New Book Debunks Jefferson-Slave DNA Match

Jan. 21, 2011 - PRLog -- "In Defense Of Thomas Jefferson" (ISBN: 978-0-312-56100-0), has just been published by St. Martins Press and concerns the major historical controversy surrounding Mr. Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemings. "In Defense" definitively destroys the cultural myth that Jefferson had any relationship with Ms. Hemings.

The belief that Thomas Jefferson had an affair and fathered a child (or children) with slave Sally Hemings -- and that such an allegation was proven by DNA testing -- has become so pervasive in American popular culture that it is not only widely accepted but taught to students as historical fact. In this startling and revelatory argument, William G. Hyland Jr. shows not only that the evidence against Jefferson is lacking, but that in fact he is entirely innocent of the charge of having sexual relations with Hemings.

A "thorough survey of the scholarly and scientific literature ... Mr. Hyland, a lawyer, presents the historical record carefully and, closer to our day, provides marvelous details of the scholarly empire-building and grantsmanship that go into making 'fact' out of limited evidence -- in this case and others. By the end of 'In Defense of Thomas Jefferson,' it is hard not to conclude that, given the revisionist impulses of American historians today, Jefferson should have put pen to paper after all," says Thomas Lipscomb, The Wall Street Journal.

Available now wherever books are sold. To order, call 1-888-330-8477. "In Defense Of Thomas Jefferson: The Sally Hemings Sex Scandal" by William G. Hyland Jr., in hardcover; $26.95; ISBN-10: 0-312-56100-8; ISBN-13: 978-0-312-56100-0.

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William G. Hyland Jr. is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Stetson University College of Law and practicing trial lawyer. He is the published author of IN DEFENSE OF THOMAS JEFFERSON (St. Martins, 2009) and has over twenty-seven years of appellate, complex civil and criminal litigation experience. Hyland is a former prosecutor, whose law firm serves as in house counsel to Travelers Insurance Company. Mr. Hyland is licensed to practice in the District of Columbia, Florida, Alabama, and Colorado; the U.S. Supreme Court; the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals; and the U.S. District Court for the Middle and Southern Districts of Florida. Before Law School, His publications and book reviews have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard and The Huffington Post. His published law review articles include, A Civil Action: Hemings v. Jefferson, 31 AM. J. TRIAL ADVOC. (Summer, 2007); and Creative Malpractice: The Cinematic Lawyer, 9 TEX. R. ENT. & SPORTS LAW (Spring, 2008),