Indeed, many sources contemporary with Jefferson call him a great man. Meacham, however, avoids writing a hagiography. Instead, he advances the thesis that Jefferson's genius was that he both sought great power and used it effectively. He does not gloss over Jefferson's failure as governor to protect Virginia from the Redcoats during the Revolution. Indeed, he was pursued into the mountains by the vicious Tarleton, a fictionalized version of whom appears in Mel Gibson's The Patriot. This, however, appears to be a momentary glitch against the entire sweep of Jefferson's career. Member of the colonial Virginia House of Burgesses, member of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence for the Continental Congress, long-serving minister to France (leaving only upon the storming of the Bastille in July, 1789), amateur scientist, accomplished linguist and friend of the classics, and, finally, only the second two-term President of the United States.In that role, Jefferson cemented the nation's course. Contrary to the wishes of Adams, his predecessor, and other Federalists, the United States would not again become a part of the British Empire--much less being ruled by a king or queen. The 1800 election was thrown into the House of Representatives, as Jefferson sought to deny his former friend John Adams a second term. It was not until February, 1801, that the election was decided in Jefferson's favor. Incidentally, Meacham chooses to open the book with a depiction of this fateful day before flashing back to Jefferson's origins as a son of privilege among Virginia planters. During those two terms, Jefferson presided over the Louisiana Purchase, pivotal to the new nation's future development. He managed to avoid war with England (it wouldn't come until 1812, when his protege James Monroe was president), even though the British insisted on boarding American ships in search of deserters from their own and occasionally impressing American citizens into the British Navy. Jefferson also dealt with a long-running battle against the Barbary Pirates, who raided commerce along the North African coast.Through it all, Jefferson worried constantly about the nation's viability. Even after he left the White House for his beloved Monticello, it was never far from his mind, As his own death approached, in 1826, he watched the ascendancy of Andrew Jackson with alarm. The backwoodsman from Tennessee seemed to him unsuited for leading the nation.Herein lies the contradiction of Jefferson's life. While advocating democracy with ever ounce of his considerable power, he was never far removed from his elitist origins. Jefferson may not have found royalty inviting, but he certainly believed that some men were created more equal than others. More equal than women, for instance. Bearing multiple children in just a few years led to his wife's death at a young age. Jefferson freely sought the bed of his slave, Sally Hemings, while all the time refusing to acknowledge the children she bore him. More equal than people of color: Jefferson was opposed to slavery in principle, but he could never bring himself to emancipate his own slaves or try to resolve the enormous contradiction from the founding of the Republic that would lead to civil war forty-five years after his death. One wonders what Jefferson would have thought of Abraham Lincoln, another westerner who faced down the issue Jefferson's generation ducked.Meacham kept me reading, sometimes until late hours, a narrative that both enthralls and educates. Under his pen, Jefferson lives and so do most of those with whom he came into contact. Meacham quotes freely from contemporary writings, but even their archaic language seems to soar and draw the mind to a different age. If the book has a flaw, it lies in the relatively sketchy way Meacham handles Jefferson's years in the President's House. One sometimes yearns for more details about, say, Lewis and Clark's Voyage of Discovery.For all of this, the hours required to delve into TJ:TAP will be rewarded with a deeper understanding of a formative character in our nation's origins and development. One will also be lifted up by the skillful use of language and the honesty of the author's approach.