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In this unique biography of Thomas Jefferson, leading journalist and social critic Christopher Hitchens offers a startlingly new and provocative interpretation of our Founding Father. Situating Jefferson within the context of America's evolution and tracing his legacy over the past two hundred years, Hitchens brings the character of Jefferson to life as a man of his time and also as a symbolic figure beyond it.
Conflicted by power, Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and acted as Minister to France yet yearned for a quieter career in the Virginia legislature. Predicting that slavery would shape the future of America's development, this professed proponent of emancipation elided the issue in the Declaration and continued to own human property. An eloquent writer, he was an awkward public speaker; a reluctant candidate, he left an indelible presidential legacy.
Jefferson's statesmanship enabled him to negotiate the Louisiana Purchase with France, doubling the size of the nation, and he authorized the Lewis and Clark expedition, opening up the American frontier for exploration and settlement. Hitchens also analyzes Jefferson's handling of the Barbary War, a lesser-known chapter of his political career, when his attempt to end the kidnapping and bribery of Americans by the Barbary states, and the subsequent war with Tripoli, led to the building of the U.S. navy and the fortification of America's reputation regarding national defense.
In the background of this sophisticated analysis is a large historical drama: the fledgling nation's struggle for independence, formed in the crucible of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, and, in its shadow, the deformation of that struggle in the excesses of the French Revolution. This artful portrait of a formative figure and a turbulent era poses a challenge to anyone interested in American history -- or in the ambiguities of human nature.
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Book Description
In this unique biography of Thomas Jefferson, leading journalist and social critic Christopher Hitchens offers a startlingly new and provocative interpretation of our Founding Father. Situating Jefferson within the context of America's evolution and tracing his legacy over the past two hundred years, Hitchens brings the character of Jefferson to life as a man of his time and also as a symbolic figure beyond it.
Conflicted by power, Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and acted as Minister to France yet yearned for a quieter career in the Virginia legislature. Predicting that slavery would shape the future of America's development, this professed proponent of emancipation elided the issue in the Declaration and continued to own human property. An eloquent writer, he was an awkward public speaker; a reluctant candidate, he left an indelible presidential legacy.
Jefferson's statesmanship enabled him to negotiate the Louisiana Purchase with France, doubling the size of the nation, and he authorized the Lewis and Clark expedition, opening up the American frontier for exploration and settlement. Hitchens also analyzes Jefferson's handling of the Barbary War, a lesser-known chapter of his political career, when his attempt to end the kidnapping and bribery of Americans by the Barbary states, and the subsequent war with Tripoli, led to the building of the U.S. navy and the fortification of America's reputation regarding national defense.
In the background of this sophisticated analysis is a large historical drama: the fledgling nation's struggle for independence, formed in the crucible of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, and, in its shadow, the deformation of that struggle in the excesses of the French Revolution. This artful portrait of a formative figure and a turbulent era poses a challenge to anyone interested in American history -- or in the ambiguities of human nature.
Customer Reviews:
There are so many Jefferson books..........2007-09-28
...and this one is not among the top ten. That should be a helpful enough review for most readers. May I recommend my own listmania--Jefferson's Shadows--as a better starting point for learning about the Sage?
Astonishing Disappointment.......2007-07-29
Wow! This book was a complete letdown. First of all...this book is only 188 pages long. And they're small pages! To think that you could even come close to encompassing even the public life of Jefferson in less than 200 pages is laughable. Secondly, instead of focusing on particular points in Jefferson's life, Hitchens attempts to cover many different topics, in no specific order and thus barely scratches the surface on any of them. To say the least, this book left me wanting more...a LOT more. I don't know if Hitchens just decided to slap together a quick book on TJ or if he was given an impossible deadline to meet by the publisher. But this book doesn't even cover one subject about Jefferson partially, let alone many subjects completely. The positive side to this book is that it is short, so the painful incompleteness only lasts a couple of hours. For those wanting a good book that encompasses more than a mere cursory look at Thomas Jefferson I would certainly recommend looking elsewhere. For those looking to burn a couple of hours who don't really care what they read...I would still recommend a different book...a good fiction or something of the like. This one gets a definite PASS!!
Hitchens on Jefferson.......2007-05-12
Part of the Eminent Lives series Christopher Hitchens has written a great fairly short biography of Thomas Jefferson that examines the man warts and all. Off most interest to many these days will be his constant battle with his conscience versus the practicality of freeing all the slaves in the South.
That while this is meant to be a short history it is by no means one that skimps. Christopher Hitchens eloquent style is well used her getting the idea across while not being too wordy. He uses Jefferson's own words and writings to demonstrate how the great man felt during his lifetime.
It is hard to describe how important Jefferson was to the history of the United States, whether it be his penning most of the Declaration of Independence to his major role in the monumental Louisiana Purchase towards the end of his career. He even managed to provide the foundation for the modern Library of Congress after the fire that destroyed 2/3s of the book in their collection. Then there is Monticello, his house and lands, of a most impressive type.
The man was not infallible as he had his troubles over slavery, his half-black mistress and his bitter rivalries with some of the other major players of the early American experience. He was an writer of note, philosopher, orator, politician and diplomat in extremis. A man not afraid to take it the enemy when needed as seen in his handling of the Muslim Barbary Pirates. A test for a young nation that Jefferson made sure they passed.
Who better than Christopher Hitchens to tell us his fascinating life's tale.
Jefferson the polymath.......2007-03-08
Hitchens has written a brilliant and concise biography of Jefferson, a complex, multitalented and flawed man. Writer, author, architecht, botanist, diplomat, president. America was fortunate that President John Adams served only one term and lost his re-election bid (barely) to Jefferson because of 3 things: 1. War on Terror; Jefferson sent the US Navy to the Barbary Coast and tamed the pirates of North Africa who kidnapped Americans and demanded ransom. Adams preferred to pay ransom. Jefferson did away with this menace once and for all. 2. Louisiana Purchase; Adams was dead set against this bargain purchase which Jefferson obtained from France for 4 cents an acre. 3. Lewis and Clark expedition; here Jefferson had a vision of manifest destiny. Adams ridiculed Jefferson's vision as fanciful and a waste of money. Had Adams won re-election, America would certainly have been different today. On a matter of character, Adams was clearly a better man. He wanted to end slavery. Jefferson (unlike George Washington) did not free his slaves even upon his death with the exception of his mistress Sally Hemmings and their 3 children. Hitchens did a great job putting the story of this complex man together in a short book.
Excellent.......2007-01-03
Hitchins is brilliant, and even if he were not, I would read anything on TJ. Good book.
Book Description
While in office from 1801 to 1809, Thomas Jefferson cut and pasted into homemade scrapbooks hundreds of poems of nation – early odes to the still coalescing republic – family, and romantic love. He gave the books as gifts to his granddaughters and for nearly 200 years it was believed the girls had compiled the collections themselves. No previous biography of Jefferson has drawn on this important resource. In unexpected ways this groundbreaking work will help demystify “the American sphinx.” 243 of the poems that captured Jefferson’s imagination are published here for the first time, with essays, annotations and photographs that make this historically important and revealing volume a delight to explore.
Thomas Jefferson’s Scrapbooks shows our third president’s taste for sentimental verse and abolitionist poems, and will modify his reputation as a strict neo-classicist. It includes a poem by Benjamin Franklin, several odes on the death of Alexander Hamilton, poems by women writers who have not been fully recovered in recent anthologies, and corrects the assumption that newspaper verse did not shape Jefferson's thinking on foreign affairs. Jefferson's interest in young American poets will surprise even his biographers who do not always include his literary tastes while in office in their studies of the man. And numerous anti-Federalist poems will correct the view of Jefferson as a reluctant politician.
Customer Reviews:
Enjoyable Informative Look at Jefferson and Poetry.......2007-10-14
This is an excellent book. At first I thought the book was a copilation of poetry written by Jefferson. However, it includes poems Jefferson collected in his scrapbooks whiel president. As such it provides glimpses into the thought of the era and Jefferson's thoughts. There are many really interesting poems, soem by prominent authors and many from relatively unknown or anonymous authors.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Weekly Standard, published by News America Incorporated on July 4, 2005. The length of the article is 1942 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Founders' keepers: Washington and Jefferson, in brief.(George Washington: The Founding Father)(Thomas Jefferson: Author of America)(Book Review)
Author: Gordon S. Wood
Publication:
The Weekly Standard (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 4, 2005
Publisher: News America Incorporated
Volume: 10
Issue: 40
Page: 27(3)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Historian, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2007. The length of the article is 777 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Thomas Jefferson: Author of America.(Book review)
Author: Peter S. Onuf
Publication:
The Historian (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 69
Issue: 1
Page: 119(2)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
Whether you refer to it as the Late Unpleasantness, The War for Southern Freedom, or any of the other names that Civil War 101 lists for it, this mid-nineteenth -century conflict has spawned all manner of myth and facts you didn't learn in high school. With tantalizing trivia like "Nine Drinking Stories Involving General Ulysses S. Grant," "Five Famous Female Spies," and "Eleven Medical Complaints of Stonewall Jackson," plus historic photos and engravings, even the most diehard Civil War buff—from academic historian to modern-day reenactor—is sure to pick up some fresh new details about this terrible war.
Customer Reviews:
GREAT FOR CIVIL WAR BUFFS.......2007-03-10
I BOUGHT THIS BOOK FOR MY HUSBAND WHO IS A CIVIL WAR BUFF. HE SAID IT WAS "GREAT". HE EVEN USED IT TO GET QUESTIONS FOR HIS WEEKLY TRIVIA GROUP.
Book Description
RETREAT WITH HONOR (Vol. 4) relates the events that led to the end of the war. It opens with a detailed description of the land and sea operations of the Battle of Charleston. Grant's Wilderness Campaign and Sherman's march to Atlanta are vividly portrayed. After mounting the final actions in Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee, this volume depicts the closing naval operations, Sherman's march through the Confederacy and climaxes with Lee's surrender at Appomattox.
Customer Reviews:
Battles & Leaders of the Civil War: Retreat with Honor.......2002-09-21
Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: Retreat with Honor edited by Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel of the editorial staff of "The Century Magazine" is the fourth and concluding installment of a four volume series written about the Civil War. Being for the most part contributions by Union and Confederate officers, these are their eyewitness accounts of the battles planned and fought during the duraion of the war.
These accounts were part of series that was concieved in 1883 by the editors of the Century Company to give future readers an idea of what went on during this, one of the costliest wars, fought by Americans on their home soil. Accounts found in this volume take us to General Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House, but there are accounts of the battles leading upto this event that are important to the outcome and final resolution of this conflict. As this volume opens we find an account of the land and sea operations of the Battle of Charleston, South Carolina and Grant's Wilderness Campaign. Sherman's march through the South, starting in Atlanta, also included in this volume, we read about the final actions in Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee.
Anyone wishing to know more about the Civil War... this is a must to own and read at your leisure. You will experience a rich satisfaction of accounts written by the people who fought these battles... battles that pitted brother against brother, North against the South, and ideals agaist ideals. A war that had to be fought to resolve issues that the Founding Fathers knew some day would have to come to pass if they could not settle them. A war for the very existence of the union, otherwise there would never be a United Staes as we know it today.
These are the accounts of men who bravely fought on both sides, giving their all, some the ultimate sacrifice, but settled nonetheless, to make this country what it is today. Excellent history for all to read, The Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: Volume one, "The Opening Battles." Volume two: "The Struggle Intensifies." Volume three: "The Tide Shifts." Volume four: "Retreat with Honor." you will NOT be disappointed.
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Civil War Battles and Leaders
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ASIN: 078949891X |
Book Description
The Civil War tested the new political experiment that began with the American Revolution. In this guide to the battles and leading figures of the war that tore America apart, readers will find a wealth of images, from pictures of artifacts to portraits and battlefield paintings and maps. These visual documents complement the vivid telling of the events of the War Between the States, creating a perfect introduction to the Civil War for students and adults alike.
Book Description
Modeled on the famous four-volume 1888 compilation edited by Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel, Peter Cozzens's Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: Volume 6 builds on the tradition of excellence established by his Volume 5. The new book stands as another landmark addition to the fascinating body of retrospective testimony written by participants in the American Civil War.
Sifting carefully through reports from newspapers, magazines, personal memoirs, and letters, Cozzens again exercises an unsurpassed mastery of the literature to bring readers the best first-person accounts of marches, encampments, skirmishes, and full-blown battles, as seen by participants on both sides of the conflict. General John Gibbon offers a harsh and convincing rebuttal to fellow corps commander Daniel E. Sickles's account of Gettysburg. General John C. Lee of the Union Eleventh Corps excoriates those responsible for the "criminal blundering" that wrecked the corps at Chancellorville, and seven prominent generals from both sides offer views on "why the Confederacy failed."
Though accounts from senior commanders like George Armstrong Custer, William S. Rosecrans, and Jefferson Davis still carry great weight, Cozzens takes special care to include the voices of lower-ranking officers and men in the ranks. Both volunteers and draftees tell the stories of cavalry raids, sieges, standing under fire, heroism and idiocy. The soldiers describe the burning of Atlanta and the capture of Richmond, and weigh in on everything from the growing peace movement to the quality of their leaders.
Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: Volume 6 is a first-rate collection of primary sources, essential for historians, Civil War buffs, and anyone interested in military history. The selections are presented chronologically and provide an overview of the war's progress, all the while allowing the authors to speak for themselves. This volume includes 120 illustrations, including 16 previously uncollected maps of battlefields, troop movements, and fortifications.
Customer Reviews:
a landmark contribution to Civil War literature.......2002-08-07
This work fully measures up in quality and importance to the original four-volume Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, first published in the 1880's. Articles by such key participants as Longstreet, Sherman, Custer, Grant, and Joe Johnston make this an essential work for any Civil War collection
Customer Reviews:
A Solid Work.......2004-02-20
This is a book in the Virginia Civil War Battles and Leaders series focusing on Grant's First Offensive on Petersburg. Thomas Howe does a fine job relating the thought process of the key Generals on both sides, Lee and Beauregard for the South; Hancock, Smith, Meade, and Grant for the North. The Union had more than one unbelievable chance to take Petersburg and avert the Siege to come, but timidity, command blunders, and darkness prevented them from taking advantage of the situation on all four days. Pierre Beauregard was at his best during this period, holding off the North while being massively outnumbered, and recognizing what Lee did not: that Grant had crossed to the south side of the James River with his entire force. Howe points out the fallacy in assuming that "Cold Harbor Syndrome", the Union forces' supposed fear of assaulting breastworks, had anything to do with the Union failures in the four-day battle. The maps are pretty good and numerous, although the regimental level detail I enjoy does not appear here. This is the only monograph on the battle, and is a must-have. 192 pp., 13 maps
Customer Reviews:
Helpful Book........2006-01-22
This is one of the Virginia Civil War Battles & Leaders Series books. Plenty of photos, maps, and tables. And a good bibiography. This book is good place to begin your scholarship of this military action.
Customer Reviews:
The Siege of Suffolk, The Forgotten Campaign,.......2000-06-04
During my research for information on the the Civil War unit, 112th NY Vol. Inf. This book was suggested to me by a Park Historian. This book provides a lot of information on the Suffolk Siege, all in one central location. I would highly suggest it to any one needing information on both Union and Confederate operations during this period.
A very informative and educational book........1999-03-04
If you want to know about the Suffolk campaign, this is the book to read. Well researched and documented, it covers in detail, a campaign that has been overlooked, even neglected by history due to the actions around Chancellorsville. It also dispels another myth about General Longstreet being slow to respond in returning to General Lee. Historians have overlooked this campaign and have consistently described it as another failure on General Longstreet's attempt at independent command. Mr. Cormier has done an excellent job in explaining the facts as well as the actions of a very important and necessary action durning the war between the states.
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Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: From Sumter to Shiloh Part One
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1417944986 |
Book Description
1887. Volume One of Four. This is the first of a four part series on the Civil War compiled from actual reproductions of articles from Century Magazine, a contemporary periodical of the era that contains authentic source material on the War Between the States. From Sumter to Shiloh tells the dramatic story of the first twelve months of conflict. The reader is given an incomparable view of the initial events of the war in exciting, authoritative articles written by such eminent military leaders as Ulysses S. Grant, Lew Wallace, G.T. Beauregard, Abner Doubleday, John C. Fremont, Don Carlos Buell, and A.E. Burnside, among others. Accompanying these eyewitness accounts are over four hundred illustrations, including steel engravings, maps, rare photographs, portraits, prints, and on-the-spot battle sketches, which bring once more to life all the storm and stress of combat. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing. Other volumes in this set are ISBN(s): 1417944994, 1417945001, 141794501X.
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