Dolley Madison

While waiting for a book on James Madison to become available, I have decided to read Dolley by Rita Mae Brown. It is the best book I have read so far. This book was more personable with imagined conversations and emotions. I enjoyed the diary entries interspersed with events. This book only covers the last year of the war of 1812. I loved reading about the fashions and the day to day activities. This author even included a map and a list of characters so I would have some idea of who all these people were that I kept reading about. Thank you Rita!

American Sphinx - Thomas Jefferson

I think I am done reading books by Joseph Ellis, he is just a bit to dry for me.  I did manage to read this book in less than a month so maybe it wasn't that bad. I don't recommend this book as a first look at Jefferson. This is more a book for someone obsessed with Jefferson who likes reading about the same topic over and over and knows so much that now they only want to read about the man's character. I think Ellis even got bored writing the book. He took us to Jefferson's first term and then referenced his death and then interspersed a few more life events with death references and then finally Jefferson's death. I probably should have read the wikipedia first so that I could have known the facts/resume part of Jefferson's life and then I might have enjoyed learning about his philosophy and character.

I am surprised that Ellis didn't seem to think that Jefferson matured or changed much as he aged. I find it hard to believe that someone who had experienced as much of the world as Jefferson wasn't also changed by it. Maybe this indicates a huge ego or a lack of introspection on Jefferson's part.

I would like to read about the Sally Hemming's affair. Jefferson freed at least one of her son's (can't quite remember who) but he didn't free Sally. Why? Was he an asshole? Did he think she wouldn't be taken care of if he set her free/abandoned her? Did she want to be free?

I did enjoy some of Jefferson's wacky ideas, like the idea that the government should be abolished every 20 years so a new generation could create the government that they wanted and be free of the older generations control.

I thought the last chapter of the book was the best chapter of the book. Ellis outlines Jefferson's accomplishments/failures and then talks about their relevancy in today's society.

I am looking forward to taking Bill to Monticello. I enjoyed visiting when I was a teenager and until reading all these biographies injured my admiration for Jefferson, I found comfort that he had a huge range of interests and talents like me and didn't seem to think he had to only be good at one thing but could study whatever caught his fancy.

Mount Vernon - Estate of George Washington

We had a great time at Mount Vernon this weekend. I made Bill read the wikipedia article in the car on the way and share any pertinent points so we could continue "layering" our historical knowledge. I enjoyed my husband's observations and exploring the grounds with him.We got to pet a camel, chat with Martha Washington, and tour the mansion.  Bill was less impressed with Washington's estate when he realized that there was a crew of slaves who did the actual work and Washington only designed everything. He also pointed out that Washington had inherited the estate and married money. I agree with him, it seems like lots of "great men" had advantages like slaves or servants, wealth, and time to sit around and think or design. He was also surprised by how primitive things were in the colonial united states when compared with Europe. We have a yearlong membership and I am looking forward to going again in early summer when the flowers are blooming. The restaurant had a lovely Sunday brunch and the crab cake eggs Benedict is a new favorite meal.