Jefferson's architectural drawings, edited and compiled by a noted architectural historian who taught at the university which Jefferson founded, give the general reader a perfect opportunity to observe Jefferson's talents not just as an architect but as a draftsman and artist. The drawings of the 1st and 2nd Monticello convincingly reveal to a general audience how the design and shape of his beloved home evolved from that of a two-story villa derived from the designs of the famous Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio to the red-bricked, octagonal, and domed three-story Neoclassical building that we see today. The drawings of Jefferson's other architectural masterpieces like the University of Virginia, Virginia State Capitol, and Poplar Forest also show this extraordinary Virginian's knowledge and mastery of the concepts of Classical architecture. This book is a must for all who admire Thomas Jefferson the architect and for all who want to know how he designed and built such beautiful buildings without any professional training as an architect.

Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book (1774-1826) edited by Edwin Morris Betts are found portions of fifty-two years of plantation management at Jefferson's estates in Albermarle, Bedford, and Campbell Counties.

There are many entries in Jefferson's "Garden Book" that are more appropriate to his "Farm Book," just as there are entries in the "Farm Book" that belong to his other memoranda books. But Jefferson was often inconsistent with the record of his jottings; probably he just placed them in the books at hand.

The "Farm Book," then, is not a farm book in the limited sense, but a plantation book embracing multitudinous activities on his several plantations, the center of interest always being either Monticello or Poplar Forest.

I found reading through this book to chronicle how Jefferson, as a plantation manager, worked to plan ahead in order to provide food and clothing for the one hundred-twenty slaves on the five thousand acre estate. Jefferson set himself to apply on his own farms the results of a lifetime of sturdy and experiment in agricultural theories. The letters and notes he left to posterity and the mechanical models he designed and made record his contributions to scientific agriculture. All of which are brough to our attention within the pages of this volume.

The narrative is free flowing and easily comprehended and it is a joy to read. As Jefferson once wrote... "I am going to Virginia. I am then to be liberated from the hated occupations of politics, and to remain in the bosom of my family, my farm, and my book." The pages are copies of the original pages of the farm book with commentary and relevant extracts from other writings follow these pages. Nevertheless, you get a feel that running a farm wasn't an easy job.

Thomas Jefferson's Garden Book (1766-1824) annotated by Edwin Morris Betts is a book for the historical gardener and those who like to read of and about Jefferson's beautiful gardens of Monticello and Poplar Forest. This book contains relevant extracts from Jefferson's other writings making for a very interesting read.

This "Garden Book contains the most varied entries of all of Jefferson's memorandum books. The book that began as a diary of the garden became a written repository for numerous interests of Jefferson. Jefferson's entries range from contracts with overseers, plans for building roads and fish ponds, and observations on the greatest flood in Albemarle, to comments on Mrs. Wyethe's wine and figures on the number of strawberries in a pint measure.

This book contains a lot of Jeffersonian minutiae
and also shows Jefferson's love for nature and a very intensely observant eye as it caught almost every passing detail.
The tone of the narrative changes as to the subject written about, but nevertheless, you can read the emotions and the intensity.

Jefferson began the "Garden Book" in 1766 and continued it until the autum of 1824, two years before his death. The lapses in it were due to the time Jefferson had spent away from Monticello. Even in the years in which he spent much of his time at Monticello, the entries are often irregular. Planting activities, successes and failure are all noted within these pages. That introducing new plants into cultivation was a passion with Jefferson, he note them throughout the "Garden Book."

Photographer Robert Lautman has taken and assembled a remarkable set of photographs depicting scenes which a visitor would see upon touring the wonder that is called Monticello. Near the beginning of this book are two architectural drawings showing the first floor room layouts. Numbers appear on these drawings and they indicate the approximate camera positions for each black and white photographic plate.This is an outstanding photo-tour of Jefferson's custom built mansion. I would have given it a 10 rating had it not been for a few little features and omissions which detracted from the work. The major distraction centered on an obviously retouched photograph showing the surrounding hills as seen from Monticello. The photographer, in an attempt to show what the view might have looked like for Jefferson, had to manipulate the photograph to remove or minimize modern distractions such as houses, roads and other man-made edifices. While the intent to recapture a lost vision is a good one the execution wanting. It would have been nice to see more than one photograph of the second floor rooms.

It seems all but impossible that we need yet another anthology of Thomas Jefferson. Even so, this calm, judicious selection by Peter S. Onuf, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor of History at the University of Virginia and one of the leading Jefferson scholars of our time, fills a gap in the literature and may well be recommended as a superb beginning place to understand Jefferson and his place in history.

Onuf's focus is on Jefferson as a political thinker and actor, and his expert choices of passages from Jefferson's writings highlight the main contours of Jefferson's thought as it stayed constant and as it changed over time. His selections span the full range of Jefferson's political career -- from hsi first major pamphlet "A Summary View of the Rights of British America" (1774), to his drafting of the Declaration of Independence and his work on the revision of Virginia's laws in the late 1770s, to his painful two terms as governor (1779-1781), to his writing of NOTES ON THE STATE OF VIRGINIA, to his diplomatic service in France (1784-1789), to his unhappy years as Secretary of State (1789-1793) and Vice President (1797-1801), to his Presidency (1801-1809), and finally his struggles with the roles of senior statesman, ex-President, educational reformer, and sage (1809-1826). Onuf does not shrink from examining the contradictions that loom large in Jefferson's words and deeds. His lucid and enlightening introduction draws on a major article he did in 1993, "The Scholars' Jefferson," revised and updated to take account of more recent scholarship.

Two gaps only mar this fine book. One is its lack of a chronology for those who are unfamiliar with Jefferson's life and career, and the other is its lack of an index. Perhaps these deficiencies can be remedied in future editions of this fine, valuable, and otherwise highly useful volume.

-- R. B. Bernstein, Adjunct Professor of Law, New York Law School

This is a nice little book. It is easy to read and extrememly informative on a broad basis.

Jefferson is portrayed as a man and not some mysterious political figure. The book aquaints you with Mr Jefferson's joy and heartache alike. Ms. Ferris offers a platefull of tasty information and a few facts I had never known before for dessert.

Everyone can enjoy this book and read it rather quickly. My son and I both enjoyed it and the subsequent discussion that it brought about.

At a White House dinner for Nobel Prize laureates President Kennedy joked about how the occasion was the greatest collection of minds gathered together in the White House since Thomas Jefferson dined alone. How many Jefferson accomplished in his life time is indicated in this juvenile biography by Elizabeth Sirimarco for the Our Presidents series that by the second paragraph on the first page Jefferson is 27 years old and laying the first bricks for his new home Monticello. By the end of the chapter Jefferson is married, finished his new home, written the Declaration of Independence, served as minister to France, and has just been named the nation's first Secretary of State. Sirimarco does not even have the time or space to talk about Jefferson's parents, his attending the College of William and Mary, practicing law, serving as a member of the House of Burgesses, being elected Governor of Virginia, and the death of his file (although these are mentioned in the Time Line of Jefferson's life that appears in the back of the book).

The other three chapters of the book cover Jefferson's political career during the Washington and Adams administrations, and his two terms in the White House. Obviously, this volume introduces young readers to the life of Jefferson and given that the Our President series is limited to three-dozen pages, there is not much more than that Sirimarco can do. This particular volume is also handicapped by the fact the format emphasizes the presidency, so two of the four chapters cover each of his two terms in office although there is a sense in which Jefferson's years in the White House were among the least productive of his life. The book is illustrated with historic paintings, etchings and such, some of which were drawn by Jefferson himself. The sidebars in this volume are especially good, focusing on Jefferson and the issue of slavery, his work as a scientist, and his friendship with John Adams. The margins of the book often contain Interesting Facts such as Jefferson once offered to race his old, fat mare against a friend's young stalion...on February 30th.

This book is the second of two of a series written by Alf Mapp involving Thomas Jefferson, now older and it starts with Jefferson's Presidency through his death. From 1801 to 1826 the United States was just beginning to form as a nation...grown to twice its size and the ensuing troubles with all factions wanting something...how was Jefferson to choose?

Meriweather Lewis and William Clark reporting back about this expansionism of the Louisana Purchase and the marvels that it brought the country. Excellent writing about how these and other issues that plagued Jefferson. Abhorred or adored Jefferson was a dichotomy personified.

This book reveals to us better than others how Jefferson struggled to keep his ideas and ideals, his personal and public persona, his view of the United States and the World, for the betterment of mankind as a whole, in line with the events of the day.

Reading this book gave me an insight into a world of Jefferson and the interaction of some of the others as James Madison, James Monroe and John Marshall. As I read these...I wished I had a teacher who made reading U.S. History as alive as the author. It makes a difference to a subject such as this to keep ones interest...not disappointed here.

Capitvation and fasination as we read on about the troubling times of Jefferson in the last years of his life. How he founded the University of Virginia and fought his final battle with his health.

Alf J. Mapp, Jr. makes Jefferson alive and that makes history fun not to mention educational.

Enlightening, informative, and alive are good traits brought to us by the author that are hard to come by when reading history.
I recommed reading this book if you really want to get to know Jefferson from his Presidency to his death.

Read it and enjoy good writing.

Silvio A. Bedini has written Thomas Jefferson: Statesman of Science with an eye on the scientific Jefferson from his early days to his demise. Jefferson had a scientific preoccupation throughout his entire life, always looking at the things around him.

We have read books on Jefferson's multifarious life, as a lawyer, politician, diplomat, architect of Monticello and the University of Virginia, but Jefferson's talents went much further... as Jefferson would say, "Science is my passion, politics my duty." Jefferson looked at nature with a keen eye. As he sent Lewis and Clark to explore the newly purchased western territory, they sent back enough curiosities to keep Jefferson's mind occupied.

Jefferson's mind was so absorbed in sciences that he published his work "Notes on the State of Virginia" one of the most important works on science of the eighteenth century, later it helped earn him the title of "Father of American palentology."

From fossils to plants, ingenious devices, cartography, mathematical instrumentation, and many other ideas all sparked Jefferson's fertile mind... the author takes us on road of exploration into Jefferson's inventive, curious, and brilliant scientific achievements, all in a narative to pique our interest. Jefferson was on the vanguard of achievements not only here in the United States but abroad as well thus fueling his preoccupation with the sciences.

This book carries us through Jefferson's life as his inventive mind produced many utilitarion devices or improved others that already existed. Cryptography, the science of weather, medicine and farming all captivated Jefferson as we read on in the book.

I highly recommend reading this fascinating book.

This is an excellent book for learning about Thomas Jefferson. It is unbiased and covers many aspects of his life (not just his major achievements). It talks about his life at different ages, his impact on history, how his actions sometimes contradicted his words, etc. If you read this you will learn a lot about Jefferson , American History, and at the same time what life was like at this time period.