The Jefferson Rule: How the Founding Fathers Became Infallible and Our Politics Inflexible
Language: English
Published by Simon & Schuster, 2015
- First Edition
- Hardcover
- Used

Seller: Inga's Original Choices, Piggott, AR, U.S.A.Inga's Original Choices
AbeBooks seller since June 16, 2000
Condition: Used
£ 5.45
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Usual ex-libri markings but very nice, clean copy, appears unread and to never having been checked out. A stock image [photo] is an accurate representation of the listed book's dust jacket design. Complete number line at copyright page. NON price-clipped dust jacket [$ 27.00] in mylar covers, clean, colors bright, minor display indications. Textblock pages [viii, 308 including index] clean, unmarked, binding tight and square. Media Mail, Priority & most international shipping include free tracking information. Every book listed is located in my smoke free and climate controlled shop. All are inspected by me and will have qualities and/or flaws described.
Seller Inventory # 013649
- Title
- The Jefferson Rule: How the Founding Fathers Became Infallible and Our Politics Inflexible
- Author
- Sehat, David
- Publisher
- Simon & Schuster
- Publication year
- 2015
- Condition
- Near Fine-
- Dust jacket
- Near Fine-
- Book Type
- Ex-Library
- Binding
- Hard Cover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1476779775
- ISBN 13
- 9781476779775
- Edition
- Stated First Edition, First Printing.
- Seller catalogs
- American History, Political Science
Beginning with the debate between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton over the future of the nation, and continuing through the Civil War, the New Deal, the Reagan Revolution, and Obama and the Tea Party, many pols have asked, “What would the Founders do?” instead of “What is the common good today?” Recently both the Right and the Left have used the Founders to sort through such issues as voting rights, campaign finance, free speech, gun control, taxes, and war and peace. They have used an outdated context to make sense of contemporary concerns.
This oversimplification obscures our real issues. From Jefferson to this very day we have looked to the eighteenth century to solve our problems, even though the Fathers themselves were a querulous and divided group who rarely agreed. Coming to terms with the past, Sehat suggests, would be the start of a productive debate. And in this account, which is by turns informative, colorful, and witty, he shows us why.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
"The Founders' framework is distorted and devalued, David Sehat shows, when we mistakenly treat Jefferson and his cohort as mirrors for whatever political outlooks we advance today. This book clarifies the difference between the use and the abuse of history."--David A. Hollinger, University of California, Berkeley; Past President, Organization of American Historians
"A careful, and fascinating, historical analysis of one aspect of American exceptionalism . . . well worth reading."
--Sanford Levinson "History Book Club "
"Please, dear politicians, read David Sehat's The Jefferson Rule and stop pretending that everything you say, believe and propose is exactly what the Founders of our nation would say, believe and propose. The Founders themselves would be amazed and appalled by this. Sehat has written a splendid book--important, well-argued, and offered at the right moment. 'Politicians create the Founders in their own image', Sehat writes. They do, and they should stop."--E. J. Dionne Jr., author of "Our Divided Political Heart" and "Why Americans Hate Politics"
"David Sehat has found a fresh, meaningful way to write a concise history of American politics. The Jefferson Rule instructs, enlightens, and entertains."--Evan Thomas, author of "Ike's Bluff" and "The War Lovers"
"A highly amusing and anecdotal narrative about the legacy--both real and invented--of our divided and factious Founding Fathers. David Sehat goes from the tea party to the Tea Party, and offers a coherent recounting of a largely incoherent yet bold and boisterous history. In limpid prose, he examines the ways in which, in every era of US history, the lofty ideals that the Founding Fathers promoted, and the tortuous conflicts they addressed, have been twisted and manipulated by politicians--from both sides of the political divide--for their own purposes. A fun yet profound ride from the colony to today."--Amy Wilentz, author of "Farewell, Fred Voodoo"
"[A] crisply written and incisive account of the uses and abuses of the Founders."--The Wall Street Journal
"Sehat writes masterfully of American political history."--The Daily Beast
"Sehat convincingly argues that the founders were fallible and not succinct in the ways they wanted the nation to be governed. . . . Highly recommended for political junkies, historians, and rhetoricians."--Library Journal (starred review)
"The author makes a strong case that forefather worship has had a pernicious effect on our politics throughout American history. . . . [the book]could not be timelier. . . . Sehat takes the reader through an engaging and insightful survey course in American history, pointing out where he believes 'founding fanaticism' crops up as the last refuge of politicians who can't make a more rational or contemporary case for their beliefs."--Christian Science Monitor
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Inga's Original Choices
Piggott, AR, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since June 16, 2000
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My main business is the operation of a custom frame shop and art gallery (specializing in original art and antique prints). Since writing, illustrating, the design and manufacture of books are art forms, I have included books in my gallery. Most are vintage, antique, or just previously read, and include first editions as well as signed editions. Over half of my inventory is non-fiction. I enjoy my framing business but I LOVE my book business!
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mostly German, foreign language books, or previously read, antique, vintage, out of print, Rare & Collectible, first editionsSeller's business information
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