Thomas Jefferson: Passionate Pilgrim: The Presidency, the Founding of the University, and the Private Battle

By Alf J. Mapp Jr.

Book Overview

Eagerly awaited by readers of Alf Mapp's best-selling Thomas Jefferson: A Strange Case of Mistaken Identity, this final volume follows Jefferson from his inauguration as President in 1801 to his death at the age of 83 on July 4, 1826. It embraces the eight years as Chief Executive in which he doubled the size of the United States by his daring Louisiana Purchase, sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on one of the world's greatest expeditions of exploration, and challenged the formidable Chief Justice John Marshall with a major program of judicial reform. It proves the falseness of the stereotype that Jefferson ignored national defense and tried to keep the Navy weak. The book shows him late in life, with ideas that have relevance today, planning a system of public education and founding the University of Virginia, and it reveals, better than any other biography to date, the intimate details of the lonely private battle he fought during his last tortured, but ultimately triumphant, decade.

In Thomas Jefferson: Passionate Pilgrim, Jefferson the human being, passionate in his loves and hates, is never lost in a revealing portrait of the public figure. Witnessing Jefferson's actions in private life as well as in the arena of history, the reader learns why this founding father was abhorred by some but adored by many more.

The book not only is enlightening about Jefferson's personality, character, and career, but also enables us to view America and Europe in the first quarter of the nineteenth century through the eyes of the one person best qualified to see them in all phases. His wide acquaintance on both sides of the Atlantic, his richly varied interests, and his life as both scholar and social animal, gave him a unique perspective.

Almost as interesting as Jefferson himself are the many other characters ho enliven the narrative. In addition to such accustomed players in his life drama as Madison, Monroe, and Marshall, there is the President's troublesome cousin, John Randolph, majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives at age twenty-eight, who sometimes entered the chamber in foxhunting togs, followed by a pack of hounds, and gestured with a riding crop as he addressed his colleagues. And there is Margaret Bayard Smith, who boasted that the master of monticello had admitted her to his "sanctum sanctorum" where "any other feet but his own seldom intrude." There was Vice President Aaron Burr, of the hypnotic eyes, who almost founded an empire in the American West. And who could forget Napoleon, completely nude, conducting a conference vital to the fate of both Jefferson and the United States?

Read either separately or in conjunction with Mapp's earlier volume on Jefferson, this book offers an illuminating and absorbing view of the person whom columnist George Will describes as the "Man of the Millennium."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0742564401
• ISBN13: 9780742564404
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.7" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

One of best Jefferson bios written, up there w/Malone, Peterson, etc.

I'd give this 4.5 stars, but I'm rounding up to 5 because Jefferson is a hard bio subject, if not one of the hardest, he nailed him, and my minor beefs are with writing style. Two book series. Prefer single book, but better than Malone encyclopedia set, which is too long for average person to read. The good: Mapp gets Jefferson right, a staggering achievement one can only appreciate if you've read Jefferson's writings AND the appalling number of books that get him wrong. He isn't nearly as paradoxical (though still very much so) as historians like to pretend, and Mapp shows why, using logic that you would think other historians would have embraced. I think Mapp stepped out of a box filled with academics that overcomplicate things unintentionally, and just applied some good old fashioned horse sense & human nature to understanding TJ. The result is conclusions that you read and say, it makes sense, and seems obvious--why aren't most other historians coming to similar conclusions. The answer, bias, is enunciated below. Mapp isn't a documented liar, like Ellis, doesn't appear to have an agenda or predisposition, either to kick the Jefferson pedestal over or make excuses for obvious hypocrisies, like most historians. No obvious liberal bias(big government had to happen Jefferson a Utopian idealist), or anti-slavery bias (he owned slaves so everything else good he stood for must be denigrated), or libertarian bias (he stood for individual freedom, so every failing must be masked or obfuscated). As obvious as this sounds, it is rare to read books that aren't axe grinding these days. Jefferson takes his lumps where he deserves them, but still emerges as great, in ways that are highly relevant today. The bad: Too longwinded, some big words (no problem here, but others complained), often times uses too many metaphors and flowery phrases instead of writing in direct style. But at least he doesn't use the same 4-6 pet words every third page like Ellis. Long-winded is all relative in history & non-fiction, this is still readable, but some serious editing that reduced length 10% or so would have allowed all the points in a much more readable book. Another part of me wishes he had pruned down to a modest single book, hitting only most fundamental points, but Jefferson did too much to write a small, single book w/out omitting and writing something not comprehensive enough. Not sure which Jefferson series is the greatest, but this deserves a hallowed place with Malone, Peterson, etc. I think this will age well, as it updates scholarship not present in older Malone & Peterson books, but has avoided the Jefferson bashing. Jefferson bashing is trendy now, but will seem extreme over time when the pendulum has returned back to center, and this will ultimately diminish many works now thought of highly. It is a shame lesser books by bigger names crowd the market, leaving less room for a book like this that should be a household fixture.

Thomas Jefferson: Pasionate Pilgram

This book is the second of two of a series written by Alf Mapp involving Thomas Jefferson, now older and it starts with Jefferson's Presidency through his death. From 1801 to 1826 the United States was just beginning to form as a nation...grown to twice its size and the ensuing troubles with all factions wanting something...how was Jefferson to choose?Meriweather Lewis and William Clark reporting back about this expansionism of the Louisana Purchase and the marvels that it brought the country. Excellent writing about how these and other issues that plagued Jefferson. Abhorred or adored Jefferson was a dichotomy personified. This book reveals to us better than others how Jefferson struggled to keep his ideas and ideals, his personal and public persona, his view of the United States and the World, for the betterment of mankind as a whole, in line with the events of the day.Reading this book gave me an insight into a world of Jefferson and the interaction of some of the others as James Madison, James Monroe and John Marshall. As I read these...I wished I had a teacher who made reading U.S. History as alive as the author. It makes a difference to a subject such as this to keep ones interest...not disappointed here.Capitvation and fasination as we read on about the troubling times of Jefferson in the last years of his life. How he founded the University of Virginia and fought his final battle with his health.Alf J. Mapp, Jr. makes Jefferson alive and that makes history fun not to mention educational.Enlightening, informative, and alive are good traits brought to us by the author that are hard to come by when reading history.I recommed reading this book if you really want to get to know Jefferson from his Presidency to his death.Read it and enjoy good writing.