by Albert Jay Nock

This book was first published in 1926 and remains, in the opinion of many, the single best biography of Thomas Jefferson. Other books do a better job of examining Jefferson's presidency or political thought, but nowhere else does Jefferson the man come to life as he does here. Instead of being a mythic, god-like figure, Nock's Jefferson sunburns easily, is a vegetarian for much of his life, was known to beggars in New York and Philadelphia as an "easy mark," and passes time while sailing to France (where he was to be the American ambassador) by learning navigation from the ship's captain. When he left the White House, Jefferson was more than $20,000 in debt (equivalent to being millions of dollars in debt today), and he was forced to sell his personal library (which became the Library of Congress). And in the last sixteen years of his life, Jefferson never traveled further than a day's ride by horse from his beloved Monticello. Nock's portrait makes Jefferson simultaneously more human and more extraordinary; this book is a treasure that must be read by anyone seeking to understand the essential nature of Thomas Jefferson.