Jefferson the Virginian

Rating:
Summary: A Labor of Love
Review: What would inspire (possess?) a man to devote his entire career to the study and interpretation of another man? Love. Malone loves his subject and this feeling adds beauty, grace and vitality to his prose. One struggles, however, to locate a single critical world in these six volumes. The result is a work that ultimately tells us as much or more about Malone as Jefferson. What's even a greater pity is that this hagiography dulls the analytical skills necessary to respond to legitimate criticisms of Jefferson: comparing his actions to his words on slavery, his romanticizing violence, his disdain for building a navy that could have protected the new republic in the War of 1812. If you take the time to read these six volumes you owe it to yourself to read Conor Cruise O'Brien's "Long Affair," a take-no-prisoners polemic that levels all the criticisms that Malone avoids.