Thomas Jefferson An Intimate History

An ambitious, perceptive portrayal of a complex man, this bestselling biography breaks new ground in its exploration of Jefferson's inner life. "Brodie has humanized Jefferson without in the least diminishing him".--Wallace Stegner. Photos. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

A seminal biography of Thomas Jefferson and a fascinating exploration of his relationship with Sally Hemings. With a novelist’s skill and a scholar’s meticulous detail, Fawn M. Brodie portrays Thomas Jefferson as he wrestled with the great issues of his time: revolution, religion, power, race, and love—ambivalences that exerted a subtle but powerful influence on his political ideas and his presidency. Far advanced for its time, Brodie’s biography was the first to set forth a convincing case that Thomas Jefferson was the father of children by his slave Sally Hemings. In a new introduction, Annette Gordon-Reed, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Hemingses of Monticello, explores the impact of Brodie’s groundbreaking book and explains why it is still such a powerful account of one of our greatest and most elusive presidents.

When Annette Gordon-Reed's groundbreaking study was first published, rumors of Thomas Jefferson's sexual involvement with his slave Sally Hemings had circulated for two centuries. Among all aspects of Jefferson's renowned life, it was perhaps the most hotly contested topic. The publication of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings intensified this debate by identifying glaring inconsistencies in many noted scholars' evaluations of the existing evidence. In this study, Gordon-Reed assembles a fascinating and convincing argument: not that the alleged thirty-eight-year liaison necessarily took place but rather that the evidence for its taking place has been denied a fair hearing. Friends of Jefferson sought to debunk the Hemings story as early as 1800, and most subsequent historians and biographers followed suit, finding the affair unthinkable based upon their view of Jefferson's life, character, and beliefs. Gordon-Reed responds to these critics by pointing out numerous errors and prejudices in their writings, ranging from inaccurate citations, to impossible time lines, to virtual exclusions of evidence—especially evidence concerning the Hemings family. She demonstrates how these scholars may have been misguided by their own biases and may even have tailored evidence to serve and preserve their opinions of Jefferson. This updated edition of the book also includes an afterword in which the author comments on the DNA study that provided further evidence of a Jefferson and Hemings liaison.00 Possessing both a layperson's unfettered curiosity and a lawyer's logical mind, Annette Gordon-Reed writes with a style and compassion that are irresistible. Each chapter revolves around a key figure in the Hemings drama, and the resulting portraits are engrossing and very personal. Gordon-Reed also brings a keen intuitive sense of the psychological complexities of human relationships—relationships that, in the real world, often develop regardless of status or race. The most compelling element of all, however, is her extensive and careful research, which often allows the evidence to speak for itself. Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy is the definitive look at a centuries-old question that should fascinate general readers and historians alike.

Martha Jeffersonis the first and only biography of Thomas Jefferson’s greatest love and true kindred spirit, who died an untimely death at the young age of thirty-three in 1782. Drawing on a wealth of newly probed sources—including family letters, documents, and the handwritten notes left by Jefferson’s famed biographer, Dumas Malone—William G. Hyland Jr. captures the charm, sophistication, and grace, as well as a profound sense of history, of this little known and elusive figure who, until now, has been a mere footnote to the story of America’s founding. Hyland brings us a conflicted and honest Martha Jefferson, who endured the Revolution as valiantly as some men—defending her very doorstep from raiding British troops—and presided over the domestic life of the Jeffersons’ “little mountain,” Monticello, during her husband’s long absences and historic rise to power. A revealing and insightful look at an often overlooked American woman, this book provides a unique and previously unexplored understanding of America’s Revolutionary Era, and the men and women upon whose bravery, talent, and resolve our nation was founded.

Who was the "real" Thomas Jefferson? If this question has an answer, it will probably not be revealed reading the many accounts of his life. For two centuries biographers have provided divergent perspectives on him as a man and conflicting appraisals of his accomplishments. Jefferson was controversial in his own time, and his propensity to polarize continued in the years after his death as biographers battled to control the commanding heights of history. To judge from their depictions, there existed many different Thomas Jeffersons. The essays in this book explore how individual biographers have shaped history—as well as how the interests and preoccupations of the times in which they wrote helped to shape their portrayals of Jefferson. In different eras biographers presented the third president variously as a proponent of individual rights or of majority rule, as a unifier or a fierce partisan, and as a champion of either American nationalism or cosmopolitanism. Conscripted to serve Whigs and Democrats, abolitionists and slaveholders, unionists and secessionists, Populists and Progressives, and seemingly every side of almost every subsequent struggle, the only constant was that Jefferson’s image remained a mirror of Americans’ self-conscious conceptions of their nation’s virtues, values, and vices. Thomas Jefferson’s Lives brings together leading scholars of Jefferson and his era, all of whom embrace the challenge to assess some of the most important and enduring accounts of Jefferson’s life. Contributors:Jon Meacham, presidential historian * Barbara Oberg, Princeton University * J. Jefferson Looney, Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello * Christine Coalwell McDonald, Westchester Community College * Robert M.S. McDonald, United States Military Academy * Andrew Burstein, Louisiana State University * Jan Ellen Lewis, Rutgers University * Richard Samuelson, California State University, San Bernardino * Nancy Isenberg, Louisiana State University * Joanne B. Freeman, Yale University * Brian Steele, University of Alabama at Birmingham * Herbert Sloan, Barnard College * R. B. Bernstein, City College of New York * Francis D. Cogliano, University of Edinburgh * Annette Gordon-Reed, Harvard University * Gordon S. Wood, Brown University

Thomas Jefferson is known by most as the third president of the United States, but his legacy extends much further than that. Born to a wealthy plantation owner, Thomas was the third of nine children. When he was just fourteen, his father died, leaving him half his land, slaves, and wealth. These circumstances allowed Thomas to attend college at the age of sixteen, and later on, to study under one of the top lawyers of the time. His political history is one of great triumph and struggle. Jefferson first practiced law and served in the government as a member of the House of Burgesses, later serving as a member of the Continental Congress, where he wrote the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson left Congress in 1776 and returned to Virginia to serve in the legislature, and then as Governor of Virginia for two years. He took a brief sabbatical until 1784, when he replaced Benjamin Franklin as minister to France. In 1790, Jefferson became Secretary of State under George Washington and later served as Vice President to John Adams. Jefferson won the presidency in a heated election in 1800. His first term resulted in some notable achievements, including the purchase of the Louisiana Territory in 1803, and then his support of the Lewis and Clark expedition. In his second term, he faced difficulties in the domestic and foreign fronts and was most remembered for his effort to remain neutral in the midst of the conflict between France and Britain. In 1809, President Jefferson was succeeded by James Madison. While he lived out his final seventeen years at his Virginia plantation, Monticello, Jefferson sold his collection of books to the government. Not only did he lay the foundation for the Library of Congress, but he was also the founder of the University of Virginia. Thomas Jefferson passed away on July 4, 1826, just hours before his friend John Adams died on the same date. It was the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and Jefferson was eighty-three years old. Spend some time with this distinguished American and buy the book Thomas Jefferson - A Short Biography. 30 Minute Book Series Welcome to the ninth book in the 30-Minute Book Series. Each book in the series is fast-paced, well-written, and accurate, covering the story in as much detail as a short book allows. In less than an hour, you can read or listen to the full book. It is a perfect companion for your lunch hour, or perhaps a nice distraction on your train ride home from work. About the Author Doug West is a retired engineer, small business owner, and an experienced non-fiction writer with several books to his credit. His writing interests are general, with special expertise in science, biographies, and "How-To" topics. Doug has a Ph.D. in General Engineering from Oklahoma State University.

"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 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.

Inventor, botanist, geographer, archaeologist, architect, tireless recorder of the natural world--Bedini gives us the Jefferson that not only forged the politics of America, but made scientific progress synonymous with the spirit of America. 24 photographs.