American Sphinx The Character of Thomas Jefferson, Joseph J. Ellis. (Paperback ) Book Reviews,

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American Sphinx The Character of Thomas Jefferson
Author: Joseph J. Ellis

For a man who insisted that life on the public stage was not what he had in mind, Thomas Jefferson spent a great deal of time in the spotlight--and not only during his active political career. After 1809, his longed-for retirement was compromised by a steady stream of guests and tourists who made of his estate at Monticello a virtual hotel, as w... more »ell as by more than one thousand letters per year, most from strangers, which he insisted on answering personally. In his twilight years Jefferson already was taking on the luster of a national icon, a process whose climax was his auspicious death (on July 4, 1826). The subsequent seventeen decades of his celebrity--now verging, thanks to virulent revisionists and television documentaries, on notoriety--has inflated his reputation far beyond our ability to recognize the original person.

For the historian Joseph J. Ellis, the experience of writing about Jefferson was "as if a pathologist, just about to begin an autopsy, has discovered that the body on the operating table was still breathing." Ellis sifts the facts from the legends and the rumors, treading a path between vilification and hero-worship to formulate a plausible portrait of the man who still "hover[s] over the political scene like one of those dirigibles cruising above a crowded football stadium, flashing words of inspiration to both teams." For, at the grass roots, Jefferson is no longer liberal or conservative, agrarian or industrialist, pro- or anti-slavery, privileged or populist. He is all things to all people. His own unwillingness to confront incompatible convictions within himself (which left him deaf to most forms of irony) has leaked out into the world at large--a world determined to idolize him despite his foibles.

From Ellis we learn that Jefferson sang incessantly under his breath; that he delivered only two public speeches in eight years as president, while spending ten hours a day at his writing desk; that sometimes his political sensibilities collided with his domestic agenda, as when he ordered an expensive piano from London during a boycott (and pledged to "keep it in storage"). We see him relishing such projects as the nailery at Monticello that allowed him to interact with his slaves more palatably, as pseudo-employer to pseudo-employees. We grow convinced that he preferred to meet his lovers in the rarefied region of his mind rather than in the actual bedchamber. We watch him exhibiting both great depth and great shallowness, combining massive learning with extraordinary naïveté, piercing insights with self-deception on the grandest scale. We understand why we should neither beatify him nor consign him to the rubbish heap of history, though we are by no means required to stop loving him. He is Thomas Jefferson, after all--our very own sphinx.

ISBN: 426486
Publication Date: 1997
Pages: 365
Rating:

Currently 3/5 Stars.

3 stars, based on 1 rating

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf (book club edition)
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 0
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Chris S. (smallbutfeisty) reviewed American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson on 6/25/2006 + 36 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 3

FABULOUS biography of Thomas Jefferson the political figure as well as Jefferson the man. It reads much like a novel and was a very engaging read. I highly recommend this to anyone seeking a biography.

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Krista C. (kacey14) - reviewed American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson on 9/14/2009 + 47 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 3

I struggled to get through this book, but now that the struggle is over --- I'm glad I waded through it. I learned quite a bit about Thomas Jefferson. The author doesn't sugar-coat Jefferson's personal foibles, or political thoughts.

I learned more about Jefferson's life and about the formative year of America as a nation during and after the Revolution. Ellis focuses on some key chapters in Jefferson's life and explores the contradictory actions/thoughts/writings produced during those periods.

While it was slow going for me at times, (I think the extensive quotations from Jeffersan hiscotemporary political figures slowed down the reading.) I am glad to have finished it. I think it was a fair look at the multi-faceted man that today is too often held up as a one dimensional cardboard cut-out used to suit political whims.

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Christine J. (FitReader) - reviewed American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson on 10/4/2009 + 15 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

Popularly known for the sunny language of the Declaration of Independence, a Southern "gentleman", and a father to Sally Hemmings's children.

What is less popularly known is his inability to envision a United States of America as an industrialized and entreprising nation. A great foe to Alexander Hamilton.

Essentially, a well-educated man without the strength to act on his education when faced with questions that dealt with humanity and morality.

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Kathy P. (taffy) reviewed American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson on 8/25/2006 + 120 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

Excellent book. Should be a must read for every American citizen.

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Katherine W. (KateW) reviewed American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson on 8/5/2009 + 10 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

Very good biography of Jefferson, the man, instead of Jefferson, the politician. Ellis does a wonderful job as usual of depicting the Colonial period in an in-depth but accessible way.

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