Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History

Description for THOMAS JEFFERSON: AN INTIMATE HISTORY by Fawn M Brodie: This is a challenging new biography, a rich, three-dimensional intimate portrait which illuminates the relationship between Jefferson's inner life and his public life. Biographer Fawn M Brodie has made new discoveries and settled some ancient controversies. Where others have concentrated on Jefferson and the life of the mind, Mrs. Brodie has concentrated on Jefferson and the life of the heart, describing for the first time the largely unknown man of feeling and passion. With her characteristic meticulous scholarship she has examined his ambivalences concerning revolution, religion, power, race, and love---ambivalences which exerted a subtle but powerful influence on his political writing and his decision-making. The result is a complex and fascinating portrait which adds a wholly new depth to the portraits of the the past. Though Jefferson left a legacy of 18,000 letters, he went to some pains to conc