At different times Thomas Jefferson has been claimed by Southern secessionists and Northern abolitionists, New Deal liberals and neoconservatives Now historian Joseph J. Ellis restores our most elusive national icon to human dimensions with insight, sympathy, and superb style, shrewdly sifting the facts from the legends and the rumors. From the drafting of the Declaration of Independence to his retirement in Monticello, Ellis unravels the contradictions of his character, giving us the slaveholding libertarian, the enemy of government power who exercised it audaciously as president; and the visionary who remained blind to his own inconsistencies. A marvel of scholarship and a delight to read, American Sphinx is a book whose appeal transcends history buffs and biography fans and provides an essential gloss on the Jeffersonian legacy.

שם הספר
American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies in the Founding of the Republic
What Did the Declaration Declare? (Historians at Work)
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams