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Mr. Jefferson's University (National Geographic Directions)

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This book is about the founding of The University of Virginia. If you are interested in learning about Jefferson, Garry Wills fills in a lot of the gaps with "Mr. Jefferson's University". Much of Jefferson's philosophies on education are behind his academic and architectural intentions for his University of Virginia. This is a "must read" for anyone interested in Jefferson. I think another "must read" is Norman Thomas Remick's "Mr. Jefferson's Academy, The Real Story Behind West Point" (1998), a book now known as "West Point: Character Leadership Education....Developed From The Readings And Writings Of Thomas Jefferson" (2002), available right here on Amazon.com. Though many know that Mr. Jefferson's University (The University of Virginia) was our third President's favorite, high-profile educational project, no one knew (until Mr. Remick's groundbreaking research) that Mr. Jefferson's Academy (West Point) was our third President's best-kept-secret, low-profile educational project. In my opinion, you should read both books.

Thomas Jefferson's reputation in America has declined greatly over the last two decades. It is now commonplace, both among scholars and the reading public, to criticize Jefferson and place him on a lower mantle of historical accomplishment, along with several of his contemporaries. His friend, James Madison, whose reputation has long lived in the shadow of Jefferson's, is now widely considered to be the superior political thinker of the two. Former political opponents, such as John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, are now sometimes favorably compared to him. The ongoing controversy over Jefferson's affair with the slave Sally Hemings has also contributed to his reputation's decline.

But as an artist, Jefferson's historical reputation has only been strengthened in recent years. He is considered one of America's greatest architects, and his work at Monticello and the University of Virginia has been voted by modern architects as the premiere achievement in American architecture. Jefferson himself seems to have had some sense of the importance of this work when he requested his tombstone read:

HERE WAS BURIED

THOMAS JEFFERSON

AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

OF THE STATUTE OF VIRGINIA

FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

AND FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

This is Garry Wills' third book on Jefferson. Wills wholeheartedly admires Jefferson's work as an architect. No one else in the Western tradition, Wills says, has ever combined the artistic and political talents of Jefferson. Unlike artist-politicians like Benjamin Disraeli, Jan Paderewski or Václav Havel, who were primarily artists before becoming politicians, Jefferson worked at both his entire life. According to Wills, the Virginian was no mere dilettante dabbling at design, but an experienced, masterful innovator of forms. He worked on his first university design project in his mid-twenties, a few years before writing the Declaration of Independence. While serving as president, he helped Benjamin Latrobe design the federal city. And he would cap off his long life with his finest work, the "academical village" - the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, the subject of this work.

It took Jefferson nine years to complete his masterpiece. From the age of seventy-four to eighty-three, the design and building of the university dominated the final years of his life. He would die soon after it was completed. To do so, Jefferson had to outmaneuver the extremely hostile Virginia legislature to acquire the state money to finance his project; he also had to face down religious interests -- who were concerned about his decision to build a secular school; and he outlasted several local powers - particularly fellow builders and other state-financed universities - who sought to undermine his efforts in order to satisfy their own interests. Jefferson's local political struggles to build his university actually take up more of the book than details about its design.

Jefferson wanted to build a university that embodied his ideas on what learning should be about. Where universities in Europe at that time had primarily been either urban or monastic in appearance, Jefferson followed an American pattern by designing a rural university, built around a lawn. Ten unique Pavilions -- to represent Jefferson's ten important branches of learning -- would be built on the east and west sides of the lawn, five on each side. To the north of the lawn was the centerpiece of the university - a large Rotunda that would serve both as the university's library and for communal activities. Nothing was built on the south of the lawn to allow for an easy approach to the school and an open vista for those on the lawn.

Connecting the Pavilions and Rotunda was a Tuscan colonnade. The colonnade was blended in with the front of each of the ten Pavilions, a difficult design trick since each Pavilion had a unique style with -- depending on the Pavilion -- Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and composite columns that had to work visually with the Tuscan style of the colonnade that connected them all. The Pavilions were two-story buildings. The first story served as the classroom. The second story was the professor's home. Jefferson did not want any of the Pavilions to be considered superior to the others so he had the professors draw lots for who would live and teach in each Pavilion. The colonnade also had a two-story function. On ground level, it was covered, allowing for students to walk between Pavilions in any weather. The colonnade's second level, however, which connected the professors' homes on the second story of each pavilion, was not covered. This was meant to symbolize the connection Jefferson wanted the ten disciplines to have with each other. Professors could get together and exchange ideas, but the lack of a covered walkway meant that such exchanges would be informal and unscheduled, unlike the more regimented programs of the students walking below.

The effect of this design was striking and somewhat paradoxical. There is both regimentation and individualism in the work. Wills says that some critics seize on some single aspect of the design and complain that it is either too orderly or too chaotic. But Jefferson wanted both elements to express his ideas about education. Echoing Ruskin's comments about the cathedral front at Pisa, Wills writes that Jefferson achieved "a daring variation of pretended symmetry" that escaped "the lower or vulgar unity of law."

One of the more interesting sidelines in the book is Wills' discussion of the Bishop George Berkeley, the famous eighteenth century empiricist who was the transitional philosopher between Locke and Hume. Berkeley, who at the time was still just a parson, wanted to build a school in North America. He spent time at Yale, where a residential college was named after him. (One of the graduates of that college would later found U.C. Berkeley in California in honor of the bishop.) But Berkeley did not want to build his school in any of the colonies. He decided that Bermuda was a more appropriate location since there it would not be subject to the provincialism of the colonies, and he could allow Native Americans to attend. He believed that knowledge needed a fresh start away from the prejudices of the cities and society and that only a school built in nature could achieve this. Like Jefferson at a later time, Berkeley would struggle to find funds to build his school. But where Jefferson persevered, Berkeley would eventually give up and return to England. Nevertheless, his ideas about university design in the new world would affect many later American designers, and Jefferson was obviously influenced by him.

Also interesting is Wills' history of how the original professors - most of whom were Europeans -- would struggle with their new lives in the new world. Jefferson had originally not wanted Europeans to teach at his school, fearing they would contaminate American students with their alien ideas. But he been forced to recruit there after qualified Americans had either turned him down or been rejected by the state legislature for their unorthodox views. Universities in the early United States were largely state affairs, especially in the south. Jefferson had pushed for the founding of University of Virginia to create a regional alternative to Harvard, Princeton, and Yale in the north. But now he had been forced to leave not only the south, but even the U.S., in order to find teachers to fill the new positions. The result, however, appears to have ended up harming the professors more than it did the local students. Since most students were the progeny of local Virginian plantation owners, and were used to slaves and owning guns, the professors didn't quite know what to make of them. As Wills puts it, "slave owners were used to giving, not taking orders." The students didn't like their foreign teachers for the most part, taunting them and throwing rocks through one professor's windows. Some professors attempted to resign after being terrorized by masked students (their resignations were not accepted). Stricter rules were implemented and some students were expelled. But the problems continued. The south's tradition of violence didn't help either, as undergraduates often challenged each other to duels, despite the best efforts of the faculty to prevent them. Professors were sometimes caned by students and began to arm themselves in self-defense. Fourteen years after Jefferson's death, one professor was shot and killed after stepping outside of his Pavilion to quell a disturbance.

This is a wonderful book, interesting both as a history of the early U.S. architecture and as a partial biography of a Founding Father. Jefferson's will to see through his masterpiece forms the core of the story, but the many interesting details on various subjects also delight. While Jefferson's genius as an architect is more taken for granted than demonstrated, Wills does show that Jefferson had a tremendous artistic vision and fire to see his project to completion.

Although a slim volume, Gary Wills has packed this book full with information about this period in Jefferson's life that most other biographers - and I've read 22 - missed. Starting a university from scratch is just about more than one man, even Jefferson, could handle. He had to design the buidings, the dorms and rooms for the students and professors, and then hire the professors from all over the world, then make sure it ran properly even down to the rowdiness of the students. And all of this in the decade prior to his death, while he was in his 70's. That the university continues today in his spirit is a strong testament to his original thinking, his designs, and his vision for the future. This is a short book that can easily be read in one sitting, and well worth it.

This book provides a detailed and in-depth look at Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia.

The Prologue provides an overview of the architecture of the Academical Village, including the Pavilions, the Lawn and the Range, and Serpentine Walls, etc.

Chapter One chronicles the extraordinary efforts that Jefferson had put in to create the University. He had to fight every step of the way for funding, for site selection, and for recruiting faculties that he wanted, not what the Virginian Assembly had in mind at the time.

Chapter Two looks at how he had envisioned his University to be; how the architecture tied in with his vision of a school as a counter-weight to the establishments in the north (Yale/Harvard) and the Old World.

Chapter Three drew parallels between Jefferson's plantation Monticello and the Academical Village.

Chapter Four details one of the most talented architects, Latrobe's contribution to the architecture of the University, and subsequent and controversial remodelings of the Rotunda by Stanford White.

Chapter Five discusses the first faculties and students. Recruiting the faculties had been difficult since the University was so new and luring talents from the north was almost impossible. In addition, Jefferson's vision of having an institute for southern plantation owners resulted in a violent culture in the University in the first years.

The Epilogue looks at the University after Jefferson, how it grew and kept up its promise.

This is an excellent book about UVa. As an alumni, I am embarrassed to say that before reading this book, I had not paid enough attention to the Lawn. For example, I always thought that all the Pavilions were identical. I was not aware of the educational values of the serpentine walls. I heard of Stanford White's redesigning of the Rotunda, but until this book I've never seen a picture of it. And above all, I could not have imagined how much difficulties Jefferson had encountered, and how proud he was at achieving this impossible dream. I would highly recommend this book to UVA students and alumni, and all who's visiting Charlottesville. I am so proud of being a UVa grad!

First, kudos to the National Geographic Society for its Directions series - in which noted authors write about a favorite place they have often visited. This is the seventh book in the series that I have read. All are comparatively short (about 150 pages), relatively engaging (in most the author's enthusiasm for the place in question is contagious), and handsomely produced (at least in their hardback editions). It appears that the series has been closed out, alas, and therefore this probably is the last installment that I will read. If so, it is a happy finale.

Garry Wills became enamored with Jefferson's University of Virginia campus when he was researching his fine book on the Declaration of Independence. As he returned to it periodically over the years, he became more and more impressed with it as "a reflection of Jefferson's entire personality, its naive flaws as well as its towering strengths." So when invited by National Geographic for a contribution to its Directions series, Wills chose Mr. Jefferson's University. His book does justice to his esteem for the place and for Thomas Jefferson.

The University of Virginia was extremely close to the heart of Jefferson. Per his strongly worded personal instructions, his tombstone lists three major accomplishments. It does NOT mention that he was a member of the Continental Congress, a governor of Virginia, the nation's first secretary of state, its second vice-president, or even its third president. Instead, as carved into the obelisk marking his gravesite at Monticello, it notes that Jefferson had authored the Declaration of American Independence and "the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom" and that he was the "Father of the University of Virginia".

MR. JEFFERSON'S UNIVERSITY demonstrates how valid that sobriquet is. Jefferson devoted much of the last decade of his life to the founding, design, and establishment of the school - during one stretch, superintending its actual construction by telescope from his hilltop perch at Monticello. He made his most tangible mark on the school as the architect of the central campus (or "academical village"), consisting of the Rotunda, ten "pavilions" housing professors' quarters and classrooms, flanking a great central lawn and connected by a row of student quarters, behind which are gardens and two more rows of housing. Mr. Jefferson's campus - together with Monticello, his home - was one of eighteen "world treasures" within the United States as identified by the World Heritage Convention in 2001.

A substantial portion of the book is devoted to the architecture of the campus, including the marriage between structure and terrain. (Wills's discussion of various architectural details may be somewhat too much for many.) Wills also discusses the ways in which Jefferson influenced the very concept and ethos of the University of Virginia. For example, it was at his insistence - over fervent and even strident public opposition - that not one of the original seventeen buildings was a chapel and that no provision was made for a chaplain or a professor of divinity.

In addition to the University, the book also contains a fair amount of information about its Father. It illustrates that Jefferson, of all the U.S. presidents, was the closest to being a "Renaissance man" in the classical sense. Or, as Wills puts it, "Jefferson is the only president * * * who was also a great artist." The book also contains evidence of not just Jefferson's acceptance of slavery, but his advocacy for the institution - the aspect of his persona that, two centuries later, has become inexplicable, and, for many, unforgivable.

I was aware of the touching coincidence whereby Jefferson and John Adams died July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. (Adams, knowing he was on his deathbed, said something to the effect that at least Thomas Jefferson survives - but Jefferson had already died, a few hours earlier.) I did not previously know the following story: As Jefferson's life ebbed, he called up from the infant University Robley Dunglison, who had been recruited from England to be the school's first professor of anatomy and medicine. Dunglison arrived on July 2. On July 3, Jefferson fell into a stupor. He stirred to consciousness about 7:00 p.m. and, realizing that Dunglison was present, asked "Is it the Fourth?" Dunglison wrote that those were the last words he heard Jefferson utter. He reassured Jefferson, "It soon will be."

For students of architecture, the University of Virginia, or Thomas Jefferson, this short book is nigh essential.

In this short book, historian Garry Wills describes the vision, design, development, and legacy that Thomas Jefferson created with the University of Virginia. First, I admit that I am somewhat biased about UVA since I had the chance to attend Mr. Jefferson's university as both an undergraduate and graduate student. Having said that, it actually helps if you have spent sometime in Charlottesville strolling the grounds before you read this book. Otherwise, the reader may find it difficult gaining a true picture of the architectural design and layout of Jefferson's academical village.

This book is a nice tribute to Jefferson's hard work and determination in creating a world-class university. Of course all of his political savvy was necessary to see his vision to fulfillment. Simply put, UVA was a monumental project to complete.

Two complaints I have about the book center more around the design than the actual content. First - more pictures would be better in a book of this type. Second, why make a book that includes so much discussion about architecture so small. If anything this book should be an oversized coffee table style book in order to give the reader (especially those who have not seen UVA) a better "look" at UVA.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in UVA, and the history of how the school was started. If you are an alumnus you will surely enjoy this book, and it doesn't take long to read through it. Of course, you will want to return to Charlottesville for a stroll down the lawn after finishing this book, so plan accordingly. Wahoowa.

Garry Wills has a reputation as a worthy historian who has an ability to write in a very succinct and pithy style. This book maintains and promotes that reputation further.

As a Virginia resident who has studied and read a great deal by Jefferson and about Jefferson, I have been aware of his founding role in the establishment of the University of Virginia but I did not fully appreciate the remarkable energy and creativity he brought to the task at a time when most men are retired and in their dotage. Jefferson accomplished as a septa/octogenarian one of his most prized accomplishments.

The book itself moves very straightforwardly through a detailed architectural study of the school's original buildings and then ties a narrative in to explain how it was accomplished while also giving a great deal of anecdotal history. Of particular interest to this reviewer was the personal stories of the original professors and the stories of the early student body and how well Jefferson's prescribed social order worked initially (not very well.)

The strength of the books brevity is also it's weakness however. The launching of the books detail in architectural detail is more information than the typical historical reader is going to be equipped to digest unless they are already intimately familiar with the school itself. This is something Wills almost seems to assume. The following narratives more than make up for this deficiency in my opinion but sadly, I suspect, many will have given up before reaching that element. That initial section on architecture may be safely scanned for the reader not as interested in such minute stylistic detail.

An enjoyable read once that initial speed bump is overcome.

A worthwhile read for anyone interested in the University or Jefferson.

Bart Breen

This is one of Garry Wills's best books -- an engaging, thoughtful, energetic study of how Thomas Jefferson set out to found the University of Virginia, and devoted himself to imagining his ideal "academical village" and realizing that ideal from layout to architectural design to choosing the faculty to drafting the curriculum to picking the textbooks, overcoming nearly every obstacle in his path. In this book, Wills sees Jefferson plain, and his portrait is admirably balanced between admiration for his virtues and rueful acknowledgment of his faults. My only complaints are that Wills uses his usual idiosyncratic way of citing sources, and that he puts in a bit too much detail on the University's architecture for anyone not well-versed in the subject. Otherwise I would have awarded this book five stars.

-- R. B. Bernstein, Adjunct Professor of Law, New York Law School

Thomas Jefferson spent the last decade of his long and remarkable life designing and building the University of Virginia. In this book Wills does not reach the profound insights found in his longer works on the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address, nor does he try to. Instead he describes the aging Jefferson's artistic vision and his determination to found a seat of higher learning -an academic village in central Virginia- to compete with Harvard and Princeton and the other northern schools. Jefferson was challenged, notes Wills, by religious disputes in Virginia, financial limitations from the state legislature, and petty jealousies among the state's small elite. Relying on guidance from various architects and planners, Jefferson laid out the grounds and designed the buildings while fighting continuous political battles over funding and staff.

This little book can be read in an afternoon, but it provides wonderful detail to the academic and architectural legacy of Thomas Jefferson. The only failing is the shortage of illustrations -photos and architectural sketches. If a dozen more photos of the site were included, it would be a perfect book for Jefferson fans.

Garry Wills ends this sparse history of Thomas Jefferson's effort to build the University of Virginia with Jefferson's own epitaph, which mentions his authorship of the Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom--along with being the "Father of the University of Virginia." I assume Mr. Wills meant this as a flourish: to show that despite his status as a founding father, emissary to France, geographical steward of most of the continental United States (via the Louisiana Purchase) during his watch as third president, and dozens of other accomplishments, Jefferson counted what Wills describes in this book among his proudest feats. This emphasis struck me as odd since Wills hardly describes Jefferson's overall effort as heroic--and often highlights unsavory personal details to drive this point home.

Wills explains the brilliance of Jefferson's designs well enough, though his Prologue ("Jefferson as Artist") remains frustratingly general. This is no great demerit; greater technical detail would arguably hamper his story and the sweeping descriptions of this "academical village" made me want to visit it as soon as I can. Though he falls short of saying so explicitly, Wills clearly implies one has to *see* Jefferson's work to fully appreciate his genius.

While keeping architectural details limited, Wills more than compensates describing the nearly insurmountable personal and political obstacles in getting the fledgling university built and staffed. I certainly came away recognizing the wonder that anything gets built is not a modern phenomenon; even Jefferson--whose reputation was almost beyond reproach--found himself in endless skirmishes to find funding, lobby reluctant congressmen, find supplies, recruit professors, and fend off competition from the few existing schools. And here the founding father halo certainly disappears; Wills shows Jefferson manipulating friends, swapping favors, bad-mouthing, back-stabbing, and doing whatever was necessary to realize his obsession. ("Jefferson did not flinch as sacrificing a friend's peace and content, and possibly his life, if it stood in the way of completing his great work.")

Wills' emphasis on Jefferson's personal life buttresses his obvious belief in what might be termed "the genius syndrome": that a visionary artist must be tormented by some very ugly personal demons and his obsessive drive brings them out in full flower. The author peppers his story with details of Jefferson's bank account, medical condition, societal clueless-ness, and unswerving devotion to "the Southern way of life." Though some of these personal details might be arguably relevant to work with the new university (in a very new country), I failed to see how, for example, a prostate condition was applicable.

Mr. Wills is a distinguished historian--and his style here is nothing if not elegant--but I ultimately found his book lacking in purpose. Is his intent to honor Jefferson's Herculean effort--warts and all? To put the greatness of the university's design in historical context? To show the improbability of getting the school built--especially at that time--at all? 'Mr. Jefferson's University' seems strangely disinterested in any one of these questions in detail and is far too short to cover all of them. To be fair Wills makes passing attempts at some of these themes but none are developed to any reasonable degree.

So Wills ends his story with a broke, deaf, deluded old man and his pride at having brought a university to his beloved Virginia. But of what was Jefferson proud? We never get a straight answer. Other men lobbied the politicians, hired the workers and recruited the professors; Benjamin Latrobe ("the best architect on the continent") even made non-trivial contributions to the design. Perhaps we're to draw our own conclusions from the detailed brilliance of Jefferson's architectural work--for providing enough of that the book is somewhat redeemed--and from the resulting testament that still proudly stands in Charlottesville.