American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis. Hardcover

American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis • Hardcover Condition: Excellent + / no dust-jacket ———————————————————————- For a man who insisted that life on the public stage was not what he had in mind, Thomas Jefferson certainly spent a great deal of time in the spotlight--and not only during his active political career. His longed-for retirement was compromised by a steady stream of guests who made his estate at Monticello a virtual hotel, by more than one thousand letters per year which he insisted on answering personally. We see him relishing such projects as the nailery at Monticello that allowed him to interact with his slaves more palatably, as pseudo-employer to pseudo-employees. We grow convinced that he preferred to meet his lovers in the rarefied region of his mind rather than in the actual bedchamber. We watch him exhibiting both great depth and great shallowness, combining massive learning with extraordinary naïveté, and piercing insights. We understand why we should neither beatify him nor consign him to the rubbish heap of history. He is Thomas Jefferson, after all--our very own sphinx.