THE LOST WORLD OF THOMAS JEFFERSON

Boorstin, Daniel J.

Published by NY. 1948. Henry Holt & Co.

About this Item

black & gilt full cloth hardcover 8vo. (octavo). dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. fine cond. binding square & tight. covers clean. couple of scratches to redstained top edge, other edges clean. contents free of markings. dustwrapper in near fine cond. couple of 1cm tears, spine chipped at top, not price clipped. nice clean copy. no library markings, store stamps, stickers, bookplates, no names, inking, underlining, remainder markings etc~. first edition. first printing so stated. decorative title pg. xii+306p. notes. index. biography. american literature. philosophy. biology. natural science. ~ THE lost world of Thomas Jefferson is peopled with as stimulating and fascinating a band of scientists and philosophers as ever collaborated on this continent: Jefferson himself, David Rittenhouse, Thomas Paine, Joseph Priestley, Benjamin Smith Barton, Benjamin Rush, Charles Willson Peale. They are discovered here as a group for the first time ~ a group whose response to the physical wilderness which surrounded them produced a practical way of looking at life that has become our heritage but that has been misinterpreted and misunderstood. Mr. Boorstin makes his readers a part of that circle and one relives the discussion of the time when our nation was taking its stand in the realm of ideas. For, as Mr. Boorstin himself savs, he is not interested in performing an autopsy; rather, in getting inside the ideas of Jefferson and his associates. The result is a book which some may consider revolutionary, since it is a completely original contribution to American intellectual history. But Mr. Boorstin is no heretic. He is sympathetic to the intellectual contributions of Jefferson and his circle for their usefulness in their time and place. We have been much too prone to think of Jeffersonian philosophy in terms of pat phrases and slogans ~ phrases and slogans that had quite different meanings in Jefferson's day. The social and political ideas of the Jeffersonian circle are here examined with keen penetration and for the first time in the whole context of thought ~ scientific, religious, philosophical ~ that surrounded them. And the result is so fresh an illumination of the Jeffersonian tradition that it may necessitate the rewriting of much American intellectual history.

Seller Inventory # 4022201

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE LOST WORLD OF THOMAS JEFFERSON
• Publisher: NY. 1948. Henry Holt & Co.
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • philosophy
  • american history
  • biography