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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A non-pc biography,
By Pastorjeffcma (North Carolina, US) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mr. Jefferson (Paperback)
Mr. Jefferson Even though I enjoyed the book greatly and would recommend it highly especially for the newcomer to a biography of Jefferson the reason I chose to read the book in the first place came through the following interchange. I was in the bookstore in Colonial Williamsburg and inquired of one of the staff if they had a biography of Jefferson that was not full of the current popular revisionist drivel. "Yes we do," he responded enthusiastically and pointed me to this volume by Albert Nock. Enough said.
16 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant but Flawed,
By eunomius (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mr. Jefferson (Paperback)
Albert J. Nock has long been known by those familiar with his work as a shrewd commentator who is always eager to "tell it as it is." When his premises are correct, this can be refreshing, to say the least. However, when he misses the mark, the results can be embarassing. This work, much like his infamous "Our Enemy the State," is a great testament to this.However, to begin with, there is much of great worth and interest in this volume. Nock, as one scholar has observed, was a supremely literate man, and his great learning and intelligence is clearly evident throughout this work. Unlike many other authors, Nock reflects a deep, thorough knowledge of Jefferson's life and writings. Furthermore, few modern authors can equal Nock's beautiful prose style. Thus, when one reads of Jefferson's opinion on architechure, art, philosophy, or agriculture, we have some of the most delightful passages in all of the Jefferson literature. Unfortunately, a large portion of the work is consumed by Nock's grossly inaccurate analysis of the political environment of the early republic. Economic determinism in the tradition of Charles A. Beard and Henry George is the gist of what you find, and all of their fallacies and flaws are given full exercise. Indeed, as one Jefferson scholar has remarked, this work reveals a "uncritical" use of the Beard thesis. Thus, Jefferson is portrayed, not as an advocate of natural rights or anything of the sort, but as the supporter of the interests of the producing class against those of the exploiting class. As one would expect, the Constitution is portrayed simply as a tool for economic exploitation, and much ink is spilled documenting the evils of Hamilton, the Federalists, as well as "speculators." While all of this is not without a semblance of truth, his simplistic and often misleading exegesis is very dissapointing. Nevertheless, as I have said, the work still has great value, largely as a brilliant account of Jefferson's interests and character. Nock is fundamentally correct when he focuses on the fact that Jefferson's real views are very far from those of his comtemporaries, and even farther from those who claim his name for support in later days. Ultimately, I would only recommend this work to individuals who have already done a good deal of study in Jefferson's life and ideas, for only these individuals will be able to see the true worth of this study despite its many flaws.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mr Jefferson,
By
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This review is from: Mr. Jefferson (Paperback)
Nock sums up Jefferson's character: "A dominant sense of form and order, a commanding instinct for measure, harmony and balance, unfailingly maintained for fourscore years toward the primary facts of human life--towards discipline and training, towards love, parenthood, domesticity, art, science, religion, friendship, business, social and communal relations."
"No harm is done if we read his Jefferson as a biography and his Rabelais studies as travel books and compare them with other biographies and studies. But it is harm done to ourselves not to discover in those works an ideal of the complete man and of the moral life. Must we always be moved only by unreadable books in treatise form, which profess to "tell all" with the aid of quotations and references -- that is, others' thoughts pickled in disinfectant scholarship?" Jacques Barzun Who can add to Dr Barzun? Enjoy Albert Jay Nock.
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