In Pursuit of Reason; The Life of Thomas Jefferson

Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1987. First Printing [Stated]. Hard Cover. Very good/Very good. xvi, [2], 414 pages. Ink notation on fep. Minor pencil underlining noted. Preface and Acknowledgments, Notes, Bibliographical Note, and Index. Includes chapters on The Formative Years; Public Life and Private World; The Road to Revolution; At Philadelphia; Virginia Reformer; Wartime Governor of Virginia; Withdrawal, Sorrow, and Return; The Scene of Europe; Romantic Interlude and New Adventures; Witness to Revolution in France; First Months at the State Department; Conflict in Washington's Cabinet; A Trying Year; Renewal at Monticello; Vice President; The Election of 1800; A President in Command; Presidential Zenith; Trials of a Second Term; Closing a Political Career; The Sage of Monticello; and A Final Legacy. Contains Illustrations: Bust of Jefferson by Houdon; First page of draft of the Declaration of Independence; The Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull; Miniature of Jefferson by John Trumbull; Martha Jefferson; Maria Cosway; Jefferson as secretary of state; Jefferson on the eve of his presidency; Engraving of Jefferson by David Edwin, 1800; Engraving of Jefferson by Cornelius Tiebout; Model of the Virginia state capitol; Monticello. Also contains illustrations following page 300, including Invitation to dinner at the President's House; Title page and frontispiece of Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia; Profile of Jefferson by Saint-Memin; Jefferson as president; Jefferson's drawings for the Rotunda of the University of Virginia; Jefferson's study for Pavilion VII, University of Virginia; The University of Virginia; Jefferson's design and inscription for his tombstone; Jefferson at age 78. This is one of the Southern Biography series. Noble Cunningham was the author and historical editor of more than a dozen books about Jefferson, including The Inaugural Addresses of President Thomas Jefferson, 1801 and 1805. A professor of history at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Cunningham was an adviser for the Library of Congress's major Bicentennial exhibition, "Thomas Jefferson." He was one of the foremost scholars of the life and thought of Thomas Jefferson. Noble E. Cunningham, Jr. served with the U.S. Army, 1944-1946, and received a B.A. from the University of Louisville in 1948. He earned his M.A. (1949) and Ph.D., with honors, from Duke University (1952). He taught at Wake Forest College and the University of Richmond before joining the history department of the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1964. There he served as associate professor, full professor, the Byler Distinguished Professor (1980-1981), the Frederick A. Middlebush Professor (1986-1988), and the Curators' Professor of History (1988-1997). In 1997 he became Curators' Professor of History Emeritus. The authoritative single-volume biography of Thomas Jefferson, perhaps the most significant figure in American history. He was a complex and compelling man: a fervent advocate of democracy who enjoyed the life of a southern aristocrat and owned slaves, a revolutionary who became president, a believer in states' rights who did much to further the power of the federal government. Drawing on the recent explosion of Jeffersonian scholarship and fresh readings of original sources, IN PURSUIT OF REASON is a monument to Jefferson that will endure for generations.