Selected Book
Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson
- Paperback
- Author: Thomas Jefferson
- Publisher: Dover Publications
- Release Date: June 2005
- ISBN-10: 0486442896
- ISBN-13: 9780486442891
- List Price: $6.95
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryDetailed account of this man's remarkable life and the period during which he wrote the Declaration of Independence. A first draft of the document is included, as are Jefferson's comments on the Articles of Confederation, his experiences as governor of Virginia, years in Paris as Minister to France, and his life in retirement. |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Our History
Rating:
This was a small, interesting book, but I found it a difficult read, due to the language used back then. Very different from today's speech. I was rather disappointed that it did not include some of his earlier life.
Short, and inside perspective
Rating:
Written in 1821, TJ writes very quickly about his parents, childhood, and the time period before the revolution and spends way more time on the declaration of independence, articles of confederation, his presidency and the early 1800s.
He does include an original draft of the declaration of independence which is neat. And his section on the articles of confederation shows the many problems the states had to deal with upon becoming independent.
While Bill Clinton's autobiography was way too long, this autobio was way too short.
But the perspective is one that the history books do not often show you.
An insightful look into the Republican mind
Rating:
Few autobiographies offer such a candid and vivid view of the mind of the author. In this, Thomas Jefferson's autobiography, there is no doubt as to the authenticity of the man, the revolutionary and the statesman: the virtue, wisdom and strength that is visible as Jefferson describes both the minor and major events and moments in his public life of service where his reliance upon the essence of the early Republic's laws and the spirit of the national consciousness were blended with the author's unique insight as to how to maintain the delicate balance of Federal necessity, states rights and the influence of the foreign powers and their affairs upon the young nation.
Unlike the autobiographies of other founding fathers (Adams, Franklin, Hamilton, etc.), whose own accounts are more personal and revealing about themselves as well as judgmental and temperamental about their personal experience with their peers, Jefferson has crafted an autobiography, which is true to form: the form of the man and his beliefs, which influenced national policy without every being advanced to replace it, which served a nation selfishly without requiring anything else in return except for the promise of posterity to "preserve, protect and defend" the liberties achieved and to forever more "admire, relish and respect" the eternal need to defend and uphold, at any cost, both the people and the commonwealth for future generations to behold.
I think it funny that today's democratic-socialists have adopted Thomas Jefferson as their "founding father". If anything, this book redeems the reputation and spirit of Jefferson, not as a democrat or democratic-socialist, but as a Republican, dedicated and sworn to instituting a democratic-republican form of government free from the tyranny of dictators and protected from the ill-conceived attempts of men and women from within to manipulate and pervert a form of government conceived as "one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Not your typical autobiography -- but fascinating
Rating:
This brief "autobiography" is not a self-promotion, an expose, or a book designed for the purpose of keeping the reader turning the pages in suspense. In fact, it has very little personal information about Jefferson or his life outside of the political happenings in which he was involved concerning the American and French revolutions. Certainly, there is no mention of his black lover, Sally Hemings, and for that matter little mention of his "real" family. Nonetheless it was to me a gripping tale that kept me reading, as I felt privy to the inner workings of the Continental Congress and the French Revolution from an influential American who was on the spot (and in the midst) of the events as they occurred. Perhaps, as a direct descendant of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, of which Jefferson was the author, I had a natural interest in this book. But I think not, as it had been sitting gathering dust on my shelf as I read lots of classic American fiction that I thought would be more rewarding. Despite (because of?) its dry, blunt, intelligent but factual style, the debates and events are center stage, with Jefferson's occasional but not obtrusive opinions being much appreciated. My great experience reading Jefferson's brief book led me to pick up W.E.B. DuBois' The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade, which covers some of the same ground although from a different perspective, and is equally rewarding.
Jefferson's service
Rating:
I was a bit disappointed in this book. Having read and relished The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, I was anxious to read the native narrative of another of the Founding Fathers. Unfortunately, where as Franklin's book combines delightful personal details along with perspectives on the man's government service, Jefferson's autobiography is quite dry and seems to be more an official catalog of committee deliberations than a story about his own life. The rear cover of the books states, in addition to other things, that the book "...presents a detailed account of his young life..." and "...his life in retirement." I think that one would be hard pressed to identify more than a couple paragraphs in this 101 page book in which Jefferson describes his youth or his retirement. The book was interesting, though more from the historical and political perspectives than from any insight it offers into the inner philosophy or personal life of the man.
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