Why read "Most Blessed of the Patriarchs"?

Book cover of "Most Blessed of the Patriarchs": Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination

Book description

Thomas Jefferson is still presented today as an enigmatic figure, despite being written about more than any other Founding Father. Lauded as the most articulate voice of American freedom, even as he held people in bondage, Jefferson is variably described as a hypocrite, an atheist and a simple-minded proponent of…

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Why read it?

1 author picked "Most Blessed of the Patriarchs" as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Edward G. Gray

Author

Next to Franklin, Thomas Jefferson is surely the most inventive, innovative member of the American Revolutionary pantheon. He is known for his powerful formulations of revolutionary ideas—in the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and his inaugural address as third President of the United States. These contributions rested on deep and disciplined study in the human sciences, including history, geography, ethnography, political economy, as well as applied sciences such as horticulture, viticulture, and architecture. In their learned meditation on the life and thought of this most learned of American founders, Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter Onuf offer a…

From Edward's list on The best books about ingenuity and innovation in the age of the American Revolution.