American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson

American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson Review

National Bestseller 

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, 1826); 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 naïveté, 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.

Character Building (An African American Heritage Book)

Character Building (An African American Heritage Book) Review

In Character Building are thirty seven addresses that Booker T. Washington gave before students, faculty, and guests at the Tuskegee Institute. These addresses take the form of timeless advice on a number of subjects. Very motivational and uplifting. Washington was constantly, and often bitterly, criticized by his contemporaries for being too conciliatory to whites and not concerned enough about civil rights. It would not be until after his death that the world would find out that he had indeed worked a great deal for civil rights anonymously behind the scenes.

Slippery Characters: Ethnic Impersonators and American Identities (Cultural Studies of the United States)

Slippery Characters: Ethnic Impersonators and American Identities (Cultural Studies of the United States) Review

In the 1920s, black janitor Sylvester Long reinvented himself as Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance, and Elizabeth Stern, the native-born daughter of a German Lutheran and a Welsh Baptist, authored the immigrant's narrative I Am a Woman—and a Jew; in the 1990s, Asa Carter, George Wallace's former speechwriter, produced the fake Cherokee autobiography, The Education of Little Tree. While striking, these examples of what Laura Browder calls ethnic impersonator autobiographies are by no means singular. Over the past 150 years, a number of American authors have left behind unwanted identities by writing themselves into new ethnicities.

Significantly, notes Browder, these ersatz autobiographies have tended to appear at flashpoints in American history: in the decades before the Civil War, when immigration laws and laws regarding Native Americans were changing in the 1920s, and during the civil rights era, for example. Examining the creation and reception of such works from the 1830s through the 1990s—against a background ranging from the abolition movement and Wild West shows to more recent controversies surrounding blackface performance and jazz music—Browder uncovers their surprising influence in shaping American notions of identity.

The Character of Meriwether Lewis : Completely Metamorphosed in the American West (Lewis & Clark Expedition)

The Character of Meriwether Lewis : Completely Metamorphosed in the American West (Lewis & Clark Expedition) Review

Oddities, Delights, and even Dark Corners of one of America's most famous frontiersman are explored in this newly released book. The Character of Meriwether Lewis: Completely Metamorphosed in the American West, the first book in a series is Clay Jenkinson's scholarly view on an American hero's complex character. He examines the nature of Meriwether Lewis starting with his boyhood and continues through the dark despair of alcoholism, depression and finally his suicide.

Not just a dry historical account of Meriwether Lewis' life but an insight into a complex man with many quirks. The hilarity of Lewis' obsession with clothes and food together with the sadness of his depression are sure to stir your emotions. Clay gives readers new lenses into the character of Meriwether Lewis.

The Lakota Way: Native American Wisdom on Ethics and Character 2012 Wall Calendar

The Lakota Way: Native American Wisdom on Ethics and Character 2012 Wall Calendar Review

The Lakota Way 2012 wall calendar features original ledger art and sacred mask paintings from Oglala Lakota artist Donald F. Montileaux and text by author Joseph M. Marshall III. Each spread includes the Lakota names for the months, such as "When Calves Are Red" and "When Things Ripen." Marshall's text presents a traditional Lakota virtue for each month, guiding the reader along the Lakota path of wisdom.
Marshall is a teacher, historian, Lakota craftsman and writer. He has authored several screenplays in addition to fourteen books, including the highly acclaimed Walking with Grandfather, The Lakota Way and The Journey of Crazy Horse. Marshall is a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and was most recently involved with the television miniseries Into the West as narrator, actor and consultant.
Donald F. Montileaux is a master ledger artist and, following in the footsteps of his forefathers, he has rekindled ledger art with a collection of striking images that capture the unique Lakota way of life.

The interior pages of this calendar are printed on 100% recycled, 50% post-consumer paper, processed chlorine free and printed with soy based inks. In addition to printing our products on recycled paper, Amber Lotus Publishing continues to plant trees and offset our carbon footprint with NativeEnergy.

Memoir of the life of Richard Henry Lee, and his correspondence with the most distinguished men in America and Europe, illustrative of their characters, and of the events of the American revolution

Memoir of the life of Richard Henry Lee, and his correspondence with the most distinguished men in America and Europe, illustrative of their characters, and of the events of the American revolution Review

This book is a replica of the original from the collections of The New York Public Library; it was produced from digital images created by The New York Public Library and its partners as part of their preservation efforts. To enhance your reading pleasure, the aging and scanning artifacts have been removed using patented page cleaning technology. We hope you enjoy the result.