Description
By turns entertaining and tragic, this beautifully crafted history reveals the origins of a great university in the dilemmas of Virginia slavery. Thomas Jefferson shares centre stage with his family and fellow planters, all dependent on the labour of enslaved black families. With a declining Virginia yielding to commercially vibrant northern states, in 1819 Jefferson proposed to build a university to educate and improve the sons of the planter elite. He hoped they might one day lead a revitalised Virginia free of slavery-and free of the former slaves.
Jefferson's campaign was a contest for the future of a state and the larger nation. Although he prevails, Jefferson's vision of reform through education is hobbled by the actions of genteel students with a defiant sense of honour derived from owning slaves. It is the women of this hypermasculine society who redeem the best elements of his legacy.
About the Author
Alan Taylor, twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize in History, is the author of American Revolutions and American Republics, prior volumes in his acclaimed continental history of the United States. He is Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor of History at University of Virginia, and lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Reviews
"Taylor probes [Jefferson's] ambitious mission in clear prose and with great insight and erudition." -- Annette Gordon-Reed - Atlantic
"Taylor has an important message... for a university community still haunted by Jefferson' s shadow... [The university'] beginnings . . . were in every aspect inseparable from the distorting and poisonous influence of the slave society Jefferson hoped his" -- The Washington Post
Book Information
ISBN 9780393358575
Author Alan Taylor
Format Paperback
Page Count 448
Imprint WW Norton & Co
Publisher WW Norton & Co
Weight(grams) 359g
Dimensions(mm) 211mm * 140mm * 28mm