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[Washington] Joseph J. Ellis,
HIS EXCELLENCY, GEORGE WASHINGTON. NEW copy.
Hardcover with dust jacket. Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. Plates, notes, index,
320 pages. ~~~ From Publishers Weekly: "In this follow-up to
his bestselling Founding Brothers, Ellis offers a magisterial account of
the life and times of George Washington, celebrating the heroic image of
the president whom peers like Jefferson and Madison recognized as 'their
unquestioned superior' while acknowledging his all-too-human qualities.
Ellis recreates the cultural and political context into which Washington
strode to provide leadership to the incipient American republic. But more
importantly, the letters and other documents Ellis draws on bring the
aloof legend alive as a young soldier who sought to rise through the
ranks of the British army during the French and Indian War, convinced he
knew the wilderness terrain better than his commanding officers; as a
Virginia plantation owner (thanks to his marriage) who watched over his
accounts with a ruthless eye; as the commander of an outmatched rebel
army who, after losing many of his major battles, still managed to catch
the British in an indefensible position. Following Washington from the
battlefield to the presidency, Ellis elegantly points out how he steered
a group of bickering states toward national unity; Ellis also elaborates
on Washington's complex stances on issues like slavery and expansion into
Native American territory. The Washington who emerges from these pages
is similar to the one portrayed in a biographical study by James
MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn published earlier this year, but
Ellis's richer version leaves readers with a deeper sense of the man's
humanity."
$26.95
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[Washington] Thomas Fleming,
WASHINGTON's SECRET WAR: The Hidden History of Valley Forge.
. NEW copy. Hardcover with dust jacket.
(NY: Collins, 2005). Plates, notes, index, 384 pages. ~~~
From Kirkus Reviews: "A revisitation of that American
creche, the wintry encampment at Valley Forge, where stalwart
Continentals created a nation. Prolific historian and novelist
Fleming (A Passionate Girl, 2004, etc.) isn't a revisionist as
such; he has no interest in diminishing the heroism of the
revolutionary soldiers who served with Washington and company in a
time when victory seemed unlikely, certainly no interest in
questioning the validity of their cause. Yet he does a solid job of
showing that their weaknesses were institutional. In its wisdom,
Congress had enacted legislation that made it impossible to profit
from supplying the army, a disincentive even to a patriot, and it
'insisted on trying to manage all aspects of running the war, without
the knowledge or skill to do the job,' which included second-guessing
Washington's chain of command. Part of Washington's task during his
unwanted but necessary layover was to do a little old-fashioned
politicking to lose the micromanagement. He had other challenges, of
course: securing provisions, getting a sick and hungry army back on
its feet, learning how to fight effectively against a much
better-trained, better-paid and better-led enemy. In the last matter,
Washington had inestimable help from the legendary Baron von Steuben,
whose name is still honored among American soldiers today; no matter,
as Fleming nicely reveals, that the good baron more or less made up
his resume, for Ben Franklin had 'concocted his imaginary career and
the idea of offering his services as a volunteer' just when such a
person was most needed. Another surprise, courtesy of Fleming, is
his account of the ethnic composition of the Continental forces,
filled with German and Irish newcomers, with Indians and blacks --
all of whom were tested the following spring and acquitted themselves
well at places like Monmouth, where the tide of war turned. Though
without the flair of a McCullough or Ambrose or Brands, another solid
work from Fleming.
$27.95
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(Washington), Nettles, Curtis P,
GEORGE WASHINGTON AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.
VG/VG.
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1951). 2nd Printing. No obvious flaws to book.
Some light chipping and faded spine to jacket, which is in a mylar protector.
Bibliography, index, 338 pages.
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[Washington] Michael Novak & Jana Novak,
WASHINGTON's GOD: Religion, Liberty, and the Father of Our Country.
. NEW copy. Hardcover with dust jacket.
(NY: Basic Books, 2006). Plates, maps, appendices, notes, index, 282 pages.
~~~ From the Publisher: "Drawing upon new sources and Washington's own words, the Novaks reveal that
the first president was indeed deeply spiritual though also deeply private about his personal religious
convictions and practices. This new presentation of Washington - as a man whose religion guided his
governance - brings him into the center of today's debates about the role of faith in government and
will challenge everything we thought we knew about the inner life of the father of our country."
~~~ From Publishers Weekly: "Most modern historians have made three basic assumptions about
the religious views of our nation's first president: he was a deist; he was only a marginal Christian who
kept up appearances but had no depth of conviction; and he believed only in an impersonal force or destiny
that he called 'Providence'. Michael Novak, the well-known conservative thinker and author of
The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, teams up with his daughter Jana to attempt to debunk all three
of these notions about Washington's religious views. Written at the specific request of Mount Vernon and
with the assistance of their archives, this book is carefully researched. It is most persuasive when the
Novaks show that despite his natural reserve, a depth of religious feeling ran through Washington's public
and private speeches and correspondence, disproving the portrait of a tepid, perfunctory Anglicanism.
However, they don't succeed as well in disproving Washington's deist sensibility; the Novaks adopt the
modern assumption that being a Christian and being a deist were mutually exclusive -- a conclusion that few
in the late 18th century would have shared. At times, the Novaks' starry-eyed admiration of the man pushes
this book over the bounds of biography into hagiography.
$25.00
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[Adams] John Ferling,
ADAMS vs. JEFFERSON: The Tumultuous Election of 1800.
NEW copy. Hardcover with dust jacket. Oxford University Press, 2004.
Illustrations, maps, notes, index, 260 pages. ~~~
From Publishers Weekly: "Veteran historian Ferling's account of one of America's most extraordinary political dramas lays bare the historically pugilist nature of American presidential politics. In 1800 the nation was struggling to its feet amidst an array of threats from foreign governments and a host of constitutional struggles. Against this backdrop, President John Adams, an elite, strong-willed Federalist, set to square off against his vice president, Thomas Jefferson, a populist Republican. The campaign was brutal. Republicans assailed the Federalists as scare-mongers. Federalists attacked Republicans as godless. But it was a constitutional quirk that nearly collapsed the nascent United States. Adams was eliminated, but Jefferson and his vice-presidential running mate, Aaron Burr, tied in the Electoral College with 73 votes, throwing the decision into the House of Representatives. That left the Federalist-dominated House to decide between two despised Republicans for president. After 36 votes, a political deal finally gave Jefferson the presidency, ending a standoff that had the nation on the brink of collapse. Although his account is dense at times, Ferling richly presents the twists and turns of the election, as well as a vivid portrait of a struggling new nation and the bruising political battles of our now revered founding fathers, including the major roles played by James Madison and Alexander Hamilton. In what has already proven to be a vicious 2004 campaign, readers will take some comfort in knowing that the vagaries of the political process, although no doubt exacerbated today by mass media, have changed little in over 200 years. Of even greater comfort, and Ferling's ultimate triumph, is showing that, historically, when faced with dire circumstances at home and abroad, American democracy has pulled through.?
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[Adams] Catherine Drinker Bowen,
JOHN ADAMS AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
VG/VG-- Jacket intact with bright colors, but has small tears & chips around all extremities.
(No price shown; Book of the Month Club). Book itself is tight and clean. A nice copy overall.
Little, Brown & Company, 1950. Decorated end pages, Four plates, including frontispiece.
Extensive notes, bibliography & index, 699 pages.
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[Jefferson] William Howard Adams,
THE PARIS YEARS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON.
NEW copy. TRADE PAPERBACK. Yale University Press.
354 pages. ~~~ In 1784 Thomas Jefferson moved to the sophisticated and exhilarating city of
Paris, where he spent the next five years as ambassador from the new United
States of America. This engaging book recreates in word and illustration the
atmosphere and personalities of pre-Revolutionary Paris, and it reveals the
profound impact they had on one of America's first transatlantic citizens.
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[Jefferson] Joseph J. Ellis,
AMERICAN SPHINX: The Character of Thomas Jefferson.
NEW copy. Hardcover with dust jacket. Gold paper sticker on cover (not shown in picture) which reads: "National Book Award Winner". Alfred A. Knopf, 1998. Extensive notes, index, 365 pages.
~~~
From Publishers Weekly: "Penetrating Jefferson's placid, elegant facade, this extraordinary biography brings the sage of Monticello down to earth without either condemning or idolizing him. Jefferson saw the American Revolution as the opening shot in a global struggle destined to sweep over the world, and his political outlook, in Ellis's judgment, was more radical than liberal. A Francophile, an obsessive letter-writer, a tongue-tied public speaker, a sentimental soul who placed women on a pedestal and sobbed for weeks after his wife's death, Jefferson saw himself as a yeoman farmer but was actually a heavily indebted, slaveholding Virginia planter. His retreat from his early anti-slavery advocacy to a position of silence and procrastination reflected his conviction that whites and blacks were inherently different and could not live together in harmony, maintains Mount Holyoke historian Ellis, biographer of John Adams (Passionate Sage). Jefferson clung to idyllic visions, embracing, for example, the "Saxon myth," the utterly groundless theory that the earliest migrants from England came to America at their own expense, making a total break with the mother country. His romantic idealism, exemplified by his view of the American West as endlessly renewable, was consonant with future generations' political innocence, their youthful hopes and illusions, making our third president, in Ellis's shrewd psychological portrait, a progenitor of the American Dream."
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[Jefferson] John Ferling,
ADAMS vs. JEFFERSON: The Tumultuous Election of 1800.
NEW copy. Hardcover with dust jacket. Oxford University Press, 2004.
Illustrations, maps, notes, index, 260 pages. ~~~
From Publishers Weekly: "Veteran historian Ferling's account of one of America's most extraordinary political dramas lays bare the historically pugilist nature of American presidential politics. In 1800 the nation was struggling to its feet amidst an array of threats from foreign governments and a host of constitutional struggles. Against this backdrop, President John Adams, an elite, strong-willed Federalist, set to square off against his vice president, Thomas Jefferson, a populist Republican. The campaign was brutal. Republicans assailed the Federalists as scare-mongers. Federalists attacked Republicans as godless. But it was a constitutional quirk that nearly collapsed the nascent United States. Adams was eliminated, but Jefferson and his vice-presidential running mate, Aaron Burr, tied in the Electoral College with 73 votes, throwing the decision into the House of Representatives. That left the Federalist-dominated House to decide between two despised Republicans for president. After 36 votes, a political deal finally gave Jefferson the presidency, ending a standoff that had the nation on the brink of collapse. Although his account is dense at times, Ferling richly presents the twists and turns of the election, as well as a vivid portrait of a struggling new nation and the bruising political battles of our now revered founding fathers, including the major roles played by James Madison and Alexander Hamilton. In what has already proven to be a vicious 2004 campaign, readers will take some comfort in knowing that the vagaries of the political process, although no doubt exacerbated today by mass media, have changed little in over 200 years. Of even greater comfort, and Ferling's ultimate triumph, is showing that, historically, when faced with dire circumstances at home and abroad, American democracy has pulled through.?
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[Jefferson] THOMAS JEFFERSON: FARMER.
McFarland & Company, 1991., NEW, a mint copy. Hardcover issued without dust
jacket. Notes, index, 219 pp. "Focusing on Jefferson's place in the agriculture
of his time, this work studies the crops he introduced and grew, farm
implements, animals, personnel, and his gardens and landscaping." OUT OF PRINT.
$33.00
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[Jefferson] Roger G. Kennedy,
Mr JEFFERSON'S LOST CAUSE: Land, Farmers, Slavery, and the Louisiana Purchase.
NEW copy. Hardcover with dust jacket. Oxford University Press.
350 pages. ~~~ Thomas Jefferson advocated a republic of small farmers - free and independent
yeomen. Yet as president he presided over a massive expansion of the
slaveholding plantation system - particularly with the Louisiana Purchase -
squeezing the yeomanry to the fringes and to less desirable farmland. Now Roger
G. Kennedy conducts an eye-opening examination of that gap between Jefferson's
stated aspirations and what actually happened.
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[Jefferson] Marc Leepson,
SAVING MONTICELLO.
NEW copy. Hardcover with dust jacket. Free Press.
303 pages. ~~~ Thomas Jefferson died on the Fourth of July 1826, he was more than $100,000 in
debt. Forced to sell thousands of acres of his lands and nearly all his
furniture and artwork, in 1831 his heirs bid a final goodbye to Monticello
itself. Saving Monticello offers the first complete post-Jefferson history of
this American icon and reveals the amazing story of how one Jewish family saved
the house that became a family home to them for 89 years - longer than it ever
was to the Jeffersons. With a dramatic narrative sweep across generations, Marc
Leepson vividly recounts the turbulent saga of this fabled estate. Twice the
house came to the brink of ruin, and twice it was saved, by two different
generations of the Levy family.
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[Jefferson] Alf J. Mapp, Jr.,
THOMAS JEFFERSON: Passionate Pilgrim.
NEW copy. Hardcover with dust jacket. Madison Books.
445 pages. ~~~ Eagerly awaited by readers of Alf Mapp's best-selling Thomas Jefferson: A
Strange Case of Mistaken Identity, this final volume follows Jefferson from his
inauguration as President in 1801 to his death at the age of eighty-three on
July 4, 1826. In Thomas Jefferson: Passionate Pilgrim, Jefferson the human
being, passionate in his loves and hates, is never lost in a revealing portrait
of the public figure. Witnessing Jefferson's actions in private life as well as
in the arena of history, the reader learns why this founding father was abhorred
by some but adored by many more.
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[Jefferson] James F. Simon,
WHAT KIND OF NATION.
NEW copy. Hardcover with dust jacket. Simon & Schuster.
348 pages. ~~~ What Kind of Nation is a riveting account of the bitter and protracted struggle
between two titans of the early republic over the power of the presidency and
the independence of the judiciary. The clash between fellow Virginians (and
second cousins) Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall remains the most decisive
confrontation between a president and a chief justice in American history.
Fought in private as well as in full public view, their struggle defined basic
constitutional relationships in the early days of the republic and resonates
still in debates over the role of the federal government vis-a-vis the states
and the authority of the Supreme Court to interpret laws.
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[Jefferson] Garry Wills,
Mr JEFFERSON'S UNIVERSITY.
NEW copy. Hardcover with dust jacket. National Geographic Society.
162 pages. ~~~ The University of Virginia is one of America's greatest architectural treasures
and one of Thomas Jefferson's proudest achievements. In this engrossing,
perceptive book, acclaimed historian Garry Wills explores the creation of a
masterpiece, tracing its evolution from Jefferson's idea for an "academical
village" into a classically beautiful campus. Mr. Jefferson's University is at
once a wonderful chronicle of the birth of a national institution and a deftly
sketched portrait of the towering American who brought it to life.
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[Jefferson] Garry Wills,
THOMAS JEFFERSON: Genius of Liberty.
NEW copy. Hardcover with dust jacket. Viking Penguin, Inc.
445 pages. ~~~ The book's lively narrative, illuminated by Jefferson's own words, weaves back
and forth between the public career -- delegate to the Continental Congress,
author of the Declaration of Independence and other calls to liberty, governor
of Virginia, two-term president -- and his life at his beloved plantation and
house, Monticello. Commentaries on manuscripts explore the conflicts between his
public ideals, political realities, and his private life, including the recent
controversial evidence of a long liaison with his slave Sally Hemings. From his
worldview to his family relationships, Thomas Jefferson provides a new and
intimate sense of the man historians have only recently begun to extricate from
thc lofty abstractions that have born his name. Large-format hardcover with 150
illustrations, two-thirds in color. 182 pages.
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