The Man from Monticello is the highly regarded and award-winning biography of Thomas Jefferson written by Thomas Fleming and illustrated with twenty pages of illustrations.
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Thomas James Fleming was an historian and historical novelist, with a special interest in the American Revolution. He was born in 1927 in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of a World War I hero who was a leader in Jersey City politics for three decades. Before her marriage, his mother, Katherine Dolan Fleming, was a teacher in the Jersey City Public School System.
After graduating from St. Peter's Preparatory School in Jersey City, Fleming spent a year in the United States Navy. He received a Bachelor's degree, with honors, from Fordham University in 1950. After brief stints as a newspaperman and magazine editor, he became a full-time writer in 1960. His first history book, Now We Are Enemies, an account of the Battle of Bunker Hill, was published that same year. It was a best-seller, reviewed in more than 75 newspapers and featured as a main selection of the Literary Guild.
Fleming published books about various events and figures of the Revolutionary era. He also wrote about other periods of American history and wrote over a dozen well-received novels set against various historical backgrounds. He said, "I never wanted to be an Irish American writer, my whole idea was to get across that bridge and be an American writer".
Fleming died at his home in New York City on July 23, 2017, at the age of 90.
Absolutely loved this book. To be fair, I read the readers digest condensed version, so I’m sure the original is a bit more laborious to get through, but the version I read was both fun and extremely insightful. I love when you learn about history and then start seeing and understanding things from every day life. Like the other day when I looked at a nickel. We all know the nickel has Thomas Jefferson, but now I have an intimate understanding of what Monticello is and what role it has plaid in our history (such as starting donating the original book collection to Library of Congress). The other interesting thing was getting a deeper understanding of the characters from the musical Hamilton and how they were all connected. Also learned about the French Revolutionary War, which other than what I learned from Les Miserables I am ashamed to admit know little about. Definitely would recommend this condensed version and I am now interested in reading the original.
This well-researched book is not exactly a biography; it's more of a chronology of Thomas Jefferson's personal beliefs and strengths and how they affected his political activity and his personal life. I especially enjoyed the excerpts from his speeches and letters and the two sections of photographs.
I wanted something boring to read before bed and I found this on my parent's bookshelf. I actually learned a lot of things from this book, but I also took a lot of information with a grain of salt since it definitely always paints Jefferson in a positive light, no matter what the situation.
Extremely interesting and insightful. Much more descriptive of Jefferson's life than most modern historians would have us believe. And I just gotta say it, folks: Thomas Jefferson was NOT the father of Sally Hemmings' children. It's much more likely that his nephew was.
I read this wonderful book by Thomas Fleming while in high school...and enjoyed it immensely, opened my eyes to the Masterful Jefferson...and the writings of Mr. Fleming, whom I have enjoyed for years.