Book Review: Most Blessed of the Patriarchs - Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination
For those who prefer their history to be more linear, with a definite story arch, Most Blessed of the Patriarchs: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination by Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter Onuf is a book that is likely to be endured rather than enjoyed. It is not a biography of its subject, Thomas Jefferson, in the traditional sense, and it presumes that the reader has a good knowledge of Jefferson's life. The authors acknowledge this up front. Instead, the authors present a profile of their subject, using a collection of his letters and writings, in an effort to infer his innermost thoughts on a variety of complex subjects. The most prominent of these is slavery, and much of the book is spent highlighting the obvious contradiction between Jefferson's words and his actions when it came to this "peculiar institution".
The authors break down Jefferson's life into three sections: Patriarch, Traveller, and Enthusiast. They focus on his connection to his home in Virginia, especially on his mountain top plantation named "Monticello", as well as his time in France, his love of music, his religious and spiritual beliefs and studies and his connections to his family, both his acknowledged family (including his daughters, their spouses and his grandchildren) and the family that he kept in the shadows (Sally Hemings and her children). Jefferson's political life, his elections to the presidency, and other aspects of his history are addressed only tangentially in reference to the topics specifically addressed by the authors. This book is more about what Jefferson thought and what he wrote, less so about what he did.
For those readers who are interested in finding out what kind of person Jefferson was, what he was thinking, how he attempted to reconcile what in retrospect we see as glaring moral contradictions and what it might have been like to be around him, the authors do a superb job in their effort to get into the mind of the third president. Gordon-Reed and Ruf are careful not to jump to their own conclusions about Jefferson, but rather to let the man speak for himself, enabling the reader to make up his or her own mind about the man. A powerful example of this is when the authors discuss a series of letters between Jefferson and Abigail Adams in 1804 following the death of his daughter Maria (known as Polly). The authors let Jefferson's correspondence speak for itself, leaving the reader to decide whether or not Jefferson is being intentionally blind or willfully ignorant to his own part in the breakdown of his relationship with his former friends the Adams, or if he genuinely believes that he has nothing to apologize for.
This book has not received favorable reviews and one of the reasons is likely the level of its prose. It is a book written by intellectuals for intellectuals about an intellectual and it is not an easy read. It is certainly not a page-turner and can be a laborious read because of the attention required to grasp what the authors are trying to convey and because of the authors' frequent lapses into pedantry. Before picking up this book, the reader should examine his or her expectations. If one is looking for a biography of Thomas Jefferson or a history of his presidency, this is not a good selection. But for those readers interested into looking into the mind of a deep thinker with a tremendous imagination, for those readers who are wondering just what made Jefferson tick, these authors offer up just such a menu.
The authors break down Jefferson's life into three sections: Patriarch, Traveller, and Enthusiast. They focus on his connection to his home in Virginia, especially on his mountain top plantation named "Monticello", as well as his time in France, his love of music, his religious and spiritual beliefs and studies and his connections to his family, both his acknowledged family (including his daughters, their spouses and his grandchildren) and the family that he kept in the shadows (Sally Hemings and her children). Jefferson's political life, his elections to the presidency, and other aspects of his history are addressed only tangentially in reference to the topics specifically addressed by the authors. This book is more about what Jefferson thought and what he wrote, less so about what he did.
For those readers who are interested in finding out what kind of person Jefferson was, what he was thinking, how he attempted to reconcile what in retrospect we see as glaring moral contradictions and what it might have been like to be around him, the authors do a superb job in their effort to get into the mind of the third president. Gordon-Reed and Ruf are careful not to jump to their own conclusions about Jefferson, but rather to let the man speak for himself, enabling the reader to make up his or her own mind about the man. A powerful example of this is when the authors discuss a series of letters between Jefferson and Abigail Adams in 1804 following the death of his daughter Maria (known as Polly). The authors let Jefferson's correspondence speak for itself, leaving the reader to decide whether or not Jefferson is being intentionally blind or willfully ignorant to his own part in the breakdown of his relationship with his former friends the Adams, or if he genuinely believes that he has nothing to apologize for.
This book has not received favorable reviews and one of the reasons is likely the level of its prose. It is a book written by intellectuals for intellectuals about an intellectual and it is not an easy read. It is certainly not a page-turner and can be a laborious read because of the attention required to grasp what the authors are trying to convey and because of the authors' frequent lapses into pedantry. Before picking up this book, the reader should examine his or her expectations. If one is looking for a biography of Thomas Jefferson or a history of his presidency, this is not a good selection. But for those readers interested into looking into the mind of a deep thinker with a tremendous imagination, for those readers who are wondering just what made Jefferson tick, these authors offer up just such a menu.