AMERICAN TAPESTRY The Story of the Black, White, and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama

The narrator is well chosen for this personal, historical, and national overview of race in America. Claudia Alick delivers the history of First Lady Michelle Obama's family with feeling. Alick also keeps pace with the big picture of American history as told against the contrast of a slave ancestor's upbringing. Alick varies her delivery so that the personal moments are told with sensitivity while maintaining a crisp efficiency in recounting other details relevant to modern life. Her warm tone draws the listener into this complex, well-researched story of how one woman's roots encapsulate the history of a nation. Alick unfolds these events, past and present, as though they were happening to members of one’s own family. M.R. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2012]