Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power (2012)

Historically and personally interesting biography of Thomas Jefferson and the times in which he lived. If it wasn't for his stubborn and persistent efforts to keep America a government by the people, we might be a monarchy today. It's astonishing how few men of his day worked tirelessly and for most of their productive lifetimes to fend off enemies who would take over the young states or western parts of the US and to ensure that this country didn't become what the colonists had just left behind.

I found some wry humor in the fact that the political parties haven't changed much in 200 years as far as mud-slinging before elections and opposing each other at every turn. Jefferson understood that opposing parties are essential to our democracy. Jefferson was a fascinating person in both his public and private lives. The book reveals his family life, his quiet hours, his concerns and thoughts, his friendships, and more. This is the most highly researched book I've ever read.

This was a slow read for me, not exactly a page-turner. However, I feel enriched intellectually for the read and will always remember the lessons and history I learned. If more of us would read this kind of history, we would appreciate our country in new ways. What we have today was hard-won and lives were dedicated to providing our freedoms, whole lifetimes, in fact. War isn't the only way to achieve great things. It's definitely not the best way.

Thomas Jefferson's gentle, congenial, and highly intelligent manner belied a steely conviction that served us well. He authored the Declaration of Independence and procured much of the western US for the young states. Jefferson spent some years in France, living as an ambassador. There are many other surprising revelations in this literary biography.

Recommended for anyone who enjoys history, especially of how the US came to be what it is today, and how it almost didn't.

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Took me a bit longer than normal to finish this book, but that's because it's so thorough and informative. A wonderful history of the personal life and political contributions of one of the founding fathers. ( )

The complex life and the politics of the third President of the United States in a dramatic period in history are brought to the fore in Jon Meacham’s Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power. After nearly twenty years in which Jefferson’s reputation has taken a hit through both scientific revelations and new biographies of his fellow Founders, the pragmatic philosopher who still yearned to daydream comes into better light 200 years after his time in office.

Meacham approached his book as a pure biography of Jefferson not a history of the times, which meant that only events that directly affected Jefferson or his immediately family were focused upon. Thus while Jefferson’s own story began in 1743, Meacham sets the stage with a family history that was also a history of colonial Virginia both politically and culturally. Throughout the next 500 pages, Meacham follows Jefferson in and out of Virginia with stops in Philadelphia, Paris, New York, and finally Washington D.C., but through everything a special focus was on how he developed his political acumen to achieve the vision he had for the United States in the world.

Jefferson’s relationship with Sally Hemings is discussed throughout the book when important moments in both their lives cross. While Hemings is not the focus of the book, the ‘relationship’ is interwoven by Meacham into Jefferson’s complicated thoughts on slavery that is more thoroughly detailed towards the end of the book and is some of the best analysis in the book. Yet, the focus on Jefferson’s political skill in comparison to his contemporaries and his time resulted in a fairly quick book to read (505 pages) that had extensive notes that could have added more to the body of the book and given the book more depth is the basic drawback of the book.

Over the last decade, a new round of biographies of the Founding Fathers has brought praise and more attention to the actual human beings we think of when we hear their names. Jon Meacham’s Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power is a fascinating read of a man whose words and actions are both celebrated and controversial. ( )

This is my kind of history and my kind of biography. Jefferson's influence achieved crucial impact in his own time and lasting effect ever since. Meacham reveals the complexity of Jefferson's mind and the consistency of his character. The history is full of detail, backed by hundreds of pages of end notes. What I most value from this work is how Jefferson balanced idealism and pragmatism, making big, risky moves at the right key moments during America's infancy. His approach to politics and relationships relied on congeniality even for fierce opponents. His capacity for deep conversation across an unbelievable range of subjects, combined with his disarming nature, won him support from friends and adversaries alike. ( )

Author Jon Meacham claims this is not intended to be a full scale biography but a study of how Jefferson gained and exercised power. But there is too much narration of Jefferson's very full life with too few insights into how and why he was so successful in so many important times in the early years of America. The period of Jefferson's 8 year presidency is the best part of the book. And in the concluding chapters, Meacham provides some interesting insights into how Jefferson exercised power. While he does not hold back highlighting Jefferson's many faults, he doesn't provide many new insights into the contradictions about the man and the politician. ( )