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 | | Thomas Jefferson: Author of America (Eminent Lives) by Christopher Hitchens ISBN-10: 9780060598969 ISBN-10: 0-06-059896-4 ISBN-13: 9780060598969 ISBN-13: 978-0-06-059896-9 Hardcover 2005-05-31 Eminent Lives Find Lowest Price | ||||||
Editorials | ||||||||
Amazon.com 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. Discover More Eminent Lives
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Product 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. | ||||||||
Reviews | ||||||||
History is a tragedy, not a morality tale If you need an extremely well-written, concise, sympathetic, balanced and reasonably complete introduction to Thomas Jefferson, Hitchens has produced just the thing. Hitchens does particularly well where Thomas Jefferson's views mesh with his own - namely on religion and the disestablishment thereof. Hitchens does not hide Jefferson's many flaws but rather emphasises that first and foremost Jefferson was a man, not some disembodied icon. What others might see as Jefferson's hypocrasies, Hitchens sees as inconsistiencies or as a willingness to be opportunistic. Hitchens lauds Jefferson's victory in separating church and state and in establishing the United States as a continental force. Hitchens sees Jefferson as an extraordinarily talented writer and a man attuned to the longer view. Less clear is Jefferson's failure to grasp the realities of the emergent US economy and his personal stakes in a slave-fueled plantation economy. The brevity of the book (and perhaps Hitchens own blind spots) leaves this subject and Jefferson's own profligacy largely unexplored. The great tragedy Hitchens highlights is that for all that Jefferson transcended in helping to establish a republic based on human rights and natural law, he was unable to or chose not to deal with the wolf of slavery. He sees Jefferson's handling of slavery issues, especially when he was in a position to do something about it, as a deep flaw. Overall, I think Hitchens is too forgiving of Jefferson's flaws as a person, a politician and as an aristocrat but he leaves the reader plenty of room to have a conversation about this intriguing and paradoxical man. One aside: Hitchens uses none of his famous acid writing on Jefferson but he does remind us of what he can do when he lets himself go. The most obvious victim is Dumas Malone and his 6 volume biography of Jefferson. Hitchens describes (p181) Jefferson's creation of a philosophic bible, as Jefferson's "profane exercise of cutting up the holy book with a razor blade and throwing away all the superfluous, ridiculous, and devotional parts." Then adds paranthetically, "This is an exercise that I have long wanted to repeat in the case of the multivolume hagiography of Jefferson himself, penned so laboriously by Dumas Malone." I guess Hitchens simply couldn't resist. There is no bibliography or index, but the acknowledgement provides a good summary of Hitchens' sources. | ||||||||
Competent, but disappointing In his excellent book concerning Mother Teresa titled "The Missionary Position," Hitchens expertly compiled a wealth of shocking facts pertaining to that demagogue's less than admirable history that made for an exciting and informative read. Writing of one of America's finest founding icons, Hitchens has considerably less of note to convey, and there are no astounding revelations to be found in this rather slim volume. As usual, Hitchens' prose is quite fine, if unexceptional. His appreciation of Jefferson's character and accomplishments is equally capable, and nothing of his depiction of the man's tumultuous personal life or distinguished political career is particularly inaccurate or insulting. To the contrary, he places Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemings into a far more accurate and complimentary context than is widely known, and he sees fit to explain the great man's faults and mistakes from a perspective that renders them forgivable. This otherwise adequate text is marred by Hitchens' almost obsessive concern with the topic of slavery, and how it affected Jefferson's life. To be certain, Jefferson's ownership of slaves was an act of hypocrisy in consideration of the man's ideological convictions and the institution was and is surely as unjust as any can be. But Hitchens writes of the subject constantly, exhaustively, even nauseatingly in so many chapters, that in some of these, one can barely find a paragraph wherein this topic isn't mulled over. Grim, tiresome moralizing can be found throughout nearly the entire book, and it makes an otherwise decent read quite burdensome from time to time. It should also be noted that Hitchens regards the subject of Jefferson's offspring with Hemings as absolute fact rather than the extreme probability that it actually is. I wouldn't quite suggest that Hitchens has become a full-blown sophist since he converted to the neocon faction, but he is hardly as closely acquainted with the truth as he used to be. Both this and his recent "God Is Not Great" are fine examples of how the man is more concerned with pushing ideological agendas than with acknowledging nuanced truths and possibilities. | ||||||||
evidence? attribution? facts??? This little fluff contains not a single note or attribution. Many statements are presented as fact, with no attribution. As no effort is given to a balanced account, either, one must conclude that this is a personal rant. I had hoped to read more about the mind of Thomas Jefferson, not just that of the 'author'. | ||||||||
Thought it could be better... This book I was slightly disappointed in. I am no English Major or book maven, but the style of the writing is so bland and can be very hard to follow. Although there are some VERY interesting facts and stories, it was just a hard read. | ||||||||
There are so many Jefferson books... ...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? | ||||||||
