Declaring Independence: Jefferson, Natural Language, and the Culture of Performance

“From the simple fact that Jefferson’s text was intended to be read aloud as a literal declaration of political independence, Fliegelman has woven a truly brilliant picture of Jefferson, the document, and American politics and letters. . . . The result is a profoundly exciting new way of understanding the Declaration, its author, and the performative act of the Revolution itself.”—Isaac Kramnick, Cornell University.
“Will more or less immediately transform current study of 18th-century American literature and culture.”—Mitchell Breitwieser, University of California, Berkeley.