Since its publication in , The Jefferson Image in the American Mind has become a classic of historical scholarship. In it Merrill D. Few presidents have embodied the American spirit as fully as Thomas Jefferson.
He was the originator of so many of the founding principles of American democracy. Politically, he shuffled off the centralized authority of the Federalists, working toward a more diffuse and minimalist leadership. He introduced the bills separating church and state and mandating free public education. He departed from the strict etiquette of his European counterparts, appearing at state dinners in casual attire and dispensing with hierarchical seating arrangements.
Jefferson initiated the Lewis and Clark expedition and seized on the crucial moment when Napoleon decided to sell the Louisiana Territory, thus extending the national development. In this study, Gordon-Reed assembles a fascinating and convincing argument: Inventor, botanist, geographer, archaeologist, architect, tireless recorder of the natural world—Bedini gives us the Jefferson that not only forged the politics of America, but made scientific progress synonymous with the spirit of America.
Much has been written about Thomas Jefferson, with good reason: His life was a great American drama—one of the greatest—played out in compelling acts. But Twilight at Monticello is something entirely new: The authoritative single-volume biography of Thomas Jefferson, perhaps the most significant figure in American history. He was a complex and compelling man: Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
That Jefferson himself was caught between his own soaring rhetoric and private behavior toward blacks has long been known. But the tortured duality of his attitude toward Indians is only now being unearthed. When Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, , he left behind a series of mysteries that have captured the imaginations of historical investigators for generations. Burstein also tackles the crucial questions history has yet to answer: Did Jefferson love Sally Hemings? What were his attitudes towards women? Did he believe in God?
How did he wish to be remembered? The result is a profound and nuanced portrait of the most complex of the Founding Fathers. Though limited to white males, public education was a progressive idea for its time. All his bills failed.
Even his contemporaries found him difficult to know. A protean figure and a man of massive achievement, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the only man to be elected to the presidency more than twice.
In a ranking of chief executives, no more than three of his predecessors could truly be placed in contention with his standing, and of his successors, there are so far none. Truman by Robert Dallek. In April , after the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the presidency fell to a former haberdasher and clubhouse politician from Independence, Missouri.
Many believed he would be overmatched by the job, but Harry S. Truman would surprise them all. Eisenhower by Tom Wicker.
Veteran journalist Tom Wicker traces Eisenhower's life from his hardscrabble Kansas childhood, through his West Point years and his dramatic success during the war to his reluctant entry into politics. Throughout, we see a good and determined man -- at times, says Wicker, a great man -- who is remembered as much for his personal magnetism as for his aura of competence and command. Kennedy by Alan Brinkley. The young president who brought vigor and glamour to the White House while he confronted cold war crises abroad and calls for social change at home.
Johnson by Charles Peters. The towering figure who sought to transform America into a "Great Society" but whose ambitions and presidency collapsed in the tragedy of the Vietnam War. Nixon by Elizabeth Drew. In this provocative and revelatory assessment of the only president ever forced out of office, the legendary Washington journalist Elizabeth Drew explains how Richard M.
Nixon's troubled inner life offers the key to understanding his presidency. Ford by Douglas Brinkley. Ford entered the White House in August , he inherited a presidency tarnished by the Watergate scandal, the economy was in a recession, the Vietnam War was drawing to a close, and he had taken office without having been elected. Jimmy Carter by Julian E. The maverick politician from Georgia who rode the post- Watergate wave into office but whose term was consumed by economic and international crises.
Ronald Reagan by Jacob Weisberg. In the second half of the twentieth century, no American president defined his political era as did Ronald Reagan. He ushered in an age that extolled smaller government, tax cuts, and strong defense, and to this day politicians of both political parties operate within the parameters of the world he made. Bush by Timothy Naftali. George Bush was a throwback to a different era. A patrician figure not known for eloquence, Bush dismissed ideology as "the vision thing.
Bill Clinton by Michael Tomasky. The president of larger-than-life ambitions and appetites whose term defined America at the close of the twentieth century.
www.farmersmarketmusic.com: Thomas Jefferson: The American Presidents Series: The 3rd Story time just got better with Prime Book Box, a subscription that delivers 2). +. George Washington (The American Presidents Series). Total price: $ In this book, Forrest McDonald examines Jefferson's performance as the nation's leader The Presidency of George Washington (American Presidency Series) . and writings of Thomas Jefferson but tend to overlook his 2 terms as President.
Bush by James Mann. The controversial president whose time in office was defined by the September 11 attacks and the war on terror.
The Founding Fathers by Macmillan Audio. Remini Heavy were the burdens of John Quincy Adams's upbringing. Andrew Jackson by Sean Wilentz Fearless, principled, and damaged, Andrew Jackson was one of the fiercest and most controversial men ever to serve as president of the United States. Martin Van Buren by Ted Widmer The first "professional politician" to become president, the slick and dandyish Martin Van Buren was to all appearances the opposite of his predecessor, the rugged general and Democratic champion Andrew Jackson.
William Henry Harrison by Gail Collins The president who served the shortest termjust a single monthbut whose victorious election campaign rewrote the rules for candidates seeking America's highest office. John Tyler by Gary May The first "accidental president," whose secret maneuverings brought Texas into the Union and set secession in motion When William Henry Harrison died in April , just one month after his inauguration, Vice President John Tyler assumed the presidency.
Polk by John Seigenthaler The story of a pivotal president who watched over our westward expansion and solidified the dream of Jacksonian democracy. Eisenhower Zachary Taylor was a soldier's soldier, a man who lived up to his nickname, "Old Rough and Ready.
Millard Fillmore by Paul Finkelman The oddly named president whose shortsightedness and stubbornness fractured the nation and sowed the seeds of civil war Franklin Pierce by Michael F. Holt Charming and handsome, Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire was drafted to break the deadlock of the Democratic convention. Baker Almost no president was as well trained and well prepared for the office as James Buchanan. McGovern Abraham Lincoln towers above the others who have held the office of president—the icon of greatness, the pillar of strength whose words bound up the nation's wounds.
Andrew Johnson by Annette Gordon-Reed A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian recounts the tale of the unwanted president who ran afoul of Congress over Reconstruction and was nearly removed from office.
Grant by Josiah Bunting III Grant is routinely portrayed as a man out of his depth, whose trusting nature and hands-off management style opened the federal coffers to unprecedented plunder. Trefousse If Rutherford B. Garfield by Ira Rutkow James A. Graff When Grover Cleveland took office in , one world was ending and a new one was emerging.
Calhoun Politics was in Benjamin Harrison's blood.
Brands On the eve of his inauguration, Wilson commented, "it would be the irony of fate if my administration had to deal chiefly with foreign affairs. Leuchtenburg Catapulted into national politics by his heroic campaigns to feed Europe during and after World War I, Herbert Hoover—an engineer by training—exemplified the economic optimism of the s. Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Roy Jenkins A protean figure and a man of massive achievement, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the only man to be elected to the presidency more than twice.
Truman by Robert Dallek In April , after the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the presidency fell to a former haberdasher and clubhouse politician from Independence, Missouri. Eisenhower by Tom Wicker Veteran journalist Tom Wicker traces Eisenhower's life from his hardscrabble Kansas childhood, through his West Point years and his dramatic success during the war to his reluctant entry into politics. Kennedy by Alan Brinkley The young president who brought vigor and glamour to the White House while he confronted cold war crises abroad and calls for social change at home Lyndon B.
Johnson by Charles Peters The towering figure who sought to transform America into a "Great Society" but whose ambitions and presidency collapsed in the tragedy of the Vietnam War Richard M. Few presidents embody the American spirit as fully as Thomas Jefferson. He was possessed of an unrivaled political imagination, and his vision accounts for the almost utopian zeal of his two administrations.
The contradictions in his populism are striking and make Jefferson the most controversial of presidents: In his twilight years Jefferson was already taking on the luster of a national icon, which was polished off by his auspicious death on July 4, ; and in the subsequent seventeen decades of his celebrity—now verging, thanks to virulent revisionists and television documentaries, on notoriety—has been inflated beyond recognition of the original person. Constitution, a formidable political figure, and a man of penetrating analytical intellect and tremendous foresight -- is why, when he became chief executive, did he steer the ship of state with such an unsteady hand? With a sure command of sources and skilled intuitive understanding of Jefferson, McLaughlin crafts and uncommon portrait of builder and building alike. Discusses the Louisiana Purchase of and the political maneuverings of Napoleon and Jefferson that made it possible.
Jefferson alone among his American peers anticipated the age of democracy and bent every effort toward hastening its peaceful, consensual arrival. He realized that the spirit of democracy required not only a political revolution, but also a social one. Jefferson, of upper-class birth and upbringing, spent much of his presidency laying out a path through the aristocratic prejudices and pretensions that stood in the way of democracy.
The contradictions in his populism are striking and make Jefferson the most controversial of presidents: Even though his egalitarianism was limited to white men, it represented a sharp break with the outlook and policies of his predecessors. The ideological differences between Jefferson and Federalist presidents George Washington and John Adams led to the establishment of the two-party system that still dominates American politics today. Jefferson described his election to the presidency as a second American Revolution. For the first time, historian Joyce Appleby, an expert on early America, rigorously explores this claim.