DOC The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past by John Lewis Gaddis in History

Description

Thomas Jefferson designed his own tombstone; describing himself simply as "Author of the Declaration of Independence and of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom; and Father of the University of Virginia." It is in this simple epitaph that R.B. Bernstein finds the key to this enigmatic Founder--not as a great political figure; but as leader of "a revolution of ideas that would make the world over again." In Thomas Jefferson; Bernstein offers the definitive short biography of this revered American--the first concise life in six decades. Bernstein deftly synthesizes the massive scholarship on his subject into a swift; insightful; evenhanded account. Here are all of Jefferson's triumphs; contradictions; and failings; from his luxurious (and debt-burdened) life as a Virginia gentleman to his passionate belief in democracy; from his tortured defense of slavery to his relationship with Sally Hemings. Jefferson was indeed multifaceted--an architect; inventor; writer; diplomat; propagandist; planter; party leader--and Bernstein explores all these roles even as he illuminates Jefferson's central place in the American enlightenment; that "revolution of ideas" that did so much to create the nation we know today. Together with the less well-remembered points in Jefferson's thinking--the nature of the Union; his vision of who was entitled to citizenship; his dread of debt (both personal and national)--they form the heart of this lively biography.In this marvel of compression and comprehension; we see Jefferson more clearly than in the massive studies of earlier generations. More important; we see; in Jefferson's visionary ideas; the birth of the nation's grand sense of purpose.