Thomas Jefferson by R. B. Bernstein Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $11.12 You Save: $4.83 (30%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $9.44 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Thomas Jefferson
Book Review: Jefferson 101
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a great introduction to Thomas Jefferson. It's not possible to give a detailed description of the life and accomplishments of Jefferson in a mere 200 pages of text, but Bernstein has presented a fine basic summary of Jefferson' life. I don't necessarily agree with all of Bernstein's conclusions, and he seems to allow a bit of liberalism to skew his viewpoints, but nonetheless, there is a definite market for a book of this sort.
This is not an indepth, detailed analysis of Jefferson. For that, see such works as Dumas Malone's 6-volume set which took over 30 years to compose. What this book is, is a quick easy introduction and overview of Jefferson. If you are wanting to learn about Jefferson but not wanting to wade through 600 pages of Willard Sterne Randall's account, or even a the brief version by Joseph Ellis, which is just over 300 pages of text, then this is a perfect fit for you. At less than 200 pages, this is a quick, easy read.
I only have a couple of knocks on the book. For one, Bernstein seems genuinely disturbed that Jefferson did in fact own slaves and spends, I think, too much time debating the issue of Jefferson fathering the children of Sally Hemmings. Let us not forget that Jefferson was, in fact, a southern planter and owning slaves was accepted and commonplace. That is not an endorsement, but simply a statement of fact, and one that I believe Jefferson should not be condemned for considering the time in which he lived.
The other problem I have with this book occurs on pages 144 - 145. Here the author is addressing Jefferson's efforts to Christianize Native Americans. Bernstein states;
"Setting aside his commitment to strict separation of church and state, he sent Christian missionaries to establish schools in western territories to educate Native Americans - and convert them to Christianity."
Never does Bernstein ponder that perhaps Jefferson was not the "strict separationists" which revisionist historians have led us to believe. In fact, this statement stands as a testament that Jefferson's metaphor of a "wall of separation" has in fact, been greatly distorted. Sending missionaries to educate and convert Native Americans, was not, as the First Amendment forbids, "an establishment of religion", but does give weight to the argument that America was, in fact, founded as a "Christian" nation. It is difficult to accept this type of short-sightedness by the author, but then, we live in a society where this type of short-sightedness is commonplace.
The book skims through Jefferson's life from birth to death and beyond and includes 16 glossy pages of black and white plates, 30 pages of notes, a chronology and biographical essay. If you've read other books on Jefferson, you may be disappointed as this is, for the most part, a condensed version. However, if you know little of Jefferson and seek to learn, this is a great little book to start with.
Monty Rainey
www.juntosociety.com
Book Review: Useless and bad writing
Summary: 1 Stars
Unless you know nothing about Jefferson and the period of American history in which he figured, don't think about buying this book. Don't even think of borrowing from local library.
This is a rehash that could pass as a high school review book. And the writing? Well, bad writing, I think, always reveals the shallowness of perception. Example: Bernstein's Introduction begins with the epitaph on Jefferson's cemetary stone; Bernstein follows through with a few observations and then writes: "In life, Jefferson never found the quiet that surrounds him in death." And who does? The rest of the book is even worse.
I wonder how books like this get past the first gate. It should never have been published. It's certainly not worth a glance.
Book Review: Just too short for a book on Jefferson
Summary: 3 Stars
This is kind of harsh to say, but I thought the book was a waste of time because it was simply too short. Yes, if you absolutely have to learn about Jefferson and need to do it in less than 200 pages (little pages...), this book is about as perfect a one to read, but because it was so short and there is soooo much about Jefferson, the book ended up being a bunch of summaries. If you need a quick look up, this book is OK, but if you want some good reading, the book is kind of dry. Nice try.
PS I subsequently read "American Sphinx" by Joseph Ellis and the gold standard 1000 page tome "Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation" by Merrill Peterson. Both were excellent.
Book Review: Nice Introduction to Jefferson
Summary: 4 Stars
Jefferson is of course an icon of our founding. This book sketches his life from birth to death focusing on those aspects that pertain to establishing the nation's political identity. Also, despite its brevity, the ambiguities of Jefferson are not ignored. Jefferson was a slave-owning aristocrat, yet he championed liberty for all people, at least in theory. However, Jefferson could not bridge the racial divide and he was hardly an advocate of any significant democratization of social and political affairs. His relationship, or lack thereof, with Sally Hennings, a household slave of Jefferson's, is mentioned several times (too often actually) with no hard conclusions drawn. If a brief, yet somewhat comprehensive, biography of Jefferson was needed, this book is a fine contribution.
What is obvious is that Jefferson and others constructed a basic, raw framework for a nation and its government. But in Jefferson's lifetime alone, the operation and even the distribution of power within government was an evolving process. In addition, much to Jefferson's dismay, American life was beginning to change from being mostly an agrarian society of small producers. It would be interesting to see a Jeffersonian scholar speculate as to the possibility of Jefferson understanding and accepting the vast changes in American society over the last two hundred years. Would the vast private power of corporations in an industrial society be of concern? What would he prescribe to countervail that power? Would he have accepted gender and racial equality?
One has to wonder about the legitimacy of directly invoking Jefferson to support positions on either the right or the left in today's complex society. Jefferson, like anyone else, was a man of his times, constructing ideas and dealing with issues in that context. What is really interesting is that Jefferson strongly suggested that the Constitution be rewritten every nineteen years. He seems to have known what we do not: that documents written to govern the affairs of men are not so sacred as to be untouchable. It makes the strict constructionists of our era appear to be silly. In reading this book, it is obvious that this nation has benefited greatly from a group of very insightful men from the eighteenth century. One would hope that similar wisdom can find a voice in a world where ideas have to compete with sophisticated public relations and propaganda of many forms.
Book Review: Bernstein's Jefferson
Summary: 5 Stars
Wonderful book about the period surrounding Jefferson's America. Easy and fast read.