#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer Jon Meacham “a big grand absorbing exploration of not just Jefferson and his role in history but also Jefferson the man humanized as never before” (Entertainment Weekly) “Probably the best single-volume biography of Jefferson ever written.”—Gordon S. Wood A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review The Washington Post Entertainment Weekly The Seattle Times St. Louis Post-Dispatch BookPage This magnificent biography brings vividly to life an extraordinary man and his remarkable times giving us Thomas Jefferson the man the politician and the president. A Founder whose understanding of power and of human nature enabled him to move men and marshal ideas to learn from his mistakes and to prevail Jefferson was passionate about many things—women his family science architecture gardening Monticello Paris and more. He strove despite fierce opposition to realize his vision: the creation survival and success of popular government in America. Drawing on archives in the United States England and France as well as unpublished transcripts of Jefferson presidential papers Jon Meacham shows us the personal Jefferson a man of appetite sensuality and passion. He also presents Jefferson as the most successful political leader of the early republic and perhaps in all American history a leader who found the means to endure and to win. His story resonates today not least because he led his nation through ferocious partisanship amid economic change and external threats. Jefferson also embodies an eternal drama the struggle of the leadership of a nation to achieve greatness in a difficult and confounding world.
