The Inner Jefferson

Burstein, an independent scholar who has taught and written extensively on early American history, has fashioned a book that should attract a wide readership. Making particular use of Jefferson's letters, Burstein attempts to reveal the inner man who few contemporaries felt they knew well. The author has a sure grasp of the material and a prudent awareness that Jefferson was a person of his times--not of ours. Jefferson possessed inconsistencies and contradictions, though Burstein goes a little overboard in finding opposites in everything he did. According to Burstein, Jefferson was rational and emotional, forthright and shy, compassionate and vengeful, ordinary and extraordinary. Nonetheless, one finishes this book with a renewed awareness of the profound sensibilities and talents of this complicated individual and a deeper understanding of the importance to him of his wide circle of close friends. Recommended for all libraries.--T.J. Schaeper, St. Bonaventure Univ., N.Y.