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Tag Archives: American Sphinx
Recommended: Biographies
For starters: My recommended Fiction books My recommended Non-Fiction books BIOGRAPHIES: American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, by Joseph Ellis I’ve written a lot about Joseph Ellis’ work here. While I love David McCullough’s work so much, Ellis is … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books, Directors, Founding Fathers, James Joyce, Theatre, writers
Tagged A. Scott Berg, Abigail Adams, Alexander Hamilton, American Sphinx, Benjamin Franklin, Biography, Bruce Springsteen, Charles Lindbergh, Charlotte Bronte, David McCullough, Dean Martin, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Ellen Terry, Elvis Presley, Emily Bronte, George Washington, Henry Irving, His Excellency, Howard Hawks, Howard Hughes, James Dean, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Adams, John Wayne, Joseph Cornell, Joseph Ellis, Marlon Brando, Mitford sisters, Montgomery Clift, Nick Tosches, Nureyev, Orson Welles, Oscar Wilde, Patricia Bosworth, Patricia Highsmith, Richard Ellmann, Ron Chernow, Sam Cooke, Simon Callow, Tennessee Williams, Thomas Jefferson, Truman Capote, W.B. Yeats, Zelda Fitzgerald
9 Comments
The Books: “American Sphinx : The Character of Thomas Jefferson” (Joseph Ellis)
Next Daily Excerpt: Next book in my American history section is American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph (“Yeah. I was in ‘Nam. DOH.”) Ellis. My favorite of all of his contemplative biographies – he really just hits … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Founding Fathers
Tagged American Sphinx, Joseph Ellis, politics, Thomas Jefferson, US history, war
3 Comments
Presidents: “the Jeffersonian utopia”
From Joseph Ellis’ book on Thomas Jefferson: American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson: The vision he projected in the natural rights section of the Declaration, then, represented yet another formulation of the Jeffersonian imagination. The specific form of the … Continue reading
Posted in Founding Fathers
Tagged American Sphinx, Declaration of Independence, Joseph Ellis, politics, Thomas Jefferson
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2005 Books Read
Here is the complete list of books I read in 2005. Underworld: A Novel, by Don DeLillo – which I had started in the fall of 2004- before I went to Ireland – and it took me FOREVER to finish … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged American Sphinx, books read, Charming Billy, Children of the Arbat, Crowds and Power, Darkness at Noon, East of Eden, Edmund Burke, Harry Potter, L.M. Montgomery, Middlemarch, Miracle at Philadelphia, The Great Terror, The Pigman, Underworld, W.B. Yeats, Year of Magical Thinking
4 Comments
Declaration – “within the Jeffersonian utopia such choices do not need to be made”
More from Joseph Ellis’ book on Thomas Jefferson: American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson. Again, here is the text of the Declaration to use for reference. The vision he projected in the natural rights section of the Declaration, then, … Continue reading
Posted in Founding Fathers
Tagged American Sphinx, Declaration of Independence, Joseph Ellis, politics, Thomas Jefferson
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Declaration – “it does not explain Jefferson’s much-debated deletion of ‘property’ “
More from Joseph Ellis’ book on Thomas Jefferson: American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson. Again, here is the text of the Declaration to use for reference. The most famous section of the Declaration, which has become the most quoted … Continue reading
Posted in Founding Fathers
Tagged American Sphinx, Declaration of Independence, Joseph Ellis, politics, Thomas Jefferson
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Declaration – “An elegant, if decidedly one-sided, version of recent Anglo-American history”
From Joseph Ellis’ book on Thomas Jefferson: American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson. Again, here is the text of the Declaration to use for reference. (You know. If you’re a big huge geek like me, then you love to … Continue reading
Posted in Founding Fathers
Tagged American Sphinx, Declaration of Independence, Joseph Ellis, politics, Thomas Jefferson
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Declaration – “On July 4 the Congress approved its revised version”
From Joseph Ellis’ book on Thomas Jefferson: American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in a matter of a few days — Adams later remembered it took him only “a day or two” — … Continue reading
Posted in Founding Fathers
Tagged American Sphinx, Benjamin Franklin, Declaration of Independence, Joseph Ellis, politics, Thomas Jefferson
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Declaration – “Jefferson guards the American Creed at this inspirational level”
Excerpt from Joseph Ellis’ marvelous Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation: Before editorial changes were made by the Continental Congress, Jefferson’s early draft made it even clearer that his intention was to express a spiritual vision: ‘ We hold these truths … Continue reading
Posted in Founding Fathers
Tagged American Sphinx, Declaration of Independence, Joseph Ellis, politics, Thomas Jefferson
1 Comment
Jefferson’s Inaugural
I’m careening through Joseph Ellis’ American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson – (alongside my re-reading of East of Eden). Ellis’ book is not really a traditional biography. He breaks up the chapters into separate and distinct time-spans in Thomas … Continue reading
Posted in Founding Fathers
Tagged American Sphinx, Joseph Ellis, politics, Thomas Jefferson
5 Comments