GETTING TO KNOW THOMAS JEFFERSON'S VIRGINIA

by Burke Davis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1971

Davis' sequel to Getting to Know Jamestown (1971, J-229) begins with a panoramic view of the Old Dominion as it looked in 1743 -- clean air, flocks of passenger pigeons and foot-long oysters in the bay -- and zeros in on the life and times of Thomas Jefferson. His youthful games, homelife at Monticello and efforts to reform Virginia's laws provide a comfortable focus for a quick review of the colony's customs and history during the revolutionary era. Most of the information on everyday life applies only to the upper classes, and the ambiguity of the few sentences on slavery is compounded by typographical errors. The narrative is simpler and more concentrated, though no more illuminating, than the coverage of the same period in Allan Carpenter's Virginia (Enchantment of America Series), but the insipid illustrations detract from its already limited appeal.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION