Author of America (Eminent Lives) - Thomas Jefferson

An enjoyable examination of Thomas Jefferson, his life, his foibles and his inconsistencies. If you enjoy Hitch's writing style and acerbic denouements, you'll enjoy this. If not, probably best to steer clear. Also, Hitch was, if nothing else, a well researched fellow who willingly slaughtered sacred cows. If you're coming into this with ideas of a political agenda or that Jefferson was a consistent and affable gentleman... You would do well to examine those beliefs in this book.

In Christopher Hitchens' biography of Jefferson, one finds a holistic account of a conflicted genius. Hitchens recounts both generous and petty actions of this remarkable person. He illuminates both the shrewd and reactionary elements of Jefferson. This is accomplished with the elegance and precision of Hitchens' prose.

Hitchens takes us to colonial & revolutionary America--really takes us there. We can see & feel the people & events who shaped Jefferson. We can also take a lot of interesting side trips into English & French history--what men of the world some of our founders were. Imagine if they had access to today's communication. How amazing that they were able to learn so much about their known world.

This book was in excellent condition and received very promptly. The dust jacket looks brand new. This eminet lives series is quite a find.

This book, Thomas Jefferson, Author of America, was purchased at the store.

I felt like the author sat there with a thesaurus when writing this book. I have a good vocabulary but I needed to look up many words while reading this book. That was distracting. I also expected it to have more of Jefferson`s personal life in it but it was mostly about his political life.

Christopher Hitchens, I bow at his feet. He shows the development of Thomas Jefferson, just reading where the words and the thought came from for him to write the Declaration of Independence is worth the read, but it is much, much much more. Try this much and you won't put it down. You will be a better patriot when you are finished....and a better person.

Almost everything Hitchens has written is great reading and this was no exception. In fact it inspired me to go on to read about John and Abigail Adams - Portrait of a Marriage by another author. I wish he had written more but alas, he is no longer with us.

Hitchens does a fantastic job bring us the life, goals and compromises made by one of our histories most significant men. He give us an intimate view of what a true statesman, something significantly lacking in our world where freedom is being sold for alleged security interests. Should be mandatory reading in our schools.

A dry biography of Jefferson's life. The writer seems more interested in showing his knowledge of rarely used words in the dictionary than making this treatise into something more colorful and interesting. Overall, the book mixes plenty of facts and the writer's insights (his) into them.

An updated version of Jefferson's biography is welcome, especially one that is willing to show what a mass of contradictions the very human, if idealistic, Jefferson was. But Hitchens is way too invested in letting us know how erudite and worldly he is, with a decidedly superior tone to what he has to say. I like an author who is a little less interested in injecting himself into his work.

This book should have been called "What Christopher Hitchens thinks of Thomas Jefferson", not "Thomas Jefferson". Hitchens is an entertaining writer who knows lots of big words, but there was nothing new (or apparently very deeply researched) in this very short biography, which consisted mostly of Hitchens' reactions--positive (Jefferson was not a Jesus-is-risen Christian) and negative (Jefferson had slaves)--to Jefferson's life and work. It didn't cost much and it didn't take long to read, but if you want to learn about Jefferson, this probably isn't the place to go.

Razor sharp view of Jefferson the man, and the politician, with an honest accounting of the power slavery and racism held in the minds, in the economic structure, and in the governing framework of the early times of this country. Hitchen's writing reads as though he is in the room with you, talking away, and you are gripped.

I expected caustic wit as characterized by his book "God is Not Great" in which his journalist's virtue for a thousand handy examples proved his points with barb and tact, much in the tradition of Mencken, another great wit, whose contempt for human foibles was at least bolstered by constant confrontation with its newsworthy aspects. Well this book wasn't like that. Pretty much it was just a basic biography of the man, without too much elaboration, even any sort of justification for his subtitle: Thomas Jefferson: Author of America. Of course biographical subtitles are supposed to be far flung and in themselves incredible, but I would have liked to see more of an exposition of this claim. Sure, he wrote the Declaration of Independence, with a little help from his friends, but the Constitution was penned by others.

Good skeptic that he is, and a fan of Paine and all his Reason over Faith, Hitchens notes again and again that Jefferson's rhetoric turns to religious metaphors when he writes in zeal for America - talks of "blessing" and "providence," "apostates," etc. I am surprised at Hitchens surprise: it seems long most people, though secular to the bone, if they were raised in and continue to live in a religiously influenced society, would resort to language of faith, just as a man of any faith or belief my shout "Dear God" when he sees an automobile accident, for the language has nothing to do with belief, but with habitual forms of rhetoric.

Hitchens is good at summing up Jefferson's virtues as a writer and thinker, while noting with pragmatic honesty how often Jefferson's political maneuvering and his equivocal stance on slavery make his political life troubling to us. Considering the fervor of Jefferson's belief, face to face with the spirit of compromise implied in all political activity, I would say Jefferson held up very well - and that seems to be Hitchens conclusion as well.

He says, "Jefferson and Paine had this in common in that year of revolution; they had the gift of pithily summarizing what was already understood, and then of moving an already mobilized audience to follow an inexorable logic."

The burden of the short biography, which is part of a series meant to introduce a wider literature of biographers for immanent men, is on putting in parallel Jefferson's intellectual life to his political life, and both in parallel with the development of the early United States. The much gossiped but ultimately irrelevant business of his affair with Sally Hemmings he passes over out of necessity, but no personal interest, and the other affairs of the Jefferson, with women actually married (a truer scandal if anything) are given more notice and no intention of apology or explanation: that's a politician! Who cares?

The book is not at all psychologically deep, but to its credit, it never intended to be. There is no discussion of the mind of Jefferson, what created it, and how it both came out of, and yet transcended, the intellectual climate of revolutionary America. As a journalist, Hitchens sticks to the facts, and doesn't seem to have any developed pet theories of his own. I would have preferred he did.

However, Reading his books, make me feel like I get a chance to understand what it must be like to be brilliant. I loved this book on Jefferson, an easier read than most of his books, becasue I love what Jefferson understood. In spite of the new revisionist history that is being taught today in American schools ( Jefforson came to America for his own financial benfits, he was a slave owner, he raped women, etc. etcl.etc.)I found this book to be refreshing, as it tells of one of the most important founders of this democracy that allows teachers to teach drivel to my child, which I must un-do when he returns home. If I could only get the teachers to read this book, perhaps saying the Pledge of Alligence would not be "nerdy" and would be stated wth pride, as I fear that we are losing our country, to political correctness, lack of values, loss of religion (I know Hitchens hates religion, but we have to agree to disagree)and values of democracy being bitten away by Islam and the desire to resetablish a Caliphate here in America. Read this book, and be proud to live in the best country in the world.

Christopher Hitchens is pretentious to an annoying degree. For instance, he wrote, "Pausing only briefly to attend his unloved mother's obsequies, Jefferson made his way there." If I hadn't looked up the meaning of obsequies, I wouldn't have known that the woman had died. What's wrong with "funeral"? Only one example. Such flowery language does not enhance a narrative.

Christopher Hitchens on Thomas Jefferson: what's not to like? Jefferson is like a god to Hitchens. In the atheistic pantheon, first comes Darwin, and Jefferson is a close runner-up. The book should have been a slam-dunk. However, instead of a witty and clever portrayal of an idolized character, Hitchens has created a totally unsympathetic, even unlikeable Jefferson.

I was prepared to fall for Jefferson. I wanted to read a book written by a Jefferson admirer so I could really get a handle on the admirable qualities of the man. Instead, the book shows a haughty, mirthless, self-pitying Jefferson, and a complete pretender to Enlightenment thinking. In no way was the Enlightenment intended to sponsor radicalism (France), murder (freed slaves), and genocide (Haiti), as Jefferson did. Nor does Enlightenment thinking lend itself to a "power to the people UNLESS they start disagreeing with their betters" mindset. Yet _that_ is the Jefferson of this book.

Hitchens is also way, WAY too impressed with the magic of Jefferson's forbidden cross-racial love affair. How is that relevant to a book about Jefferson as the Author of America? The Hemings affair got a silly amount of coverage in such a short book.

I would have preferred a fawning tribute to the man, rather than this somewhat scummy biography. Jefferson, as described in this book, is about as likeable as Al Gore.

I wouldn't recommend it. I read it to fill out my knowledge of Jefferson, and I guess I got a little. I wish Brookhiser would do a Jefferson biography. (wistful sigh)

#hillarynutcase . I am loving this book. Not like the stupid book of Hillary where she can not even go to sleep without shame nor remorse. That one can not be reviewed because the store doesn't let me. Do not read Hillaris book, is rabish. Spend your money in Borges or Chesterton.

Two things happened while reading this:

1.) I was so immersed in Hitchens' prose that I felt as if I were as informative as him- my point being how clear his writing is/was..
2.) Jeffersons' motives were elucidated on so thoroughly that I developed an interest in the man enough to continue researching him myself.

This book wasn't necessarily a biography as it was a foray into Jefferson's mind, tackling issues such as his relationship with Sally Hemings, or how he manipulated the press to tarnish the reputation of the Federalist Party who were in good favor with England against the foreboding threat of French Socialists. His private affairs are touched on briefly by Hitchens, who uses these tidbits merely to shed light on a broader political picture.
I loved it nevertheless, and I found it engrossing. I literally couldn't put my phone down (where I read it) at home or in class.

I have always enjoyed Hitchens' wit and writing, and I have a keen interest in Jefferson. So Hitchens' writing about Jefferson's life should have been ideal. Yet, unfortunately this match didn't work so well. Don't get me wrong, Hitchens' writing is very enjoyable and the prose is lucid. However, "Thomas Jefferson: Author of America" is not the best introduction to start reading about Jefferson. Firstly, Hitchens tends to focus too much on how Jefferson's acts are perceived (the "political correctness" of his acts) nowadays. Secondly, his own interests are too apparent in this biography. The discussion of Jefferson's foreign policy was interesting, but it occupied too many pages of this already slim book. I actually think that people who are already fairly familiar might appreciate this book more. For better introductions of Jefferson, I suggest reading "Thomas Jefferson" by Bernstein. For a longer account of Jefferson, "Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power" is recommended.

Just as his fame and notoriety with a wider, general public was on the ascent, Christopher Hitchens, the elderly man was not to be. The world, denied anything further from this polemic, master rhetorician, the consistent provocateur utterly incapable of being boring having returned to "star stuff", was left with his indelible mark that lives on through countless essays, books and media appearances. With perhaps the exception of George Orwell, few historical figures, particularly those from the brief political history of the U.S., had held Christopher Hitchens' interest in the last decade of his life more than Thomas Jefferson. Since the publication of "god is Not Great" (lower case intentional), conventional wisdom might argue that of all the founding fathers, Jefferson was perhaps the most natural ally on the side of secularism, immortalized in those words about a wall, church and separation. However, more fundamentally is the camaraderie between them in their insistence of reason over any faith, the religious kind or otherwise.

In Thomas Jefferson, Author of America, Hitchens wastes nary a sentence, emphasizing the key historical highlights that define the character and legend of the third president of the United States. Hitchens weaves through Jefferson's early days in Virginia, events as they occurred while in France, the likely interludes with Sally Hemmings, the contradictions regarding slavery, time as president and his many remaining years anchored at Virginia in old age. Hitchens conveys it so well it feels as if you had read a book much longer, wondering how he did it in so few pages. Those familiar with Hitchens' more incendiary essays and books will find little with which to get worked up over here. Hitchens hardly strays from consensus scholarship. Rather, Hitchens adds his trademark with where he focuses his lens, how he interprets those few areas of history that are open to interpretation and of course, with an elegance for words that few writers can match.

There are many great books about Thomas Jefferson, and many more about early American history. This is about the best, short biography of Jefferson as you are likely to find.

In spite of the small size of this Jefferson biography by Christopher Hitchens, it discusses a great deal of the life and works of a brilliant man. Specifically, Hitchens discusses most of the major events of TJ's life, including the liaison with Sally Hemmings, which he believes to have happened. (Although having talked with one of the people who was on the committee that analyzed the DNA results, and who stated that the the DNA proved that "a" Jefferson, not "the" Jefferson sired her last child, I'm not convinced of the claim.)

I read this biography expecting a strong discussion on TJ's religious views and was not disappointed. In today's atmosphere in which some try to re-write history by placing the Founding Fathers in the very religious camp, it's important for Americans to be reminded of the truth. Another point of contention in his life was the relationship between him and John Adams. Their reconciliation and resulting correspondence are nicely described.

TJ's relationships with other important figures of the time are either touched on or described a bit more fully. The one disappointment was Hitchens' statement that Washington and Jefferson ceased to communicate with one another, but there is little about the background and perhaps resulting feelings they expressed about each other. In other works, it has been said that Jefferson looked on Washington as a father figure, something not touched on here, and such a breach must have been painful.

Having read other biographies, both about Jefferson and others of his time, I have a modicum of knowledge about the man and his career. This has to be one of the better small stories told of his life. Although Jefferson's life was no small thing and continues to fascinate students of American history.

Anyone reading and enjoying this might also enjoy Jefferson's Great Gamble, about the Louisiana Purchase.

There is something about Thomas Jefferson that inspires massive biographies; the classic example is the six-volume hagiography by Dumas Malone. In contrast, this compact 188 page biography by Christopher Hitchens is succinct and unsentimental and yet it packs lots of fascinating and little known details about Jefferson’s life. (Did you know that Jefferson proposed to name future states Cherronesus, Assenenisipia and Metropotamia?) Hitchens cannot resist reveling in the titillating details about the Sally Hemmings affair, though he quite rightly takes to task previous historians who chose to ignore the fairly clear evidence that did not match their preconceptions. He also makes much of Jefferson’s iconoclastic religious views, which is not surprising given Hitchens’s outspoken skepticism about organized religion in several of his other books.

Hitchens is an engaging and opinionated writer who is at his best giving a balanced account of Jefferson’s self-serving views on slavery. One minor quibble: he devotes a paragraph to Jefferson’s “crucial” expression “we hold these truths to be self-evident” in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence when in fact it was Benjamin Franklin who inserted the words “self-evident”. (Jefferson originally wrote “we hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable”.) Nevertheless, this is an absorbing and balanced biography of a complicated and contradictory man, well worth the short time it takes to read.

If you need an extremely well-written, concise, sympathetic, balanced and reasonably complete introduction to Thomas Jefferson, Hitchens has produced just the thing. Hitchens does particularly well where Thomas Jefferson's views mesh with his own - namely on religion and the disestablishment thereof. Hitchens does not hide Jefferson's many flaws but rather emphasises that first and foremost Jefferson was a man, not some disembodied icon. What others might see as Jefferson's hypocrisies, Hitchens sees as inconsistiencies or as a willingness to be opportunistic. Hitchens lauds Jefferson's victory in separating church and state and in establishing the United States as a continental force.

Hitchens sees Jefferson as an extraordinarily talented writer and a man attuned to the longer view. Less clear is Jefferson's failure to grasp the realities of the emergent US economy and his personal stakes in a slave-fueled plantation economy. The brevity of the book (and perhaps Hitchens own blind spots) leaves this subject and Jefferson's own profligacy largely unexplored.

The great tragedy Hitchens highlights is that for all that Jefferson transcended in helping to establish a republic based on human rights and natural law, he was unable to or chose not to deal with the wolf of slavery. He sees Jefferson's handling of slavery issues, especially when he was in a position to do something about it, as a deep flaw.

Overall, I think Hitchens is too forgiving of Jefferson's flaws as a person, a politician and as an aristocrat but he leaves the reader plenty of room to have a conversation about this intriguing and paradoxical man.

One aside: Hitchens uses none of his famous acid writing on Jefferson but he does remind us of what he can do when he lets himself go. The most obvious victim is Dumas Malone and his 6 volume biography of Jefferson. Hitchens describes (p181) Jefferson's creation of a philosophic bible, as Jefferson's "profane exercise of cutting up the holy book with a razor blade and throwing away all the superfluous, ridiculous, and devotional parts." Then adds paranthetically, "This is an exercise that I have long wanted to repeat in the case of the multivolume hagiography of Jefferson himself, penned so laboriously by Dumas Malone." I guess Hitchens simply couldn't resist.

There is no bibliography or index, but the acknowledgement provides a good summary of Hitchens' sources.

Christopher Hitchens is an excellent writer and he keeps this small book moving along fast. He brings to it his own athesism which informs his reading of Jefferson's own skepticism. His take on Jefferson is balanced, it seems to me, but he does dwell on Jefferson's hypocrisy over slavery. The part I found especially interesting was his being minister to France during the French Revolution. He was a Francophile, as opposed to Adams and Hamilton who leaned British, but over time the Revolution went wrong and Jefferson was forced to evolve his own opinions. I recommend this book.

First, and most importantly, do not read this as a primary biography of Thomas Jefferson. If you are already familiar with his life and accomplishments, this work is an excellent supplement; it puts many of his actions and philosophies in perspective, and forces you to confront a few unpleasant truths.
In some ways it was refreshing to read a biography of Mr. Jefferson that acknowledges that he was a human being, with many of the same basic instincts as any other human, particularly in terms of his relations with Sally Hemmings.
Unfortunately the author seems unable to detach himself from a modern mindset, and consider his subject as a man in his time. In some ways you learn more from this volume about Mr. Hitchens (the author) than you do about his subject.

I have always found Christopher Hitchens to be a fascinating individual. A man who has spent time all over the political spectrum, whom I have had the pleasure to watch on Bill Maher's Real Time. Politically speaking I do not agree with him on much of anything although I do think he is one of the greatest thinkers of our time. He was once regarded by Gore Vidal to be his heir apparent, however he (Vidal) no longer feels this is the case.

In this little 188-page biography for the Eminent Lives series, Hitchens writes about the United States of America's third President, Thomas Jefferson. Hitchens is clearly a Jefferson fan; he took his American citizenship oath at the steps of the Jefferson Memorial. In this book, he details Thomas Jefferson's political career from an early legislator to his time as President of the United States. He also spends one brief chapter on President Jefferson's post-presidential years. Through out the work Hitchens tries to explain what it is that makes Thomas Jefferson so important and Revolutionary.

"Jefferson was not a man of the Enlightenment only in the ordinary sense that he believed in reason or perhaps in rationality. He was very specifically one of those who believed that human lay in education, discover, innovation, and experiment.... He studied botany, fossils, crop cycles, and animals. He made copious notes on what he saw. He designed a new kind of plow, which would cut a deeper furrow in soil exhausted by the false economy of tobacco farming. He was fascinated by the invention of air balloons, which he instantly saw might provide a new form a transport as well as a new form of warfare. He enjoyed surveying and prospecting and, when whaling became an important matter in the negotiation of a commercial treaty, wrote a treatise on the subject himself." p.43-4

Although a romantic, Hitchens does not shy away from criticizing Jefferson if and when he feels it is necessary. He points out some of Jefferson's hypocrisy both political and personnel. To Hitchens, Jefferson's greatest accomplishment was his dedication to the ideal of religious freedom for all.

"So Jefferson took the same view of Haiti as he had of Virginia: the abolition of slavery could be as dangerous and evil as slavery itself. He did not, through this blinker of prejudice, at first discern that events in Haiti would one day provide him with an opportunity of historic dimensions." p.101

This is a great little one-stop biography, even if you are not a fan of Mr. Hitchens himself that should not stop anyone from enjoying this work. Hitchens writes with whit and humor, and he makes analogies to events that have occurred long after Jefferson's own time and before it. The book is like reading a 200-hundred page article that he has written for Vanity Fair.