Joseph J. Ellis' "American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson" - A Comprehensive Study

Client d'Amazon: Livre important pour comprendre l'histoire des Etats-Unis, mais évidement l'auteur n'aime pas Jefferson pour ses idées radicales. Ellis joue au psychologue, pas grand historien, et attaque le idéalisme, romantisme, motivation et caractère de son sujet. Dommage que cet historien n'est pas plus sage de point de vue philosophique.

France on Jun 20, 2016

Boz: Excellent book about the greatest of all American Presidents (with the possible exception of F.D.R.)

United Kingdom on Apr 24, 2015

Mr. Vivian C. Thompsonn: Book took ages to arrive and when it did, it was a completely different title!?

United Kingdom on Feb 03, 2015

Zachary Bednar: Author Joseph J. Ellis is a fantastic writer, conscious of prose, and not afraid to liberally showcase it. With American Sphinx he gives us a critical and contrarian look at one of our most beloved founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson. This book does not seek to change the reader's mind about it's subject but rather offer a deeper understanding of him. It shows Thomas Jefferson in a light most scholars have been afraid to shed. Ellis's treatment of Jefferson is honest, frank, sincere, and most importantly, well-rounded. What he has done in American Sphinx is commendable and deserving of sterling longevity. Ellis is a historian who is unintimidated and is prepared to ask certain forbidden questions. This is not to say that Ellis makes Jefferson out to be anything less than what he is; an American hero. He just allows us the good fortune found in candid intimacy and honesty paramount to fully understanding him. And it is a critical honesty that most scholars have kept to themselves. Speaking personally, I completely support Jefferson's radical utopian views, I find them sound and inherently emblematic of all I hold dear. His stance on generational sovereignty is something I believe in...

United States on Jul 30, 2014

Client Amazon: This work by Ellis humanizes Jefferson showing us the positive and negative aspects of his character without judging him by our modern standards but helps us realize his manner of rationalizing in the context of his times. Because of this book, I was able to relate to and understand Jefferson better. Thomas Jefferson was a brilliant man and ever the idealist. As other commentaries have suggested, this biography only highlights certain events in the life of Jefferson that help us understand the thinking and character behind the myth that we Americans have created around our Founding Fathers but it doesn't diminish the importance of Jefferson either in the American pantheon. I highly recommend this book! I will forever look at Thomas Jefferson in a different light and with greater respect thanks to Joseph Ellis.

France on Aug 01, 2013

Save the Planet. Stop Climate Change!: This book is neither extraordinarily well written nor extraordinarily well argued. Nevertheless it is readable and most of its conclusions appear plausible.
The title "The character of Thomas Jefferson" is slightly misleading as Jefferson's political philosophy and how it was rooted in his personality and influenced his political actions and decisions is the actual subject of the book. Being already familiar with the basic facts of Jefferson's life appears to be a useful requisite for reading it.

Germany on Oct 14, 2011

Omer Belsky: There are few books I have anticipated reading as much as "American Sphinx". I devoured Joseph J. Ellis's Pulitzer winning masterpiece,  Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation  during my long awaited trip to America, where I visited many of the historical places of the American Revolution and Civil War. Reading about the Adams-Jefferson meeting in Philadelphia's Market Street, while in a hotel room only a few blocks away was exhilarating. The Independence Visitor Center bookstore contains many books about the American Revolution, and I was mighty tempted to buy Ellis's biography of the Philosopher King from Monticello. Finally, my semi-principle of breaks between books by a single author won the day. Only three months later did Amazon deliver "American Sphinx".

Ellis's biography of Thomas Jefferson is not as good a book as "Founding Brothers". I am not a big reader of biographies, so that may be part of it, but there is less content here than in "Founding Brothers". The latter book is shorter and has a wider scope, and for the most part, the more in debt look on Jefferson doesn't give comparable insight.

But "American Sphinx" is a very, very good...

United States on Jan 15, 2005