Rating: 
Summary: A Great Work of Scholarship Flawed by Hero-worship
Review: Dumas Malone's massive biography of Thomas Jefferson remains one of the landmark biographies ever written. As a work of scholarship, it is truely fantastic. Anyone interested in a serious study of Jefferson's life and career has to start here, with Malone. Unfortunatly, the books (6 volumes in all) are diminished by Malone's unvarnished hero worship for his subject. Jefferson cannot fart without Malone apologizing for him and attempting to shift the blame to someone else. (Usually Hamilton) Still, the research and literary merit of this biography is so outstanding, it should not put you off.
Rating: 
Summary: Essential book on Jefferson
Review: I enjoyed this book a lot. I agree with the reviewer that said it was one-sided, but I've never read a Jefferson book that wasn't. (Read Joseph Ellis' American Sphinx to get a more critical view). It reads like a narrative, perhaps the only way to understand Jefferson's complex world. One shortcoming of this style is that it doesn't provide analysis, which I usually appreciate. A lot of it is "just the facts." But it is a great portrait of Jefferson as he emerges onto the national scene.
Rating:
Summary: Jefferson: The Virginian
Review: Jefferson: The Virginian by Dumas Malone is a masterful work on Thomas Jefferson's early years, from birth to being appointed as an ambassador to France.This work is one of the first comprehensive biographies of Jefferson's life. This is the first of six in the complete set. Malone is a distinguished historian so you will read about Jefferson's ancestry, along with Jefferson's youth, education, legal career, his marriage, the construction of Monticello. Not that was enough for one man's life, but we see the writing of the Declaration of Independence and Jefferson's work on the "Notes on Virginia." We get an insight as to how Jefferson conducted his highly successful legislative career and his governorship. But what we do NOT see is the soul of Jefferson... the man, the human being. We get facts and more facts about a very complex individual and a monumental man. But the richness of the breath of life is left out. Nonetheless, the book is a very scholarly work, one of the first to complete a comphensive work on a mulitfarious man. I enjoyed reading this volume for its historical importance and significance. This volume lays the ground work on which all of the other volumes set. This work being well documented is a good start into reading about the life and times of Thomas Jefferson. One fact the comes through loud and clear... Jefferson is a Virginian foremost and always... there is no mistaking that fact.
Rating:
Summary: Magisterial
Review: Malone's biography of Jefferson is one of the greatest works of historical scholarship ever written. It is an absolute must for every serious student of Jefffeson or the times he lived in. At times Malone's personal preferences and opinions creep into the narrative. This can be seen most clearly during his discussion of Jefferson's draft of the Kentucky Resolutions. Due to his clear Unionist slant, it seems almost as if he is apologizing for Jefferson's ardent state's rights sentiments. Nevertheless, every important issue and event in Jefferson's long life is dealth with ably and with ample documentation, leaving the reader to decide what he or she feels. It is amazing that one man devoted the last four decades of his life to writing this work. All I can say is that it was a noble enterprise, and that the world is in his debt.
Rating:
Summary: At the Threshold of Greatness
Review: Malone, once called "the greatest Jeffersonian of them all", originally conceived this biography in four volumes. By the time he published the last book in 1982, at age 89, it had grown to six volumes. It remains the standard life of Jefferson, an indelible and important portrait of a great man, flaws and all, by a great scholar. JEFFERSON THE VIRGINIAN begins things with Jefferson's birth into a family of much distinction. His father Peter was a noted surveyor and a man of inordinate physical strength who nevertheless died fairly young (in his fifties). The book covers Jefferon's education at William and Mary (at a time when formal education was not a widespread thing, even among the gentry), his law practice, his beginning the construction of Monticello (which would preoccupy him right up until the time of his death), his terms in the Virginia House of Burgesses (one of which was served after his governorship), his writing of the Declaration of Independence (his initial version, a scathing indictment of King George, had to be toned down by his compatriots), and his controversial governorship (in which he sustained much of the blame for the British army's inroads into the Old Dominion state). It ends with his appointment as an American ambassador to France. Obviously this is no primer on Jefferson. Malone spares no detail. His prose is fastidious, elegant, and easy to read, although you may find yourself putting the book down from time to time to absorb what you have just read. Overall, Jefferson emerges here as a man naturally scholarly and reclusive, content to build his home, pursue his studies, and tend to his family, who is pushed into action by the obligations of his caste and by his own fervent patriotism. Malone has been criticised for writing a virtual hagiography of Jefferson, ignoring the "darker" aspects of the man's personality. In other words, unlike Fawn Brodie, Malone did not reduce his subject to some psychological cripple and sex deviate. The charges are balderdash. Malone DOES recognize Jefferson's flaws (e.g., his lack of a sense of humor and his sometimes indecision in taking action). He simply refuses to turn Jefferson into a whipping boy for his own ideological preoccupations. This is as complete a contemporary biography as we will probably ever get of this great man.
Rating:
Summary: At the Threshold of Greatness
Review: Malone, once called "the greatest Jeffersonian of them all", originally conceived this biography in four volumes. By the time he published the last book in 1982, at age 89, it had grown to six volumes. It remains the standard life of Jefferson, an indelible and important portrait of a great man, flaws and all, by a great scholar. JEFFERSON THE VIRGINIAN begins things with Jefferson's birth into a family of much distinction. His father Peter was a noted surveyor and a man of inordinate physical strength who nevertheless died fairly young (in his fifties). The book covers Jefferon's education at William and Mary (at a time when formal education was not a widespread thing, even among the gentry), his law practice, his beginning the construction of Monticello (which would preoccupy him right up until the time of his death), his terms in the Virginia House of Burgesses (one of which was served after his governorship), his writing of the Declaration of Independence (his initial version, a scathing indictment of King George, had to be toned down by his compatriots), and his controversial governorship (in which he sustained much of the blame for the British army's inroads into the Old Dominion state). It ends with his appointment as an American ambassador to France. Obviously this is no primer on Jefferson. Malone spares no detail. His prose is fastidious, elegant, and easy to read, although you may find yourself putting the book down from time to time to absorb what you have just read. Overall, Jefferson emerges here as a man naturally scholarly and reclusive, content to build his home, pursue his studies, and tend to his family, who is pushed into action by the obligations of his caste and by his own fervent patriotism. Malone has been criticised for writing a virtual hagiography of Jefferson, ignoring the "darker" aspects of the man's personality. In other words, unlike Fawn Brodie, Malone did not reduce his subject to some psychological cripple and sex deviate. The charges are balderdash. Malone DOES recognize Jefferson's flaws (e.g., his lack of a sense of humor and his sometimes indecision in taking action). He simply refuses to turn Jefferson into a whipping boy for his own ideological preoccupations. This is as complete a contemporary biography as we will probably ever get of this great man.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, if one sided.
Review: Mr. Malone's description of Mr. Jefferson is detailed and encompassing. It is well organized and brings the reader in touch with this American Icon and his times. The only failing of this work and its subsequent volumes is that we really only see the best of Mr. Jefferson. His failures, faults and weakeness are dealt with as if they were unimportant or at least only a minor footnote in development of this man. Only in his last volume does Mr. Malone start to deal with the more complex parts of Mr. Jefferson's life. Regardless of this shortcoming this work should be required reading by all students of American History.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievably Comprehensive and Still Incomplete
Review: The dedication of one man (Malone) to the life of another (Jefferson) speaks volumes (at least 6, to be precise) as to the character of both men. This collection is a thoroughly crafted summary of an astonishing and complex man. While it fails (by not attempting) to shed light on the enigma of Jefferson's soul, it thoroughly illuminates Jefferson's path from cradle to grave. While arguably hagiographic, its completeness provides the reason why this should be the stepping-off point of any aspiring Jefferson scholar. I am not sure which amazes me more: That one man can write over 3000 pages on another and only scratch the surface of the other's existence or that one man can write over 3000 pages on another.
Rating:
Summary: An insightful look at Thomas Jefferson, the Virginian...
Review: This wonderful piece of biographical scholarship, profiles the life of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was one of America's most prolific statesmen and a talented jack-of-all-trades... an architect, naturalist, jurist, political theorist and a Virginian. This book offers an insightful profile of the developments shaping Thomas Jefferson's character and Old Whig political ideas. Dumas follows Jefferson from his youth in Albemarle County to his collegiate legal studies under the his mentor, George Wythe. It intuitively chronciles Jefferson's career just following the Constitutional Convention. I also recommend The Constitutional Thought of Thomas Jefferson by David Meyer and Mr. Jefferson by Albert Jay Nock.
Rating:
Summary: Important but flawed
Review: Though his review has not been well-received, reviewer Douglas McIntyre has it about right. All those who wish to study Jefferson ought to begin with Malone yet this book compares to Parson Weems' bio of George Washington or Arthur Schlesinger's assessments of FDR and JFK as hagiography. Malone's research on his subject is exhaustive yet limited and, to a degree, abstract. Malone does not paint a vivid portrait of the society in which Jefferson lived. The reader does not get a good grasp on how it was to live in late-Colonial Virginia, a land on the cusp of revolution. In comparison, William Manchester's portrait of late-Victorian England in his massive biography of Winston Churchill is brilliantly done and is of unmeasurable assistance in understanding Churchill. Malone's writing style is a bit stilted as well.
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