Selected Book
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson
- Paperback
- Author: Joseph J. Ellis
- Publisher: Vintage
- Release Date: April 1998
- ISBN-10: 0679764410
- ISBN-13: 9780679764410
- List Price: $15.95
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryWell timed to coincide with Ken Burns's documentary (on which the author served as a consultant), this new biography doesn't aim to displace the many massive tomes about America's third president that already weigh down bookshelves. Instead, as suggested by the subtitle--"The Character of Thomas Jefferson"--Ellis searches for the "living, breathing person" underneath the icon and tries to elucidate his actual beliefs. Jefferson's most ardent admirers may find this perspective too critical, but Ellis's portrait of a complex, sometimes devious man who both sought and abhorred power has the ring of truth. |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Excellent Read
Rating:
Not only does this book give a deeper insight to what turned "Jefferson's clocks" in his head, but it lays out a stance for everything he would have done in different situations. The reader will certainly understand the Jeffersonian beliefs and motives and be able to align them accordingly with the modern day political JOKE that we have inherited now. This book made me proud to be an American and proud that we had such an incredible President such as Thomas Jefferson.
A Superb Biography
Rating:
The problem with reviewing this book is, I do not know where to begin. Joseph Ellis provides so much essential information about the character of Thomas Jefferson that it is impossible to review this book dutifully in only a couple paragraphs.
The title of the book, American Sphinx, was spot-on. What does it mean? I believe it is the most accurate description Thomas Jefferson. From reading the book, I got a sense that Jefferson is a very mysterious character. Both political sides worship and try to claim him. Historians are even divided on just how important Jefferson was as a founding father and president. Jefferson is, and always will be, a divided subject.
Ellis does mention the Sally Heming's affair, but he does not spend chapters and chapters debating the issue. He simply makes us aware of the topic and at the end of the book gives us "A Note on the Sally Heming's scandal." I applaud Ellis for this. I did not want the entire book focusing on Jefferson's affair with a slave woman. I wanted, and received, so much more.
In all, Ellis does a superb job illustrating the life of Jefferson, including the good events and the bad. Ellis makes the reader aware of Jefferson's massive debt, just how the Declaration came about and why Jefferson was chosen, Jefferson's presidency, his friendship and feud with John Adams, and his emphatic love for the land and his home Monticello. Every person who reads this book will be able to find at least one similar characteristic relating to Jefferson.
Excellent characterization of the man
Rating:
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson, though one of the most famous and beloved of the founding fathers, remanis a mystery to most of us. He is largely revered for his authoring of the Declaration of Independence; but his authorship of that most famous document does little to reveal the character and mind of Thomas Jefferson.
American Sphinx accomplishes this very well; revealing the seemingly contradictory nature of the man who, with every aspect of his existence, and action, had an idea of what American should become and through these actions sought to steer America in that direction.
Much is written about his relationship with Sally Hemings in contemporary , popular literature and that is touched upon in this book, as is the contradiction observed when Jefferson sought to end slavery though he was "enslaved" to the institution of slavery himself, much like the rest of the south at the time. Ellis doesn't dwell on the Hemings issue and I thought that appropriate.
I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 because I thought it was a dry read at times. It is still an extremely informative read and I feel I know Thomas Jefferson much better now having read it.
Like trying to catch lightning in a bottle!
Rating:
The very meaning of the title of Joseph Ellis' book "American Sphinx" literally means American Enigma. Yes indeed Thomas Jefferson was a mysterious person.
As pointed out by Michiko Kakutani in her New York Times book review "Jefferson became accustomed to constructing worlds of great imaginative appeal that inevitably collided with the more mundane realities." For instance Mr. Jefferson abhorred slavery, but he indeed remained a slaveholder throughout his life. His take on people of African descent was that their mental aptitude was inferior to whites comes into conflict with his romantic attachment to Sally Hemings a slave on his estate at Monticello.
Mr. Jefferson comes from the founding Fathers who believed in States rights and less Federal government. It does seem as confusing that as President he was responsible for the Louisiana Purchase, a rather Federalist move if I do say so myself.
Mr. Ellis' prose explains all these contradictions and in the end do we really know who Thomas Jefferson really was? In effect Ellis has shown us the very first true American Politician. Jefferson bends with the breeze. He can agree with a position on States rights in one context and go out and make the largest purchase of land in American history in another context.
While George Washington became our first Soldier Statesman and John Adams was our first American intellectual President, Thomas Jefferson really was our first Political President. In many respects he doesn't appear as he really is. Who is this man? Come to think of it does anybody really know Franklin D. Roosevelt? Franklin was the ultimate politician.
Hence Jefferson remains an enigma. Ellis has used his superb knowledge of this time of American history to explain the political and personal mind of Thomas Jefferson. Excellent read! Yes, Michiko Kakutani yours was a good review of a good book.
The Elusive Jefferson
Rating:
This book is a wonderful insight into the character of one our most esteemed "founding fathers." But Ellis presents him in a light that we seldom see him in. History is a strange thing, especially popular history. Unlike other areas of scholarship, every American has his/her own interpretation of who the so-called founders were. Ellis seeks to crack the halos and clip the wings to portray Jefferson for who he really was- or at least what all the available evidence best suggests.
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