[PDF] Jeffersons Body eBook

Author : Maurizio Valsania
Publisher : University of Virginia Press
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 49,51 MB
Release : 2017-04-26
Category : History
ISBN : 0813939690

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What did Thomas Jefferson look like? How did he carry himself? Such questions, reasonable to ask as we look back on a person who lived in an era before photography, are the starting point for this boldly original new work. Maurizio Valsania considers all aspects of Jefferson’s complex conception of "the body," from eighteenth-century clothing and fashion to manners, adornment, posture, gesture, and visual and material culture. Drawing also from the fields of medical science, psychology, and cultural anthropology, the author conjures a vivid and detailed re-creation of the third president as a living, breathing—and pondering—human being. Having situated Jefferson in his own body, Valsania looks at the embodied Jefferson in the world of his fellow humans. Any one of the other people in Jefferson’s society—whether that other person was male or female, free or enslaved, African American or Native American—was a critical counterexample for the eighteenth-century Virginian to define himself against, and Valsania’s explorations here lead to numerous insightful discoveries about race, gender, and structures of power. The first comprehensive exploration of Jefferson’s corporeal world, Jefferson’s Body brings the man vividly to life for the modern reader while deepening our understanding of what it meant to Jefferson to be alive.

Author : Annette Gordon-Reed
Publisher : University of Virginia Press
Page : 324 pages
File Size : 27,16 MB
Release : 1998-03-29
Category : History
ISBN : 0813933560

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When Annette Gordon-Reed's groundbreaking study was first published, rumors of Thomas Jefferson's sexual involvement with his slave Sally Hemings had circulated for two centuries. Among all aspects of Jefferson's renowned life, it was perhaps the most hotly contested topic. The publication of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings intensified this debate by identifying glaring inconsistencies in many noted scholars' evaluations of the existing evidence. In this study, Gordon-Reed assembles a fascinating and convincing argument: not that the alleged thirty-eight-year liaison necessarily took place but rather that the evidence for its taking place has been denied a fair hearing. Friends of Jefferson sought to debunk the Hemings story as early as 1800, and most subsequent historians and biographers followed suit, finding the affair unthinkable based upon their view of Jefferson's life, character, and beliefs. Gordon-Reed responds to these critics by pointing out numerous errors and prejudices in their writings, ranging from inaccurate citations, to impossible time lines, to virtual exclusions of evidence—especially evidence concerning the Hemings family. She demonstrates how these scholars may have been misguided by their own biases and may even have tailored evidence to serve and preserve their opinions of Jefferson. This updated edition of the book also includes an afterword in which the author comments on the DNA study that provided further evidence of a Jefferson and Hemings liaison. Possessing both a layperson's unfettered curiosity and a lawyer's logical mind, Annette Gordon-Reed writes with a style and compassion that are irresistible. Each chapter revolves around a key figure in the Hemings drama, and the resulting portraits are engrossing and very personal. Gordon-Reed also brings a keen intuitive sense of the psychological complexities of human relationships—relationships that, in the real world, often develop regardless of status or race. The most compelling element of all, however, is her extensive and careful research, which often allows the evidence to speak for itself. Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy is the definitive look at a centuries-old question that should fascinate general readers and historians alike.

Author : Andrew Burstein
Publisher : Basic Books
Page : 370 pages
File Size : 13,77 MB
Release : 2006-03-21
Category : History
ISBN : 0786736712

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Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, leaving behind a series of mysteries that captured the imaginations of historical investigators-an interest rekindled by the recent revelation that he fathered a child by Sally Hemmings, a woman he legally owned-yet there is still surprisingly little known about him as a man. In Jefferson's Secrets Andrew Burstein focuses on Jefferson's last days to create an emotionally powerful portrait of the uncensored private citizen who was also a giant of a man. Drawing on sources previous biographers have glossed over or missed entirely, Burstein uncovers, first and foremost, how Jefferson confronted his own mortality; and in doing so, he reveals how he viewed his sexual choices. Delving into Jefferson's soul, Burstein lays bare the president's thoughts about his own legacy, his predictions for American democracy, and his feelings regarding women and religion. The result is a moving and surprising work of history that sets a new standard, post-DNA, for the next generation's reassessment of the most evocative and provocative of this country's founders.

Author : Henry Wiencek
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page : 354 pages
File Size : 40,68 MB
Release : 2012-10-16
Category : History
ISBN : 1466827785

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Is there anything new to say about Thomas Jefferson and slavery? The answer is a resounding yes. Master of the Mountain, Henry Wiencek's eloquent, persuasive book—based on new information coming from archaeological work at Monticello and on hitherto overlooked or disregarded evidence in Jefferson's papers—opens up a huge, poorly understood dimension of Jefferson's world. We must, Wiencek suggests, follow the money. So far, historians have offered only easy irony or paradox to explain this extraordinary Founding Father who was an emancipationist in his youth and then recoiled from his own inspiring rhetoric and equivocated about slavery; who enjoyed his renown as a revolutionary leader yet kept some of his own children as slaves. But Wiencek's Jefferson is a man of business and public affairs who makes a success of his debt-ridden plantation thanks to what he calls the "silent profits" gained from his slaves—and thanks to a skewed moral universe that he and thousands of others readily inhabited. We see Jefferson taking out a slave-equity line of credit with a Dutch bank to finance the building of Monticello and deftly creating smoke screens when visitors are dismayed by his apparent endorsement of a system they thought he'd vowed to overturn. It is not a pretty story. Slave boys are whipped to make them work in the nail factory at Monticello that pays Jefferson's grocery bills. Parents are divided from children—in his ledgers they are recast as money—while he composes theories that obscure the dynamics of what some of his friends call "a vile commerce." Many people of Jefferson's time saw a catastrophe coming and tried to stop it, but not Jefferson. The pursuit of happiness had been badly distorted, and an oligarchy was getting very rich. Is this the quintessential American story?

Author : Jennifer Sabin
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 145 pages
File Size : 16,70 MB
Release : 2022-02-15
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 0593386108

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"Its power to spark important conversations should not be underestimated." —Booklist "A powerful series that fills in the cracks and illuminates the shadows of the past." —Sherri L. Smith, award-winning author of Flygirl "[Jennifer Sabin] does a concise, coherent job of breaking down complicated material … an important title for students and an immensely useful resource for educators." —School Library Connection "With material presented chronologically and in straightforward language (with text-embedded glossaries), brief profiles of key players, numerous quotes and sidebars, and fresh details that help readers grasp nuances and understand consequences...the conversation tone is inviting and...encourages thoughtful reflection." —Booklist Introducing a new nonfiction series for the next generation of activists, uncovering the hidden history of The United States through an anti-racist lens. The true story of the men—and women—surrounding the founding of America. In the summer of 1776, when Thomas Jefferson arrived in Philadelphia to sign the Declaration of Independence, declaring that “all men are created equal,” he wasn’t alone. With him was Robert Hemings, just one of the many Black people Jefferson enslaved. But who was Robert Hemings? Discover his story and the true history of those who really helped build America. Featuring riveting interviews with historians, including Margaret Kimberley, author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents, The Founders Unmasked is a quest for the whole truth: the good and the bad.

Author : Wylie Gibbs
Publisher :
Page : 268 pages
File Size : 19,76 MB
Release : 2008
Category : Political science
ISBN : 9781425132811

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This book points the way to a just democracy.