Mr. Ellis treated Thomas Jefferson as a neurotic and idealistic man who just happened to experience a few flashes of brilliance because he was at the right place during the right time.
He picks out a lot of fun, lively quotes as well. And it is a critical honesty that most scholars have kept to themselves. Really makes him seem alive and close to the reader. Brent Staples in the New York Times Book Review commented, "Joseph J. Ellis's American Sphinx is a brief and elegant return to Monticello. A lot of the complaints and critiques seem to center around the fact that this does not end up being the book they wished it would be, which is sort of absurd to begin with. What were his motivations and passions? Speaking personally, I completely support Jefferson's radical utopian views, I find them sound and inherently emblematic of all I hold dear.
The iconic image of Jefferson takes a bit of a hit in this non-traditional biography. This book is by the same guy who did "Founding Brothers" (which is also fascinating and won a Pulitzer Prize), so the guy knows what he's talking about. Unfortunately, I never found if the case was made. One generation should not be able to bind another, with debts, laws, etc? In American Sphinx, Ellis sifts the facts shrewdly from the legends and the rumors, treading a path between vilification and hero worship in order to formulate a plausible portrait of the man who still today "hover[s] over the political scene like one of those dirigibles cruising above a crowded football stadium, flashing words of inspiration to both teams."
The more I learnt about Jefferson the less I liked him. 318 global ratings | 261 global reviews Recklessly wielding his anachronistic values upon Thomas Jefferson, "American Sphinx" escalates into a full contact assault on one the most important and revered figures in western culture. The engaging style renders it easily accessible too. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Recklessly wielding his anachronistic values upon Thomas Jefferson, "American Sphinx" escalates into a full contact assault on one the most important and revered figures in western culture. With American Sphinx he gives us a critical and contrarian look at one of our most beloved founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson. It amazes me that so many find this illuminating and deserving of the Pulitizer Prize.
I found Ellis's elucidation of Jefferson's thinking excellent. He was also a deeply flawed human being.
The Jefferson of Ellis' biography is an arrogant, obsessive ideologue, whose successes are the lucky results of others' hard work, and whose failures are inevitable given his substantial flaws. Jefferson was a boring, introverted, man with ridiculous ideas. ; Passionate Sage, 1993) argues that Thomas Jefferson was neither the saintly hero of myth nor the devious hypocrite depicted by some revisionist studies, but a protean character whose complex qualities evoke the best and worst aspects of our history and culture. What were his motivations and passions?
Ellis chiefly does this by showing Jefferson to be a secretive, ultimately anarchic radical who was incapable of perceiving the need for political governance under the Constitution (the "necessary evil" described by Paine in Commons Sense).This book is a well disguised attack on Jeffersonian ideals of smaller government...accomplished through lengthy "psychoanalytic" attacks on Jefferson's character. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations Both of which may be true, but both of which made this book scanty on real insight. Instead, this book is an attempt at a detailed look at the evolving character, changing thoughts, and driving opinions of Thomas Jefferson at various points in his life. What he could not do for himself, he did for his country. First of all, this is not your standard biography. The iconic image of Jefferson takes a bit of a hit in this non-traditional biography. I love his writings.
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