AMERICA AND THE VIRGINIA DYNASTY: 1800-1825

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1974

Although Thomas Jefferson was, without question, the outstanding statesman and personality among the ""Virginia Dynasty"" presidents who controlled the office for 24 years beginning in 1801, this period of expansion and national consolidation saw the country move farther and farther from Jefferson's original concept of a limited central government. Boardman captures the era's diversity in another of his broad-gauged histories, intentionally mixing ""the important and the inconsequential, the good and the bad, the planned and the unexpected."" Thus his social and political background is interspersed with footnotes on American diets, amusements and follies, with plentiful statistics, and with many thumbnail biographies of artists, religious leaders, scientists and purely local but fascinating characters like Cincinnati's Daniel Drake, known as ""the Franklin of the West."" The result lacks the sustained narrative interest and focused themes of, say, Leonard Falkner's For Jefferson and Liberty (KR, 1972), but Boardman handles this less selective type of fact and date filled overview with more style and judgment than most.

Pub Date: June 1, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Walck

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1974

Categories: NONFICTION