Being Thomas Jefferson
An Intimate History
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Being Thomas Jefferson
Narrated by:
John Chancer
Buy Now for £18.71
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Narrated by:
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John Chancer
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By:
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Andrew Burstein
The deepest dive yet into the heart and soul, secret affairs, unexplored alliances, and bitter feuds of a generally worshipped, intermittently reviled American icon.
Perhaps no founding father is as mysterious as Thomas Jefferson. The author of the Declaration of Independence was both a gifted wordsmith and a bundle of nerves. His superior knowledge of the human heart is captured in the impassioned appeal he brought to the Declaration. But as a champion of the common man who lived a life of privilege on a mountaintop plantation of his own design, he has eluded biographers who have sought to make sense of his inner life. In Being Thomas Jefferson, acclaimed Jefferson scholar Andrew Burstein peels away layers of obfuscation, taking us past the veneer of the animated letter-writer to describe a confused lover and a misguided humanist, too timid to embrace antislavery.
Jefferson was a soft-spoken man who recoiled from direct conflict, yet a master puppeteer in politics. Whenever he left Monticello, where he could control his environment, he suffered debilitating headaches that plagued him for decades, until he finally retired from public life. So, what did it feel like to be Thomas Jefferson? Burstein explains the decision to take as his mistress Sally Hemings, the enslaved half-sister of his late wife, who bore him six children, none of whom he acknowledged. Presenting a society that encouraged separation between public and private, appearance and essence, Burstein paints a dramatic picture of early American culture and brings us closer to Jefferson’s life and thought than ever before.©2026 Andrew Burstein (P)2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
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Critic reviews
Burstein employs the key events of Jefferson’s life to probe the inner man to a degree no other biographer has attempted, and he succeeds brilliantly. This groundbreaking work should be considered critical reading as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jefferson’s greatest achievement, the Declaration of Independence.
It’s a striking reminder that Jefferson’s legacy endures—all the more reason to read what might be Burstein’s crowning achievement.
Objective and fascinating... Thomas Jefferson was a unique study in contrasts, as brilliantly highlighted by Andrew Burstein in Being Thomas Jefferson. The meticulous record keeper who got swamped with crushing debt, a public figure with thin skin who firmly held onto grudges, a rogue who seduced his friend’s girlfriends/wives, Burstein adeptly shows Jefferson to be a flawed, yet historically impactful figure.
Burstein shows his mastery of the Jefferson archive on every page, but he also brings judicious psychological insight to the task. Archives, after all, do not interpret themselves, and it is the discriminating scholar and critic in Burstein that gives his book its unusual distinction... lively and incisive.
An indispensable biography… Mr. Burstein brings a lifetime of reading and research to a sensitive revaluation of Jefferson… noteworthy not only for what he has to say about Jefferson, but also about how others have said it and contributed to the biographer’s own mastery of the subject.
This volume is worthy of a place on the shelf of any Jefferson enthusiast. Although Jefferson has been alternately deified and vilified, Burstein’s analysis demonstrates that the truth is somewhere in the middle of these extremes. This close examination of his personal life makes the real Jefferson come to life in ways that make him relatable, complex, and at times frustrating. Perhaps most importantly, Burstein’s work gives readers a real sense of Jefferson’s humanity.
Burstein succeeds in providing an intimate look at Jefferson’s attitudes and predispositions… This endless push and pull, between Jefferson’s desire for a tranquil, studious life at Monticello, and his belief that he had a critical role to play in the young United States, lies at the heart of this book.
Close-up portrait by a noted Jefferson scholar aimed at ‘advancing historical knowledge without prescriptive politics.’ . . . Burstein’s psychological insights are impressively detailed and grounded in valuable historical context . . . A nuanced, warts-and-all examination of a complicated Founding Father.
Noted Jefferson scholar Andrew Burstein has produced an elegantly written exploration of our third president’s inner life. Being Thomas Jefferson is a thought-provoking and timely addition to the literature on Jefferson.
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