Table of Contents

Book I: The Education of Thomas Jefferson
1: Fire!
2: A Boy and His Books
3: A Correct, Classical Scholar
4: William and Mary
5: The Williamsburg Circle
6: The Limits of English Law
7: A Shelf of Notebooks
8: Becoming a Burgess
Book II: Family and Nation
9: Domestic Life and Literary Pursuits
10: Rude Bard of the North
11: A Summary View of the Rights of British America
12: The Pen and the Tomahawk
13: The Declaration of Independence
14: The Book Culture of Philadelphia and Williamsburg, Contrasted
15: Of Law and Learning
16: Lines of Communication
17: Notes on the State of Virginia
18: The Narrow House
19: An American Odyssey
Book III: Our Man in Paris
20: Bookman in Paris
21: Talking about Literature
22: London Town
23: Summer of '86
24: An Inquisitive Journey through France and Italy
25: A Tour through Holland and the Rhine Valley
26: Last Days in Paris
Book IV: Servant of the People
27: The Young Idea
28: The Anas
29: Letters from a Virginia Farmer
30: The Vice-President and the Printed Word
31: The First Inaugural Address
32: Wall of Separation
33: "Life of Captain Lewis"
34: President as Patron of Literature
Book V: Monticello
35: Return to Monticello
36: Letters to an Old Friend
37: The Library of Congress
38: The Retirement Library
39: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth
40: The Autobiography
41: The University of Virginia from Dream to Reality
42: The Life and Soul of the University
An Essay on Sources

About the Author

Kevin J. Hayes is Professor of English at the University of Central Oklahoma and the author of A Colonial Woman's Bookshelf, An American Cycling Odyssey, Melville's Folk Roots, and Poe and the Printed Word.

Reviews

"A tribute to Jefferson and is a praiseworthy accomplishment of its author.... Hayes is to be congratulated for this biography of Jefferson's intellect."--Dennie Hall, Daily Oklahoman
"By writing a 'literary life' of Jefferson, Mr. Hayes is able to approach his extremely well-known subject from unexpected angles."--Adam Kirsch, The New York Sun
"The book's freshness and immediacy lie in the author's emphasis on the libraries Jefferson accumulated and the marginal notes he left in the books he read. Hayes takes us through Jefferson's hugely wide and eclectic reading with an ease and lightness often missing.... The Road to Monticello will enlighten and delight all those drawn to Jefferson and the early years of so many classic American ideas."--Publishers Weekly
"Kevin J. Hayes adroitly accomplishes the formidable task of providing an intellectual biography of Jefferson without ever sounding dry or bookish and without losing sight of his day-to-day life. Grounded in extensive original research, The Road to Monticello is a lively, engaging life of the mind of America's most important founding father."--David S. Reynolds, author of Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson
"In what will surely be the definitive work on the subject, Hayes presents a scrupulously researched examination of the reading habits and thinking of our third President, effectively a biography of Thomas Jefferson's intellect over the course of his life. Although Jefferson's public career has always been granted close examination, Hayes demonstrates that Jefferson's life of the mind also merits the close study provided here."--Thomas J. Schaeper, Library
Journal
"Kevin Hayes's Road to Monticello is a stunning contribution to Jefferson studies. Focusing on Jefferson's reading and writing, Hayes illuminates his subject's life and times. Taking Jefferson on his own terms and resisting the modern temptation to psychologize and moralize, Hayes nonetheless gives us a Jefferson of surprising depth and complexity. This is the kind of "life" Jefferson himself would have wanted to memorialize. The Road to
Monticello is a magnificent achievement."--Peter Onuf, Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor, University of Virginia
"The world's leading expert on the book culture of early America, Kevin J. Hayes brings an unsurpassed knowledge and sensitivity to the story of Thomas Jefferson's life of the mind. Incorporating much exciting new information, Hayes's biography makes a major contribution to scholarship, but it also appeals to general readers. The Road to Monticello is intellectual biography in the grand manner."--Leo Lemay, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Professor,
University of Delaware
"The book's freshness and immediacy lie in the author's emphasis on the libraries Jefferson accumulated and the marginal notes he left in the books he read. Hayes takes us through Jefferson's hugely wide and eclectic reading with an ease and lightness.... The Road to Monticello will enlighten and delight all those drawn to Jefferson and the early years of so many classic American ideas."--Publishers Weekly
"Kevin J. Hayes adroitly accomplishes the formidable task of providing an intellectual biography of Jefferson without ever sounding dry or bookish and without losing sight of his day-to-day life. Grounded in extensive original research, The Road to Monticello is a lively, engaging life of the mind of America's most important founding father."--David S. Reynolds, author of Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson
"In what will surely be the definitive work on the subject, Hayes presents a scrupulously researched examination of the reading habits and thinking of our third President, effectively a biography of Thomas Jefferson's intellect over the course of his life. Although Jefferson's public career has always been granted close examination, Hayes demonstrates that Jefferson's life of the mind also merits the close study provided here."--Thomas J. Schaeper, Library
Journal
"Kevin Hayes's Road to Monticello is a stunning contribution to Jefferson studies. Focusing on Jefferson's reading and writing, Hayes illuminates his subject's life and times. Taking Jefferson on his own terms and resisting the modern temptation to psychologize and moralize, Hayes nonetheless gives us a Jefferson of surprising depth and complexity. This is the kind of "life" Jefferson himself would have wanted to memorialize. The Road to
Monticello is a magnificent achievement."--Peter Onuf, Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor, University of Virginia
"The world's leading expert on the book culture of early America, Kevin J. Hayes brings an unsurpassed knowledge and sensitivity to the story of Thomas Jefferson's life of the mind. Incorporating much exciting new information, Hayes's biography makes a major contribution to scholarship, but it also appeals to general readers. The Road to Monticello is intellectual biography in the grand manner."--Leo Lemay, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Professor,
University of Delaware
"Hayes's excellent new study, The Road to Monticello, is the very first literary biography of America's most well-read founding fatherEL [it] captures Jefferson not only as he saw himself but also as he wanted to be seen. It stands in marked contrast to recent studies that portray Jefferson as a Machiavellian politicoEL"
-- Claremont Review of Books
"Buy and read this book. No one has so fruitfully scoured the shelves of Jefferson's library." --Journal of Southern History