Thomas Jefferson

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More About This Book

Overview


Thomas Jefferson designed his own tombstone, describing himself simply as "Author of the Declaration of Independence and of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia." It is in this simple epitaph that R.B. Bernstein finds the key to this enigmatic Founder--not as a great political figure, but as leader of "a revolution of ideas that would make the world over again."
In Thomas Jefferson, Bernstein offers the definitive short biography of this revered American--the first concise life in six decades. Bernstein deftly synthesizes the massive scholarship on his subject into a swift, insightful, evenhanded account. Here are all of Jefferson's triumphs, contradictions, and failings, from his luxurious (and debt-burdened) life as a Virginia gentleman to his passionate belief in democracy, from his tortured defense of slavery to his relationship with Sally Hemings. Jefferson was indeed multifaceted--an architect, inventor, writer, diplomat, propagandist, planter, party leader--and Bernstein explores all these roles even as he illuminates Jefferson's central place in the American enlightenment, that "revolution of ideas" that did so much to create the nation we know today. Together with the less well-remembered points in Jefferson's thinking--the nature of the Union, his vision of who was entitled to citizenship, his dread of debt (both personal and national)--they form the heart of this lively biography.
In this marvel of compression and comprehension, we see Jefferson more clearly than in the massive studies of earlier generations. More important, we see, in Jefferson's visionary ideas, the birth of the nation's grand sense of purpose.

Editorial Reviews

The New York Times
It is authoritative, judicious, clearly written and remarkably complete for a text that covers fewer than 200 pages. It is the best short biography of Jefferson ever written, and is highly recommended for those who want a brief and historically reliable account of this incredibly complicated character. — Gordon S. Wood
Publishers Weekly
And still they come, these biographies of Thomas Jefferson-so many, in fact, that it's sometimes hard to tell them apart. But not this one. Veteran historian Bernstein (Amending America, etc.) pulls off a remarkable feat: he writes of Jefferson and his "ambiguous legacies" with utter serenity, detachment and balance. He takes no sides and offers no particular arguments about the man. Instead, in prose of the utmost directness and clarity, Bernstein simply lays out the great founder's life in all its complexities, achievements and, at the end, ruin-by which he means not only Jefferson's late-life financial plight but also his sad conviction that a new generation had become unfaithful to "his" Revolution. The acid test these days for partisan or skeptical biographers of Jefferson is how to present his relationship with his slave Sally Hemings. In a characteristic example of his evenhandedness, Bernstein treats the controversy in a concise summary, then tells us what is now known of the relationship and what cannot yet be determined. One comes to trust the author as a guide, not a polemicist. In fact, it's precisely because Bernstein reveals nothing new and argues not at all that anyone wanting to brush up on Jefferson's life or gain exposure to the latest findings about it will find this book of huge value. It will be most valuable to those seeking an introduction to Jefferson's life and achievements. There's little doubt that the book will become the standard brief one-volume biography of someone who was "the leading spokesman for the revolution of ideas that changed... the face of America and the world." (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
Library Journal
Two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee Bernstein (law, NYU; Are We To Be a Nation?) has produced a readable biography of a leading figure of the young American nation. He effectively weaves together information on Jefferson's planter background, emergence as a leading thinker of the Independence era, ongoing struggle to balance his personal life with public responsibility as his nation emerged, and eventual service as the third President. The author is especially adept at placing Jefferson's accomplishments in context without oversimplifying them, which in a book only 250 pages long and aimed primarily at general readers is an impressive feat. If any significant problem can be found, it lies with Bernstein's desire to squeeze too much of his subject's prodigious scholarship into his own pages. Nonetheless, this work is recommended particularly for public libraries and other general collections. [Bernstein's is by no means the last word on the Sage of Monticello this season, with Michael Knox Beran's Jefferson's Demons (Free Pr., Oct.) and Garry Wills's "Negro President" (Houghton, Nov.) still to come.-Ed.]-Charles K. Piehl, Minnesota State Univ., Mankato Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780195181302
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press
  • Publication date: 9/15/2005
  • Edition description: Reprint
  • Pages: 288
  • Sales rank: 100,244
  • Product dimensions: 7.90 (w) x 5.30 (h) x 0.60 (d)

Meet the Author

R. B. Bernstein is Adjunct Professor of Law at the New York Law School and director of online operations at Heights Books, Inc. The author or editor of eighteen books on American constitutional history, including Are We to Be a Nation? and Amending America (both nominees for the Pulitzer, Bancroft, and Parkman Prizes), he lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix
1 A Young Gentleman of Virginia (1743-1774) 1
2 "We hold these truths ..." (1763-1776) 15
3 The Hard Work of Revolution (1776-1784) 36
4 "Behold me at length on the vaunted scene of Europe!" (1784-1789) 55
5 "The parties styled republican and federal" (1789-1793) 81
6 Touching Earth (1794-1797) 105
7 "The reign of witches" (1797-1801) 117
8 "We are all republicans, we are all federalists" (1801-1805) 135
9 "A splendid misery" (1805-1809) 158
10 Enthusiasm and Anguish (1809-1826) 170
Epilogue: "Take care of me when dead..." 191
Notes 199
Chronology 229
Bibliographical Essay 235
Index 244

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3.5
( 26 )

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 26 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 6, 2003

    Want to know Jefferson? Read this first.

    THOMAS JEFFERSON is an impressive accomplishment. Bernstein's masterly grasp of our third president's life and legacy allows him to peel back Jefferson's accomplishments and ambiguities layer by layer, while respecting the essential mystery at the core of his being. Generalists will hail this thorough and concise account of this multifaceted individual. Historians will appreciate Bernstein's meticulous use of source materials, his thorough familiarity with the latest scholarship, and his professional detatchment (unlike so many, this author does not obscure Jefferson with his own agenda, preferring to let his sources speak). As a wordsmith as well as an historian, I particularly relished how this book elicits one of America's greatest writers in language both incisive and elegant.

    10 out of 10 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 27, 2009

    Good for historical, biographical readers.

    Interesting facts and history regarding a great man that helped America to become a great nation.

    4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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