The Invisibles: The Untold Story of African American Slaves in the White House Paperback – September 1, 2017

This book is amazing! Though not a fictional book, this author bought the Whitehouse African American slaves, presidents, their wives, and the media from that time alive. It is clear to me, that some of these early presidents of, "the freest place in the world" were fully aware of the wrongness of slavery and attempted to treat their slaves well. But most only freed them after their death and their wives sometimes, when they didn't need them any more. Kudos to the slaves that while owned by a master, managed to feel they had a purpose they full filled! This book while full of facts, still manages to touch your heart.

Great overview of slavery conducted in the White House. Early U.S. Presidents brought slaves they owned with them to serve them in the White House, and this practice continued until slavery was outlawed. This was true of both publicly anti- and pro- slavery presidents. Interesting and little known history was very well researched and presented. This book is a definite contrast to the stated beliefs of the writers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and may be a surprise to some readers.

Besides the stories of presidential slavery, the historical report of our nation's growth and the part of African Americans in it was an affirmation that our country has ALWAYS been multi-racial, much earlier than southern plantation history. Great read!

I don't remember where I heard about this book, but I was excited to hear about it. The book is a pretty quick read, I managed to knock it out over the course of a couple of days. I do appreciate this book as it attempts to present an oft-unheard facet of U.S. history. I do not agree that everything in the book was "untold." While some of the information was new, a lot of it was a condensed version of narratives which could be found elsewhere.The book was also lacking in the sort of academic rigor that one may expect from a history book. The bibliography was scant and there were virtually no citations. It's impossible to reference his sources or verify that the information presented is even correct. This was perhaps the most problematic part of the book for me. Sometimes, the author would say where the quotes came from, a newspaper article, or letter, etc. Most commonly though, quotes were inserted into the text with no means of knowing where they were sourced. Similarly, the author would often use phrases such as "it is thought that" or "some researchers say." Who thinks that? What researchers say that?There was little to tie each chapter together. While interesting on their own, the book read more as a series of stories or essays with no relation to one another. It would have been nice to see the author weave a common theme through the chapters so that they were cohesive and complementary to one another. Therein lies a big issue with the book. What was the author's argument? Did he have an argument? I hate to be so constructive in my criticism, but a history book needs some thesis. What is the author's claim? How will he prove the claim? What source material will he draw from?Lastly, I wasn't too impressed with the prose. Many times, it was difficult to know whom or what the author was speaking about. Pronoun references were confusing at times, and I was forced to read sentences or paragraphs a few times before I could figure out what the author was trying to present. It was a little surprising, given the author's background in nonfiction writing.Now, all of that said, this is a great book as it does present information that is often overlooked in the story of the U.S.A. As a student of history, much of the information in the book wasn't new, so much as an amalgam of other histories in one place. For people who aren't history nerds, this book will provide a lot of new information relating to slavery in the United States. The sheer dearth of narratives dedicated to slaves as individuals, as human beings, means that even with its few shortcomings, The Invisibles serves an important purpose in providing context to a complicated time in the nation's history, and the complicated men who led from its founding.

The prejudice of the pass must be known to understand how it is engrained into our society today. This is the way to a truly free and accepting environment for all. All men are created equal. All men have prejudice. It must be understood to be overcome. Denial of prejudice only holds it below the surface waiting for the opportunity to erupt.The Invisibles does an excellent job of educating us on the prejudice of the past. Knowledge that will provide a path to better understanding and a better society.

I felt that the author did a good job of writing on a topic in which there is probably little information. He did some digging to come up with the information he wrote about. I appreciated the fact that the author was simply wrote history without grinding some ax, although he strongly made his point, and one that should be made, that is, unknown, unnamed slaves played a major role in the formation of our country.As I read I wondered about the inner turmoil, and the mental and moral acrobatics some of the early presidents must have used to justify their actions. On the one hand they spoke for, and fought for freedom and the rights of people, but totally disregarded the rights and feelings of the people that served them. For example, the personal slave of James Madison promised to be free at Madison's death, only to be sold by Dolly because she needed money. How could you live with yourself after doing that, unless if you view that person as not a truly a person. Or, another example is John Tyler's bad treatment of his personal slave who actually was the half-brother of Tyler's wife. What a weird household that must have been.Overall it was a very interesting book.

Well researched and engaging read! Thanks for the history lesson and for a more thorough understanding of the country in which I have privilege because of the color of my skin

Enjoyed the history of how blind and oblivious we are to more accurate and factual history of America. While much good is there the fact remains that slavery in any form is wrong as we are all equal as human beings.

my husband likes it very much

This book is more about a history of slavery in general, with a lot of speculative facts vs real information surrounded around the more well known slaves throughout american history. Its not a book about the White house, their experiences, or what happened in the White house while there were slaves. I was disappointed with the read