Being Thomas Jefferson - by Andrew Burstein (Hardcover)

About the Book

The deepest dive yet into the heart and soul, secret affairs, unexplored alliances, and bitter feuds of a generally worshipped, intermittently reviled American icon.

Book Synopsis

The deepest dive yet into the heart and soul, secret affairs, unexplored alliances, and bitter feuds of a generally worshipped, intermittently reviled American icon.

Perhaps no founding father is as mysterious as Thomas Jefferson. The author of the Declaration of Independence was both a gifted wordsmith and a bundle of nerves. His superior knowledge of the human heart is captured in the impassioned appeal he brought to the Declaration. But as a champion of the common man who lived a life of privilege on a mountaintop plantation of his own design, he has eluded biographers who have sought to make sense of his inner life. In Being Thomas Jefferson, acclaimed Jefferson scholar Andrew Burstein peels away layers of obfuscation, taking us past the veneer of the animated letter-writer to describe a confused lover and a misguided humanist, too timid to embrace antislavery.

Jefferson was a soft-spoken man who recoiled from direct conflict, yet a master puppeteer in politics. Whenever he left Monticello, where he could control his environment, he suffered debilitating headaches that plagued him for decades, until he finally retired from public life. So, what did it feel like to be Thomas Jefferson? Burstein explains the decision to take as his mistress Sally Hemings, the enslaved half-sister of his late wife, who bore him six children, none of whom he acknowledged. Presenting a society that encouraged separation between public and private, appearance and essence, Burstein paints a dramatic picture of early American culture and brings us closer to Jefferson's life and thought than ever before.

Review Quotes

"Most biographies of Thomas Jefferson are focused on his intellect. Andrew Burstein lays open his heart. He has answered a question that has always puzzled me: why was Jefferson so adroit at playing hide-and-seek inside himself." --Joseph J. Ellis, author AMERICAN SPHINX: THE CHARACTER OF THOMAS JEFFERSON

"Told with authority and style. . . Crisply summarizing the Adamses' legacy, the authors stress principle over partisanship." --The Wall Street Journal on THE PROBLEM OF DEMOCRACY

"A distinguished work, combining deep research, a pleasing narrative style and an abundance of fresh insights, a rare combination." --The Dallas Morning News on MADISON AND JEFFERSON

About the Author

Andrew Burstein recently retired as the Charles P. Manship Professor of History at Louisiana State University. He is the author of The Passions of Andrew Jackson, Jefferson's Secrets, and several other books on early American politics and culture. He is the coauthor (with Nancy Isenberg) of Madison and Jefferson and The Problem of Democracy. Burstein's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Salon.com. He advised Ken Burns' production "Thomas Jefferson," and was featured on C-SPAN's American Presidents Series and Booknotes, and numerous NPR programs. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.