Thomas Jefferson occupies a special niche in the hagiology of American Founding Fathers. His name is invoked for a staggering range of causes; statists and libertarians; nationalists and States' righters; conservatives and radicals all claim his blessing. In this book; Forrest McDonald examines Jefferson's performance as the nation's leader; evaluating his ability as a policy-maker; administrator; and diplomat.He delineates; carefully and sympathetically; the Jeffersonian ideology and the agrarian ideal that underlay it; he traces the steps by which the ideology was transformed into a program of action; and he concludes that the interplay between the ideology and the action accounted both for the unparalleled success of Jefferson's first term in office; and for the unmitigated failure of the second term.Jefferson as president was a man whose ideological commitments prevented him from reversing calamitous policy stances; a man who could be ruthless in suppressing civil rights when it was politically expedient; a man who was rarely; in the conventional sense of the word; a Jeffersonian. McDonald's portrait reveals him to be at once greater; simpler; and more complexly human than the mere "apostle of liberty" or "spokesman for democracy" that his adulators have relegated him to being.
#1296357 in Books 2015-02-04Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x 1.12 x 6.00l; 1.45 #File Name: 0692381465494 pages
Review
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Very well documented and validated from many sources. If ...By CustomerVery well documented and validated from many sources. If you are grounded in a biblical and supernatural worldview along with "The Occult and the Third Reich" [Jean-Michel Angebert] and the historical; military and political documents both written and on film; the materials to truly understand Nazism and its evil origins and continuation are available. It is very a very apropos study for our current time. I thank the author myself as one who can trace; by documentation from the death camps themselves; my extended 2nd 3rd generations family losses in the holocaust for an angle of understanding that has not come into the discussion previously; (that I knew of).My only clarification is that I have a different approach to Christian theology. He is decidedly dispensational; whereas I am more classical reform although in affinity with the spiritual and supernatural.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Mark Musser makes a compelling case that the Motivating Philosophies ...By James A. GallnoMark Musser makes a compelling case that the Motivating Philosophies of the Nazis have survived and thrived. Today the deeply pagan view of nature is resulting in a willingness to oppress and destroy people; particularly Christian or Jewish; in order to serve the ruthless god of evolution and nature.4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Exellent overview of the phyisophical history that led up to ...By Thomas cookExellent overview of the phyisophical history that led up to our modern environmental movement. A very anti-human philosophy;that will try to control every aspect of our lives; if it is not resisted.
