Thomas Jefferson: Passionate Pilgrim (The Presidency, the Founding of the University, and the Private Battle) [Unabridged] [Hardcover]

Alf J. Mapp Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1991

A featured alternate Book-of-the-Month club selection.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Mapp?? ( Thomas Jefferson: A Case of Mistaken Identity ) has written a fresh interpretation of the third president's two terms in the White House and his productive post-presidential years from 1809 to his death in 1826. No previous biography matches this one in depicting Jefferson's far-ranging and insatiable intellect, his sense of humor or the spiritual dimension of his thought. In a letter quoted here, Jefferson refers to himself as "a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus" and denounces the "demoralizing doctrines of Calvin." Mapp allows that many people are disturbed by Jefferson's dual role as slave-owner and opponent of the institution. Here he gives full airing to Jefferson's views on the "hideous evil" of slavery, making the point that we should not fault him for being no more enlightened on that issue than was the Great Emancipator two generations later. Finally, MappMapp or Mapps? provides a moving account of how Jefferson, plagued by financial woes and ill health, realizes a dream of half a century by foundingfounding? the University of Virginia in 1825 and serving as its rector. Illustrations. BOMC and History Book Club alternates.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

With the hundreds of books published about the third U.S. president, there is still no short, popular biography of Jefferson that reflects the literary and scholarly achievement of Dumas Malone's multivolume work. Mapp's effort to fill this gap is laudatory. But the book is too long by a third, the result of overlong and repetitive quotations; the writing is choppy, with some topics raised but left unconnected to the argument; and the tone is heavily celebrationist. The volume begins where the author's first ( Thomas Jefferson: A Strange Case of Mistaken Identity , 1989) left off, treating the very familiar ground of Jefferson's presidency unexceptionally. The second half of the book is better told and deals with Jefferson's battle to establish a system of public education in Virginia. The "passionate pilgrim in search of truth and liberty" was partially successful; it was through Jefferson's efforts that the University of Virginia was founded. This book will find a general readership, but scholars will find little that is new.
- David B. Mattern, Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 445 pages
• Publisher: Madison Books; 1st edition (January 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081918053X
• ISBN-13: 978-0819180537
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #756,105 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thomas Jefferson: Pasionate Pilgram, January 1, 2002

By 

Joe Zika "Khemprof" (Cincinnati, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Thomas Jefferson: Passionate Pilgrim (Paperback)

This book is the second of two of a series written by Alf Mapp involving Thomas Jefferson, now older and it starts with Jefferson's Presidency through his death. From 1801 to 1826 the United States was just beginning to form as a nation...grown to twice its size and the ensuing troubles with all factions wanting something...how was Jefferson to choose?

Meriweather Lewis and William Clark reporting back about this expansionism of the Louisana Purchase and the marvels that it brought the country. Excellent writing about how these and other issues that plagued Jefferson. Abhorred or adored Jefferson was a dichotomy personified.

This book reveals to us better than others how Jefferson struggled to keep his ideas and ideals, his personal and public persona, his view of the United States and the World, for the betterment of mankind as a whole, in line with the events of the day.

Reading this book gave me an insight into a world of Jefferson and the interaction of some of the others as James Madison, James Monroe and John Marshall. As I read these...I wished I had a teacher who made reading U.S. History as alive as the author. It makes a difference to a subject such as this to keep ones interest...not disappointed here.

Capitvation and fasination as we read on about the troubling times of Jefferson in the last years of his life. How he founded the University of Virginia and fought his final battle with his health.

Alf J. Mapp, Jr. makes Jefferson alive and that makes history fun not to mention educational.

Enlightening, informative, and alive are good traits brought to us by the author that are hard to come by when reading history.
I recommed reading this book if you really want to get to know Jefferson from his Presidency to his death.

Read it and enjoy good writing.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of best Jefferson bios written, up there w/Malone, Peterson, etc., August 2, 2008

By 

Wookalia "Wookalia" (MN, US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thomas Jefferson: Passionate Pilgrim (Paperback)

I'd give this 4.5 stars, but I'm rounding up to 5 because Jefferson is a hard bio subject, if not one of the hardest, he nailed him, and my minor beefs are with writing style.

Two book series. Prefer single book, but better than Malone encyclopedia set, which is too long for average person to read.

The good: Mapp gets Jefferson right, a staggering achievement one can only appreciate if you've read Jefferson's writings AND the appalling number of books that get him wrong. He isn't nearly as paradoxical (though still very much so) as historians like to pretend, and Mapp shows why, using logic that you would think other historians would have embraced. I think Mapp stepped out of a box filled with academics that overcomplicate things unintentionally, and just applied some good old fashioned horse sense & human nature to understanding TJ. The result is conclusions that you read and say, it makes sense, and seems obvious--why aren't most other historians coming to similar conclusions. The answer, bias, is enunciated below. Mapp isn't a documented liar, like Ellis, doesn't appear to have an agenda or predisposition, either to kick the Jefferson pedestal over or make excuses for obvious hypocrisies, like most historians. No obvious liberal bias(big government had to happen Jefferson a Utopian idealist), or anti-slavery bias (he owned slaves so everything else good he stood for must be denigrated), or libertarian bias (he stood for individual freedom, so every failing must be masked or obfuscated). As obvious as this sounds, it is rare to read books that aren't axe grinding these days. Jefferson takes his lumps where he deserves them, but still emerges as great, in ways that are highly relevant today.

The bad: Too longwinded, some big words (no problem here, but others complained), often times uses too many metaphors and flowery phrases instead of writing in direct style. But at least he doesn't use the same 4-6 pet words every third page like Ellis. Long-winded is all relative in history & non-fiction, this is still readable, but some serious editing that reduced length 10% or so would have allowed all the points in a much more readable book. Another part of me wishes he had pruned down to a modest single book, hitting only most fundamental points, but Jefferson did too much to write a small, single book w/out omitting and writing something not comprehensive enough.

Not sure which Jefferson series is the greatest, but this deserves a hallowed place with Malone, Peterson, etc. I think this will age well, as it updates scholarship not present in older Malone & Peterson books, but has avoided the Jefferson bashing. Jefferson bashing is trendy now, but will seem extreme over time when the pendulum has returned back to center, and this will ultimately diminish many works now thought of highly.

It is a shame lesser books by bigger names crowd the market, leaving less room for a book like this that should be a household fixture.