Inventing America; Jefferson's Declaration of Independence

xxvi, 398, [6] pages. Ex-library with some of the usual library markings. DJ has several small chips and tears. Includes Plan of the Book; Prologue; Sections on Revolutionary Charter; A Scientific Paper; A Moral Paper; A Sentimental Paper, and National Symbol, Epilogue; Paraphernalia; Key to Brief Citations; The Declarations of Jefferson and of the Congress; Index to Proper Names; and Index to Phrases. Inventing America received the National Book Critics Circle Award for General Non-Fiction and the Merle Curti Award. Garry Wills (born May 22, 1934) is an American author, journalist, and historian, specializing in American history, politics, and religion. He won a Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1993. Wills has written over fifty books and, since 1973, has been a frequent reviewer for The New York Review of Books. He became a faculty member of the history department at Northwestern University in 1980, where he is currently an Emeritus Professor of History. The author argues that Americans have learned, over time, to see the Declaration of Independence rather than read it. This accounts fro a surprising lack of scholarly inquiry into the real meaning of he document and for the unfounded assumption that it simply restates pieties of eighteenth-century politics. Unlike other students of Jefferson, Wills thinks the deleted sections of the Declaration were crucial to understanding what was new and important in the document He finds the original draft at odds with Locke on point after point--the nature of rights, of the social contract, of property, of revolution. Derived from a Kirkus review: The eclectic, vastly inquisitive Gary Wills, an essayist on diverse contemporary topics and a classicist by training, here writes on the intellectual foundations of the Declaration of Independence--or, inextricably, the bases of its author's thinking. Impressive. Wills highlights Jefferson's adherence to the moral and political philosophy of the Scottish Enlightenment, downplays the influence of Locke, and dismisses Montesquieu altogether. Also against the common perception, Wills stresses the continuity of the Declaration with earlier colonial petitions and English revolutionary thought. In one chapter--intended to demonstrate that Jefferson has been misread--Wills disputes Erik Erikson's interpretation of Jefferson's fears atop Virginia's Natural Bridge. Wills takes great pains to review primary materials. Particularly important is his view of Carl Becker's Declaration of Independence (1922), the standard work and the one which connects Locke and the French Enlightenment to Jefferson. Perhaps most significant, however, is that this work will be consulted by scholars for Wills' scrupulous attention to 18th-century language and careful tracing of ideas. First Edition [stated] but may be book club because no price on DJ.…