Martha Jefferson: An Intimate Life with Thomas Jefferson

(Hardback)

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Martha Jefferson is the first and only biography of Thomas Jeffersons greatest love and true kindred spirit, who died an untimely death at the young age of thirty-three in 1782. Drawing on a wealth of newly probed sourcesincluding family letters, documents, and the handwritten notes left by Jeffersons famed biographer, Dumas MaloneWilliam G. Hyland Jr. captures the charm, sophistication, and grace, as well as a profound sense of history, of this little known and elusive figure who, until now, has been a mere footnote to the story of Americas founding. Hyland brings us a conflicted and honest Martha Jefferson, who endured the Revolution as valiantly as some mendefending her very doorstep from raiding British troopsand presided over the domestic life of the Jeffersons little mountain, Monticello, during her husbands long absences and historic rise to power. A revealing and insightful look at an often overlooked American woman, this book provides a unique and previously unexplored understanding of Americas Revolutionary Era, and the men and women upon whose bravery, talent, and resolve our nation was founded.

Reviews

Very little has been known about Martha Wayles Jefferson. William Hyland has changed that by successfully combining what was known with what had been forgotten or overlooked and then placing her with the people she knew and the places she visited. A heart-warming story that is enlightening and easy to read. -- White McKenzie Wallenborn, M.D., Former President of the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society
Martha Jefferson was the most important person in Thomas Jeffersons life. William Hylands insightful portrait tells us how this little understood fact acquired a tragic dimension. -- Thomas Fleming, author of The Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers
Its hard to imagine a nonfiction book that combines a passionate romance with political intrigue, and even wartime panic, but William Hyland has accomplished this task. His Martha Jefferson is a meticulous and insightful account of the central person in Thomas Jeffersons lifean extraordinary woman whom history has largely ignored. She, and their relationship, are now in the spotlight, finally. -- Arthur T. Downey, author of The Creole Affair: The Slave Rebellion that Led the U.S. and Great Britain to the Brink of War
Mrs. Thomas Jefferson, beloved wife and steadfast partner in the revolutionary years of Americas founding visionary, is at long last brought fully and convincingly to life. I commend the work. It may be perhaps the best way to bring the Jefferson and women imaginings back to reality. -- Eric S. Peterson, Editor, Light and Liberty: Reflections on the Pursuit of Happiness
We cannot understand Thomas Jefferson without knowing the love of his life, Martha Wayles Jefferson. Hyland masterfully brings Martha to life by compiling little known facts and opinions about her and placing her in the context of Thomas Jeffersons life. -- Cynthia Burton, historian and author of Jefferson Vindicated Fallacies, Omissions, and Contradictions in the Hemings Genealogical Search Paperback (2005)

Author Bio

William G. Hyland Jr., a professor of law at Stetson University and practicing attorney, is the author of In Defense of Thomas Jefferson: The Sally Hemings Sex Scandal, and Long Journey with Mr. Jefferson: The Life of Dumas Malone.