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    Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson
    Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson
    Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson
    Audiobook11 hours

    Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson

    Written by Alan Pell Crawford

    Narrated by James Boles

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Much has been written about Thomas Jefferson, with good reason: His life was a great American drama-one of the greatest-played out in compelling acts. He was the architect of our democracy, a visionary chief executive who expanded this nation's physical boundaries to unimagined lengths. But Twilight at Monticello is something entirely new: an unprecedented and engrossing personal look at the intimate Jefferson in his final years that will change the way audiences think about this true American icon. It was during these years-from his return to Monticello in 1809 after two terms as president until his death in 1826-that Jefferson's idealism would be most severely, and heartbreakingly, tested.

    Based on new research and documents culled from the Library of Congress, the Virginia Historical Society, and other special collections, including hitherto unexamined letters from family, friends, and Monticello neighbors, Alan Pell Crawford paints an authoritative and deeply moving portrait of Thomas Jefferson as private citizen-the first original depiction of the man in more than a generation.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateFeb 15, 2008
    ISBN9781400176182
    Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson

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    Reviews for Twilight at Monticello

    4/5

    49 ratings3 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Crawford's in-depth examination of Jefferson's life after he left the White House presents a candid picture of the third president of the United States. Most people remember Jefferson as an innovator, inventor, architect, statesman, thinker, and reader. What is less well known is that Jefferson's private life was often unhappy and his actions were not always admirable.The book opens with a hurried summary of Jefferson's life up to the end of his presidency. We then follow Jefferson to Virginia, where he hopes to spend his time working in his gardens, running his plantation, and building his library. Unfortunately, his final years were not peaceful.The ex-president returned home heavily in debt, believing that profits from his plantation would allow him to meet his obligations. When the land failed to generate the needed income, Jefferson took out bank loans, which he had difficulty paying. Eventually, he sold his personal library to the federal government as way to raise cash (these books helped establish the Library of Congress). But even when he came close to becoming solvent, Jefferson was unable to make adjustments to live within his means. After his death, Jefferson's family was forced to sell many of his personal affects at auction to settle his estate.Jefferson doted on his family, often providing them with housing and sustenance. But here too he found mostly sadness. Jefferson lived long enough to see children and grandchildren and their spouses die. Some of his offspring and younger relatives were scoundrels or drunks, and none was able to step into Jefferson's shoes to help keep the family afloat.Crawford covers a variety of other topics, such as Jefferson as slaveowner and the nature of his relationship with Sally Hemings, his correspondence with John Adams and other political notables, his ideas about religion, his thoughts on the Missouri Compromise, and his founding of the University of Virginia.Although Crawford sometimes presumes to know exactly what Jefferson was thinking on a given day and often presents almost too much detail about life on the plantation, Twilight at Monticello is a well-researched study of the aging Founding Father. The Jefferson revealed in this book is more complex, sadder, and more real than the portrait painted in high-school U.S. history texts. This is not a look at the politics of the early nineteenth-century--though they certainly affected Jefferson--but more a look at how one man struggled with the realities of life once he stepped out of the spotlight.I read this book as part of the U.S. Presidents challenge. More information about that challenge can be found here. This book was also on my list for the Winter Reading Challenge; to see what other people are reading this winter, click here.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Great history beautifully told. Should be required reading for all American high school students.
    • 4/5
      Interesting. Fascinating person.