Force Of A Feather [Hardcover]

DeEtta Demaratus (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Adorning the cover of this book is a photograph of Bridget "Biddy" Mason (1818-1891), leading the reader to anticipate a biography of this remarkable African-American woman, who, as the slave of Robert and Rebecca Smith, made the 2,000-mile Mormon trek from Mississippi to the Salt Lake Valley and across the Mojave Desert to California; who, after a successful writ of habeas corpus (in 1856, a year before the Dred Scott decision), was declared "free forever"; who, as a free woman, moved from midwifery to real estate, accumulating a fortune estimated at $300,000; who was a founder of Los Angeles's first black church, donating the land on which it was built; and who was further distinguished during her lifetime for her charitable enterprises. Demaratus, an independent scholar in Seattle, feels "chosen to pursue" Mason's story, going in search of this woman who "blazed a path meteoric in its significance." Unfortunately, this book reads like a miscellany of information (such as how the papers of the judge who freed Mason found their way to the Bancroft library) marred by speculative flights into "might have, "may have" and "likely." Alternating with the informational chapters is an account of Demaratus's personal quest, which does not take on the weight she intends it to. There being no full-length biography, readers will be grateful for some of the raw material collected here, but the life of Biddy Mason remains to be written.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

While pursuing another writing project, Seattle author Demaratus discovered the life story of Biddy Mason, a former slave who became a wealthy property owner and philanthropist. Unsatisfied with the details of Mason's life as documented at a Los Angeles exhibit, Demaratus began this retelling of Mason's story. Mason's biography turns out also to be inextricably linked to the story of her owner, Robert M. Smith, and his family, Southerners who converted to Mormonism and in 1848 migrated from Mississippi to California with their fellow church members and slaves. In California, a writ of habeas corpus was filed against Smith when he decided to move his family and slaves from California, a nonslaveholding state, to Texas, a slaveholding state. Benjamin Hayes, the judge who presided over the high-profile trial that followed, also figures prominently in the narrative, as do several episodes of author Demaratus's personal life. The result is an unharmonious combination of personal narrative and historiography littered with sentimentalism and unsubstantiated analysis. Mason, Smith, and Hayes deserve a more objective and credible telling of the events that caused their lives to intersect. Suitable for California and Mormon history collections. Sherri Barnes, Univ. of California at Santa Barbara Lib.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 235 pages
• Publisher: University of Utah Press; First Edition edition (March 14, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087480714X
• ISBN-13: 978-0874807141
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,612,787 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beg to differ..., April 25, 2002

By 

Richard Saunders (Univ. Tennessee at Martin Library) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Force Of A Feather (Hardcover)

As both a professional librarian and practicing historian and biographer, I understand the sentiments of reviewers expecting one sort of book but unexpectedly finding another. Personally I am delighted that an author finally has the gumption to meaningfully address their role and biases toward their subject. There is no sanctimonius false objectivity here. The author is subjective and tells you so, yet it is one of the fairest books I have read. While readers who expect fact will find it in Demaratus's book, this more accurately described as a biography of emotions. It is a book about every character confronting themselves over an intensely emotional subject. Compare, for instance, the stories she includes of her experiences with Brenda and the man she calls Sam C. Ultimately, that theme binds together what otherwise could be an important but intensely impersonal narrative. Demaratus suceeds, in my opinion, in treating life--with its chance, missed opportunities, short-sightedness, and subjectivity--historically. This is tough. Slaves typically left little documentary material of their own and the case of Biddy Mason is no exception, so like Ladurie's "Montaillou" the author approaches her subject from a tangential documentary angle; in this case based upon material specifically for and about Biddy's owner, Robert Smith. I found one of the book's greatest strengths to be the author's acknowledgement of how this habeus corpus case affected not merely the plaintiff and defendant, but also the judge and herself. This book not only lays out but also wrestles with the first-hand issue of slavery: what was it like to be owned, and how did ownership affect people on both sides? I was not bothered by the "what ifs" because she stated them clearly and hung to the facts and sources well (and yes, I did check notes). The result is a book that is interesting without sacrificing academic integrity, emotional without being maudlin, and anything but stuffy. I highly recommend it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Many Forces Culminate in Powerful "Feather", April 17, 2002

By 

R OMeara (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Force Of A Feather (Hardcover)

As a resident of Los Angeles, I purchased THE FORCE OF A FEATHER anticipating a biography of Biddy Mason, one of this city's early important religious/cultural figures. Before finishing the introduction, entitled "Coming to the Wall," I sensed that this book would be something else, itself quite apart from a standard biography.

A meticulously researched work (along with vibrant illustrations), author Demaratus has managed to unearth the stories of some little known (and a few famous) Americans -- including Biddy Mason -- whose lives, by the mere forces of chance and fate, were to intersect during one of the most dramatic and fascinating periods of U.S. history (the years of Westward expansion leading up to the Civil War). Lives of free people and slaves, white and black, all of whom stood on the threshold of a defining historical moment, confronting hardship, brutality, adventure, loss and the fierce inevitability of change.

Biddy Mason was an astonishing woman by any measurement and the force of her life would resonate farther than she could have ever imagined. And this is exactly where this unique book makes a precarious, yet carefully and perfectly pitched, departure. For it is the author's own story -- her own inspiration to write and her arduous process to complete this work -- that is woven into the narrative, breathing both immediacy and an extraordinary sense of intimacy into "a search for a lost story of slavery and freedom." It's a daring literary choice, and one that I found to be both moving and gratifying.

It occurred to me more than once, while reading this book, that the progressive, embracing, non-judgmental style of the author might be a source of complaint for some. But Demaratus seems too respectful of her subjects to draw conclusions without fact, and is content on occasion -- and asks the reader as well -- to ponder what "might have been." As for the risks she took to tell this story, as well as her willingness to question her own conflicted personal beliefs, it only deepened my impression of this book as well as my sense for the author's integrity.

As for the other posted review, I can only surmise that the critic wanted Demaratus to write a different book that she did. But I don't think it is the critic's job to tell the artist what to create - only to assess and analyze what has been created. If the reviewer simply wants a biography of Mason, then I suggest the critic turn writer and get busy constructing it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting, April 29, 2002

By 

Patsy Stevens (MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Force Of A Feather (Hardcover)

This is a very thought provoking book for anyone interested in southern history and especially for us with a genealogical interest of our "Deep Southern Roots". Since my husband descends from Robert Mays Smith, the book is a necessity in my "Genealogy Library"!