Thomas Jefferson - by Alf J Mapp (Paperback)

About the Book

This ground-breaking biography has been acclaimed as a landmark work on Thomas Jefferson's early and mature years. Mapp follows Jefferson from his birth in 1743 through the American Revolution and up until his inauguration as President of the United States in 1801. Along the w...

Book Synopsis

This ground-breaking biography has been acclaimed as a landmark work on Thomas Jefferson's early and mature years. Mapp follows Jefferson from his birth in 1743 through the American Revolution and up until his inauguration as President of the United States in 1801. Along the way we rediscover Jefferson the student at William and Mary, the Virginia politician, and the foreign diplomat. In these pages, Mapp sheds new light on Jefferson's career and private life. The portrait is rich and full of a living complexity that defies the simple sketches often offered by those who would either canonize or demonize this reluctant founding father.

Review Quotes

A life-recording, life-giving, entrancing and revealing study of a great American.

A monumental reassessment of Jefferson's character and impact.

Alf J. Mapp probably best expresses why Jefferson remains so fascinating more than 150 years after his death and why he remains a continual challenge for the biographer . . . [A] reassessment that is not only convincing but also readable and enthralling.

Elegantly written and overflowing with evocative detail. . . . A splendid work of history and biography.

In this fascinating account of Thomas Jefferson's many contradictions and complexities, master biographer Alf J. Mapp provides a compelling portrait of the great man and reveals why Jefferson was as much an enigma in his own times as he is in ours.

About the Author

Alf J. Mapp, Jr., is Eminent Scholar Emeritus at Old Dominion University and a nationally recognized scholar on Thomas Jefferson. His numerous publications include Faiths of Our Fathers: What America's Founding Fathers Really Believed, The Virginia Experiment, and Thomas Jefferson: Passionate Pilgrim.