| Title | : | The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0375752188 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780375752186 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 736 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1944 |
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) left a vast literary legacy in the form of journal entries, notes, addresses, and seventy thousand letters. This extraordinary volume represents many of his most important contributions to American political thought. It features his Autobiography , which contains the original and revised versions of the Declaration of Independence; the Anas , or Notes (1791–1809); Biographical Sketches ; selections from Notes on the State of Virginia, the Travel Journals, and Essay on Anglo-Saxon; a portion of his public papers, including his first and second inaugural addresses; and more than two hundred letters. Taken together, these writings offer indispensable insight into the mind of the man who was instrumental in formulating and guiding this nation’s principles.
From the
This selection from the writings of Thomas Jefferson is planned to be a comprehensive presentation of his thought. The greatest amount of space has been allotted to his letters, in the belief that they are of primary importance in revealing the man and his intellect. Jefferson’s two original full-length works, the Notes on Virginia and the Autobiography, are given virtually complete. Along with his best-known public papers, selections from his minor writings are also included. Together, all these serve to depict the man who more aptly than any of his countrymen might be called the American Leonardo.
The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson Reviews
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Like Monticello, many of these writings are unfinished rough drafts for a larger autobiography that was never finished. As such, the prose stylings are more like notations and detailing of proper nouns and events than an attempt at narration. Nonetheless, it is an important collection of personal and journalistic accounts of events in Jefferson's life.
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The 1944 edition is a relic all on its own, and worth the five stars from the stellar introduction by Koch and Peden. If you're trying to figure out what kind of man Jefferson was, the introduction, the autobiography, and the letters really give a three-dimensional look.
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If, because Jefferson was flawed, you discredit his accomplishments or if, because he was an intellectual giant, you pretend that he had no mistaken ideas, this is the book for you. I learned so much about botany, the English language, the French Revolution, the true character of other prominent Americans, and even the origins of the song "Mac the Knife" from this book that reading it enriched my life.
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"Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong."
- Notes on Virginia 1782
"Few châteaux; no farm-houses, all the people being gathered in villages. Are they thus collected by that dogma of their religion, which makes them believe, that to keep the Creator in good humor with His own works, they must mumble a mass every day?"
- Travel Journals 1787
"On the whole, his character was, in its mass, perfect, in nothing bad, in few points indifferent; and it may truly be said, that never did nature and fortune combine more perfectly to make a man great, and to place him in the same constellation with whatever worthies have merited from man an everlasting remembrance. For his was the singular destiny and merit, of leading the armies of his country successfully through an arduous war, for the establishment of its independence; of conducting its councils through the birth of a government, new in its forms and principles, until it had settled down into a quiet and orderly train; and of scrupulously obeying the laws through the whole of his career, civil and military, of which the history of the world furnishes no other example."
- The Character of George Washington 1814 -
Jefferson is one of my heroes. I've become an expert of sorts having 10 volumes on this great American. The only thing this Renaissance man seemed to lack was humor. This book has a selection of letters and writings that are quintessential to understanding the man rather than the myth.
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I bought this book in Monticello. Its a great book
