Rumours of Jefferson's sexual involvement with his slave Sally Hemings have circulated for two centuries. In this text, the author sets out to intensify the debate, arguing not that the events necessarily took place, but that the evidence for their taking place has been denied a fair hearing.

Taken from the records of the Federal Writers' Project of the 1930s, these interviews with one-time Virginia slaves provide a clear window into what it was like to be enslaved in the antebellum American South.

An examination of why the immense violence and suffering in the 20th century failed to arouse artistic and cultural expressions powerful enough to prevent their recurrence. By looking at the whole span of the century's writing on war, it provides a critique of art's ethical limitations.