Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date Published: 1997-02-04
ISBN-13:9780679444909ISBN:0679444904
Description: Good. This is a used book in good condition with normal wear and tear and may contain some writing, minor shelf wear and creases. Items are uploaded via ISBN and stock photo may be different from actual book cover. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 1998-04-07
ISBN-13:9780679764410ISBN:0679764410
Description: Good. This is a used book in good condition with normal wear and tear and may contain some writing, minor shelf wear and creases. Items are uploaded via ISBN and stock photo may be different from actual book cover. read more
Edition: Later Printing
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 4/7/1998
ISBN-13:9780679764410ISBN:0679764410
Description: Good. 0679764410 Soft cover copy with over all wear to the cover. The pages are tight and clean with no markings. We ship fast and package well. Expedited shipping is available. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 1998-04-07
ISBN-13:9780679764410ISBN:0679764410
Description: Good. New York: Vintage, 1998. First thus. Paperback. 440 pp. Good condition. Wavy shape from improper storage. Crease at lower front corner. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 1998-04-07
ISBN-13:9780679764410ISBN:0679764410
Description: Good. Clean text, moderate shelf and edge wear. Creasing to covers. Previous owners name. Some pages are dog eared. Very funtional copy. We are a Christian and family owned bookstore. A portion of all proceeds help support Christian missions. Thank you for helping spread the gospel. Priority mail available and books are safely and securely packaged. Curteousy shipping e-mail with delivery confirmation. read more
Description: Good. 0679764410 Study Copy Quality/Random Hi-liting and Margin notes throughout/ light shelf wear / edge wear cover / pages light discoloration around edges//"Buy with Confidence-Satisfaction Guaranteed! Customer Service Makes All the Difference. " read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books USA
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780679764410ISBN:0679764410
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Small crease on front cover at bottom. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 464 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: First Edition; First Printing
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books, New York
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780679764410ISBN:0679764410
Description: Very Good. 0679764410. Stated first Vintage edition. Light edge and corner wear, slight shelf rubbing. Book is very clean, binding is tight, and spine is unbroken.; 440 pp; Following his subject from the drafting of the Declaration of Independence to his retirement in Monticello, Ellis unravels the contradictions of the Jeffersonian character. read more
Description: Very Good. 0679764410 25852 PB: spine smooth, text clean, cover has slight shelf wear-allow up to 21 business days for standard USPS media m ai l. wt1lbpf. read more
"After reading the Adams bio, I was ready to hate Jefferson. He seemed such a snake and a liar. Ellis is one of my favorite historical biographers and he did a great job here. He showed Jefferson in all his complexity and contradictions. This is a man I probably would not have liked much in real life as he seems very slippery and too equivocal. But he was dedicated to the cause of individual rights (if you exclude his slaves!). I love how Ellis shows his characters through snippets rather than slogging through their lives. I usually feel I know them better this way and can remember more of the highlights. He takes a very psychological approach which helps with someone as convoluted as Jefferson."
"I really prefer to read biographies in which the author actually has some affection for his subject! Mr. Ellis treated Thomas Jefferson as a neurotic and idealistic man who just happened to experience a few flashes of brilliance because he was at the right place during the right time. Ellis was consistently patronizing and apologetic in his discussions about Thomas Jefferson's thoughts, ideas and actions. I generally expect a biographer to present his subject with an emphasis on his strengths and a few notes on his weaknesses as well. According to Joseph Ellis, Thomas Jefferson was essentially deeply flawed.... unable to form intimate relationships, thin-skinned, radically idealistic, hypocritical, self-deceptive... and the list goes on.
One can't help but wonder if Mr. Ellis saw Jefferson through the lens of his OWN neurosis. Ellis' own unsavory history of self-deception and public lies seems to have been reflected right back onto Thomas Jefferson. After all, isn't it true that it's almost impossible to interpret the thoughts and actions of others except through the lens of our own character? It's the ironic and temporal twist to the Biblical warning: "Judge not that ye be not judged." God will judge us, certainly, but already we judge everyone else according to our own character and our indictments of others certainly indict ourselves just as clearly. As Mr. Ellis seems indeed to have done here.
This biography was also a chronicle of Jefferson's political self mainly; the larger picture of his life was mostly ignored and it is that larger picture that makes Jefferson most interesting, I think. Ellis has written a long analysis of Jefferson's political actions and philosophies with a few personal incidents sprinkled in here and there. I think that possibly the most significant information I gained from the book was a better understanding of Whig philosophy and a clear account of the contest between the Federalists and the Republicans. I expected more of this book. I'm not sorry I read it, though--I just need to read more about Jefferson to get a less polarized opinion of him."
"A fascinating study of one of the genius personalities who brought the United States into being. Not a hard slog but one you need to pay attention to. We find that these men, while not perfect with benefit of 20/20 hindsight, were true to their convictions, Jefferson perhaps more than most. He was an idealist's idealist who was able to fight for his cause while seeing the need, on occasion, to do that which he felt necessary to preserve the republic--A study of being able to operate on two tracks while retaining his "Spirit of '76" fervor. (A side benefit was seeing that now all of the framers had the same perspective as the other while all being engaged in the work."
"Hard to believe that something written in 1997 can sound so dated. I say that because most of what Ellis says regarding Sally Hemmings is either wrong or not enough of a definitive statement to count one way or another. Clearly, Ellis, like Jefferson, was aware of how posterity would judge his writings. That aside, what an incredible work of scholarship. This is a very important book, not because Jefferson was such an important person, but because Jefferson was as complex and self-contradictory as the American story is. For a better understanding of the country, read this book."
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