Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson
by Alan Pell Crawford
- Used
- near fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine/Near Fine
- ISBN 10
- 1400060796
- ISBN 13
- 9781400060795
- Seller
-
Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
This very interesting book concentrating on Thomas Jefferson and his family in his later years comes in a dust jacket whose only detriments are stains on the inside of it along its lower edge that hardly show through to the exterior. The interior book also only has those stains along the inside front and rear covers along the bottom. The rest of the book, however, has no further visible distractions or extraneous markings throughout it and thus is in a very well-preserved condition, and consequently, all the printing, photographs, and illustrations remain very readable and enjoyable. The sewn-in bindings of the book also are tight and sound.
If you order this book from us it will be carefully wrapped up, padded, and then boxed and sent promptly to you and will come with our absolute appreciation for your interest in the book and for your order of it.
Synopsis
Much has been written about Thomas Jefferson, with good reason: His life was a great American drama--one of the greatest--played out in compelling acts. He was the architect of our democracy, a visionary chief executive who expanded this nation's physical boundaries to unimagined lengths. But Twilight at Monticello is something entirely new: an unprecedented and engrossing personal look at the intimate Jefferson in his final years that will change the way readers think about this true American icon. It was during these years--from his return to Monticello in 1809 after two terms as president until his death in 1826--that Jefferson's idealism would be most severely, and heartbreakingly, tested.Based on new research and documents culled from the Library of Congress, the Virginia Historical Society, and other special collections, including hitherto unexamined letters from family, friends, and Monticello neighbors, Alan Pell Crawford paints an authoritative and deeply moving portrait of Thomas Jefferson as private citizen--the first original depiction of the man in more than a generation. Here, told with grace and masterly detail, is Jefferson with his family at Monticello, dealing with illness and the indignities wrought by early-nineteenth-century medicine; coping with massive debt and the immense costs associated with running a grand residence; navigating public disputes and mediating family squabbles; receiving dignitaries and correspondingwith close friends, including John Adams, theMarquis de Lafayette, and other heroes from the Revolution. Enmeshed as he was in these affairs during his final years, Jefferson was still a viable political force, advising his son-in-law Thomas Randolph during his terms as Virginia governor, helping the administration of his good friend President James Madison during the "internal improvements" controversy, and establishing the first wholly secular American institution of higher learning, the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. We also see Jefferson's views on slavery evolve, along with his awareness of the costs to civil harmony exacted by the Founding Fathers' failure to effectively reconcile slaveholding within a republic dedicated to liberty.Right up until his death on the fiftieth anniversary of America's founding, Thomas Jefferson remained an indispensable man, albeit a supremely human one. And it is precisely that figure Alan Pell Crawford introduces to us in the revelatory Twilight at Monticello.'Crawford (Thunder on the Right) offers his own equally compelling look, in this case at Jefferson's life, post-presidency, from 1809 until his death in 1826. Then a private citizen, Jefferson was burdened by financial and personal and political struggles within his extended family. His beloved estate, Monticello, was costly to maintain and Jefferson was in debt. Newly studying primary sources, Crawford thoroughly conveys the pathos of Jefferson's last years, even as he successfully established the University of Virginia (America's first wholly secular university) and maintained contact with James Madison, John Adams, and other luminaries. He personally struggled with political, moral, and religious issues; Crawford shows us a complex, self-contradictory, idealistic, yet tragic figure, helpless to stabilize his family and finances. Historians and informed readers alike will find much to relish in both of these distinctive works of original scholarship. Both are recommended for academic and large public libraries.--Library Journal"In "Twilight at Monticello," Alan Pell Crawford treats his subject with grace and sympathetic understanding, and with keen penetration as...
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Details
- Bookseller
- Mountain Gull Trading Company (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 814
- Title
- Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson
- Author
- Alan Pell Crawford
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Near Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition
- ISBN 10
- 1400060796
- ISBN 13
- 9781400060795
- Publisher
- Random House Publishing Group
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 2008-01-08
- Pages
- 322
- Size
- 6 1/2" x 9 1/2"
- Keywords
- First Editions; US History; American History; Jefferson; Biographies
- Bookseller catalogs
- American History; Biographies; U.S. President Books;
Terms of Sale
Mountain Gull Trading Company
About the Seller
Mountain Gull Trading Company
About Mountain Gull Trading Company
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.