Thomas Jefferson: An Anthology

It seems all but impossible that we need yet another anthology of Thomas Jefferson. Even so, this calm, judicious selection by Peter S. Onuf, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor of History at the University of Virginia and one of the leading Jefferson scholars of our time, fills a gap in the literature and may well be recommended as a superb beginning place to understand Jefferson and his place in history.Onuf's focus is on Jefferson as a political thinker and actor, and his expert choices of passages from Jefferson's writings highlight the main contours of Jefferson's thought as it stayed constant and as it changed over time. His selections span the full range of Jefferson's political career -- from hsi first major pamphlet "A Summary View of the Rights of British America" (1774), to his drafting of the Declaration of Independence and his work on the revision of Virginia's laws in the late 1770s, to his painful two terms as governor (1779-1781), to his writing of NOTES ON THE STATE OF VIRGINIA, to his diplomatic service in France (1784-1789), to his unhappy years as Secretary of State (1789-1793) and Vice President (1797-1801), to his Presidency (1801-1809), and finally his struggles with the roles of senior statesman, ex-President, educational reformer, and sage (1809-1826). Onuf does not shrink from examining the contradictions that loom large in Jefferson's words and deeds. His lucid and enlightening introduction draws on a major article he did in 1993, "The Scholars' Jefferson," revised and updated to take account of more recent scholarship.Two gaps only mar this fine book. One is its lack of a chronology for those who are unfamiliar with Jefferson's life and career, and the other is its lack of an index. Perhaps these deficiencies can be remedied in future editions of this fine, valuable, and otherwise highly useful volume.-- R. B. Bernstein, Adjunct Professor of Law, New York Law School