Thomas Jefferson — Man of Profound Contradictions

Event Details

PBS World Channel National Broadcast: Virginia, September 25/Nationally, September 28, 2016

Thomas Jefferson is often portrayed as a hopelessly enigmatic figure and a man of profound contradictions. Lauded as one of the most articulate voices of American freedom and equality, even as he held people in bondage, Jefferson is sometimes described as a hypocrite, an atheist, or a simple-minded proponent of limited government who expected all Americans to be farmers. Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter S. Onuf will present their new book, Most Blessed of the Patriarchs, offering their views on our third president.

Annette Gordon-Reed is the author of the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize–winning, The Hemingses of Monticello and is the Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History at Harvard Law School and the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study at Harvard University.

Peter S. Onuf is the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia and the senior research historian at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies.  A book signing will follow their appearance.