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Midwest Book Review: Thomas Jefferson's Enlightenment: Paris 1785 Is "Illuminating, Captivating, and Highly Recommended" April 08 2014

James A. Cox, editor-in-chief at Midwest Book Review, calls Thomas Jefferson's Enlightenment: Paris 1785 a "unique, biographical portrait". The book, written by James Thompson, details Jefferson's eye-opening journey into the world of Parisian society, and the insights he took with him back to America.

"Written in a unique style - the 'nonfiction narrative' - Thomas Jefferson's Enlightenment: Paris 1785 tells how Jefferson adjusted his worldview through Jefferson's own words, quoted and smoothly integrated in an accessible natural flow," Cox explains, "Historic black-and-white and color images illustrate this illuminating, captivating, and highly recommended glimpse into the mind of a great man and legendary leader."

Read more here.


Review: John J. Hohn of Bookpleasures.com Calls James Thompson's Recent Book on Jefferson Clear and Engaging. March 10 2014

Thomas Jefferson's Enlightenment: Paris 1785, a non-fiction narrative detailing Thomas Jefferson's transformation from a political loner into a political leader, delivers a gripping journey with over 160 museum-quality reproductions of period maps.

"Author Thompson does not allow his narrative to bog down in footnotes or tedious philosophical speculation. He reports Jefferson’s days in Paris almost as if he was peering into his subject’s diary," says columnist John J. Hohn for bookpleasures.com.

Readers accompany Pierre Cabanis and his aspiring protégé to public gardens, the theatre, salons, the grain exchange, and along the bustling, stinking thoroughfares of the French capital. They accompany Jefferson as he settles into the most elegant—and debauched—society in the world.

"...Thompson writes beautifully. Sentence after sentence, he is powerful. He has a wonderful command of the language. He is a great story teller with a novelist’s eye for the essential details. He sets the scene. The historical characters come alive," writes John.

You can read the rest here...