me a completely different perspective of him and how the MSM influences public opinion. An inspirational man

While this is a story of a poor boy who became one of the most powerful men in the US judicial system, what inspired me the most was Clarence Thomas' strong sense of character and principles throughout his life... including in those darkest moments.Christine Brown-QuinnAuthor, Step Aside Super Woman

Read this and heard the other side of the story

I am half way through his honour Clarence Thomas's memoir, what a cracking read and insight into the man.I watched an interview on BBC 4 television from his old campus, with Q and As from students and I thought, "I need to know more about this man".Looking forward to finishing it and probably will look for more.

a well written, interesting, and enlightening book.

A thoroughly enjoyable account of the life of Justice Thomas. I found it fascinating to read of the prejudice he faced and the support he got as he progressed. I liked his honest discussion of the contrast between his thoughts in the past and his thoughts now, particularly with respect to his past political views and his opinions of his grandfather's method of raising children.Thomas comes across as a thoroughly likeable character of a non-partisan nature. Reading this book gives an idea of how rare these qualities can be in Washington among those who deal with racially-charged political issues. Towards the end of the book we are treated to a tense trip through the controversy that surrounded attempts to kill off his nomination to the Supreme Court using almost any means possible. Even though I knew the outcome of the nomination battle it was possible at times while reading to forget this, so involved did I become in the tension of the situation.All in all an inspiring memoir: short, to the point, and not full of dull political anecdotes.

I went out of my way to purchase this book the other day-- I usually buy everything from Amazon but didn't want to wait this time.I was not disappointed. Thomas' memoir is very good. Born into poverty, he's raised by his grandfather who taught him to take responsibility for himself and his future and to always be honest with himself and others. He succeeds at a time when few black people do despite facing many obstacles. However, with the support his grandfather had given him, he was able to succeed. It is interesting to note that while his grandfather was very moral and strict, he was also not very demonstrative and didn't offer praise freely. He didn't show pride when Thomas was accepted into Harvard or Yale and was disappointed that Thomas did not stay in Georgia to practice law. He missed his grandson's wedding and graduation. However, he still taught Thomas life lessons, and he was a wonderful and strong role model.I know the negative reviews here are from those who didn't read the book but just like to bring Politically Conservative authors' ratings down a notch. It's a nasty tactic, and completely unfair. But, it's typical, unfortunately. And, Clarence Thomas goes into this in his book. The liberals don't come out with intellectual debate, they begin a smear campaign. It's a shame, but that's been the M.O. of the Democratic Party for years. Justice Thomas pulls no punches here. He names names, too, which I completely appreciated. I didn't have much respect for Joe Biden before, but I have much less respect for him now. When I was growing up in Ohio, Howard Metzenbaum was well-liked. He sure pulled the wool over everyone's eyes because he's actually not a nice person at all.Towards the end of the book, Clarence Thomas finally talks about Anita Hill. What I read there was a real eye-opener. And, if you had any questions at all about her behavior you should buy this book. Clarence Thomas is able to substantiate his defense regarding her accusations by naming very many credible witnesses who found Anita's testimony and previous actions in the past unbelievable. Anita had no such credibility and was not able to prove her allegations.The life lesson Thomas wants to share with all of us is this: We are responsible for ourselves. We are responsible for our futures. We are NOT victims and we can create our own destiny. Martin Luther King's dream included a day when all people would be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. That's what Justice Thomas has tried to do and that's how he's tried to live. This is a wonderful book and one I would recommend to people of all ages. This is a timely story-- very motivating and a perfect example of the American Dream.

A great autobiography of a true and honest American, who's life story will inspire you. A book every young person should read. It is the true story of a man who started with very little, then after a lot hard work and perseverance, has become one of the wisest and most honorable persons to serve on our Supreme Court. History may show him to be one of the greatest Supreme Court Justices to ever serve in this land.For a good book of philosophy, I recommend Understanding: Train of Thought.

I loved this book. Not only did he have to face the horrific racism that occurred in the United States during his upbringing, he also he also had to contend with extreme discrimination from Liberals for being a black Conservative. To get through it all, he never saw himself as a victim, and kept pushing through at a cost of nearly being destroyed personally and professionally. 5 stars!

I like this book and find Clarence Thomas growing up with all the pains of life during the times when things were hard especially for the blacks...one heck of a great person. Everyone should read this book.

The book was in excellent condition , only thing it was covered in stickers ( on cover ) , at least six , & magic marker was used on cover as well to block out something . My concern of all these stickers were not only did they deface the overall appearance of the cover ( extremely difficult to remove , some could not be eliminated without damaging it further , that they were library labels ??? The book itself was in excellent condition .

Good but he came across at times as a ‘poor me’ person. Everyone, including...surprise, even white people suffer. He has done well.

Great insight into Clarence Thomas' life. It was not an easy struggle. I would have liked a lot more discussion of his judicial views as in general I don't agree with his decisions but I would like to understand them

Book arrived as ordered. Fascinating account of a life most interesting.

Not a great story

Great book, recommended

This is a very strong, good person; an amazing life.

For what it’s worth, I think the life of every American would be enriched by reading this book, regardless if they are a Democrat, Republican, or an Independent (like me). There is so much to be gained in this book—more than I ever expected to receive.I am embarrassed to admit that I didn't know about Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill until watching the Brett Kavanaugh hearings and hearing about "Clarence Thomas this" and "Anita Hill that," which, in turn, led me in curiosity to Youtube to watch what I could find of the Clarence Thomas hearings. I was a little girl when this all happened, so I had never so much as heard anyone talk about this case before. So when I saw Mr. Thomas give his speech for the first time, I was stunned. I got goosebumps when he called it a "high-tech lynching." He spoke with such heartfelt confidence and authority—I believed him.And then I watched Anita Hill. I instantly had compassion on her—relating with her in knowing how dirty men can be and how degrading and invasive it is to be talked to like that—and the belief I had in Clarence Thomas was quickly diminishing. That's why I read this book. I approached it knowing that no one (except Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill) will ever know exactly what happened, but the choice we, the people, have is to decide for ourselves what we believe the truth is. And nothing is more telling of the truth than the visible character of what a person is in their innermost core. That's why I wanted to get to know the character of this man, and judge this incident according to his character. Not that I think my judgment counts for anything—it certainly does not—the only judgment that really counts is God's, and only eternity will show who was telling the truth.Having previously known nothing about Clarence Thomas, I was so taken aback by his background. Not only did his poverty-stricken childhood surprise me, but what shocked me even more was his slow yet dramatic transformation from his politically radical and rebellious days in college to becoming the respectable Associate Justice of the Supreme Court that he is today. It caused a pause in me and allowed me to separate the Anita Hill case from the rest of his life. His journey from childhood to adulthood, and the way he conquered unfathomable obstacles, is inspiring, to say the least. For what he accomplished, what he overcame, what battles in his soul he had victory over, what he became—left me in silence. I haven’t faced a fraction of what this man has faced, so I don’t know if I will ever fully grasp the weightiness of his accomplishments, I just know that I respect him and admire his will to continue on, and I am proud to call him an American.As much as I have grown to respect Mr. Thomas after reading his book, I will admit that I didn’t quite feel that way half way through the book. He was very open about his struggles, about his alcohol abuse, about how he turned his back on God, and about how he left his wife and son, even though he swore he would never do to his son what his father did to him. It was in the midst of these trials going on in his personal life that Anita Hill claimed he sexually harassed her at work, and I found myself thinking (and telling my friends), “As much as his life was falling apart at that time, what would have stopped him from sexually harassing her!?” And then the further I read on in the book, the more I was troubled by my quickness to judge him, and I realized just how cynical I (and even other people in our society), have become of men, in general, today.Granted, it isn’t hard to be untrusting of men today, especially when it comes to sexual harassment—it is so commonplace and is something most women expect to deal with regularly, that it is too easy to think of all men, “of course he talks dirty to women.” But then that made me realize how many men, who are actually innocent of these charges, must get generalized and clumped in with all the guilty men. That’s not right, nor fair. And what will that do to our society if we keep running down the good men over and over again?This got me thinking of just how awful it would be if everyone was condemning you for sexual harassment, and you really were completely innocent. Could that be what Mr. Thomas was going through? Could it be that as much as his life may have been falling apart at that time, he still owned enough integrity and dignity to never stoop as low as sexually harassing a woman? The more I thought about it, the more I respected Mr. Thomas for not trying to paint himself in a good light in his book. I came to really appreciate his transparency of telling it as it is—telling us, complete strangers, about his alcohol abuse and divorce—knowing it would paint him in a bad light and stir up doubt in the mind of his readers.Well, I did see him in a bad light, and it definitely did stir up doubt in my mind about him, but it was upon further reading that I started to see a more complete picture of this man’s character—of his authenticity, truthfulness, and honesty, and of the redeeming power of forgiveness and grace in his life by the way he ended up becoming a good father to his son and a good husband to his second wife, as well as becoming sober and restoring his relationship with God. I felt ashamed that I was so quick to judge him, and it definitely caused me to keep a check on my cynicism of men (and careful to always keep my heart soft), realizing that the right and fair thing to do toward an accused man who says he is innocent, is to grant him the dignity, as a fellow human being, of the benefit of the doubt and to treat him as innocent until proven guilty.I also came to realize that even though it may seem justifiable for women to be cynical of men, it could really end up harming women in the long run. Cynicism can lead to resentment and hard bitterness, and bitterness can lead to outright hatred, and hatred is a dark and unhealthy place to be—it will sap all the good things in life out of you—the joy, the love, and the hope.So what does that mean for all the women who have been sexually abused by men? They matter, and my heart aches for them. Their innocence deserves continuous protection and justice. But being cynical or bitter or hateful toward men, or even unjustly condemning innocent men, will not help these hurting women, because what they need to find is something altogether different than that. They need to be made whole again and cherished, to be brought back to a place of honor and abiding value. That is how the Lord see’s them, and that is how we should always see them—doing all that we can to help them get to that place of restoration.Or what of the guilty men who were rightly and justly condemned then punished for the crimes and sins of sexual harassment or sexual abuse? I hope women’s desire is not for them to rot in jail, because they need help, as well. There is something dark, deranged, and dysfunctional within them that needs cleansing and restoring. They, too, need to be made whole.What really drove all of this home for me was an eerily similar circumstance that Mr. Thomas recounted in the following paragraph on pages 269-270 where he referenced the book "To Kill a Mockingbird" and made a correlation between Tom Robinson (who, although innocent, was condemned of rape simply because he was black), and himself: "I, too, took it for granted that nothing I could say, however eloquent or sincere, was capable of overcoming the evil assumptions in which my accusers had put their trust. I had lived my whole life knowing that Tom's fate might be mine. As a child I had been warned by Daddy that I could be picked up off the streets of Savannah and hauled off to jail or the chain gang for no reason other than that I was black...their point was the fear they instilled in southern blacks, a fear that had helped to keep segregation alive. My generation had sought to replace that fear with a rage that proved over time to be intoxicating, empowering, justifiable—and ultimately self-destructive. Yet we never forgot what it felt like to live in fear of the power of the mob. The mob I now faced carried no ropes or guns. Its weapons were smooth-tongued lies spoken into microphones and printed on the front pages of America's newspapers. It no longer sought to break the bodies of its victims. Instead it devastated their reputations and drained away their hope. But it was a mob all the same, and its purpose—to keep the black man in his place—was unchanged. Strip away the fancy talk and you were left with the same old story. You can't trust black men around women. This one may be a big-city judge with a law degree from Yale, but when you get right down to it, he's just like the rest of them. They all do that sort of thing whenever they get the chance, and no woman would ever lie about it. What does it matter that Anita Hill's story doesn't add up? Something must have happened. Case Closed."This left me speechless and caused me to put the book down and really think this through. Until I read this book, it never even occurred to me that Mr. Thomas would have lived his life with extreme caution in his treatment of women because of the damning stigma against black men. If ANYONE was careful to not be sexually inappropriate towards women (or even so much as APPEAR as being sexually inappropriate), especially in a prominent and public position as Chairman of the EEOC where all eyes are on you and your enemies are watching for one wrong move to take you down, it would have been Mr. Thomas.This brought flooding back to my mind writings from some of my favorite authors—Frederick Douglas, Carter G. Woodson, and Martin Luther King Jr., and we know all too well from them that over the centuries there have been untold thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of unjust accusations and condemning cases against black men—cases purposely made about sexual misconduct because it's a sure-fire win—simply because they were black and easy to exploit. But it just never occurred to me that this is exactly what Mr. Thomas has had to deal with his whole life. It broke my heart all over again to think of the injustices black men, who were innocent of the accusations brought against them, have had to face for centuries because of racism. They matter. And Mr. Thomas matters.Not only did Mr. Thomas have the stigma against men to deal with, but he also had the stigma against African-Americans working against him. My generation probably would have used the weapon of sexism against Mr. Thomas, but, nevertheless, in his time he had the bitter weapon of racism (as well as sexism) trying to beat him down. If anyone had a reason to be cynical, bitter, or hateful towards others, it was Mr. Thomas. And, yet, many times in his book he talked about how he found in his own life the crucial need to fight against the rage to hate others that was warring within him, and he encouraged his readers to also fight that rage warring within them. He did fight the rage—not the people—so if anyone had the victory, it was Mr. Thomas.It was this paragraph toward the end of the book that really solidified his viewpoint in life, one which I think we all would gain from if we truly took it to heart (on page 279): "Perhaps the fires through which I had passed would have a purifying effect on me, just as a blast furnace burns the impurities out of steel. I already knew that they had brought me closer to God, and I asked Him, as I had so many times before, to help me resist the temptation to hate those who had harmed me."Could there be any better thought to close this book with? To pray that we resist the temptation to hate those who harm us—wow, how desperately we need this today. That goes deeper than him telling us something cliché like “don’t hate.” In the wisdom of his age and experiences, he encourages us to fight the hate while it is still in its seed form, before it grows and takes over our life, because by fighting the temptation to hate, no matter how many times a day we must do it, will ensure that we never hate another human being. What other type of world would we want to live in, other than one like that?I have, indeed, learned a lot from this book—and I will forever be grateful to Mr. Thomas for writing it and bringing me through that journey and having a hand in teaching me these important lessons. I’ve decided what I believe of Mr. Thomas, and now it is up to you, the reader, to read this book and decide for yourself what you believe the truth is.

I knew who Clarence Thomas is, but like most Americans I had never heard of him before his Supreme Court confirmation hearing, and frankly I haven't heard much about him in the 27 years since he was confirmed. I knew he is considered a conservative on the court but other than that I really didn't know much about him.Recently while listening to talk radio I heard the host talking about Justice Thomas and mentioned that his book "My Grandfather's Son" is a great book that according to them everyone should read.Having just finished "The Memoirs of U. S. Grant" I was in the market for a new book so I gave it a shot.Outstanding is the only word that I can use to describe "My Grandfather's Son". Justice Thomas holds nothing back, he lays out his entire life for the reader. It is an amazing story. His path to the SCOTUS is remarkable in that his life up until his appointment by George H. W. Bush was more or less ordinary.Justice Thomas was an ordinary man with ordinary problems, like living pay check to pay check, cars breaking down at the worst time, relationship issues, and poverty. His story and his journey to the SCOTUS is extraordinary.The book is easily accessible and reads like a good novel with lots of great characters and compelling drama.After reading "My Grandfather's Son" I have to agree with the radio host. Everyone should read this book.

I am an African American woman who, like many people of color, had a perception of who we thought Clarence Thomas was based on what we I knew of him through the media and I was not particularly a fan. But recently, I happened upon an interview with Clarence Thomas on a cable channel when he was a guest of Duquense University. It was a fascinating Q & A from a sizeable audience and more fascinating to hear directly from Clarence Thomas, a man known to be one of few words. In listening to Mr. Thomas, I gained a whole new perspective and, quite honestly, a level of tremendous respect for him. During this interview, Mr. Thomas was asked about his memoir "My Grandfather's Son" and based on what I had heard during this interview, I wanted to immediately read the book. I appreciate having the chance to read this story and thank Mr. Thomas for writing it. He allowed me to see through his eyes, the story of a Black man in America. He made me better understand the difficult and sometimes unbearable struggle of Clarence Thomas........and many, many other Black men in America, regardless of their knowledge, intelligence, passion and natural attributes, all many time relegated to a level of non- existence. I was saddened by Clarence Thomas's story and the family issues that he struggled with, especially regarding his Grandfather. I gained so much respect for him as a person who dealt with an incredibly disrespecful and ugly battle waged against him on all levels, especially the humiliation he endured before Senate committees as part of his confirmation process and over again, and much more vicious, when Anita Hill came out with her story....just at confirmation time. You may not believe what Clarence Thomas believes, but I think this memoir tells a story of strength, endurance and a fight to be respected in a country that still, on many levels, thinks of Black people as "less than". This memoir tell a story that everyone should read.

There are many reasons to read this book about a remarkable black American who rose from a truly disadvantaged background, but I had put off reading it until I saw the disgraceful smear of Brett Kavanagh by corrupt Leftist politicians. Having been slandered myself, I am sensitive about such things. After reading Thomas's book, I was struck by the fact that the attacks on Kavanagh were nothing but a replay of the tactics used against Thomas.Both cases followed the same pattern:1) Hearings are concluded, but then...2) Woman sends letter with accusation to committee. 3) Accuser requests anonymity, but...4) Accuser is identified anyway. 6) Accuser claims to have passed a polygraph. 5) All witnesses offered as corroboration by accuser deny her allegations. 6) Someone on committee leaks accuser's letter to media. 7) Nominee and his family suffer terribly. 8) Nominee makes stirring denial and attacks the way the process has become a circus. 9) Nominee is confirmed by close vote.It is obvious that the politicians and hack lawyers who planned the Kavanagh smear were following a plan established during the Thomas smear.

I enjoyed reading this autobiography about Supreme Court Justice Thomas. He tells the story of his childhood, teenage years, college experiences, and what it was like for him to work for various law firms. He is very candid about the controversy that erupted when during the congressional approval hearings. Justice Clarence Thomas is known to be a quiet, conservative man, and in this autobiography he writes about many details about his life. This is a story about a man who was raised by a single mom and then by his grandparents in the US state of Georgia. As a child, money was very tight. However, he was able to complete a college education, become a lawyer, and a Supreme Court Justice.

It was an honor to read this book. Justice Thomas is a brilliant man who has the unusual ability to write and speak without entangling himself in legal jargon. There is such clarity and honesty, with deep intelligence shining throughout this book as he debunks the liberal rhetoric about the Welfare State; about how destructive it is to the integrity of those who are caught in the web of social welfare handouts, and the victimization of "the Poor," by the very people who purport to be "helping" them. This man should be President, except he is placed to do so much more for our nation by returning the Judiciary to its proper role in our government, requiring the Executive and Legislative Branches to take on their own, Constitutionally appointed roles.