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Tomlinson Hill: The Remarkable Story of Two Families who Share the Tomlinson Name - One White, One Black Hardcover – July 22, 2014
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Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
An award-winning foreign correspondent for the Associated Press, Tomlinson turns his journalist’s acute eye on his own family background to present an unflinching look at the racial history of one small Texas community, from the days leading up to the Civil War, through the civil rights movement, to the present day. In telling his own story, however, Tomlinson must also tell that of the black families who, by accident of ownership, not birth, share his name. His was a family of slaveholders, and the descendant of one of those slaves is his contemporary, NFL legend LaDainian Tomlinson. Both men grew up mired in the mythology of their families’ legacy, one that correspondent Tomlinson portrays as a racist, misogynistic hotbed, and one that athlete Tomlinson works hard to leave behind. Through his meticulous research into not only his ancestors’ but also America’s past, Tomlinson sets his and LaDainian’s very personal narratives within the larger scope of national events, from Reconstruction to life in the Jim Crow South to today. --Carol Haggas
Review
Chris Tomlinson takes us on a detailed journey into these parallel family histories, but along the way he revisits a Texas few of us want to remember, even as its legacy continues to cast a shadow over our future. Written in an unsparing AP style that allows many of the principals to speak for themselves, Tomlinson Hill offers what Texas may well need now more than ever: a thoughtful, brutally honest conversation about race. -- Michael Ennis, Texas Monthly
“From the Hemingses of Monticello to the Tomlinsons of Tomlinson Hill, family in America has never been as easily defined as the color line of slavery and Jim Crow pretended. Sometimes it takes a reporter to sort out the truth. In the case of Tomlinson Hill, that reporter is one of the best of his generation, and in unraveling the poignant, often painful mystery of his family and those they once owned, Chris Tomlinson applies the same journalistic standards he once brought to the battlefields of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The resulting reconciliation is as moving as it is inspiring.” —Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University
“A personal, unvarnished look at race in America.”—Mark K. Updegrove, presidential historian and author of Baptism By Fire
“A complex story, at times stark but with moments of hope, that offers insights into American race relations.”—Alwyn Barr, author of Black Texans
“A personal, unvarnished look at race in America.”—Mark K. Updegrove, presidential historian and author of Baptism By Fire
“A complex story, at times stark but with moments of hope, that offers insights into American race relations.”—Alwyn Barr, author of Black Texans
“A remarkable and essential book of personal and national history, a profound reckoning with the infinite tangles of race and identity along the roots and branches of the American family tree. It is a quietly epic story—spanning centuries—masterfully reconstructed, and memorably told...” —Philip Gourevitch, author of The Ballad of Abu Ghraib
“This book is a rewarding reminder of how a seemingly unremarkable place can be a laboratory for understanding the conflicts at the heart of our national identity. Chris Tomlinson has drilled deep into Tomlinson Hill, and released a gusher of history.” —Stephen Harrigan, author of The Gates of the Alamo
“The author offers not only a detailed history of two families brought together by circumstances greater than themselves; he also opens an honest conversation necessary to begin healing the centuries-old racial rifts that have marred American history…Cleareyed and courageously revealing.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Fast-paced…spellbinding…Tomlinson not only offers an engaging and poignant look into his own past but also a riveting glimpse of the history of race relations in Texas.” —Publishers Weekly
“…an unflinching look at the racial history of one small Texas community…through his meticulous research into not only his ancestors’ but also America’s past, Tomlinson sets his and LaDainian’s very personal narratives within the larger scope of national events…” —Booklist
More About the Author
Chris Tomlinson is the business columnist for the Houston Chronicle, focusing on energy, business and policy. Until April 2014, he was the supervisory correspondent for The Associated Press in Austin, responsible for state government and political reporting in Texas.
From 2007-2009, he was an international investigative reporter for the AP working in Iraq, Austin and Washington DC. He served as the AP's East Africa bureau chief in Nairobi, Kenya from 2004 to 2007 and was responsible for text, photo and television coverage from14 countries. He was appointed East Africa correspondent in 2000 and before that served two years as an international editor at AP's headquarters in New York from 1998-2000. He started with the AP in 1995 as the Central Africa correspondent based in Rwanda. Tomlinson covered the 1994 elections that ended Apartheid in South Africa for Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper.
Shortly after the 9/11 terror attacks, the AP assigned Tomlinson to work from the USS Theodore Roosevelt air craft carrier and later to cover operations in Afghanistan, including the Battle of Tora Bora. During the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the AP chose Tomlinson as their lead embedded reporter and he has spent two years in Iraq since then. Tomlinson has also reported from conflicts in Uganda, Burundi, Congo, Sudan and Somalia. Before becoming a journalist, he spent seven years in the U.S. Army. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1992 with special honours in humanities.
He was awarded the Military Reporters and Editors Association award for distinguished reporting and the Associated Press Managing Editors runner-up award for international feature writing for his work in Iraq. He received the New York Association of Black Journalists award for international reporting for his work from Africa. While based in Minneapolis, he won the AP staffer of the year award in 1997. The AP has nominated his international reporting for the Pulitzer Prize twice for Iraq and reporting on the 2004 tsunami from India.
From 2007-2009, he was an international investigative reporter for the AP working in Iraq, Austin and Washington DC. He served as the AP's East Africa bureau chief in Nairobi, Kenya from 2004 to 2007 and was responsible for text, photo and television coverage from14 countries. He was appointed East Africa correspondent in 2000 and before that served two years as an international editor at AP's headquarters in New York from 1998-2000. He started with the AP in 1995 as the Central Africa correspondent based in Rwanda. Tomlinson covered the 1994 elections that ended Apartheid in South Africa for Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper.
Shortly after the 9/11 terror attacks, the AP assigned Tomlinson to work from the USS Theodore Roosevelt air craft carrier and later to cover operations in Afghanistan, including the Battle of Tora Bora. During the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the AP chose Tomlinson as their lead embedded reporter and he has spent two years in Iraq since then. Tomlinson has also reported from conflicts in Uganda, Burundi, Congo, Sudan and Somalia. Before becoming a journalist, he spent seven years in the U.S. Army. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1992 with special honours in humanities.
He was awarded the Military Reporters and Editors Association award for distinguished reporting and the Associated Press Managing Editors runner-up award for international feature writing for his work in Iraq. He received the New York Association of Black Journalists award for international reporting for his work from Africa. While based in Minneapolis, he won the AP staffer of the year award in 1997. The AP has nominated his international reporting for the Pulitzer Prize twice for Iraq and reporting on the 2004 tsunami from India.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 31 people found the following review helpful
By
axel48
on July 22, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
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What Chris Tomlinson has accomplished is nothing short of remarkable. It may be unprecedented. This account is of two families whose experience of the American Dream is radically different. The reconciliation that follows is not only heart-rending, it is a model of how we as a people need to think about our nation's history.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
By
George C. Moore
on July 26, 2014
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This is a journalists attempt to understand the past of his family and it's relationship to the slaves it "owned". It starts from the author's experience of covering racial and ethnic strife in Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan for the AP. From that and other experiences, he rightly concluded that such wars create immense suffering for no rational reason, except to enrich the political leaders who incite the conflicts. This book is an attempt to mitigate his family's prior behavior through the equivalent of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Councils. The prose is clear, moves you along, and tells the story vividly.
The author's views on racial strife were/are certainly accurate reflections of America where:
- The Civil War was incited by political elites in the American South to protect their investment in the slave economy, and/or poor white privilege compared to blacks.
- Myths of the noble south were created and systematically taught to allow southern whites to deny the wrongs of slavery.
- Share cropping, Jim Crow laws, segregation, and vigilante groups were used to perpetuate economic servitude by blacks after slavery (slavery by other means, throughout the US, not just the South).
- White privilege persists.
The author learned myths of his noble southern family as a child, and was initially blind to the effects of segregation on blacks, but as he experienced similar struggles overseas, he was able to see his family's history in a new light. The sections on recent history are strong in documenting the effects this history continues to have today.
The book presents information from three threads:
- The general history of the places his family lived: primarily the area around Marlin Texas, Waco, DFW and Texas generally.Read more ›
The author's views on racial strife were/are certainly accurate reflections of America where:
- The Civil War was incited by political elites in the American South to protect their investment in the slave economy, and/or poor white privilege compared to blacks.
- Myths of the noble south were created and systematically taught to allow southern whites to deny the wrongs of slavery.
- Share cropping, Jim Crow laws, segregation, and vigilante groups were used to perpetuate economic servitude by blacks after slavery (slavery by other means, throughout the US, not just the South).
- White privilege persists.
The author learned myths of his noble southern family as a child, and was initially blind to the effects of segregation on blacks, but as he experienced similar struggles overseas, he was able to see his family's history in a new light. The sections on recent history are strong in documenting the effects this history continues to have today.
The book presents information from three threads:
- The general history of the places his family lived: primarily the area around Marlin Texas, Waco, DFW and Texas generally.Read more ›
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By
Bob Hillier
on August 2, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
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Chris Tomlinson covers almost two centuries of Texas and human history in "The Remarkable Story of Two Families who Share the Tomlinson Name - One White, One Black." He mines an immense variety of documents to provide objective history. He also mines his own subjective life story and the stories of the slave-descended family that also has had the Tomlinson name. From his experiences as a reporter in Africa and the Middle East, he develops a theory of the connections between power and bigotry and on the need for truth as a basis for any reconciliation. This is needed to end the mythology that the powerful use to justify or ignore exploitation of others.
The writing ranges from precise presentation of history to narratives of the lives of white and black Tomlinsons. It interweaves among historical chapters and narrative chapters from several perspectives. Tomlinson's writing is consistently compelling.
I personally relate to his epilogue in which he faces honestly white privilege, something that people claiming that "we are now post-racial" deny. As a fit, clean-cut, old white man, I can pretty much go anywhere and not be questioned. During a morning run in Waikiki, if I need to use a bathroom, I can go into any hotel lobby and find the men's room and no one questions me. On the rare instances that I have been stopped (and with reason) for sliding through a stop sign or driving over the speed limit, the officer always has treated me with dignity and often let me by with a courtesy citation. Tomlinson convincingly shares that the privilege that he and I take for granted is not a shared experience for most people of color.
Finally, I do not usually take the time to review books that I read. However, "The Remarkable Story of Two Families who Share the Tomlinson Name - One White, One Black" so moved me that I want to share my own perspective of this outstanding book.
The writing ranges from precise presentation of history to narratives of the lives of white and black Tomlinsons. It interweaves among historical chapters and narrative chapters from several perspectives. Tomlinson's writing is consistently compelling.
I personally relate to his epilogue in which he faces honestly white privilege, something that people claiming that "we are now post-racial" deny. As a fit, clean-cut, old white man, I can pretty much go anywhere and not be questioned. During a morning run in Waikiki, if I need to use a bathroom, I can go into any hotel lobby and find the men's room and no one questions me. On the rare instances that I have been stopped (and with reason) for sliding through a stop sign or driving over the speed limit, the officer always has treated me with dignity and often let me by with a courtesy citation. Tomlinson convincingly shares that the privilege that he and I take for granted is not a shared experience for most people of color.
Finally, I do not usually take the time to review books that I read. However, "The Remarkable Story of Two Families who Share the Tomlinson Name - One White, One Black" so moved me that I want to share my own perspective of this outstanding book.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By
Sandra Fry
on July 27, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
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Chris Tomlinson's frank and incisive discussion of race and racism in America is a welcome addition to our national discussion.
His identification of a human tendency to seek superiority by defining others as inferior represents an opportunity for us to admit an ugly truth about ourselves, and to contemplate change. The description of micro aggressions - subtle ways of putting others in their subordinate place - provides a hint of behavior to watch for in ourselves. We are better off as a nation as we accept the truth about ourselves and our past, and seek to be transformed.
Chauncey S. Nealy, D. Min.
His identification of a human tendency to seek superiority by defining others as inferior represents an opportunity for us to admit an ugly truth about ourselves, and to contemplate change. The description of micro aggressions - subtle ways of putting others in their subordinate place - provides a hint of behavior to watch for in ourselves. We are better off as a nation as we accept the truth about ourselves and our past, and seek to be transformed.
Chauncey S. Nealy, D. Min.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By
Cyrus Webb
TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on August 4, 2014
Format: Hardcover
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We've heard that home is where the heart is, but for some home may not have the same connotation that it has for others.
In TOMLINSON HILL award-winning reporter (and now New York Times bestselling author) Chrils Tomlinson allows us into the story of his own family---and in doing so allows us to better understand more of our own.
The book takes us into the lives of the Tomlinsons--- two families of two races---that share a name but are living in a time where life is definitely different for them. Using his skills as a journalist Tomlinson draws you into the history of not just his family but the state that they called home. The good and bad, ups and downs are chronicled in such a way that you are able to better understand not just the fears of a group of people but the frustration of others, too. We are able to also see Chris Tomlinson---a boy who grew up with mixed messages both at home and at school, yet was open enough to realize for himself what was right and wrong. Something that would serve him well in his adult years as he tried to make sense of it all.
The book is a fascinating look at not just where the country many of us call home has come from but the work that still remains ahead. By letting us see his own family's truth, Chris Tomlinson opens up the opportunity for meaningful conversations to be had by all.
In TOMLINSON HILL award-winning reporter (and now New York Times bestselling author) Chrils Tomlinson allows us into the story of his own family---and in doing so allows us to better understand more of our own.
The book takes us into the lives of the Tomlinsons--- two families of two races---that share a name but are living in a time where life is definitely different for them. Using his skills as a journalist Tomlinson draws you into the history of not just his family but the state that they called home. The good and bad, ups and downs are chronicled in such a way that you are able to better understand not just the fears of a group of people but the frustration of others, too. We are able to also see Chris Tomlinson---a boy who grew up with mixed messages both at home and at school, yet was open enough to realize for himself what was right and wrong. Something that would serve him well in his adult years as he tried to make sense of it all.
The book is a fascinating look at not just where the country many of us call home has come from but the work that still remains ahead. By letting us see his own family's truth, Chris Tomlinson opens up the opportunity for meaningful conversations to be had by all.
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