American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson | 
| Author: Joseph J. Ellis
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  134 reviews
Sales Rank: 2682
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0679764410
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.46092
EAN: 9780679764410
ASIN: 0679764410
Publication Date: April 7, 1998
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Amazon.com
Well timed to coincide with Ken Burns's documentary (on which the author served as a consultant), this new biography doesn't aim to displace the many massive tomes about America's third president that already weigh down bookshelves. Instead, as suggested by the subtitle--"The Character of Thomas Jefferson"--Ellis searches for the "living, breathing person" underneath the icon and tries to elucidate his actual beliefs. Jefferson's most ardent admirers may find this perspective too critical, but Ellis's portrait of a complex, sometimes devious man who both sought and abhorred power has the ring of truth.
Product Description
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. After 1809, his longed-for retirement was compromised by a steady stream of guests and tourists who made of his estate at Monticello a virtual hotel, as well as by more than one thousand letters per year, most from strangers, which he insisted on answering personally. In his twilight years Jefferson was already taking on the luster of a national icon, which was polished off by his auspicious death (on July 4, 1896); and in the subsequent seventeen decades of his celebrity--now verging, thanks to virulent revisionists and television documentaries, on notoriety--has been inflated beyond recognition of the original person.
For the historian Joseph J. Ellis, the experience of writing about Jefferson was "as if a pathologist, just about to begin an autopsy, has discovered that the body on the operating table was still breathing." In American Sphinx, Ellis sifts the facts shrewdly from the legends and the rumors, treading a path between vilification and hero worship in order to formulate a plausible portrait of the man who still today "hover[s] over the political scene like one of those dirigibles cruising above a crowded football stadium, flashing words of inspiration to both teams." For, at the grass roots, Jefferson is no longer liberal or conservative, agrarian or industrialist, pro- or anti-slavery, privileged or populist. He is all things to all people. His own obliviousness to incompatible convictions within himself (which left him deaf to most forms of irony) has leaked out into the world at large--a world determined to idolize him despite his foibles.
From Ellis we learn that Jefferson sang incessantly under his breath; that he delivered only two public speeches in eight years as president, while spending ten hours a day at his writing desk; that sometimes his political sensibilities collided with his domestic agenda, as when he ordered an expensive piano from London during a boycott (and pledged to "keep it in storage"). 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 naivete, piercing insights with self-deception on the grandest scale. We understand why we should neither beatify him nor consign him to the rubbish heap of history, though we are by no means required to stop loving him. He is Thomas Jefferson, after all--our very own sphinx.
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Following his subject from the drafting of the Declaration of Independence to his retirement in Monticello, Joseph Ellis unravels the contradictions of the Jeffersonian character. A marvel of scholarship, a delight to read, and an essential gloss on the Jeffersonian legacy, American Sphinx is "history at its best" (Chicago Tribune).
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| Customer Reviews: Read 129 more reviews...
 Excellent as far as it went, but ultimately incomplete July 19, 2008
Ardent students of Jefferson and America's founding will love this book. Readers of narrative history too often get short shrift on character development during this era given all the critical incidents that are necessarily included to provide an adequate narrative of the time, leaving authors little space to flesh-out the nuances of even their chief protagonists. Biographies on the other hand too often provide so many events on their subject's history that deriving a conclusion about the subject's character and their development over time gets lost in the mix of so many events. This creates a niche demand to develop books that provide only enough history and biography to support the description of a person's character; Ellis' book on Jefferson is a somewhat adequate, though not great, effort.
A common theme amongst many reader reviews that appeared to be neophytes to American history was that this book is painfully slow and lacking a compelling narrative. While I disagree with the former claim, I agree with the latter. I believe this is a book that best serves students of history who've already studied Jefferson and are more than willing to wade through a lot of uneventful anecdotes to get to know the man better, which Ellis does a great job on the subjects he covers except Jefferson's position on religion - so for those that want to go deep into history, this is a very interesting, worthy book. Ellis purposefully strips out much of the narrative by design, it is a character analysis (see subtitle of book for goodness sakes!), and therefore a narrative would threaten the very purpose of the book.
Ellis' Jefferson comes off as perfectly brilliant, utopian, progressive, somewhat dogmatic, impractical, subversive, and most importantly - all too human. Ellis does a wonderful job of describing the events where Jefferson was obviously on the wrong side of history as we look back in time - e.g., Jefferson's belief that the states would better defend individual liberty rather than the federal government, especially the Supreme Court which has ultimately become our greatest defender, along with eloquently analyzing his greatest accomplishments and contributions to mankind. Ellis brings Madison and Adams into this study in just the right amounts to provide an understanding of how Jefferson interacted with the other framers along with how Jefferson viewed the Revolution and ratification of the Constitution vs. their very different perspectives.
Ellis's treatment of Jefferson's contributions to promoting the limits of government and its obligation to defend its citizens' liberty rights was well covered from a philosophical perspective but completely lacking from a constitutional perspective. While Ellis covered Jefferson's firm position on the importance of secular government if men were to fully enjoy liberty was noted, this analysis was all too brief given the current times where the religious right continuously mischaracterize Jefferson's position on religious freedom, e.g., President Bush's 2008 Independence Day speech is a good example of a modern day character distorting Jefferson's writings to achieve a political objective perfectly contrary to Jefferson's clearly stated position. Given that Jefferson believed that individual freedom is only possible with a secular government with zero evidence to date he was incorrect; Ellis shortchanges his readers by not spending more time on this critical contribution, especially given Jefferson's radical position, and in hindsight his genius on this subject. In fact, Jefferson's position is still so radical there is no way a modern-day politician could espouse views like Jefferson's and get elected in America.
Ellis also leaves out some out critical time periods in Jefferson's life, like Jefferson's second term as President. Given the paperback's main body comes in at 367 pages, I felt one hundred fifty more pages to include more on Jefferson's religious viewpoints and his second presidential term was well deserved given the importance of Jefferson relative to America's founding ideals passed down by him and the other framers.
 American Sphinx July 12, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am a well educated person with a particular interest in Jefferson. I was amazed at the assertion by Ellis that Jefferson formed the republican party. The republican party was not established until 1854. The party the Jefferson formed evolved into the democratic party. Are we living in the soviet union now? if you don't like real history you just change it. How do I get my money back on his piece of crap book? I knew this guy has a history of stretching the truth but I didn't know it went this far!
`He did not always speak exactly as he felt either towards his friends or his enemies.' May 30, 2008
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
I thoroughly enjoyed Professor Ellis's book about that enigmatic man: Thomas Jefferson. It is not a biography of Jefferson nor is it a complete history and those of us who want to know more about this period in American history will need to look to other sources.
For me, the value of this book is the articulation of some of the perceived contradictions between Jefferson's idealism and his actions as a man of his time. Regardless of Jefferson's likeability as a man, he had a profound influence over the shape of the emerging American republic. In exploring the character of Thomas Jefferson, Professor Ellis provides an historical and social context as a prism through which to view the man and his actions. It is ironic that a man with the vision to work with others to set in place the foundations of a great nation was unable to manage his own affairs so successfully. Public life is so often accompanied by significant personal cost.
It may be true that `The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.' I doubt that in 1787, when Jefferson uttered those words, he could foresee how thirsty the tree of liberty would prove to be.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Great introduction to Jefferson May 26, 2008
As someone with a limited knowledge of Jefferson, I found this to be a well rounded account of his life. At about 375 pages, it was very manageable and well written. I only wish the author had included photos as he did in his Washington book. In the end, I found myself neither loving or hating Jefferson, but mostly disappointed in him and the contradictions of his character.
 Intriguing and penetrating portrait of Jefferson May 14, 2008
I have become a big fan of Joseph Ellis. I loved Founding Brothers. I thought His Excellency, on George Washington, was extremely good. I just finished his book on Jefferson. I think he explains Jefferson better than anyone has before.
This is not a conventional biography. It makes no effort to tell the whole story of Jefferson's life. It is thus not a good first book to read for those unfamiliar with the basic story.
For those who are familiar with the basics of Jefferson's life, and who can not make any sense of the man -- which is to say, anyone paying attention -- Ellis makes a heroic effort to explain Jefferson as a coherent person. The contradictions in Jefferson's life and career are many. He was the great apostle of liberty, yet he held slaves. He was utterly opposed to executive power, yet a dynamic and forceful President, particularly when he engineered the Louisiana Purchase. He hated confrontation and cultivated philosophic detachment, yet he was one of the most ruthless party leaders of his time, going so far as to put people on the federal payroll (when he was Washington's Secretary of State) who published newspapers filled with slander directed at Washington and Adams.
Ellis explains all of this in basically psychological terms. His Jefferson is a complex man, an idealist with an almost infinite capacity for denying inconvenient truths. The larger importance of Jefferson, however, is that he stated in classic terms some soaring idealistic statements about freedom and democracy which, ever after, have served as inspiration and rallying points for those in America and around the world who seek to increase freedom. Jefferson, the man, was a complicated mess. Jefferson, the symbol, has enduring value and great power.
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