A fascinating look inside the mind of an American Renaissance man

Statesman. Diplomat. Politician. Scholar. Inventor. Architect. President. Few men exemplify the Enlightenment ideal more than Thomas Jefferson. In this comprehensive collection of quotations from Thomas Jefferson's letters, official communications, and other writings, the dynamic personality and insatiable curiosity of this brilliant man jump off the page and draw us into the young country he so greatly influenced. Whether writing about the right to freedom or the future of Native Americans, the westward expansion or the political climate in France, his personal impressions of historical luminaries or his architectural preferences, his financial troubles or his feelings about religious freedom, Jefferson's convictions are brilliantly explained and often ahead of their time. With seventeen chapters arranged chronologically to highlight the evolution of his thought, as well as a timeline and a cross-section of his finest works, The Wisdom of Thomas Jefferson paints a detailed and revealing portrait of this great man.