num_pages: 496
description: A National Book Award nominee in 1988, Jack McLaughlin's biography tells the life of Thomas Jefferson as seen through the prism of his love affair with Monticello.For over half a century, it was his consuming passion, his most serious amusement. With a sure command of sources and skilled intuitive understanding of Jefferson, McLaughlin crafts and uncommon portrait of builder and building alike. En route he tells us much about life in Virginia; about Monticello's craftsmen and how they worked their materials; about slavery, class, and family; and, above all, about the multiplicity of domestic concerns that preoccupied this complex man. It is and engaging and incisive look at the eighteenth-century systematic, rational, and curious, but also playful, comfort-loving, and amusing. Ultimately, it provides readers with great insight into daily life in Colonial and Federal America.
language: English
title: Jefferson and Monticello: The Biography of a Builder
titlecomplete: Jefferson and Monticello: The Biography of a Builder
genres: Biography, American Revolution, Nonfiction, Presidents, American History, Architecture, Biography Memoir, History
ratings_count: 263
awards: awardedAt: 568022400000
name: National Book Award Finalist
category: Nonfiction
publisher: Holt Paperbacks