Thomas Jefferson

Bernstein creates a wonderful launching portal, into the life of Thomas Jefferson, in his short but excellent biography. This is a great starting point for scholars who want to learn more about one of the most influential Founding Fathers. With this biography as foundation, Jefferson's writing, ideas, thoughts and ambiguities can be more deeply explored. Bernstein does the wise biographer approach of allowing Jefferson to emerge from the mystical past without trying to mold him to fit some preconceived notion or ideal. I think every major point that has been written about Jefferson is in this book. Jefferson is such a great symbol of the revolution that changed America and still influences us to this day. Well worth the read and addition to the history shelf.

R.B. Bernstein set out to write a concise biography of a man who may be the most influential American ever. While a concise biography will no doubt omit some facts, Bernstein tells the important facts of the Thomas Jefferson story with commendable skill. Additionally, most biographies tend to be dry reading material. I found this particular biography to be a real page turner.
Thomas Jefferson is best known for his interest in philosophy and issues of individual rights. He is credited with having significant influence in the writing of the early documents in American history. Most specifically, he is given credit for the Declaration of Independence and the addition of the Bill of Rights to the Constitution. Because of Jefferson's importance in politics, Bernstein acknowledges all of the positive and negative highlights of his political career. Much of the mudslinging discussed in the book is reminiscent of contemporary politics.
However, there is much more to the reluctant 3rd President. Bernstein paints picture of a man who hated the bickering nature of politics, preferring the his time to his studies and writing while managing his plantation in Virginia. His obsession was the legendary Monticello, which he designed and continually redesigned.
Bernstein pays little attention to Jefferson's relationship to Sally Hemings except in the epilogue. While some may argue that this omission detracts from the quality of the book, I would disagree. Bernstein chooses to focus on the man and politician rather than his sexual escapades. Even when his seemingly conflicting views of slavery are brought into focus, these facts are not essential to the Jefferson story. When his concern for human rights is put into focus, any discrepancies in his views are only a reflection of his era.
All of the essential facts of Jefferson are discussed in this handsome book. I would highly recommend this book either as a reference book for school papers or a leisurely read about the life of a truly great American.

R.B Bernstein's biography, Thomas Jefferson, is a wonderful introduction to the world of Jefferson scholarship and to Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States. In particular I would recommend this work, a relatively brief read of 216 pages including the introduction, to anyone who would like to know more about Jefferson without delving into the weighty and esoteric tomes that have frequently been turned out by Jefferson scholars.

Aside from its relative brevity, another unusual aspect of Thomas Jefferson is the author himself. Mr. Bernstein is a 1980 graduate of the Harvard Law School, and had a brief career in the law, before returning to academia to study for a PhD in History. Bernstein's legal training is evident throughout the work. Bernstein's book reads like an exceptionally well laid out legal brief, and is devoid of much of the conjecture found in many biographies. The result is both good and bad, depending upon the reader. For me, personally, I found the work to be exceptionally well-balanced, clear, logical, concise and meticulously annotated. On the other hand, if you are a reader looking to understand the melodrama surrounding Jefferson's life, then you should probably look for another biography

With the possible exception of Lincoln, no U.S. President ever has been as enigmatic as Jefferson. Jefferson lived to be eighty-three years old, and for over sixty of those years he was a power player on the national and world stage. By his very nature, Jefferson was a conflicted man with three distinct personalities. On a societal level he was the ultimate idealist. The U.S. Declaration of Independence that he wrote in 1776 still resonates over 230 years later with free and enslaved peoples throughout the world. Second, politically he was a pragmatist. Although fearful of an excessively strong Federal Government, his presidency was marked by a sweeping expansion of Federal powers under his direction. Finally, on a third, and more personal level, Jefferson was a part of the Virginia plantation aristocracy: he was vain, egotistical and hypocritical living a lavish lifestyle that he could ill afford and that could only exist as a result of the institution of slavery.

In addition to his enigmatic nature, Jefferson also kept and maintained meticulous, almost obsessive records and correspondence throughout his lifetime, thereby providing lifetime employment for generations of colonial history scholars. Entire books have been written about topics as esoteric as Jefferson's purchases of wine as a result of his record keeping. (As a matter of fact, at least FOUR books have been written about Jefferson's wine purchases!)

Bernstein's biography attempts to explain and resolve the many apparent contradictions in Jefferson's life. Bernstein starts in the introduction by explaining the three schools of historical thought surrounding Jefferson - the "prophet of disunion" (1860-1920), the "god of democracy" (1930-1965) and the "sphinx like Jefferson" from 1965 and beyond. Next Bernstein discusses the eight major tenets, or "stars" in Bernstein's terms, of Jefferson's revolutionary ideas. Bernstein points out that certain "Stars" remain today such as independence and self-government, while others have faded over time such as Jefferson's belief that America should be an agrarian republic. The introduction of this book is well worth reading in its own right, and should not be skipped!

The body of the book takes a rather traditional approach to his subject's life dividing it up chronologically. Once again, Bernstein's legal background deserves special praise in his brief and succinct description of the Alien and Sedition Acts and again with an exceptionally clear and brilliantly concise description of the importance of the Marbury versus Madison Supreme Court case. I have watched numerous authors and university professors attempt and fail to explain these two important pieces of American history while Bernstein succeeds mightily.

Finally, Bernstein in an Epilogue analyzes the scholarship surrounding the issue of whether Jefferson fathered some of his slave's, Sally Hemings', children. Bernstein concludes that it is highly likely that he in fact did so. His handling of this topic is done in a sensitive yet detailed manner with the results being neither salacious nor prudish.

So, to summarize, if you are interested in reading a book on Jefferson as `history written large' along the lines of David McCullogh's masterwork, John Adams, I would recommend considering a different Jefferson biography. However, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in obtaining a concise, well-written overview of Jefferson's life and the times in which he lived. Bernstein has created an excellent resource for those interested in learning more about our third President.

Jefferson will forever be ensconced in the hallowed halls of American Mythic figures. Indeed his eloquence in expounding the rights of the common man in the close of the 18th century give him an immortality which few in world history will ever attain.
And yet, Jefferson has bedeviled his biographers. He almost seems to taunt at them from beyond the grave. He is a figure that echoes Hamlet's speech to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern back to the recorders of his history, "You would play upon me, you would seem to know my stops, you would pluck out the heart of my mystery, you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass. ... 'Sblood do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me."
In the face of this brilliant, enigmatic, contradictory figure Richard Berstein has taken the only legitimate interpretation of Jefferon possible. He reflects him in his own time. Pulling together a wealth of information from various sources Bernstein manages to create an image of the man himself, as judged by the values and ideas of his own time.
And this is where Jefferson's Brilliance and Human Frailty come to the fore. And it allows the audience to understand how Jefferson became revered in his own time and how this reverance could last to the present day.
Truly a first rate job, this is an excellent, balanced introduction to one of our greatest Founding Fathers.

THOMAS JEFFERSON by R.B. Bernstein is a short biography (198 pages) of Thomas Jefferson that seems to accurately sketch our third president's life objectively, but it reads a little like a long encyclopedia article, without much verve or access to the emotional and personal presence of the man.

This characterization is not to fault Bernstein, who has done what he stated in his introduction was his aim. I found the book enjoyable and his objectivity refreshing in terms of both Jefferson's strengths (his ability to write and inspire) and his weaknesses (his behind-the-scenes manipulations that often ended up embarrassing him when his differing letters were compared by their recipients). I also found the epilogue ("Take care of me when dead..."), which delineates the various eras of Jefferson's reputation in America, very interesting.

Bernstein organizes the book's chapters chronologically by logical periods in the life of Jefferson, from his young adulthood in Virginia (1743-1774) through his time in Europe (1874-1789) to his presidential administrations (1801-1805 and 1805-1809) and his retirement (1809-1826). Bernstein quotes from Jefferson's writings and from peers who wrote about him, including an interesting physical description of him by Sen. Daniel Webster.

While this book does not present nearly so engaging and personal a portrait of a man as Ellis's book on Washington and McCullough's book on John Adams, it does continue the story of the beginnings of our nation from Jefferson's life and reinforces the point that these man, while very different from each other, were inextricably linked with intertwining lives and experiences. I learned a lot about the beginnings of the United States from this book, including some interesting explanations of the electoral college ("In 1787-1788, when the Constitution was adopted, most Americans expected most presidential elections to give no candidate a majority. The electoral college would thin the field, not decide the election. ... Thus, in 1800 they were alarmed by a deadlock that, in 1788, they would have expected as a normal result" p. 129) that illustrate how fluid and changing governance was even for those who began our systems and protocols. It is also a helpful volume in understanding Jefferson's religious life, his deistic beliefs and his adamant support of separation of church and state and the criticism he endured for this position.

If anything, this book has made me more curious about Jefferson, his legacy and his personal life, as it really does gloss Jefferson's marriage, the fact that only one of his children survived him and his relationship with Sally Hemmings and their children. I recommend this as a primer, but not for greater insight into the man.

This book is a very bad translation of the original written in Spanish.. It lists a lot of tourist traps that have absolutely no charm, and skips many charming and interesting places in all categories: beautiful landscapes, historical sites, wonderful museums, quaint towns, marvelous restaurants, quaint stores. I had the feeling the person who wrote it and the one who translated it just needed to turn a quick buck.

I have always admired many of the principles espoused by Thomas Jefferson, including the ideas expressed in the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, his defense of civil rights and his statements on religious freedom and separation of church and state. Indeed, when compared with most revolutions, we in the United States were most fortunate in our founding fathers. Not just Jefferson, but Washington, Adams, Maddison, Franklin and several others as well. However, all leaders have their warts and Jefferson had quite a few. These included his view that blacks were inferior, his preference in maintaining his southern gentleman life style over freeing his slaves, his relationship with Sally Hemings, his tendency to relegate women to the hearth and his fiery temper and often unforgiving nature in political fights. Despite all this he laid the foundation for a much broader view of civil rights and fortunately this broader view has taken hold, despite the fact that it is still not as good as it could be. As a case in point, Thomas Jefferson's old position as Secretary of State (under Washington) is now held by a black woman! Although we are not there yet, we have come a long ways!

Still, Jefferson had a way with words, was a great architect, a fairly competent scientist, a voracious reader and a brilliant diplomat. It is seldom that we come upon such talent and a few (if egregious) warts are probably to be expected, but of course should not be overlooked because of hero worship.

The life, philosophy, triumphs and failings of our third president are concisely covered in a very readable manner by R. B. Bernstein in his book "Thomas Jefferson". I think every American citizen should read this book, or something like it, in order to at least have some understanding of the beginning of our country and the principles on which it was founded. It is somewhat comforting to note that the period of the early republic was often as turbulent as is our current time and that even great leaders like Washington, Maddison, Adams and Jefferson had their sometimes grievous faults and often disagreed among themselves over the best course of action.

I read this book after David McCullough's John Adams and Walter Isaacson's Ben Franklin, both of which were fairly lengthy and detailed, although very good and worth the time to read. However, I was ready for a shorter biography as I did not need all the background of the period. I tried to read Joseph Ellis' "American Sphinx" biography and found it way too analytical. It spent 10 pages discussing the influences on the Declaration. For me it is sufficient to know that the Declaration was not a wholly original piece of work without knowing all the details of Thomas Locke's writings. This book does a good job of telling the story of Jefferson. It seemed to provide a balanced view of the man. The great: his contribution of the Declaration and his achievements as President (Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark expedition), and founding of University of Virginia. The not so great: owner of slaves, not great tenure as governor of Virginia and personal finances. It discusses the Sally Hemings issue, but draws no conclusion. I found it very interesting that Jefferson held what I would could Libertarian ideals of limited government, but expanded government power in expanding the country through the Louisiana purchase and Lewis and Clark expedition. I would recommend this biography for anyone looking for a shorter biography of this important figure in American History.

A great book. This wonderful biography takes an unbiased look at the life of Thomas Jefferson. By not trying to stir things up or offer his opinion on an unresolvable issue, Bernstein succeeds in bring Jefferson's life into clear focus.
Well written and very informative, this would be a great indroduction, or a great re-introduction, to Jefferson. From there you can try the many other Jefferson biographies (Dumas Malone's 6 Volume Set, etc..) or one of the many book that examine his character and/or certain events in his life (American Sphinx, Understanding Jefferson, Negro President, etc...).
Highly Recommended!

I have known about and respected Thomas Jefferson as a founding father most of my life. I think the author did his research well to tell the whole story. I had heard of the "Sally" incident which seemed to shadow him the rest of his life, but perhaps it also served to show him as a real, live person with normal passions other than with only an obsession to get a new government going, for which, I think he was inspired. I do not attempt to judge the man over that scandal. He is still one of my heroes. Glad I read it...

Jefferson was so much more than politics...high school students would appreciate the facts that Jefferson helped design our national capital and made classical architecture popular for the style of many public buildings plus he helped start our decimal system of coinage and he was the first to serve ice cream in the White House.

I really enjoyed this superb book. I highly recommend it as an excellent introduction to Thomas Jefferson. The concise book is only 198 pages of text, yet the author paints a vivid, fascinating portrait of the contradictory and accomplished Jefferson - especially his ideas and how asserted them. This book was a joy to read.

On the cover of the book is a comment from Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Gordon Wood calling this book "The best short Biography of Jefferson ever written." Gordon Wood is the leading historian of the Revolutionary War era and the history of early America. I agree with Wood and would add that it's simply a great book.

Thomas Jefferson had a profound role in the meaning of the America Revolution, especially his enlightened ideas. He wrote the Declaration of Independence - essentially the American creed - "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." Jefferson advocated freedom, learning, and individual rights for all, not to be infringed upon by the state. He was egalitarian in ideology and fearful of strong controlling powers over people in history, including religious powers. He later used the presidency to transform the revolution into his Jeffersonian ideals, and his legacy through time (taking different forms depending on who is using him as an icon) has helped to define the meaning of America.

The first chapter "A Young Gentlemen of Virginia (1743-1774)" gives the reader a fine understanding of the aristocratic, planter society Jefferson grew up in. The book succinctly details Jefferson's love of learning, his ideas, and how his ideas would play out his life and then into American history. Jefferson was an advocate of liberty, including religious freedom. When his wife died at a young age, Jefferson uncontrollably cried for a week. He loved books, architecture, agriculture, art, politics, philosophy, science and much more. He played the violin, became a lawyer, and held numerous political positions, including legislature, governor, vice president, diplomat, secretary of state, and president.

Brief chapters detail how Jefferson was faced with many difficult problems and how he handled them on a case-by-case basis. Bernstein says that Jefferson seemed to compartmentalize his problems which could make various solutions look contradictory. This book clarifies the "why" behind Jefferson's actions and ideas. You get a good understanding of who he was.

Jefferson strongly opposed slavery in his younger years due to his devotion to individual freedom and liberty. He sought to limit slavery to just the original slave states, but the measure failed in Congress by one vote. Younger in life, he and another fellow tried to introduce an anti-slavery bill in the Virginia Legislature, and Jefferson saw the other man attacked for that, so Jefferson learned the futility of trying to fight slavery. Jefferson later expanded his ownership of slaves, according the Bernstein, and became a defender of states rights, so he was hypocritical. He sincerely hated slavery and yet he relied on them for his livelihood. He believed in the brotherhood and egalitarian equality in spirit of all men, and yet he looked down on less educated city dwellers and considered African American inferior, which is not surprising considering the slaves he saw lacked the education he had. So Jefferson was a hypocrite in his contradictory positions against slavery (sincerely and assertively) and yet upholding it with his actions.

This book explains the facts transparantly without offering an opinion one way or the other. Jefferson also likely fathered children with Sally Hemings, who was the half-sister of Jefferson's wife (long dead). Bernstein explains the evidence surrounding this controversy in an unbiased way. (By the way, Monticello believes that Jefferson was the father.) For example, Jefferson's appointment book shows that Hemings and Jefferson were together around those times of conception. She and her children were the only slaves that Jefferson agreed to free when he died -- apparently a deal between them. Sally Hemings was similar in appearance to Jefferson's lovely wife, whom Jefferson adored.

I just loved Bernstein's description of the nasty politics during Adams' presidency and the really nasty election of 1800 between Jefferson and Adams. I could not put the book down. You must read this book to learn about that astonishing time in history. Hamilton and Jefferson, the brilliant founders that they were, could be very wily. They also had different visions of America, and this book gives you a good, basic understanding. Jefferson was agrarian and feared strong central powers, while Hamilton saw an economic future for America that was more modern and close to what actually happened, including the need for an organized national government.

Jefferson was mired in debt. Read the book and understand the society of aristocratic land owners requiring high debt and Jefferson's tastes in living, and Bernstein briefly explains the decisions that led to Jefferson getting over his head. This made freeing his slaves economically impossible. Bernstein does not mention, unfortunately, that Jefferson actually had a positive net worth several years before his death and could have covered all his debts but that a crash in property values caused his net worth to collapse.

I really enjoyed Bernstein's brief description of Jefferson's alliances and rivalries with other founders, especially Madison, Adams, and Hamilton. Jefferson was friends with Adams, then enemies, then friends late in life. They both died on the same day, July 4. Jefferson and Hamilton viciously hated each other and waged an enduring battle over the future of America. Jefferson the politician was very nasty compared to Jefferson the man of letters and sciences.

Jefferson was a strong advocate of religious liberty and successfully achieved a law allowing religious freedom in Virginia. He loved learning and founded the University of Virginia. He was a renaissance man in many ways, which this book briefly explains, and ideologically believed in religious liberty. And he was a agrarian Southern planter.

If you want an excellent, concise book on Jefferson, buy this superb book.

On the back cover of this book are these rave reviews:

"Bernstein's Jefferson is a brilliant success. There's nothing like it in the literature." -Peter Onuf, Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor of History, University of Virginia.

"R.B. Bernstein has produced a fascinating, extremely intelligent examination of the life of Thomas Jefferson. With a clear eye and deft historical touch, Bernstein reminds us why studying Jefferson and his world will always remain central to understanding the development of the American character." -Annette Gordon-Reed, author of "Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy."

"It is difficult to be objective about Thomas Jefferson, but this book succeeds wonderfully. Neither attacking Jefferson for his sins nor lauding him for his accomplishments, `Thomas Jefferson' does equal justice to Jefferson's political, intellectual and personal life in a concise biography that can be enjoyed by all." -Joanne B. Freeman, Professor of History at Yale University.

Of the many books I have read on the presidents (I am reading through all the great presidents and founders), "Thomas Jefferson" stood out as especially well written. It carefully packed much information into a small amount of pages, touching on all aspects of Jefferson's life and creating a living portrait. It was a joy to read and I enthusiastically recommend it as an outstanding introduction to the life and ideas of Thomas Jefferson.

Bravo!

This is a great introduction to Thomas Jefferson. It's not possible to give a detailed description of the life and accomplishments of Jefferson in a mere 200 pages of text, but Bernstein has presented a fine basic summary of Jefferson' life. I don't necessarily agree with all of Bernstein's conclusions, and he seems to allow a bit of liberalism to skew his viewpoints, but nonetheless, there is a definite market for a book of this sort.

This is not an indepth, detailed analysis of Jefferson. For that, see such works as Dumas Malone's 6-volume set which took over 30 years to compose. What this book is, is a quick easy introduction and overview of Jefferson. If you are wanting to learn about Jefferson but not wanting to wade through 600 pages of Willard Sterne Randall's account, or even a the brief version by Joseph Ellis, which is just over 300 pages of text, then this is a perfect fit for you. At less than 200 pages, this is a quick, easy read.

I only have a couple of knocks on the book. For one, Bernstein seems genuinely disturbed that Jefferson did in fact own slaves and spends, I think, too much time debating the issue of Jefferson fathering the children of Sally Hemmings. Let us not forget that Jefferson was, in fact, a southern planter and owning slaves was accepted and commonplace. That is not an endorsement, but simply a statement of fact, and one that I believe Jefferson should not be condemned for considering the time in which he lived.

The other problem I have with this book occurs on pages 144 - 145. Here the author is addressing Jefferson's efforts to Christianize Native Americans. Bernstein states;

"Setting aside his commitment to strict separation of church and state, he sent Christian missionaries to establish schools in western territories to educate Native Americans - and convert them to Christianity."

Never does Bernstein ponder that perhaps Jefferson was not the "strict separationists" which revisionist historians have led us to believe. In fact, this statement stands as a testament that Jefferson's metaphor of a "wall of separation" has in fact, been greatly distorted. Sending missionaries to educate and convert Native Americans, was not, as the First Amendment forbids, "an establishment of religion", but does give weight to the argument that America was, in fact, founded as a "Christian" nation. It is difficult to accept this type of short-sightedness by the author, but then, we live in a society where this type of short-sightedness is commonplace.

The book skims through Jefferson's life from birth to death and beyond and includes 16 glossy pages of black and white plates, 30 pages of notes, a chronology and biographical essay. If you've read other books on Jefferson, you may be disappointed as this is, for the most part, a condensed version. However, if you know little of Jefferson and seek to learn, this is a great little book to start with.

Monty Rainey

[...]

I have nothing but glowing praise for this author of "Thomas Jefferson", R.B. Bernstein. I just wanted to say that I agree with all the reviewers who gave the book good marks. I also took one reviewer's suggestion and went on to read "West Point:Thomas Jefferson.." by Remick and found it different than the Bernstein book and other T.J. books because it is not so much ABOUT Jefferson, as is a biography, but FROM Jefferson, the moral history and philosophy being drawn from his own readings and writings. I recommend after reading Bernstein's "Thomas Jefferson" you go on to the book by Remick, if you enjoy food for thought.

Well written and most interesting of the time of the founding of our nation. This should be a required reading in our high schools.
If more Americans had information like is resented here, we would have a greater appreciation of our great nation.

Having read and thoroughly enjoying Bernstein's earlier biography of Thomas Jefferson, I decided to give THOMAS JEFFERSON: THE REVOLUTION OF IDEAS, a look. Like his earlier work, this is a wonderful introduction to Jefferson, however this book is geared towards the school age reader.

Much of the text is identical to the earlier biography. The most significant difference is the addition of dozens of illustrations, from portraits of Jefferson's friends, family, and foes, and political cartoons.

My single knock on Bernstein's book is the same knock I had on his previous work. Bernstein adamantly portrays Jefferson as a "strict separationist", which in and of itself is accurate. However he fails to recognize that what constituted a "strict separationist" 200 years ago is much different than the definition given in today's climate of political correctness gone awry. Bernstein seems genuinely perplexed that Jefferson "sent Christian missionaries to establish schools in western territories to educate Native Americans - and convert them to Christianity." As with extremists today, Bernstein fails to understand that Jefferson's actions did not violate the First Amendment in that "Congress made no law respecting the establishment of religion."

I could spend all day writing about how mixed up people are about what the First Amendment means and how it was intended by our framers, but that strays from the subject at hand. All in all, this is a great introduction for school children and should capture their interest and perhaps, lead them into more indepth study of one of our greatest leaders.

Monty Rainey

[...]

Being from Iceland I have not really had any education on the founding fathers/presidents of the United States. Wanting to enlighten myself I bought a few books on several of the most famous presidents. This book was one of them since it came highly recommended. Not qualified to judge the quality of this book's content compared to other books of Jefferson (since I haven't read any) I can just say that it's a good read. The text is well written and informative, showing both Jefferson's brilliance and flaws (well he was after all human). So if you would like to read about the late president in not too many words (the book is only around 200 pages) I recommend it highly.

Overall, I did enjoy Bernstein's "Thomas Jefferson." After just reading two 600+ biographies on Washington and Adams, I wanted to get a smaller book that would just cover the basics of Jefferson's life. This book did just that and I was pleased with that aspect. But, I did notice a few small errors in the book. For instance, he gets the death date of George Washington wrong. Even if it's only by a day, it still seems like a small fact that could have easily been found. It made me wonder what else about the book was wrong. If you really want to study the life of Jefferson, I recommend reading a longer biography. The facts can sometimes become tedious, but there are so many amazing details that you miss in a short biography. I didn't feel as though I truly got to know Jefferson in this book. For all its purposes, though, it was a great read.

THOMAS JEFFERSON is an impressive accomplishment. Bernstein's masterful grasp of our third president's life and legacy allows him to peel back Jefferson's accomplishments and ambiguities layer by layer, while respecting the essential mystery at the core of his being. Generalists will hail this thorough and concise account of this multifaceted individual. Historians will appreciate Bernstein's meticulous use of source materials, his thorough familiarity with the latest scholarship, and his professional detatchment (unlike so many, this author does not obscure Jefferson with his own agenda, preferring to let his sources speak. As a wordsmith as well as an historian, I particularly relished how this book elicits one of America's gretest writers in language both incisive and elegant.

Thomas Jefferson's long and accomplished life resists compression into a one volume treatment. Professor R. B Bernstein almost meets the challenge but not without some lapses. He misses the importance of Jefferson's design of the Virginia State Capitol as the introduction of classical architecture to public buildings. It was not Jefferson's influence that brought James Madison to accept the need for a bill of rights, but the opposition of Virginia and other states to the adoption of a Constitution that lacked such amendments. It was the loss of Saint-Domingue (Haiti) that caused Napoleon to give up his dream of a western empire, not the costs of maintaining the Louisiana Territory. Bernstein succumbs to the revisionist effort to create a persona for Sally Hemings in asserting she was given "extensive authority over running" Monticello.

There are errors of fact which should have been caught by the readers Bernstein credits in his Acknowledgments: Eston Hemings was born in 1808, not 1809; the earliest references to the Presidents House as the White House was 1812, not at the time Jefferson moved into it; Sally Hemings never went to Ohio with her sons, but died in Charlottesville.

It is disappointing to read the "proof" Bernstein, a law professor, accepts in the last chapter when he discusses whether Jefferson fathered children by Sally Hemings. Bernstein is one of the "believers" scattered throughout academia who have followed a pattern of making the test for paternity "could he have" rather than "did he." Two examples suffice. One, in his first term as president, the Federalist press accused Jefferson of fathering a son Tom with Hemings. A Woodson family had long claimed they are the descendants of this Tom. Although DNA tests destroyed this myth, Bernstein calls the family stories of other descendants of Sally Hemings "oral history" and insists they are "proof" of paternity. Two, Bernstein endorses a Monte Carlo simulation by an archeologist at Monticello on the "odds" that Jefferson was the cause of Hemings' conceptions. If this gibberish had any value Bernstein should take it to the racetrack. Recently, a professor at St. Joseph's University did a Monte Carlo simulation for the NCAA basketball tournament. In the round of sixteen, he got eight right.

In short, not the "brilliant" biography praised on the back cover, but certainly a readable and thorough one. Just skip the last chapter.
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Even though I gave his book a high passing grade, Professor Bernstein apparently suffered a great deal of angst from some of my comments. I did point out errors he didn't question, but no thanks from him on those. He asserts that some of my criticisms are not valid because I misread his meaning and that a "fair minded reviewer" would have understood. Well, that is a problem of all writers, but let's consider his arguments.
Professor Bernstein cites other books he wrote to demonstrate his understanding of the various pressures that caused James Madison to support amendments to the new Constitution. Of course, I was only commenting on this book, and his clarification doesn't change my impression that he makes Jefferson too influential in Madison's decision to support a Bill of Rights.
Even after Professor Bernstein's explanation of the meaning of the word "now" (on p. 127), I cannot read it as "later" or "today." When the event discussed is not placed in time, "now" will refer to the present. When it is used in a subordinate clause to a present time of 1801, the "now" is 1801.
Professor Bernstein argued that he can't put in everything and that is why he only devoted a few lines to Jefferson's role in the construction of the Virginia Capitol. But the importance of that role was not Jefferson "gazing" on the Maison Carrée, it was the impact of using that classical form for a public building in America. Here (p. 65), he commits another error in using Jefferson's visit to the Maison Carrée as the reason of the preparation of a model to be used by the builders in Richmond. This model was prepared earlier and was actually in Richmond before Jefferson's visit to Nîmes.
Professor Bernstein argues that he is following the lead of other historians in his conclusion that the cost of maintaining the Louisiana Territory was the basis of Napoleon's decision to sell. I do not agree that John Kukla's A Wilderness So Immense, cited by Professor Bernstein, supports this "cost" argument. Although Napoleon did see the territory as a economic loss, this was only because of the failure of the French to reconquer Saint-Domingue ( Haiti). It had been Napoleon's plan to turn Haiti back to a slave society, resurrect the sugar trade and provide a market for goods coming from the Mississippi valley. When that failed, the sale of the Louisiana Territory became valuable to Napoleon as a means to finance his intended war with Great Britain.
Professor Bernstein is most upset with me for "dubbing" Fraser Neiman's analysis as a "Monte Carlo simulation." Neiman constructed a mathematical analysis of the "odds" that Jefferson fathered Sally Hemings children. He had to make a number of unproven assumptions, which included that all of her children had the same father, and that any other suspect had to have the same arrival and departure dates from Monticello as Jefferson. Neiman termed this methodology as a Monte Carlo simulation and used that term a half a dozen times in his paper. By accusing me of setting up a false analogy to the Neiman study, Professor Bernstein reveals that he has never read it.

This public display of reviewers' bickering neither honors nor dignifies the person we all revere, Thomas Jefferson. He, too, was sometimes critical and impatient, even manipulative. He also suffered more disappointments and losses than most and was a product of his circumstances, trapped in the events and standards of his time.
At the very least, however, Jefferson read and listened to others and tried to understand their side of issues. With faith in common people and common causes he directed his gifts--during what he saw as practical opportunities--toward advocacy and action in their behalf. He didn't always succeed, but when he did the results were spectacular.
Will there ever be another like him?
Last evening a descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings notified me, "Today I gratefully passed my Masters Thesis Defense!" Shannon Lanier will receive both a Bachelor of Science degree in electronic media production and a Master of Arts degree in media management from Kent State University next month. Shannon, a gifted and extremely likeable young man, co-authored JEFFERSON'S CHILDREN in 2000 and has done more than most to try to reunite the Jefferson and Hemings families.
To honor my friend Shannon and all in his blended family, I'll put aside petty resentments. R.B. Bernstein, for all his self-confessed "kvetching" and self-doubts and his shots at me, deserves more than the one star I awarded him, but I can't go for five. I think he would agree that in current affairs we're seeing too much of settling differences by shooting instead of listening to one another. We can all set a better example for those who will soon inherit a world we're currently mismanaging.
For my part in this, I know that (1) anyone's vetting of my book DIAGNOSING JEFFERSON will reveal no misstep in my scholarship, though they can argue with my hypotheses, that (2) my descriptions of the compatibility of Jefferson's traits with Asperger's are well grounded and validated by experts, that (3) my work was edited by one of the best in the business--Hillel Black, that (4) the book has inspired countless young people with the condition, and several have told me it turned their lives around, and that (5) those who belittle the work without doing more than leaf through it may be surprised when they take the trouble to read it.

This paperback book was purchased as a gift for a friend at Christmas. He told me recently that he really enjoyed the book, and feels that he now knows many amazing facts about our third president. He recommends it highly.

I thought Mr. Bernstein did a lovely job and gave us a lovely book on the life of Thomas Jefferson. I am writing this so as to recommend it to you. I in turn am in the throes of reading "West Point, Thomas Jefferson, Character Leadership Education" by Remick at the recommendation of a few previous reviews and am far enough along and pleasantly surprised enough to suggest that you do the same when you have finished the Bernstein book.

Unless you know nothing about Jefferson and the period of American history in which he figured, don't think about buying this book. Don't even think of borrowing from local library.

This is a rehash that could pass as a high school review book. And the writing? Well, bad writing, I think, always reveals the shallowness of perception. Example: Bernstein's Introduction begins with the epitaph on Jefferson's cemetary stone; Bernstein follows through with a few observations and then writes: "In life, Jefferson never found the quiet that surrounds him in death." And who does? The rest of the book is even worse.

I wonder how books like this get past the first gate. It should never have been published. It's certainly not worth a glance.