Customer Reviews
A very fair and intriguing book
This book was a very fair and fascinating look at a very complex, often paradoxical, yet amazing man. With the way both conservatives and liberals fight over the true legacy of Thomas Jefferson, it was very refreshing to read a book, by a great writer, that takes a very fair, honest and direct look at Jefferson's good and bad sides. Any fair reader will come away from this book with a great appreciation of a brilliant man's struggle for what he thought was best for his young country. Jefferson had many views that many in our modern society quickly dismiss as ridiculous, hypocritical, or racist, but Ellis is very careful to put himself in the place of an observer from that era rather than some politically correct, elitist critic that so many of us are inundated by today. Yet at the same time Ellis is far from a blindly praising Jefferson disciple. This is a great biography, that flows quickly, and is very fair and worthy of one of this country's greatest men.
Terrific Political Synopsis of Jefferson
I loved this book, which read like a a novel. Ellis found negatives in Jefferson where deserved, and there was the constant comparison (in my mind) throughout the book where Jefferson would be in today's American political structure. I agree with a reviewer who said Jefferson would be appalled by today's politics of the Democratic and Republican parties, and would propably be Libertarian. But then again, Jefferson seemed to be so pragmatic (was the Louisiana Purchase constitutional and/or did Jefferson just want the land for American expansion?), that he could be in either major party (Republican for his strong anti-government views or Democratic for his no prayers in school views). Clearly, though, he would not be a television President, and, thus not electable today. That he was a brilliant writer is indisputable and being the first anti-Federalist President carrying the banner for less government and more individual soverignty makes him a stand-out in that era of brilliant Founding Fathers. Ellis points out that his political philosophy cerainly was inconsistent, and that Jefferson's personality did not lead him to "enjoy" conflict as much as John Adams,leading to the inescapable conclusion that Jefferson was a political philosopher laying the foundation for one major segment of American political thought for the next two centuries. The book did not clarify Jefferson's mental character enough. More about his family background, how he reacted personally to his wife's and daughter's deaths would haave been helpful for this analysis. Why he apparantly lacked "fire in the belly" to take on the issue of slavery when he was President, of which he disapproved but certainly condoned. There was also no mention of the events of the American Revolution, which I find to be the only major failing of the book, as it would have put the protagonists more in the context of that era, and, I believe, made Jefferson stand out more that he already does.
a better understanding
I imagine that in order to spend months and years researching and writing about an historical figure you must admire that person immensely, otherwise it would be terribly difficult to retain any interest. In most biographies, this usually translates into a deification of the subject. Not so in Joseph J. Ellis' AMERICAN SPHINX: THE CHARACTER OF THOMAS JEFFERSON.
I'll confess that Jefferson has not always been one of my favorite founding fathers. I have always thought of him as duplicitous, racist, anachronistic in his thinking, vain, and cowardly in a way. As a New Yorker, I've always been irked by his bad-mouthing of the city, and by his insistence that the capitol of the new nation be moved from here to Washington, D.C. [Good riddance, by the way. We did just fine without being the capitol city, thank you very much ;-) ] And as I am a devout admirer of Alexander Hamilton... need I say more?
After reading Ellis' other great book, FOUNDING BROTHERS, I began to get a more rounded look at Jefferson, one that shed a little more light on the human forces that may have been working on him. Then I read McCullough's brilliant biography of Jefferson's close friend (at times), John Adams. This led me to read this biography, and I am glad I did. I finally was given a better understanding of the sage of Monticello. Ellis does an admirable job of conveying an honest and balanced view of the chief author of the Declaration of Independence, without resorting to hero-worship, as do most biographers. At times, the writing was very moving, especially as Jefferson's loved ones began dying around him. I'm still not crazy about the guy, but I have a better appreciation of him.
Ellis' writing is brisk, loaded with telling anecdotes, and never attempts to impress the reader with the research he has done. Other biographers would do well to follow Joseph Ellis' example. And lovers of American History would do well to read this book.
