Thomas Jefferson was an avid book-collector, a voracious reader, and a gifted writer--a man who prided himself on his knowledge of classical and modern languages and whose marginal annotations include quotations from Euripides, Herodotus, and Milton. And yet there has never been a literary life of our most literary president.
In The Road to Monticello, Kevin J. Hayes fills this important gap by offering a lively account of Jefferson's spiritual and intellectual development, focusing on the books and ideas that exerted the most profound influence on him. Moving chronologically through Jefferson's life, Hayes reveals the full range and depth of Jefferson's literary passions, from the popular "small books" sold by traveling chapmen, such as The History of Tom Thumb, which enthralled him as a child; to his lifelong love of Aesop's Fables and Robinson Crusoe; his engagement with Horace, Ovid, Virgil and other writers of classical antiquity; and his deep affinity with the melancholy verse of Ossian, the legendary third-century Gaelic warrior-poet. Drawing on Jefferson's letters, journals, and commonplace books, Hayes offers a wealth of new scholarship on the print culture of colonial America, reveals an intimate portrait of Jefferson's activities beyond the political chamber, and reconstructs the president's investigations in such different fields of knowledge as law, history, philosophy and natural science. Most importantly, Hayes uncovers the ideas and exchanges which informed the thinking of America's first great intellectual and shows how his lifelong pursuit of knowledge culminated in the formation of a public offering, the "academic village" which became UVA, and his more private retreat at Monticello.
Gracefully written and painstakingly researched, The Road to Monticello provides an invaluable look at Jefferson's intellectual and literary life, uncovering the roots of some of the most important--and influential--ideas that have informed American history.
"A tribute to Jefferson and is a praiseworthy accomplishment of its author.... Hayes is to be congratulated for this biography of Jefferson's intellect."--Dennie Hall, Daily Oklahoman
"By writing a 'literary life' of Jefferson, Mr. Hayes is able to approach his extremely well-known subject from unexpected angles."--Adam Kirsch, The New York Sun
"The book's freshness and immediacy lie in the author's emphasis on the libraries Jefferson accumulated and the marginal notes he left in the books he read. Hayes takes us through Jefferson's hugely wide and eclectic reading with an ease and lightness often missing.... The Road to Monticello will enlighten and delight all those drawn to Jefferson and the early years of so many classic American ideas."--Publishers Weekly
"Kevin J. Hayes adroitly accomplishes the formidable task of providing an intellectual biography of Jefferson without ever sounding dry or bookish and without losing sight of his day-to-day life. Grounded in extensive original research, The Road to Monticello is a lively, engaging life of the mind of America's most important founding father."--David S. Reynolds, author of Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson
"In what will surely be the definitive work on the subject, Hayes presents a scrupulously researched examination of the reading habits and thinking of our third President, effectively a biography of Thomas Jefferson's intellect over the course of his life. Although Jefferson's public career has always been granted close examination, Hayes demonstrates that Jefferson's life of the mind also merits the close study provided here."--Thomas J. Schaeper, Library Journal
"Kevin Hayes's Road to Monticello is a stunning contribution to Jefferson studies. Focusing on Jefferson's reading and writing, Hayes illuminates his subject's life and times. Taking Jefferson on his own terms and resisting the modern temptation to psychologize and moralize, Hayes nonetheless gives us a Jefferson of surprising depth and complexity. This is the kind of "life" Jefferson himself would have wanted to memorialize. The Road to Monticello is a magnificent achievement."--Peter Onuf, Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor, University of Virginia
"The world's leading expert on the book culture of early America, Kevin J. Hayes brings an unsurpassed knowledge and sensitivity to the story of Thomas Jefferson's life of the mind. Incorporating much exciting new information, Hayes's biography makes a major contribution to scholarship, but it also appeals to general readers. The Road to Monticello is intellectual biography in the grand manner."--Leo Lemay, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Professor, University of Delaware
Kevin J. Hayes is Professor of English at the University of Central Oklahoma and the author of A Colonial Woman's Bookshelf, An American Cycling Odyssey, Melville's Folk Roots, and Poe and the Printed Word.
Book I: The Education of Thomas Jefferson
1. Fire!
2. A Boy and His Books
3. A Correct, Classical Scholar
4. William and Mary
5. The Williamsburg Circle
6. The Limits of English Law
7. A Shelf of Notebooks
8. Becoming a Burgess
Book II: Family and Nation
9. Domestic Life and Literary Pursuits
10. Rude Bard of the North
11. A Summary View of the Rights of British America
12. The Pen and the Tomahawk
13. The Declaration of Independence
14. The Book Culture of Philadelphia and Williamsburg, Contrasted
15. Of Law and Learning
16. Lines of Communication
17. Notes on the State of Virginia
18. The Narrow House
19. An American Odyssey
Book III: Our Man in Paris
20. Bookman in Paris
21. Talking about Literature
22. London Town
23. Summer of '86
24. An Inquisitive Journey through France and Italy
25. A Tour through Holland and the Rhine Valley
26. Last Days in Paris
Book IV: Servant of the People
27. The Young Idea
28. The Anas
29. Letters from a Virginia Farmer
30. The Vice-President and the Printed Word
31. The First Inaugural Address
32. Wall of Separation
33. "Life of Captain Lewis"
34. President as Patron of Literature
Book V: Monticello
35. Return to Monticello
36. Letters to an Old Friend
37. The Library of Congress
38. The Retirement Library
39. The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth
40. The Autobiography
41. The University of Virginia from Dream to Reality
42. The Life and Soul of the University
An Essay on Sources
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Distributor: Oxford University Press USA
Publication Date: 07-01-2008
Pages: 752
Measurements: 6.200in X 9.300in X 1.900in X 2.563lb
