100 Books Like Thomas Jefferson's European Travel Diaries

No work of fiction has had such a profound effect on historians of Occupied France as this staggeringly beautiful book. I had never read fiction like this before, a novel written contemporaneously yet showing such a depth of knowledge of the world around by a novelist who saw beauty beyond the chaos that had engulfed her world.

The young French novelist of Ukrainian-Jewish origin had planned five books yet only completed two before being killed in Auschwitz in 1942. This book contains the first two complete novels which are very different stories, but equally dramatic and written in prose that flows poetically. I loved the first novel, about the exodus from Paris in May 1940, just as much as the second, a love story that was used for the film of this heart-wrenching book. 

Richard Barber gathers together and translates letters written by, among others, the Black Prince and his steward, and the work of two contemporary chroniclers. Between them, these sources constitute an extraordinary collection of first-hand accounts of military campaigns in 14th-century France, including the battles of Crécy and Poitiers, and the 1355 expedition when the Black Prince rode through the area where I live – the Lauragais, between Toulouse and Carcassonne – and ordered his army to destroy and loot most of the towns along its route.

Sometimes verging on propaganda aimed at convincing those back in England that the war was worth fighting, and at others full of anecdotes from military life such as the time the Black Prince’s men were passing through an area so dry, they had to give their horses wine instead of water, this book paints a vivid picture of daily life in a… show more.

Like Tschiffely’s Ride this is a travel narrative, given heightened interest and amusement by the addition of Modestine the donkey who carried Stevenson’s luggage. Modestine, like all donkeys, was a master at manipulating her inexperienced new owner, but the two forged an understanding that took them nearly 300km through some of France’s wildest landscapes. Written in 1879, this is a fascinating account of a vanished France, beset by religious conflict, where lodging might be found in the corner of a field as well as a flea-ridden inn. The Robert Louis Stevenson Trail is now a popular walking route through the Cevennes. I walked it earlier this year and enjoyed nightly readings from the book.

At age 15, I was captivated by Ernest Hemingway and his depiction of Paris in the 1920s. This book today reignites the enchantment of those years. Hemingway's profound influence shaped my aspirations as a writer. Through his eyes, I can vividly see Paris's cafés, salons, and vibrant social scenes, which ultimately became the backdrop of my dreams.

This book, rich with lovemaking, drinking, writing, betting at the track, and the bohemian lifestyle of so many young artists in Paris, reawakens my desire to immerse myself in that world. Hemingway's narrative voice and his novels continue to speak to me in a language that feels intimately mine, reminding me of the undying impact of his work on my life and aspirations.

Peterson was Peter Onuf’s predecessor as the Thomas Jefferson Chair at the University of Virginia. He was the author of two landmark studies of Jefferson—a one-volume biography, Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation, probably the best single-volume biography of Jefferson, and The Jefferson Image in the American Mind. In The Jefferson Image, Peterson traces the history of Jefferson’s reputation from his death on July 4, 1826 until Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the Jefferson Memorial on April 13, 1943. He shows that in death, as in life, Jefferson and his beliefs remained at the center of debates over what it means to be an American. This is an astounding work of intellectual and cultural history and deep erudition. Peterson concluded that by 1943 Jefferson had come to embody the nation’s ideals. Of course subsequent historians, as evidenced by this list, have continued to revisit and revise Jefferson.

This is a great biography, no question. One reason is the interesting truths it contains. As I read through the story of Thomas Jefferson's life, I realized that the eighteenth-century population had no concept of ethical principles. They did not understand the fallacy of divine right or divine-given equality. They did not understand that every single human is unique in every way and that humans are entirely different from every other human, plant, and animal.

They did not understand that every unique individual has the same need for life, liberty, and fulfillment, or that this need extends to all humans and animals regardless of race, gender, sex, age, social status, color, or any other variable. Nor did the people of Jefferson's day understand any of the ethical principles that humans must follow in their treatment of other life if they wish to survive on this planet.

This book made me… show more.

I love Kalman’s vivid, colorful illustrations (so luscious, they look edible) and her lively, breezy style, peppered with questions to the reader and her own feelings.

The enthusiastic writing focuses on Jefferson’s many enthusiasms—such as books, food, music, and gardening. The big reveal that he owned slaves comes quite a bit later in the text, along with Kalman’s commentary (“our hearts are broken”).

An important book for young readers that introduces them to our brilliant, complex, flawed third president.

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 fresh perspective on Jefferson.

In so many ways, he embodied the cutting-edge values of the American Revolution, but Jefferson also embodied the contradictions of the Revolution—particularly as they related to the institution of slavery. Rather than dismiss him as a hypocrite, Gordon-Reed and Onuf set out to explain Jefferson. For… show more.

Not a biography in the strict sense, this book is an investigation into “an American controversy” by a legal scholar that demonstrates the value of historical research and analysis by showing how Jefferson’s grandchildren, and white scholars and biographers following their lead, effectively conspired to hide the truth of Jefferson’s 30+ relationship with a woman he owned. And Gordon-Reed published this book a full year before the DNA-based analysis showed that Jefferson was overwhelmingly likely to have been the only father to Hemings’s four children.

The third leg of the stool supporting workplace democracy (in addition to the democratic and property arguments) is the inalienable rights argument based on the factual inalienability of people’s responsible agency, which the legal employment contract pretends to be alienated in the firm based on employment. The truth comes out when an employee commits a crime at the behest of the employer; then they suddenly become partners in crime. Since the responsible agency is factually inalienable in both criminous and non-criminous actions, the contract that legally alienates all agency to the employer in the non-criminous case should be abolished. Garry Wills traces the history of the inalienable rights clause in the Declaration of Independence back to its roots in the Scottish and European Enlightenment.