Mr. Jefferson's Women

June 4, 2007
This highly insightful study by Kukla (A Wilderness So Immense
), director of the Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation, investigates Thomas Jefferson's relationships with women, from Elizabeth Moore Walker, the married neighbor with whom Jefferson may have had an affair, to Sally Hemings, the slave whose children he purportedly fathered. One of the most fascinating chapters examines the young Jefferson's failed attempts to woo a classmate's sister, Rebecca Burwell, whose rejection of his marriage proposal may have incited the misogyny found throughout his writings. Perhaps the least satisfying section studies Jefferson's relationship with his wife, Martha: since Jefferson destroyed their private correspondence after she died, Kukla's re-creation of their relationship is necessarily sketchy. The conclusion moves to a larger argument concerning Jefferson's thinking about women as citizens. Kukla shows that Jefferson was much less open to women's political participation and education than were contemporary Enlightenment thinkers, and his “definition of America as a white male polity” was “rooted in his personal discomfort with women.” This is one of the most discerning and provocative studies of Jefferson in years. B&w illus., map.

July 1, 2007
It is hard to dislike a book that, like this one, starts off with a discussion of how J. Peterman Company shirts are related to Thomas Jefferson. Kukla (director, Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation; "A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America") not only knows his subject well but writes in a fluid and sparkling style. His basic thesis is that Thomas Jefferson grew increasingly uncomfortable with women as he aged, becoming misogynistic and predatory. Three of the four women to whom he made early romantic advances turned him down, and the fourth (his wife) hurt him by dying. Thereafter Jefferson was on his guard, not wanting to be wounded again. When he formed a relationship with his slave Sally Hemings he was in a position of power, as he owned her and could not be rejected. Kukla's research is impeccable, and his voluminous notes are a treasure trove. Nonetheless, this reviewer fails to be persuaded by his overly negative interpretation. He reaches too many conclusions based on supposition rather than solid evidence. Sure to spark heated debate, this book is recommended for academic and public libraries.Thomas J. Schaeper, St. Bonaventure Univ., NY

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2007
The enigmatic aspects of Thomas Jeffersons character have frustrated both his contemporaries and historians. John Adams, his on-again-off-again friend, referred to him as a shadow man. Kukla probes Jeffersons relations with and attitudes toward women.Although the broad outlines of Jeffersons relations with specific women are well known, Kukla has used some obscure sources to provide interesting and even titillating information. He does not present a flattering portrait of Jefferson. In his youthful and futile courtship of a teenage Virginia girl, Jefferson appears understandably clumsy and disturbingly bitter after she rejects him. When he makes improper advances toward the wife of a friend, he seems downright obnoxious. Kukla also casts a critical eye on Jeffersons marriage, his apparently intense attachment to Maria Cosway in Paris, and, of course, his supposed affair with his slave Sally Hemings. Kukla concludes that Jeffersons sentiments regarding women were a mixture of suspicion, contempt, and possessiveness. Still, this is a useful, if flawed, contribution to our knowledge of, perhaps, our most fascinating Founding Father.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)