Letters from the Head and Heart

The letters of a person . . . form the only full and genuine journal of his life, noted Thomas Jefferson, who wrote nearly 20,000 letters in his own lifetime. Andrew Burstein invites readers to rediscover Jefferson through an exploration of his most enduring public and private writings.

Among the public documents examined are two of Jefferson's best-known contributions to American history, the Declaration of Independence and his first inaugural address. On a more personal level, we read the written dialogue between Jefferson and his dying wife, Martha, as well as tender letters written to his daughters and grandson. Also included are thought-provoking letters written to friends and fellow thinkers, highlighted by extracts from the famous correspondence between the aging Jefferson and John Adams.

Burstein's lively analysis confirms Jefferson as a writer of both style and substance. In his letters, we see a writer whose words at once convey the eighteenth-century world in which he lived and yet still speak to the modern world with powerful relevance and wisdom.