June 1, 2004
In the vein of The Jefferson Bible, lawyer Petersen (Hawkins, Delafield & Wood) has attempted to distill the best of Jefferson's copious personal correspondence and public writings into one thin volume of philosophical and practical essays. In this "attempt to bring the light of Thomas Jefferson back into the American sky," Petersen has painstakingly chosen exemplary quotations and arranged them into a series of short paragraphs that highlight Jefferson's thinking and advice on diverse topics, including faith, fitness, sincerity, seeing the good, Jesus, nature's beauty, living in the present, enthusiasm, patriotism, oneness, hope, and truth-seeking. While the text is naturally somewhat disjointed, Petersen has done a remarkable job of tying the quotations together into unified essays. One criticism is that the essays are not arranged by category (such as healthy living, political advice, spiritual advice). The book includes a brief chronology of Jefferson's life, as well as copious notes on the sources used. Recommended for Jefferson aficionados.-Robert Flatley, Kutztown Univ., PA
Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
May 15, 2004
Except for a few items from public papers, such as Jefferson's first inaugural address, the excerpts in Peterson's arrangement of Jeffersonian precepts come from the third president's lifetime output of thousands of letters. The source endows each selection a level of one-to-one intimacy (Peterson's notes identify the recipient of each letter) while retaining a generality Jefferson intended to the credos he was enunciating to his correspondent. Peterson categorizes Jefferson's wisdom into virtues (e.g., "patience") or attitudes (e.g., "living in the present") and is forthright in his introduction about his enthusiasm for Jefferson's philosophical musings about the conduct of life, religion, and government. His readers will be confreres sharing this interest; those more drawn to Jefferson's biography will be consulting the wrong book, for the selections are not given historical context. They stand on their own, as Jefferson hoped an enlightened, self-governing people would, and his belief in what the American Revolution represented to the world is adequately indicated by Peterson's choices. A collection to pique browsers of the Jefferson shelf.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)