A physician; a Northerner; a teacher; a school administrator; a suffragist; and an abolitionist; Esther Hill Hawks was the antithesis of Southern womanhood. And those very differences destined her to chronicle the era in which she played such a strange part
#111642 in Books W W NORTON CO 2016-04-13 2016-04-13Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.60 x 1.40 x 6.70l; .0 #File Name: 0871404427400 pagesW W NORTON CO
Review
97 of 104 people found the following review helpful. Ignore the SaltBy Kellie HedgersDo not be fooled by the bad reviews--this is an excellent book. Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter Onuf are both excellent Jefferson scholars and this is a well-written; informative; and insightful book. Some reviewers are treating this book like an attack on Jefferson--it's not. If you actually read it; it's very clear that Gordon-Reed and Onuf are not trying to make us think less of TJ or to dislike him---they are trying to make us think critically about him; and in ways that we haven't thought about him before. The main focus of the book is how TJ's home life and thought processes helped him view and deal with the world; so his private life is VERY relevant; despite what another review said (there's no way to understand what the man DID; unless we know how he THOUGHT and why). Most of the major criticism seems to be related to the fact that they treat Sally Hemings as a real person; rather than a moral stumbling block--they emphasize the Hemings-Jefferson relationship and use what information is available about it to analyze what exactly she and their children might have meant to Jefferson. Acting like the Hemings-Jefferson relationship didn't exist seems willfully ignorant at this point; given the weight of the circumstantial and DNA evidence. Is it really so horrible to contemplate that she might have meant something to Jefferson? Gordon-Reed and Onuf also have extensive analyses of how Jefferson conceived of gender and race; and those rank among the very best writing that I've read on Jefferson to date. They're fresh and insightful; and they add a lot of nuance to a man that you think you know everything about. In conclusion; check this book out. It made me feel like I was seeing a side of TJ I'd never seen before; and that's a rare thing for one of the most analyzed men in American history.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Excellent book. Well written and well documentedBy RKExcellent book. Well written and well documented. I found the lengthy section on the time Jefferson spent in France to be exceptionally long and cumbersome to read. Before that section; and afterward; the book moves along quite well and is very interesting to read. Very little time is given to his writing of the Declaration of Independence or his U.S. Presidency. I would like to have read more on how he formed his policies and programs as President. Jefferson's life was a contradiction from his early years until death. He would ardently profess certain beliefs and philosophy; but then live his life in complete opposition to what he had just written. It's difficult to know how he felt on any given issue because what he said was so different than what he did. Good book - very interesting - well documented.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The Man HimselfBy MaryAn excellent study of Thomas Jefferson: his circumstances/the society in which he grew up and lived; his personality; his talents; his conflicts; the deep love he had for his family. Do we understand him better in reading "Most Blessed of the Patriarchs"? We certainly can perceive enduring characteristics: his appreciation for architecture; invention; scholarship; his reticence about his feelings; the contradictions in his personality; e.g.;: valuing privacy at Monticello v. the satisfactions of public life; his attitude toward the institution of slavery and his part in it.. He was a complex man. I believe the exploration of this complexity is extremely valuable. Yes; we can judge--but with thought.
