In his introduction to "Thomas Jefferson Travels," editor Anthony Brandt says that while it is no longer possible to idolize Thomas Jefferson, it is impossible not to like him.
The inspiration for the book covering Jefferson's five years as ambassador to France came from Brandt's work as a travel and adventure expert for National Geographic Books and at the suggestion of his editor, Lisa Thomas.
The National Geographic Books editor, who lives in Alexandria, and the freelance writer, who has made his home in Sag Harbor on Long Island for the past 25 years, had worked together on a series of travel and adventure books — including the very successful "Journals of Lewis and Clark," which sold more than 100,000 copies.
"Tony translated the journals and made it readable," Thomas said, describing the adaptation Brandt edited. After that, she thought it was time to go into a new direction and Thomas Jefferson came to mind.
"Thomas Jefferson is such a fascinating person and there are so many facets to his personality. He also had extensive travel experience and was such an eloquent writer, " she said.
She felt his years in Paris had not received much attention and that this was a new way to look at that period in history.
"Those five years in Paris were rich in material," said Brandt. "It wasn't easy [to choose what to include]. There are nine volumes in the Princeton edition of his papers."
It was Brandt's job to find the most interesting storylines in the voluminous correspondence written over five years from 1784 to 1789. "I picked too much, it would have been a 900-page book so I kept culling and culling selecting from letters and portions of letters," he said.
ONE OF BRANDT’S goals was to make sure the reader saw both ends of the conversation. "You really leave a lot out if you don't know what the other person said. "
The result is a collection of letters spanning five years that give a fascinating glimpse into the brilliant, voracious, contradictory mind that was Jefferson's. He was interested in everything from music to art to architecture, to engineering, to manners, to government to the education of children and the position of women. So the book is organized around topics.
The man who founded the University of Virginia and championed public education for everyone comes though in the selection of letters to his nephew, his daughter and other young people on what a youth should study. The very reading of what he proposed nephew Peter Carr should learn makes a reader exhausted and at the same time shows Jefferson's contradictory nature. While he urged the kind of classical education typical, if richer, of government leaders in Europe, he was totally opposed to young people coming to Europe to study.
"I think he was thinking of a political education, becoming part of the government class," said Brandt, discussing his advice to young men. "It was well rounded but really to prepare for government service."
While he discouraged travel to Europe for the young, if they did come Jefferson was very generous, planning itineraries, telling them the best things to see, the best places to visit. "He himself loved Europe. He was among people who shared his tremendous range of interests," said Brandt as he described one of the many contradictions in Jefferson's life.
"He is a contradiction. I don't think he was aware of it. I don't think he analyzed himself much."
EVIDENT IN THOSE same letters on education and other correspondence was the difference between what he thought women should be and the kind of women he was actually attracted to.
While he chided his daughter Patsy for not learning her Livy, a frequently studied Roman historian, he also urged her to learn all the housewifely skills and to learn how to sew so she wouldn't be bored in dull company. In other letters to women friends, he describes the superiority of American women who take care of their children and homes. Yet the women he maintains close friendships with and the woman he fell in love with, Maria Cosway, are just the opposite.
"He was no feminist," Brandt said. That noted, "he was very attracted to smart, talented, bright, accomplished women, more independent than wives are today."
Jefferson was a widower during his years in Paris and enjoyed the company of women most particularly Cosway, who was beautiful, talented and married. He wrote to her for the rest of his life.
One of the most intriguing parts of the book is Jefferson's descriptions of what he sees and learns as he travels though France, Holland and Germany. He comments on everything from the quality of the soil to the terrain, to the way joists are placed in houses in Amsterdam to how the equipment used in canals works. Nothing escapes his eye or judgment.
Here he reveals his passion for the farmer's life. While he loved Paris and loved living in a city, he talks about the corruption of the city and the blessings of country life with each man having his own homestead. He even decries the French habit of people living in small villages close together and going out to their fields each day.
"Jefferson was an agrarian. He believed in a yeoman farmer who could read Homer in Greek," Brandt said. "He distrusted the merchant class. He wanted a system like Monticello for everyone. He believed it nurtured people and made them self reliant."
It was the same Monticello that showed yet another contradiction, his beliefs about slavery versus his actions.
"Early on when Virginia was still a colony and he was a member of the House of Burgess, he tried to abolish slavery," Brandt said. "He was always opposed to it but depended on it."
Brandt felt his ultimate decision was an economic one. "He kept slaves because he couldn't afford not to. He was always broke, paying off his father-in-law's debts." In later years according to Brandt he got more conservative and began to think blacks were inferior. "There are traces of racism in the older Jefferson," he said.
DURING JEFFERSON'S YEARS as ambassador to France he was constantly frustrated by his country's inability to deal with foreign governments. This interfered with his advocacy for free trade and his hopes for a solution to the Barbary pirates who constantly preyed on shipping, stealing goods and kidnapping passengers for ransom, including Americans. Jefferson thought paying tribute was wrong and the best solution was war. He got his wish when he became president.
While he was not part of creating the new Constitution, he corresponded regularly with many of those working on its provisions who were very interested in his opinion.
Jefferson was not happy with the results, at first, he thought the Articles of Confederation should just be amended. He believed in small government and the independence of the individual states "but he came to see it was a pretty good document," Brandt said.
In the end, he supported it although he objected because there was no bill of rights and no term limits. Brandt said they had just "fought against a monarch" and Jefferson was worried that an elected president could entrench himself.
The issue resolved itself when it was clear George Washington would be president. "He was completely trusted by everybody," Brandt said
What comes through the book over and over again is a very complete picture of Jefferson as father, lover, politician, diplomat and scholar.
"Thomas Jefferson Travels: Selected Writings 1784-1789" is published by National Geographic Books and sells for $23.
After speaking at the U.S. Mint in D.C. and at Olsson's Books, Brandt will travel to Charlottesville and Richmond.