Thomas Jefferson : the art of power / Jon Meacham.

Originally published: 2012.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Prologue. The world's best hope -- Pt. I. The scion: beginnings to spring 1774 : A fortunate son ; What fixed the destinies of my life ; Roots of revolution ; Temptations and trials ; A world of desire and denial -- Pt. II. The revolutionary: spring 1774 to summer 1776 : Like a shock of electricity ; There is no peace ; The famous Mr. Jefferson ; The course of human events ; The pull of duty -- Pt. III. Reformer and governor: late 1776 to 1782 : An agenda for liberty ; A troublesome office ; Redcoats at Monticello ; To burn on through death -- Pt. IV. The frustrated congressman: late 1782 to mid-1784 : Return to the arena ; A struggle for respect ; Lost cities and life counsel -- Pt. V. A man of the world: 1785 to 1789 : The vaunted scene of Europe ; The philosophical world ; His head and his heart ; Do you like our new Constitution? ; A treaty in Paris -- Pt. VI. The first Secretary of State: 1789 to 1792 : A new post in New York ; Mr. Jefferson is greatly too democratic ; Two cocks in the pit ; The end of a stormy tour -- Pt. VII. The leader of the opposition: 1793 to 1800 : In wait at Monticello ; To the Vice Presidency ; The reign of witches ; Adams vs. Jefferson redux ; A desperate state of affairs -- Pt. VIII. The President of the United States: 1801 to 1809 : The new order of things begins ; A confident president ; Victories, scandal, and a secret sickness ; The air of enchantment! ; The people were never more happy ; A deep, dark, and widespread conspiracy ; This damned embargo ; A farewell to ultimate power -- Pt. IX. The master of Monticello: 1809 to the end : My body, mind, and affairs ; To form statesmen, legislators and judges ; The knell of the union ; No, doctor, nothing more -- Epilogue : All honor to Jefferson.

In this biography the author draws upon archives in the United States, England, and France, as well as unpublished transcripts of Jefferson presidential papers to give readers a view of Jefferson the politician and the President, a great and complex human being forever engaged in the wars of his era. The father of the ideal of individual liberty, of the Louisiana Purchase, of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and of the settling of the West, Jefferson recognized that the genius of humanity, and the genius of the new nation, lay in the possibility of progress. Philosophers think; politicians maneuver. Jefferson's genius was that he was both and could do both, often simultaneously, catapulting him into becoming the most successful political leader of the early republic, and perhaps in all of American history.