Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty

by John B. Boles

Overview

From an eminent scholar of the American South, the first full-scale biography of Thomas Jefferson since 1970

Not since Merrill Peterson's Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation has a scholar attempted to write a comprehensive biography of the most complex Founding Father. In Jefferson, John B. Boles plumbs every facet of Thomas Jefferson's life, all while situating him amid the sweeping upheaval of his times. We meet Jefferson the politician and political thinker — as well as Jefferson the architect, scientist, bibliophile, paleontologist, musician, and gourmet. We witness him drafting of the Declaration of Independence, negotiating the Louisiana Purchase, and inventing a politics that emphasized the states over the federal government — a political philosophy that shapes our national life to this day.

Boles offers new insight into Jefferson's actions and thinking on race. His Jefferson is not a hypocrite, but a tragic figure — a man who could not hold simultaneously to his views on abolition, democracy, and patriarchal responsibility. Yet despite his flaws, Jefferson's ideas would outlive him and make him into nothing less than the architect of American liberty.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465094684
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	04/25/2017
Pages:	640
Sales rank:	401,768
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.50(h) x 2.10(d)

About the Author

John B. Boles is the William P. Hobby Professor of History at Rice University and the former editor of the Journal of Southern History. He lives in Houston, Texas.

Editorial Reviews

03/13/2017
In a narrative as majestic as its subject, Boles (University Builder), professor of history at Rice University, takes a fresh, nuanced look at one of the America’s most enigmatic founding fathers. With scads of books already available about Jefferson, Boles’s work distinguishes itself in two ways. First, it’s a “full-scale” biography, covering all facets of Jefferson’s life: politician, oenophile, father. The prose moves smoothly and efficiently among the various parts of Jefferson’s life, lingering only long enough to get each particular story told. Boles judiciously selects events that highlight his subject’s personality. For instance, when Jefferson stepped down as governor of Virginia in 1781, the state assembly launched an inquiry into how effectively he’d served in office. The charge cut him so deeply that he turned down the chance to negotiate the Paris Peace Treaty so he could defend himself. Second, Boles declined to apply 21st-century sensibilities to Jefferson’s life: “Instead, we should try to understand the constraints—legal, financial, personal, intellectual—under which he lived.” Boles, an accomplished scholar well versed in the source material, deftly paints a picture of the world as Jefferson knew it, taking care not to mix up understanding with excusing, especially with the Virginian’s relationship with Sally Hemings. This is a gem of a biography. Illus. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"Magisterial...perhaps the finest one-volume biography of an American president."—Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post

"[A] splendid biography."—Wall Street Journal

"The fullest and most complete single-volume life of Jefferson since Merrill Peterson's thousand-page biography of 1970."—Gordon Wood, Weekly Standard

"A sympathetic (though not hagiographic) view of Jefferson that emphasizes the differences between his world and ours....[Jefferson] was, in Mr. Boles's words, the 'architect of American liberty,' a phrase the author uses without the sneers or hedges that have become de rigueur among recent chroniclers of the founding era....[a] splendid biography."—Wall Street Journal

"[A] good, solid, generally fair-minded biography... [Boles's] biography concentrates on the exterior events of Jefferson's private and public lives and weaves them together in a straightforward, clearly written narrative. It is the fullest and most complete single-volume life of Jefferson since Merrill Peterson's thousand-page biography of 1970."—Gordon Wood, Weekly Standard

"For all readers interested in understanding the enigmatic and controversial Jefferson as well as his shortcomings and triumphs within the context of his time."—Library Journal

"In a narrative as majestic as its subject, Boles takes a fresh, nuanced look at one of the America's most enigmatic founding fathers... Boles, an accomplished scholar well versed in the source material, deftly paints a picture of the world as Jefferson knew it, taking care not to mix up understanding with excusing, especially with the Virginian's relationship with Sally Hemings. This is a gem of a biography."—Publishers Weekly

"John Boles's deeply researched and judiciously balanced Jefferson is an exemplary biography. Animated by a warm and wise admiration for a great American, Boles never loses sight of Jefferson's limitations and failures-or of his extraordinary achievements."—Peter Onuf, University of Virginia, and coauthor, with Annette Gordon-Reed, of 'Most Blessed of the Patriarchs': Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination

"Intensely satisfying... Boles does a particularly skillful job at weaving Jefferson's correspondence and other writings into the busy tempo of his year-to-year life, creating a fascinating dialogue on the page between the reserved and often diffident public man and direct and provocative private writer."—Christian Science Monitor

"[An] elegant, highly incisive new biography... The detail is impressive, equally so the fluidity of the presentation. The reader is enveloped in Jefferson's world."—Booklist

"A fully fleshed biography of Thomas Jefferson that emphasizes his creative paradoxes and accomplishments... A stately, knowledgeable study."—Kirkus Reviews

"John Boles's Jefferson is learned, fluent, sensitive, and magnificently detailed. It gives due attention to the intellectual currents and social circumstances that made Jefferson who he was, and its careful engagement with the complexities of slavery is convincingly integrated into the whole. Professor Boles has earned an eminent place for himself in the ever-active field of Jefferson studies."—Andrew Burstein, author of Jefferson's Secrets and coauthor of Madison and Jefferson

From the Publisher

04/15/2017
Boles (history, Rice Univ.) portrays a Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) motivated by an unwavering fervor for liberty and the protection of the republic and a fear of despotism. Thoroughly discussed are the political and personal: Jefferson's disputes with Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr; his thoughts on religion; his relationship with his enslaved servant Sally Hemmings; and the legal, societal, and economic complications of manumission. Boles argues that deeming Jefferson as a hypocrite from a 21st-century perspective is unrealistic and robs the president of his position as the utmost defender and architect of liberty. Jefferson's great loves were farming, family, architecture, and study, but he was drawn to serve his country in order to protect the freedoms he so steadfastly valued. Boles demonstrates that many of Jefferson's successes were owing to his conciliatory and noncombative nature. His most cherished accomplishments were writing the Declaration of Independence, defending the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and founding the University of Virginia. VERDICT For all readers interested in understanding the enigmatic and controversial Jefferson as well as his shortcomings and triumphs within the context of his time.—Margaret Kappanadze, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY

Library Journal

2017-02-20
A fully fleshed biography of Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) that emphasizes his creative paradoxes and accomplishments.As presented by Boles (History/Rice Univ.; University Builder: Edgar Odell Lovett and the Founding of the Rice Institute, 2007, etc.), Jefferson, "in all his guises," displayed an industrious commitment to public service in the young republic, passionate devotion to personal relationships and copious letter writing, and dedication to his state and Monticello homestead. Above all, Jefferson possessed enormous intellectual curiosity, starting from his studies of philosophy and science at the College of William and Mary, and later law, continuing through his years living in Paris as commissioner and later secretary of state, and climaxing in his creation of the University of Virginia. Boles elegantly delineates the milestones of Jefferson's life and the expression of his mind—e.g., in the writing of the Declaration of Independence, in which, "with consummate artistry, [he] summarized years of thinking and political philosophizing in about two hundred words." A man of his time, Jefferson was steeped in the revolutionary ideals of the Enlightenment, such as the need for religious tolerance and the belief (ultimately struck from the Declaration) that slaves "had rights identical to those of the rest of the American people"—and yet he notoriously held on to his own slaves. Boles treats Jefferson's relationship with his young slave Sally Hemings with the same discretion that Jefferson did, though after she bore him five children, the secret was certainly well-known, both at Monticello and publicly. Curiously, Jefferson never traveled farther than 50 miles west of Monticello, yet as president, he was obsessed with America's western expansion and famously secured the Louisiana Purchase. The author devotes a chapter to Jefferson's "Living with Paradox" and reminds readers not to judge the sage of Monticello by 21st-century terms. Still, regarding emancipation, "in no other aspect of his life does Jefferson seem more distant from us or more disappointing." A stately, knowledgeable study jostling for space among the groaning bookshelves devoted to the third president.

Kirkus Reviews

Men of history often take on legendary status as the years pass. Undoubtedly, biases and misinformation help to skew our understanding of the past. In this new biography of Thomas Jefferson, we are treated to a fresh, albeit contextualized, look at one of the Founding Fathers. Michael Johnson expertly narrates this biography as though he were teaching to a packed lecture hall on a college campus. Even and steady, he nonetheless offers great vocal inflection at key points and effective pauses for those who need to further consider what was just said. Far from clinical, Johnson’s delivery brings to life an enigmatic man who ought to be understood in terms of the world he lived in. T.D. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2017 - AudioFile

Men of history often take on legendary status as the years pass. Undoubtedly, biases and misinformation help to skew our understanding of the past. In this new biography of Thomas Jefferson, we are treated to a fresh, albeit contextualized, look at one of the Founding Fathers. Michael Johnson expertly narrates this biography as though he were teaching to a packed lecture hall on a college campus. Even and steady, he nonetheless offers great vocal inflection at key points and effective pauses for those who need to further consider what was just said. Far from clinical, Johnson’s delivery brings to life an enigmatic man who ought to be understood in terms of the world he lived in. T.D. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2017 - AudioFile