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Jean Jaurès: The Inner Life of Social Democracy
by Geoffrey KurtzJean Jaurès was a towering intellectual and political leader of the democratic Left at the turn of the twentieth century, but he is little remembered today outside of France, and his contributions to political thought are little studied anywhere. In Jean Jaurès: The Inner Life of Social Democracy, Geoffrey Kurtz introduces Jaurès to an American audience. The parliamentary and philosophical leader of French socialism from the 1890s until his assassination in 1914, Jaurès was the only major socialist leader of his generation who was educated as a political philosopher. As he championed the reformist method that would come to be called social democracy, he sought to understand the inner life of a political tradition that accepts its own imperfection. Jaurès's call to sustain the tension between the ideal and the real resonates today.In addition to recovering the questions asked by the first generation of social democrats, Kurtz’s aim in this book is to reconstruct Jaurès’s political thought in light of current theoretical and political debates. To achieve this, he gives readings of several of Jaurès’s major writings and speeches, spanning work from his early adulthood to the final years of his life, paying attention to not just what Jaurès is saying, but how he says it.
Jean, Lady Hamilton, 1861–1941: Diaries of A Soldier's Wife
by Celia Lee“A pleasure to read. It’s predominantly about the life of Jean Hamilton’s husband Ian as an officer during the Great War and life for both before and after.” —UK HistorianJean, Lady Hamilton’s diaries remained forgotten and hidden in the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King’s College, London, for fifty years. The story begins with the young couples’ wedding, a dazzling bride, Jean Muir, marrying a star-struck Major Ian Hamilton. The daughter of the millionaire businessman Sir John Muir, Jean had all the money whilst Hamilton was penniless.Having spent their early married years in India, the Hamiltons returned and set up house in the prestigious Hyde Park area of London, also eventually buying Lullenden Manor, East Grinstead, that they purchased as a country home from Winston Churchill when he could no longer afford it. Churchill in particular was like family in the Hamiltons’ home; he used to go there and practice his speeches, and painted alongside Jean to whom he sold his first painting.Jean chronicled Ian’s long army career that culminated in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915. The failure there ended her husband’s distinguished career and almost ended Churchill’s as he had to leave his job as First Lord of the Admiralty. This account is Lady Hamilton’s “attempt to chronicle her husband’s life as a top-flight but penniless soldier, this at a time when young Winston Churchill . . . was emerging from his own distinguished and very colourful military career to enter a life of politics . . . Jean Hamilton is one of those larger than life people of whom we know very little until a book such as Celia’s comes along” (Books Monthly).
Jean-Luc Godard’s Political Filmmaking
by Irmgard EmmelhainzThis book offers an examination of the political dimensions of a number of Jean-Luc Godard’s films from the 1960s to the present. The author seeks to dispel the myth that Godard’s work abandoned political questions after the 1970s and was limited to merely formal ones. The book includes a discussion of militant filmmaking and Godard’s little-known films from the Dziga Vertov Group period, which were made in collaboration with Jean-Pierre Gorin. The chapters present a thorough account of Godard’s investigations on the issue of aesthetic-political representation, including his controversial juxtaposition of the Shoah and the Nakba. Emmelhainz argues that the French director’s oeuvre highlights contradictions between aesthetics and politics in a quest for a dialectical image. By positing all of Godard’s work as experiments in dialectical materialist filmmaking, from Le Petit soldat (1963) to Adieu au langage (2014), the author brings attention to Godard’s ongoing inquiry on the role filmmakers can have in progressive political engagement.
Jean-Luc Nancy among the Philosophers (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy)
by Georges Van Den Abbeele Emily Apter Rodolphe Gasché Werner Hamacher Irving Goh Eleanor Kaufman Ian Alexander Moore Marie-Eve Morin Timothy Murray Jean-Luc Nancy John H. SmithThis volume focuses on the relational aspect of Jean-Luc Nancy’s thinking. As Nancy himself showed, thinking might be a solitary activity but it is never singular in its dimension. Building on or breaking away from other thoughts, especially those by thinkers who had come before, thinking is always plural, relational. This “singular plural” dimension of thought in Nancy’s philosophical writings demands explication.In this book, some of today’s leading scholars in the theoretical humanities shed light on how Nancy’s thought both shares with and departs from Descartes, Hegel, Marx, Heidegger, Weil, Lacan, Merleau-Ponty, and Lyotard, elucidating “the sharing of voices,” in Nancy’s phrase, between Nancy and these thinkers.Contributors: Georges Van Den Abbeele, Emily Apter, Rodolphe Gasché, Werner Hamacher, Eleanor Kaufman, Marie-Eve Morin, Timothy Murray, Jean-Luc Nancy, and John H. Smith
Jean Monnet and Canada
by Trygve UglandJean Monnet (1888-1979) is often viewed as the chief architect of the European Coal and Steel Community, which over time evolved into today's European Union. Monnet spent his early years working as an agent for his father, a cognac producer. It was this experience that took him to Scandinavia, England, the United States, and most importantly Canada, where he was exposed to the country's unique form of federalism.Drawing on a wide variety of empirical sources, including unpublished documents, correspondence, and original historical data extracted from archives both in Canada and Europe, Trygve Ugland's Jean Monnet and Canada argues that the extensive period of time Monnet spent in Canada between 1907 and 1914 had a formative influence on the achievements of his later years, particularly on the institutional 'construction of Europe.'
Jean Paton and the Struggle to Reform American Adoption
by E. Wayne CarpJean Paton (1908-2002) fought tirelessly to reform American adoption and to overcome prejudice against adult adoptees and women who give birth out of wedlock. Paton wrote widely and passionately about the adoption experience, corresponded with policymakers as well as individual adoptees, promoted the psychological well-being of adoptees, and facilitated reunions between adoptees and their birth parents. This masterful biography brings to light the accomplishments of this neglected civil-rights pioneer, who paved the way for the explosive emergence of the adoption reform movement in the 1970s. Her unflagging efforts over five decades helped reverse harmful policies, practices, and laws concerning adoption and closed records, struggles that continue to this day.
Jeannette Rankin: Bright Star in the Big Sky
by Mary Barmeyer O'BrienThis book chronicles the extraordinary life of Jeanette Rankin. The first woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress, Jeannette represented Montana for two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. She was a leading advocate for both woman suffrage and world peace and was instrumented in securing the right for Montana women to vote. As the sole female member of the U.S. Congress in 1919, Jeanette was the only woman who voted to give all women in the United States the right to vote. After readers witness the vote that made Ms. Rankin most famous-her lone vote against U.S. entry into World War II-they turn to her youngest years in Missoula, Montana. The book continues to follow Jeannette's life from beginning to end, exposing her many courageous and remarkable accomplishments. Jeannette once said: "Wouldn't it be too bad if we left this world and hadn't done all we could for peace?" She herself had nothing to regret. Readers will be inspired by this magnificent portrait of her life.
Jeb and the Bush Crime Family: The Inside Story of an American Dynasty
by Roger Stone Saint John Hunt John LeboutillierJeb and the Bush Crime Family is the book that smashes through the layers of lies and secrecy that has surrounded and protected our country's very own political dynasty. New York Times bestselling author and legendary political insider, Roger Stone lashes out with a blistering indictment that exposes the true history and monumental hypocrisy of the Bushes. In his usual "go for the jugular" style, Stone collaborates with Saint John Hunt--author, musician, and son of legendary CIA operative E. Howard Hunt--to make this a "no-holds-barred" history of the Bush family. The authors reveal Jeb to be a smug, entitled autocrat who both uses and hides behind his famous name as he mingles with international drug peddlers. They show how Jeb: Received a $4 million taxpayer bailout when his daddy was Vice President Used his insider status to make millions from Obamacare Avoided criminal prosecution on a fraudulent Federal loan Hypocritically supports the War on Drugs, despite his own shocking drug history After detailing the vast litany of Jeb's misdeeds, Stone travels back to Samuel, Prescott, George H. W. , and George W. Bush to weave an epic story of privilege, greed, corruption, drug profiteering, assassination, and lies. Jeb and the Bush Crime Family will have you asking, "Why aren't these people in prison?"
Las jefas: Quiénes son, cómo llegaron y cómo viven las ejecutivas más poderosas de la Argen
by Laura Di MarcoQuiénes son, cómo llegaron y cómo viven las ejecutivas más poderosas dela Argentina. Este libro logra retratar el detrás de cámara de este nuevofenómeno contemporáneo: el del liderazgo femenino. Bucea en la vidapública y la intimidad emocional de doce altas ejecutivas que lideran enlos negocios y en los dos grandes diarios del país, Clarín y La Nación.Jefas que provienen de la clase media, que escalaron, sin padrinazgosmasculinos a la vista, hasta lo más alto de la estructura de suscompañías. Una jefatura que hoy ejercen sin doble comando.Pero, ¿no era que las mujeres ya habían llegado a todos lados? Lasestadísticas indican que esta creencia extendida es apenas un mito. Delas mil empresas destacadas en la economía de negocios de la Argentina,las presidentas corporativas -o las CEO- no llegan ni al uno por ciento.Entonces, y con más razón: ¿cómo lo lograron estas mujeres?«Se trata de una operación periodística mayor. La investigación de LauraDi Marco es tan minuciosa que no solo registra este fenómeno sino que lodisecciona. Nunca antes se había metido tan a fondo el escalpelo, ni sehabían visto tan de cerca a estos tiburones blancos».Jorge Fernández Díaz
Jefas y jefes: Las crisis políticas que forjaron a la Ciudad de México
by Alejandro Almazán¿Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas vetó a Porfirio Muñoz Ledo para ser candidato a la jefatura de Gobierno? ¿AMLO tenía la residencia capitalina? ¿Qué estaba haciendo Marcelo Ebrard cuando lincharon a los policías en Tláhuac? ¿Claudia Sheinbaum es feminista? ¿Miguel Ángel Mancera quiso destruir a Ebrard? ¿Quiénes son los responsables del desplome de la Línea 12? ¿Qué provocó la tragedia del New’s Divine? ¿Por qué se distanciaron Rosario y AMLO? ¿Dónde surgió la mafia del poder? Durante los más de 25 años desde que se instauró la jefatura de Gobierno de lo que todavía se llamaba Distrito Federal han pasado distintas jefas y jefes por ahí. Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, Rosario Robles, Andres Manuel López Obrador, Alejandro Encinas, Marcelo Ebrard, Miguel Ángel Mancera y Claudia Sheinbaum distan mucho entre sí, tanto en el discurso como en las formas. Pero hay algo en lo que coinciden: las crisis políticas. A través de una amplia investigación hemerográfica, así como una buena cantidad de entrevistas con personajes clave dentro y fuera de los gobiernos capitalinos, Alejandro Almazán -tres veces ganador del Premio Nacional de Periodismo- hace un recuento a lo largo de las administraciones de las principales crisis políticas -las más mediáticas y algunas desconocidas- que han marcado el rumbo de la ciudad desde 1997. Jefas y jefes es un ejercicio monumental de memoria histórica, la crónica política de la Ciudad de México que nos permitirá entender cómo fue que llegaron al poder los que hoy gobiernan y recordar, de paso, los abusos de la clase política. « Jefas y jefes, brillantemente reporteado y escrito, nos da la verdadera historia de cómo ha sido gobernada la Ciudad de México. Al fin entiendo dónde vivo, la gloria y la desgracia.» -Francisco Goldman, finalista del premio Pulitzer de ficción 2022
Jefazo: Retrato íntimo de Evo Morales
by Martín SivakReedición de la mejor biografía del más sorprendente de los presidenteslatinoamericanos, desde su infancia, sus primeros pasos como dirigentesindical cocalero, hasta sus años como presidente y el modo en que elpoder fue reforzando su carácter y moldeando sus ideas. Aprovechando una relación de más de 10 años con el presidente deBolivia, el autor y periodista que tiene ya otros dos libros sobreBolivia en su haber, logra narrar la vida y la gestión de Evo desdeadentro, contando con su propio testimonio más invalorables fuentes muycercanas a él. Algunas de las preguntas que responde este libro son:¿cómo un pastor de llamas aymará abandona el altiplano para acompañar asu familia en el trópico de Cochabamba y en pocos años se convierte enel líder del poderoso movimiento cocalero? ¿cómo un buscavidas sininstrucción llega a la presidencia con un récord de votos y después seconvierte en nuevo ícono internacional por su condición de indígenaradical? ¿Cómo este hombre, hermano de cuatro niños que murieron porenfermedades curables, ha pasado a integrar, según el gobierno de losEEUU, el nuevo «eje del mal» junto a Fidel Castro y a Hugo Chávez?El libro cuenta un personaje complejo de un país complejo sin ningunaidealización de Morales. Incluye todos sus costados vulnerables ytambién detalles de su vida no pública.
El jefe de los espías: El archivo secreto de Emilio A. Manglano, consejero del Rey y Director del CESID
by Juan Fernández-Miranda Javier Chicote LerenaUna investigación explosiva que desvelará la historia de España,desde el 23-F y la caída de la UCD hasta el felipismo y la consolidación de José María Aznar. La fuente de este riguroso y minucioso trabajo de investigación periodística es el archivo personal de Emilio Alonso Manglano, director del CESID entre 1981 y 1995: sus agendas, sus cuadernos de notas y los informes de inteligencia que guardó: una investigación de varios años repleta de secretos y ocultismo sobre el contenido de más de 200 kilos de documentos que desentrañan la historia nunca contada de España. Personajes como el Rey Juan Carlos, Adolfo Suárez, Mario Conde, Felipe González o Margarita Robles son algunos de los muchos protagonistas de este libro. Reseñas:«Una contribución periodística e histórica de gran relevancia. Ofrece una perspectiva inédita de la España de los años 80 y 90 y arroja luz directa sobre momentos claves de nuestra Historia.»ABC «Un libro que cuestionará algunas de las versiones que se han tenido por ciertas de ese turbio periodo de la reciente historia de España que fue el felipismo.»Fernando Palmero, El Mundo«Los apuntes del militar ponen al desnudo la realidad incorrecta, miserable y en ocasiones delictiva, manejada por los gestores de la seguridad nacional.»Juan Luis Cebrián, El País «Un carboncillo muy bien hecho –porque la cosa es oscura– de las cloacas del felipismo. Está escritocomo en las películas: en equipo, de madrugada, con material exclusivo y el poder vigilando.»Daniel Ramírez, El Español «Un apasionante libro, una investigaciónde largo alcance que desvela oscuros capítulos de la historia de España.»Azahara Villacorta, El Comercio «El jefe de los espías causa a veces desasosiego, pero nunca indefensión. Nos deja un poco más solos y más huérfanos en su complejidad, pero nos distingue del rebaño de la humillación y saber lo que no sabíamos nos hace mejores y nos permite tener una visión más nítida y menos fanática de nuestra historia y de nosotros mismos.»Salvador Sostres, ABC«Lo recomiendo mucho.»Pilar Eyre, periodista y escritora «Es un libro de categoría donde hay reflexiones muy positivas y muy negativas de Manglano.»Luis María Anson «Tiene un índice suculento, con el que cualquiera quedaría enganchado.»Pedro J. Ramírez «Fernández-Miranday Chicote han hecho un gran servicio al país y, en particular, a los historiadores.»Javier Carrasco, Castellón Plaza «El enfrentamiento de Juan Carlos con Suárez y los fondos secretos que recibió de Arabia Saudí durante décadas quedan confirmados.»Iñigo Sáenz de Ugarte, eldiarioes «El libro es muy jugoso. Un repaso de la historia reciente de España.»Fernando de Haro, La tarde COPE«Un documento imprescindible para entender el presente.»Publishers Weekly «Una investigación que aporta datos inéditos de la historia de España.»Servimedia «El volumen saca a la luz el archivo secreto de Emilio Manglano, consejero del rey y director del CESID durante 14 años. Era el jefe del espionaje,el hombre más informado de España. Lo sabía todo. Y lo documentó todo.»Juan Luis Galiacho, El Cierre Digital «Apasionante libro.»Jorge Alacid, Las Provincias
Jefferson: Architect Of American Liberty
by John B. BolesFrom an eminent scholar of the American South, the first full-scale biography of Thomas Jefferson since 1970As Alexander Hamilton's star has risen, Thomas Jefferson's has fallen, largely owing to their divergent views on race. Once seen as the most influential American champion of liberty and democracy, Jefferson is now remembered largely for his relationship with his slave Sally Hemmings, and for electing not to free her or most of the other people he owned.In this magisterial biography, the eminent scholar John B. Boles does not ignore the aspects of Jefferson that trouble us today, but strives to see him in full, and to understand him amid the sweeping upheaval of his times. We follow Jefferson from his early success as an abnormally precocious student and lawyer in colonial Virginia through his drafting of the Declaration of Independence at age 33, his travels in Europe on the eve of the French Revolution, his acidic personal battles with Hamilton, his triumphant ascent to the presidency in 1801, his prodigious efforts to found the University of Virginia, and beyond.From Jefferson's inspiring defenses of political and religious liberty to his heterodox abridgment of Christian belief, Boles explores Jefferson's expansive intellectual life, and the profound impact of his ideas on the world. Boles overturns conventional wisdom at every turn, arguing, among other things, that Jefferson did not--as later southerners would--deem the states rightfully superior to the federal government. Yet Boles's view is not limited to politics and public life; we also meet Jefferson the architect, scientist, bibliophile, and gourmet--as well as Jefferson the gentle father and widower, doting on his daughters and longing for escape from the rancorous world of politics.As this authoritative, evenhanded portrait shows, Jefferson challenges us more thoroughly than any other Founder; he was at once the most idealistic, contradictory, and quintessentially American of them all.
Jefferson: A Novel
by Max ByrdAs he did with Presidents Jackson and Grant in those magnificent novels, Max Byrd now reveals Thomas Jefferson as we've never seen before. Byrd transports us to 1784, as Jefferson, the newly appointed American ambassador to the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, arrives in Paris--a city adrift in intrigue, upheaval, and temptation that will challenge his principles, incite his passions, and change him forever. Through the eyes of his impressionable young secretary, William Short, readers watch as the future president builds his dream of America with fellow patriots John Adams and Ben Franklin, while struggling between political ambition and an unexpected crisis of the heart with a woman who has the power to destroy him. Behind the face this complex Virginian shows the world, Thomas Jefferson is an enigmatic statesman who fights for individual liberty even as he keeps slaves, who champions free will even as he denies it to his daughters, and who holds men to the highest standards of honor--even as he embarks on a shadowy double life of his own. "Max Byrd's historical novels about the third and seventh presidents bring both men alive in ways that only a literary imagination can."--George F. Will, The Washington Post "Jefferson has the organic intimacy of a novel that has sprung full-blown from the imagination of its creator."--The New York Times "Superb . . . fascinating in the psychological insight it provides to one of the greatest Americans . . . a truly memorable book."--W. Jackson Bate, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Samuel Johnson and John Keats "Absolutely splendid historical fiction that resonates with international, provincial, and individual passion and drama."--Booklist "A real tour de force."--San Francisco ChronicleFrom the Trade Paperback edition.
Jefferson And Civil Liberties: The Darker Side
by Leonard W. LevyIn the most controversial analysis ever written of the apostle of American liberty, the distinguished constitutional historian Leonard W. Levy examines Jefferson's record on civil liberties and finds it strikingly wanting. Clearing away the saintliness that surrounds the hero, Mr. Levy tries to understand why the “unfamiliar” Jefferson supported loyalty oaths; countenanced internment camps for political suspects; drafted a bill of attainder; urged prosecutions for seditious libel; condoned military despotism; used the Army to enforce laws in time of peace; censored reading; chose professors for their political opinions; and endorsed the doctrine that means, however odious, are justified by ends. "Implicitly," Mr. Levy writes, "this book is a study of libertarian leadership in time of power and time of danger...Jefferson should be seen [by his biographers] as a whole man in the perspective of his times, but my task is to determine the validity of his historical reputation as the apostle of liberty." "Blunt words and blunt facts...an indispensable book."―Commentary.
Jefferson and Monticello: The Biography of a Builder
by Jack McLaughlinA National Book Award nominee in 1988, Jack McLaughlin's biography tells the life of Thomas Jefferson as seen through the prism of his love affair with Monticello. For over half a century, it was his consuming passion, his most serious amusement. With a sure command of sources and skilled intuitive understanding of Jefferson, McLaughlin crafts and uncommon portrait of builder and building alike. En route he tells us much about life in Virginia; about Monticello's craftsmen and how they worked their materials; about slavery, class, and family; and, above all, about the multiplicity of domestic concerns that preoccupied this complex man. It is an engaging and incisive look at the eighteenth-century mind: systematic, rational, and curious, but also playful, comfort-loving, and amusing. Ultimately, it provides readers with great insight into daily life in Colonial and Federal America.
Jefferson and the Gun-Men
by M. R. MontgomeryIn 1803, Thomas Jefferson made a visionary purchase that opened an American frontier so vast as to defy the imagination -- nearly all the land from the Mississippi to the Rockies. Few know, however, that the intrigue behind the exploration and opening of the Louisiana Territory was almost as vast as the land itself. Even as Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out on their legendary journey to the Pacific Ocean, other forces were taking the measure of the land with far darker ambitions. Just three ...
The Jefferson Bible (Akashic U.S. Presidents Series)
by Thomas JeffersonAn atheist’s analysis of the Founding Father’s document on deism and the philosophy of Jesus.Unlike any other presidential commentaries in print, Akashic’s US Presidents series pairs the writings of these American historical figures with contemporary commentators whose critical viewpoints provide a counterbalance to the overly reverent and conservative analyses that invariably accompany presidential writings.In this volume, Percival Everett, acclaimed author of such novels as Telephone and Erasure and PEN/Faulkner Award finalist, takes an atheist’s-eye-view of the little-known “Jefferson Bible,” the third president’s response to the King James Bible.
The Jefferson Bible: A Biography (Lives of Great Religious Books #58)
by Peter ManseauThe life and times of a uniquely American testamentIn his retirement, Thomas Jefferson edited the New Testament with a penknife and glue, removing all mention of miracles and other supernatural events. Inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment, Jefferson hoped to reconcile Christian tradition with reason by presenting Jesus of Nazareth as a great moral teacher—not a divine one. Peter Manseau tells the story of the Jefferson Bible, exploring how each new generation has reimagined the book in its own image as readers grapple with both the legacy of the man who made it and the place of religion in American life.Completed in 1820 and rediscovered by chance in the late nineteenth century after being lost for decades, Jefferson's cut-and-paste scripture has meant different things to different people. Some have held it up as evidence that America is a Christian nation founded on the lessons of the Gospels. Others see it as proof of the Founders' intent to root out the stubborn influence of faith. Manseau explains Jefferson's personal religion and philosophy, shedding light on the influences and ideas that inspired him to radically revise the Gospels. He situates the creation of the Jefferson Bible within the broader search for the historical Jesus, and examines the book's role in American religious disputes over the interpretation of scripture. Manseau describes the intrigue surrounding the loss and rediscovery of the Jefferson Bible, and traces its remarkable reception history from its first planned printing in 1904 for members of Congress to its persistent power to provoke and enlighten us today.
Jefferson Davis and the Civil War Era
by William J. Jr.In his masterpiece, Jefferson Davis, American, William J. Cooper, Jr., crafted a sweeping, definitive biography and established himself as the foremost scholar on the intriguing Confederate president. Cooper narrows his focus considerably in Jefferson Davis and the Civil War Era, training his expert eye specifically on Davis's participation in and influence on events central to the American Civil War. Nine self-contained essays address how Davis reacted to and dealt with a variety of issues that were key to the coming of the war, the war itself, or in memorializing the war, sharply illuminating Davis's role during those turbulent years.Cooper opens with an analysis of Davis as an antebellum politician, challenging the standard view of Davis as either a dogmatic priest of principle or an inept bureaucrat. Next, he looks closely at Davis's complex association with secession, which included, surprisingly, a profound devotion to the Union. Six studies explore Davis and the Confederate experience, with topics including states' rights, the politics of command and strategic decisions, Davis in the role of war leader, the war in the West, and the meaning of the war. The final essay compares and contrasts Davis's first inauguration in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1861 with a little-known dedication of a monument to Confederate soldiers in the same city twenty-five years later. In 1886, Davis -- an old man of seventy-eight and in poor health -- had himself become a living monument, Cooper explains, and was an essential element in the formation of the Lost Cause ideology.Cooper's succinct interpretations provide straightforward, compact, and deceptively deep new approaches to understanding Davis during the most critical time in his life. Certain to stimulate further thought and spark debate, Jefferson Davis and the Civil War Era offers rare insight into one of American history's most complicated and provocative figures.
Jefferson, Madison, and the Making of the Constitution
by Jeff BroadwaterThomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, and James Madison, "Father of the Constitution," were two of the most important Founders of the United States as well as the closest of political allies. Yet historians have often seen a tension between the idealistic rhetoric of the Declaration and the more pedestrian language of the Constitution. Moreover, to some, the adoption of the Constitution represented a repudiation of the democratic values of the Revolution. In this book, Jeff Broadwater explores the evolution of the constitutional thought of these two seminal American figures, from the beginning of the American Revolution through the adoption of the Bill of Rights. In explaining how the two political compatriots could have produced such seemingly dissimilar documents but then come to a common constitutional ground, Broadwater reveals how their collaboration--and their disagreements--influenced the full range of constitutional questions during this early period of the American republic.
The Jefferson Rule: How the Founding Fathers Became Infallible and Our Politics Inflexible
by David SehatIn The Jefferson Rule, historian David Sehat describes how everyone from liberals to conservatives, secessionists to unionists have sought out the Founding Fathers to defend their policies.Beginning with the debate between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton over the future of the nation, and continuing throughout our history—the Civil War, the World Wars, the New Deal, the Reagan Revolution, and Obama and the Tea Party—many politicos have asked, “What would the Founders do?” instead of “What is the common good today?” Both the Right and the Left have used the Founders to sort through such issues as voting rights, campaign finance, free speech, war and peace, gun control, and taxes, though those Fathers were a querulous and divided group who rarely agreed.In this “sobering, informative study” (Publisher’s Weekly), Sehat shows why coming to terms with the past would be the start of a productive debate. The result is, simply put, “required reading for those desperate for sane, intelligent political arguments” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). The Jefferson Rule “takes the reader through an engaging and insightful survey course in American history” (The Christian Science Monitor).
Jefferson vs. Hamilton: Confrontations That Shaped A Nation (The Bedford Series In History And Culture)
by Noble E. Cunningham Jr.This documentary study of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton focuses on their differing views of society and government in the formative years of the new American nation. Interweaving more than 40 documents into 7 chronological chapters, the text follows the lives and careers of the two men from their youth, through the Revolutionary War, to the death of Hamilton in 1804. In each chapter, generous excerpts from their public papers and private letters reveal the two men’s often divergent views on government and the Constitution, economic and foreign policy, and the military, and illustrate the roles they played in the emergence of political parties. Reading Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address, the Report on Public Credit, the Kentucky Resolutions, and a host of other documents, students can explore firsthand the two men’s philosophies and the impact these had on the emerging nation. Also included are 10 illustrations, a Jefferson/Hamilton chronology, a bibliography, and an index.
Jefferson vs. the Patent Trolls: A Populist Vision of Intellectual Property Rights
by Jeffrey H. MatsuuraOf all the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson had the most substantial direct experience with the issues surrounding intellectual property rights and their impact on creativity, invention, and innovation. In our own digital age, in which IP has again become the object of intense debate, his voice remains one of the most vital in American history on this crucial subject.Jefferson lived in a time of immense change, when inventions and other creative works impacted the world profoundly. In this atmosphere it became clear that the developers of creative works and the users of those works often have competing interests. Jefferson appreciated as well as anyone that the originators of ideas needed legal protection. He also knew that innovation was crucial for a nation's economic prosperity as well as its political health, and that rights should not become barriers.Jefferson was in a unique position to understand the issues of intellectual property rights. His pronouncements on these issues were those not of a scholar but, rather, of a practitioner. As a scientist, author, and inventor, he was a prolific creator. He was also a tireless consumer of others' works. As America's first patent commissioner, he decided which ideas merited protection and effectively created the patent review process. Jeffrey Matsuura profiles Jefferson's diverse and substantial experience with these issues and discusses the lessons Jefferson's efforts offer us today, as we grapple with many of the same challenges of balancing IP rights against an effort to foster creativity and innovation. Without inserting Jefferson anachronistically into the current debate, Matsuura does not shy away from positing where in the spectrum of opinion Jefferson's ideas lie. For lawyers, legal and technology historians, and entrepreneurs, Matsuura offers a fresh, historically informed perspective on a current issue of major importance.
The Jeffersonians: The Visionary Presidencies of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe
by Kevin R. Gutzman“A long, insightful look at three Founder presidents. … Political histories are rarely page-turners, but Gutzman, clearly a scholar who has read everything on his subjects, writes lively prose and displays a refreshingly opinionated eye for a huge cast of characters and their often unfortunate actions. Outstanding historical writing.” — Kirkus (starred review) A lively and essential chronicle of the only consecutive trio of two-term presidencies of the same political party in American history, from the bestselling author of Thomas Jefferson - Revolutionary and James Madison.Before the consecutive two-term administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, there had only been one other trio of its type: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe.Kevin R. C. Gutzman’s The Jeffersonians is a complete chronicle of the men, known as The Virginia Dynasty, who served as president from 1801 to 1825 and implemented the foreign policy, domestic, and constitutional agenda of the radical wing of the American Revolution, setting guideposts for later American liberals to follow.The three close political allies were tightly related: Jefferson and Madison were the closest of friends, and Monroe was Jefferson’s former law student. Their achievements were many, including the founding of the opposition Republican Party in the 1790s; the Louisiana Purchase; and the call upon Congress in 1806 to use its constitutional power to ban slave imports beginning on January 1, 1808. Of course, not everything the Virginia Dynasty undertook was a success: Its chief failure might have been the ineptly planned and led War of 1812. In general, however, when Monroe rode off into the sunset in 1825, his passing and the end of The Virginia Dynasty were much lamented. Kevin R. C. Gutzman’s new book details a time in America when three Presidents worked toward common goals to strengthen our Republic in a way we rarely see in American politics today.