Thomas Jefferson, Time, and History

It is probably difficult today to understand the complexities of the world Thomas Jefferson inhabited, a world heading into the future but not far removed from ancient ways of perceiving and explaining change over time. Spahn (American studies, Free U. of Berlin, Germany, and author) explains that as progressive as Jefferson seemed to be in many ways, he also was very much concerned with the possibility of losing the past. The author traces Jefferson's American and global history narrative over half a century to illustrate a temporal and historical perception much different from ours. In doing so, she provides a different perspective on how Jefferson and others of his generation found solutions (or did not find them) to primary political and moral issues such as slavery. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Hannah Spahn is Assistant Professor at the John F. Kennedy Institute for American Studies at the Free University of Berlin. She is the author ofThomas Jefferson und die Sklaverei: Verrat an der Aufklarung? (Thomas Jefferson and Slavery: Betrayal of the Enlightenment?).