| Details | | Publication Date: | 1996-11-15 |
| Size | | Length: | 367 pages | | Height: | 9.5 in | | Width: | 6.5 in | | Thickness: | 1.2 in | | Weight: | 27.2 oz |
Publisher's Note
Certain to be as controversial and explosive as it is elegant and learned, "The Long Affair is Conor Cruise O'Brien's examination of Thomas Jefferson, as man and icon, through the critical lens of the French Revolution.
Unable to speak the language, endowed with few close friends or colleagues, and curiously detached from Parisian intellectual life, Thomas Jefferson seemed an alienated and somewhat homesick Virginia farmer during most of his tenure as American minister to France. But the advent of the French Revolution seized Jefferson with a new fervor, and in 1789 he returned to the United States an ardent admirer and ally of that cause.
O'Brien argues that Jefferson, though enthralled with the ideological mystique of the French Revolution, nevertheless retained a shrewd political pragmatism, skillfully exploiting the Revolution's popularity with the American public. Ultimately, O'Brien suggests, Jefferson's egalitarian ideals came into conflict with his staunch political support for the slave-based southern economy. Following the French inspired slave insurrection in Santo Domingo, his revolutionary zeal was tempered and began to cool.
Concluding with an evaluation of Jefferson's current role in the system of American political beliefs, O'Brien seriously questions whether we can sustain Jefferson's lofty status in an increasingly multiracial America, and he suggests a disturbing link between Jefferson's vision and white supremacist, survivalist extremists. A provocative analysis of the supreme symbol of American history and political culture, "The Long Affair" will challenge our traditional perceptions of both Jeffersonian history and the Jeffersonian legacy.
Industry Reviews
"O'Brien's penetrating study illuminates how and why Jeffersonian liberalism may be more of a burden than a blessing in America's political culture."
Advertisement - John Patrick Diggins
"'The Long Affair' should be read by anyone interested in Jefferson--or in a good fight."
New York Times Book Review - Richard Brookhiser
"I have to confess that throughout the course of this long book I had serious doubts about O'Brien's mastery of the subject. But the concluding sermon left me doubting my doubts. O'Brien's breathtaking grandiosity in his self-appointed role as American prophet--the absolute conviction of his judgements, the forces of good and evil--resonates uncannily with Jefferson's Manichean view of the epochal struggle between republican good and monarchical evil."
Washington Post Book World - Peter S. Onuf (11/24/1996)
"O'Brien examines two dark sides of the Jeffersonian legacy: his enthusiasm for the French Revolution, and his support for the slave-based Southern economy....O'Brien argues that the egalitarian promise of the Declaration of Independence and Jefferson's many statements against slavery were partly intended for political consumption and concealed both a deep-rooted support for the Southern slave system and a profound racism....On Jefferson's legacy to America, O'Brien ends by questioning the future status of a slaveholder with racist views in America's increasingly multicultural society."
Schmoke
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