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Article: Skillful pursuit of the elusive personality of Jefferson.(Books)
- Article from:
- The Washington Times (Washington, DC)
- Article date:
- March 23, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 News World Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In judgments about Thomas Jefferson, Joseph J. Ellis writes, "It seems impossible to steer an honorable course between idolatry and evisceration." Mr. Ellis, professor of history at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts and author of a splendid 1993 study of John Adams, "Passionate Sage," sails briskly between those antipodes.
"American Sphinx" is, in the rather condescending phrase, accessible. The scholarship and style permit a reader to feel he has been part of a rewarding and engaging conversation. In his character study, Mr. Ellis can wander through Monticello and his subject's life without keeping strictly to the pathways of historical or ...