Thomas Jefferson A biography of spirit and flesh
Book - 2022
"Thomas Jefferson was arguably the most brilliant and inspiring political writer in American history. But the ethical realities of his personal life and political career did not live up to his soaring rhetoric. Indeed, three tensions defined Jefferson's moral life: democracy versus slavery, republican virtue versus dissolute consumption, and veneration for Jesus versus skepticism about Christianity. In this book Thomas S. Kidd tells the story of Jefferson's ethical life through the lens of these tensions, including an unapologetic focus on the issue where Jefferson's idealistic philosophy and lived reality clashed most obviously: his sexual relationship with his enslaved woman Sally Hemings. In doing so, he offers a uniq...ue perspective on one of American history's most studied figures."--Dust jacket.
- Subjects
- Genres
- Biographies
- Published
-
New Haven :
Yale University Press
[2022]
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Physical Description
- 310 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN
- 9780300250060
- Introduction
- 1. "If There Is Such a Thing as a Devil"
- 2. "I Speak the Sentiments of America"
- 3. "A Virginian Ought to Appear at the Head of This Business"
- 4. "It Is Not in My Power to Do Anything More"
- 5. "I Am But a Son of Nature"
- 6. "None of Us, No Not One, Is Perfect"
- 7. "The Little Spice of Ambition"
- 8. "Diamonds in a Dunghill"
- 9. "Strange Inconsistant Man"
- 10. "Coup de Grace"
- 11. "Dreams of the Future"
- Conclusion: "All That Has Passed"
- Notes
- Acknowledgments
- Index