Jefferson's Secrets: Death and Desire at Monticello (ISBN 0465008135)

Another Fine Contribution by Andrew Burstein:
Jefferson has now fallen into the same category as Lincoln: given the zillions of books already written about him, what is there left to add? Burstein's previous book on TJ ("The Inner Jefferson") established that he had quite a lot to contribute to the literature, much of it quite unique in perspective. The same is certainly true of this volume as well. The focus here is on the retired Jefferson (1809-1826), and much of the author's material is drawn from TJ's private papers after leaving office. One of Burstein's great virtues--perhaps his greatest virtue--is that he looks for unique aspects not generally already addressed by other historians. For example, the impact of "time and mortality" on TJ's thought; his medical concerns and how these concerns are reflected in the unique vocabulary of the 18th Century (e.g., what is the meaning of "sensation"?); and whether there is something to learn about his political views from looking at these issues. Similarly, how did he conceive of "nature"? Burstein also looks at that perennial issue of TJ and slavery, including an interesting chapter on "sex with a servant" in an effort to probe that relationship. Did TJ's affinity for the ancient Greeks impact on his relationship with Sally Hemmings?--this is the kind of issue that only Burstein would explore. The most fascinating section I found dealt with Jefferson's efforts to get favorable history written so that his record would remain untarnished after his death. I am not quite sure anyone else has dealt with this issue. Finally, the topic is TJ and dying, which ends up focusing upon TJ's religious orientation during this period. Burstein's research is, as usual, prodigious as he searches for evidence to support his interpretations. While a great deal of speculation and imaginative thinking are at work here, Burstein continues to generate scintillating and provocative work that is highly unique and valuable. While one may not always agree with his interpretations, the process of considering them continues to be of substantial value.

His own way of looking at things....:
Thomas Jefferson was a great and brilliant, but flawed and unconventional man. What can the zillionth book add that hasn't already been said? Quite a lot. It should not be anybody's first book on Jefferson, but it should be everybody's second, or third. Of course, Burstein hasn't got Jefferson "figured out", but neither does anyone else..... This wonderful volume focuses on Mr. Jefferson's later years, and does give us a good view of his thought processes. Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, and Jefferson can be quoted to "prove" ANYTHING. "Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that this people are to be free,..." The inscription on the wall of the Jefferson Memorial ends with a period, but look up the rest of the quote. I use the comma deliberately. He who said that "All men are created equal" also had things to say about the orangutang. And he also had sex with his slave, Sally? Well...maybe. In any event, he documented his views on this subject, too, complete with charts. The ongoing arguement with John Marshall gets coverage, too. It has been more completely documented elsewhere, but Burstein does an excellent job. This feud is truly one of the most profound topics in American history. It spanned from their early years till the day Jefferson died, and beyond, going from a rivalry, to disagreement, to blind, unreasoning, hatred after the Aaron Burr treason case of 1807. My own opinion is that the cause of the whole mess was multifaceted, involving familial, personal, political, and philosophical elements. {Not religious; they agreed about that} In this battle of giants, we have the origin of the Civil War, and of much of our political conflict today. An athiest who "swore on the altar of God"? This is covered, too. Jefferson may not have been orthodox, but he was assuradely not an athiest. A slave owner who hated slavery? Not unusual...the same is true of George Washington, Patrick Henry, John Marshall, George Wythe, and Robert E. Lee. {Lee inherited his slaves, and freed them before he had to}. A word of caution; though some of the founding fathers did not believe in slavery, they certainly did not believe in Black equality, either. Andrew Burstein has produced a superb work. As I said, NOT a first book on the subject, but an essential one. For a first book, see Joseph Ellis, or Noble Cunningham. Dumas Malone is, of course, definitive, but few will mine the gold in those six profound volumes.

The Inner Jefferson:
Burstein has written an insightful book on the Jefferson, as he says, that has usually been ignored by many other historians, i.e. in the period after his presidency. Specifically, Burstein analyzes the thoughts and attitudes held by Jefferson on life, the role of women and slaves in society, religion, freedom of thought, politics and other topics. The Jefferson that emerges from Burstein's study is a multi-faceted man who both inspires awe for his intelligence and his abilities but also sets him in place as a creature of his time, especially concerning the issue of slavery. Burstein is especially keen on observing Jefferson's use of words to convey his inner most feelings and thoughts. He is especially observant of the medical terminology that Jefferson uses in discussing many different subjects. As Burstein mentioned, he usually didn't give his correspondent everything he was looking for in terms of revealing his innermost thoughts and secrets. After his presidency, Jefferson preferred a retreat from the public sphere and generally guarded his privacy. But we do get to understand Jefferson's devotion to his family, his sometimes very contradictory statements on human liberty and freedom especially when juxtaposed against the very present institution of slavery, his views on republican government and many other areas that he expounded on. There are friends, family members, well-known politicians, doctors, thinkers and others who emerge in Burstein's book, mainly through the correspondence that Burstein uses to help bring light to the elusive aspects of Jefferson's attitudes and sensibilities. The controversies surrounding Jefferson and the institution of slavery are discussed, especially concerning the generally accepted sexual relationship with Sally Hemings, with interesting insights by Burstein on Jefferson's attitudes on sexual relationships, racial differences and so forth. Though he would be considered a racist today, he was a creature of his time, with an odd, but seemingly well-thought out view of the nature of the races (not that his view was right). Burstein really does try to understand the foundations of Jefferson's inner beliefs and sensibilities. Jefferson was a devotee to the rights of man (though this didn't include everyone in his day), his family (he was especially close to his granddaughter Ellen), and the principles of republican government. Interestingly, despite his advocacies, he often turned to others to make the effort to combat his political opponents, we see this in his wanting to combat the histories written by such Federalists as Chief Justice Marshall. The reader will get to see snippets of the inner Jefferson in this book. Burstein, as he stated he wanted to accomplish, succeeds fairly well in presenting the living Jefferson as opposed to the dying Jefferson, though we do read of the effects of aging and other health issues that gradually took their toll on his physical body. We see the many facets of this highly intelligent human being who was such an influence in his day and through his words, actions and ideals continues to be to the present. The debates go on.

Having It Both Ways:
The good stuff in this book is invaluable to anyone with a serious interest in Jefferson. I'd award five stars for such unique scholarship, but I've subtracted two stars as a rebuke to the author and to his editors, if there were any, for perverse self-indulgence. The readability of "Jefferson's Secrets" is damaged by its repetitiousness; Burstein even repeats the same quotations from Jefferson's letters in three and four chapters, without significantly adding to his exegesis. But a more serious flaw is Burstein's rhapsodic admiration of Jefferson's mind at the same time that he protrays the man as a consummate hypocrite and egotist--not only a slave-owner and unreconstructed racist but an exploiter of servants to the point of callously making one his concubine, a Jacobin in rhetoric who lived in the style of an ancien regime aristocrat, a man who gave his daughters a decorous education yet maintained that women had no claim to equality. Burstein's defense seems to be that we should forgive Jefferson's inconsistencies because he was conflicted, and a man of his times. Indeed, the central theme of the book is to demonstrate exactly how Jefferson was a man of his times, whose world-view was shaped by the ideas and particularly the scientific knowledge of the Enlightenment. That's the good stuff, the analysis of what Jefferson himself thought he meant by what he said and wrote, given the "vocabulary" of his time and place. However, in the next breath Burstein proceeds to declare that Jefferson was in some sense the first Modern Man, a harbinger of Romanticism precisely because of his ambiguities, the very same ambiguities that Burstein has just dispelled. Really, Professor Burstein, it seems to be YOU who are conflicted, by your adulation of the "timeless" Jefferson even while you pin the human Jefferson to the cultural matrix of his lifetime!

Extremely disappointing biography of Jefferson:
There is next to nothing here that caught my interest. I was looking forward very much to this work, and I was extremely disappointed in it. I had just finished an excellent biography of John Adams, which impelled me to try this one. I can only recommend that you don't waste your time. Every moment on this book was, to me, a complete waste of time.