|
The Thomas Jefferson Discussion Group
of Orlando, Florida
Meeting No. 60 - July 25, 2006
Holiday House Restaurant, Orlando, Florida
THIS MONTH'S TOPIC:
THOMAS JEFFERSON: THE ROMANTIC?
We all have our own images of Thomas Jefferson. Some think of him as president and leader of our infant country, some as an author and great intellect who galvanized the ideas of the Enlightenment into a declaration justifying regime change, some as scientist, some as farmer, some as architect, some as an educator, some as racist, even some as a misogynist. But, few would suggest he was a romantic.
Professor Jonathan Gross has edited a new book that organizes and annotates the recently found Jefferson scrapbooks. These are collections of verse that Jefferson cut and pasted while in the White House serving as the country’s third president. They are a natural extension of Jefferson’s Literary Commmonplace Book that he assembled as a young man and provide a revealing, new look into the soul of this great man in adulthood.
I had the good fortune to meet and briefly talk with Dr. Gross in New York recently. He has offered to come down and speak to our group. Tonight we’ll discuss his book, Thomas Jefferson’s Scrapbooks – Poems of Nation, Family & Romantic Love Collected By America’s Third President.
|
