Notes on the State of Virginia

Thomas Jefferson

ISBN 10: 0393006476 / ISBN 13: 9780393006476

Published by W W Norton & Co Inc, 1982

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Notes on the State of Virginia
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Publication Date: 1982
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393006476
• ISBN 13: 9780393006476
• Binding: paperback
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

Available for the first time in Penguin Classics, Notes on the State of Virginia is at once a scientific discourse, an attempt to define America, and an examination of the idea of freedom. With the same genius and clear, flexible prose style that informs the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson chronicles Virginia's natural, social, and political history.

Frank Shuffleton includes in this edition with selections from relevant correspondence and discusses the work's origins, composition, and initial reception. He focuses particularly on Jefferson's response to contemporary scientific writings on "New World degeneracy"; his differing treatment of Blacks and Native Americans; and his influential (and problematic) role in creating a mythicized American self-image.

Book Description

"[Peden] has made available the authoritative edition of one of the most important books to emerge in eighteenth-century America. He has set forth the history of its reception and criticism in such a way as to establish his point that in the 'Notes on Virginia' Jefferson 'produced one of America's first permanent literary and intellectual landmarks.'"-- Virginia Quarterly Review