Thomas Jefferson, the Classical World, and Early America

Erscheinungsjahr 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8139-3443-3
Verlag: University of Virginia Press

Buch, Englisch, 328 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 537 g

Thomas Jefferson read Latin and Greek authors throughout his life and wrote movingly about his love of the ancient texts, which he thought should be at the core of America's curriculum. Yet at the same time, Jefferson warned his countrymen not to look to the ancient world for modern lessons and deplored many of the ways his peers used classical authors to address contemporary questions. As a result, the contribution of the ancient world to the thought of America's most classically educated Founding Father remains difficult to assess. <br><br>This volume brings together historians of political thought with classicists and historians of art and culture to find new approaches to the difficult questions raised by America's classical heritage. The essays explore the classical contribution to different aspects of Jefferson’s thought and taste, as well as examining the significance of the ancient world to America in a broader historical context. The diverse interests and methodologies of the contributors suggest new ways of approaching one of the most prominent and contested of the traditions that helped create America's revolutionary republicanism.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Über Autor(innen)

<strong>Peter S. Onuf</strong> is Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor of History at the University of Virginia, USA.<br><br><strong>Nicholas P. Cole</strong> is Junior Research Fellow in History at St. Peter’s College, University of Oxford, UK.