Jefferson and Monticello: The Biography of a Builder
New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1990. First Owl Book Edition [stated]. First printing [stated]. Trade paperback. viii, [2], 481, [3] pages. Illustrations. A Jefferson Chronology. Notes. Index. Cover has slight wear and soiling. John [Jack} McLaughlin is an Emeritus Professor of English at Clemson University, where he was head of the Humanities Division. He is the author of Jefferson and Monticello, about the life of Thomas Jefferson as seen through the prism of his fifty-year love affair with Monticello, which was nominated for a National Book Award in 1988. McLaughlin also wrote To His Excellency Thomas Jefferson, Letters to a President, and has contributed to such scholarly journals as Shakespeare Quarterly and Modern Drama. This book, a National Book Award nominee in 1988, is the life of Thomas Jefferson as seen through the prism of his love affair with Monticello. For over half a century, it was his consuming passion, his most serious amusement. With a sure command of sources and skilled intuitive understanding of Jefferson, McLaughlin crafts and uncommon portrait of builder and building alike. En route he tells us much about life in Virginia; about Monticello's craftsmen and how they worked their materials; about slavery, class, and family; and, above all, about the multiplicity of domestic concerns that preoccupied this complex man. It is and engaging and incisive look at the eighteenth-century mind: systematic, rational, and curious, but also playful, comfort-loving, and amusing. Ultimately, it provides readers with great insight into daily life in Colonial and Federal America. Condition: Very good / No DJ issued.
Keywords: Architectural Drawings, Edmund Bacon, Chastellux, Hugh Chisholm, Maria Cosway, James Dinsmore, James Hemings, Sally Hemings, James Oldham, Andrea Palladio, Anna Thornton, Volney, George Ticknor
ISBN: 9780805014631
[Book #85013]
Price: $37.50