Thomas Jefferson: Passionate Pilgrim

by Alf J. Mapp Jr.

Book Overview

A featured alternate Book-of-the-Month club selection.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081918053X
• ISBN13: 9780819180537
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Madison Books
• Length: 445 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 7.1" x 9.4"

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.