History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson (Library of America) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson (Library of America)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson (Library of America). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson (Library of America) ReviewIn my mind, this is the best, most comprehensive, erudite and witty history of the administration of Jefferson. Although the length may scare some off, it is well worth the time and effort.
Adams spends a great deal of time examining foreign affairs. There are a few simple reasons for this. The wars between England, France and Spain had a direct and major impact on the growth of the US, and their conflicts were the conflicts of the US. Secondly, the federal government of the US, at the time, was devoted mostly to foreign affairs.
This is a political history. Do not look for descriptions on how the common people lived. Do not look for an inquiry into how women were treated, nor a disquisition on slavery. Do not expect much discussion on Sally Hemmings.
If however, you are looking for an in-depth analysis of a critical time in US history, a well-written, often funny book, read this book.History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson (Library of America) Overview

Want to learn more information about History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson (Library of America)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Secularism and State Policies toward Religion: The United States, France, and Turkey (Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Secularism and State Policies toward Religion: The United States, France, and Turkey (Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Secularism and State Policies toward Religion: The United States, France, and Turkey (Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Secularism and State Policies toward Religion: The United States, France, and Turkey (Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics) ReviewJose Casanova, Georgetown University: "This is a pathbreaking book that shifts the attention from contentious debates over secularism as a norm and over the model of the secular state to the more fruitful task of comparing varieties of secularism and understanding the complex struggles that led to the historical formation of each particular type of secular state. It provides that secularism is not just a doctrine of separation of church and state but is most importantly a mode of state regulation in society. Kuru has opened up a field of study that should include many other varieties of secularism: Indian, Chinese, Russian, Mexican, Indonesian, and so forth."
Joel Fetzer, Pepperdine University: "Secularism and State Policies toward Religion should be a cautionary tale for opportunistic religious leaders tempted to give their public blessing to whichever authoritarian government happens to be in power at the moment. At the same time, Professor Kuru demonstrates that true democracy does not require the state to be hostile to religious expression. This book deserves to be read and debated by citizens of predominantly Christian and majority-Muslim nations alike."
Alfred Stepan, Columbia University: "One of the most important and difficult tasks for a major book in comparative politics is to document distinctive, politically significant patterns among states, and then to demonstrate the causes and consequences of these distinctive patterns. Kuru brilliantly pulls off this triple feat in his analysis of the `separatist secularisms' of Turkey, France, and the United States."
Secularism and State Policies toward Religion: The United States, France, and Turkey (Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics) OverviewWhy do secular states pursue different policies toward religion? This book provides a generalizable argument about the impact of ideological struggles on the public policy making process, as well as a state-religion regimes index of 197 countries. More specifically, it analyzes why American state policies are largely tolerant of religion, whereas French and Turkish policies generally prohibit its public visibility, as seen in their bans on Muslim headscarves. In the United States, the dominant ideology is "passive secularism," which requires the state to play a passive role, by allowing public visibility of religion.Dominant ideology in France and Turkey is "assertive secularism," which demands that the state play an assertive role in excluding religion from the public sphere. Passive and assertive secularism became dominant in these cases through certain historical processes, particularly the presence or absence of an ancien régime based on the marriage between monarchy and hegemonic religion during state-building periods.

Want to learn more information about Secularism and State Policies toward Religion: The United States, France, and Turkey (Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson ReviewJFK once held a state dinner for all American-born Nobel laureates. At one point during the festivities, he rose to offer a toast, remarking that there hadn't been so much talent gathered in the White House dining room since Thomas Jefferson ate there alone.
The laureates took the unintended slight with good grace. How could they have not? Thomas Jefferson was without doubt our most cerebral president. He may not have had the academic discipline of a Woodrow Wilson or the native wisdom of a Lincoln. But as we all know, and as Kevin Hayes documents in impressive detail in his splendid Road to Monticello, there's never been a more bookish president, nor a wider-read one, than Jefferson.
Hayes has written an old-style (I mean this as a compliment, by the way) intellectual biography. Jefferson's public career is mentioned in passing, but what Hayes is primarily concerned to do is chart the course of Jefferson's thought from his earliest to his final days by charting his reading. Who were the authors that especially impressed him? That he found especially wanting? What connections between his diverse readings did he make? What were the blindspots and lacunae in his thinking and reading? Why did he select the quotes he jotted down in his Commonplace Books? In short, what Hayes wants to do in The Road to Monticello is get a clearer picture of Jefferson the thinker from examining the books he thought about.
Jefferson's erudition is impressive. He read in six languages (including Anglo-Saxon), and was interested in Asian, Indian, and Semetic languages. And he read everything: law, politics, philosophy, geography, history, the occasional theology tome, anthropology, science, music, fiction, poetry, agronomy, cookbooks. His curiosity was boundless, and never abated as the years rolled on. He cross-referenced his readings with marginalia: his law books, for example, frequently contain scribbled references to Greek tragedians and historians. He collected books avidly, during a time when book collecting wasn't all that easy. Hayes tells us that whenever Jefferson rolled into a city, he quickly made his way to the bookshops. By the end of his life, he'd amassed one of the finest collections in the early Republic, which (characteristically) he catalogued according to a system of his own invention. (Hayes' description of it is fascinating, especially for those of us who know a little about Francis Bacon.)
But Jefferson was also an extremely secretive man, and even though Hayes provides us with an excellent account of the cerebral food that fed Jefferson's intellect, I closed the book feeling that Jefferson the man still remained more enigmatic than not. Hayes tells us what Jefferson thought about, but what made him tick remains elusive. This isn't Hayes' failure so much as Jefferson's refusal to leave no personal memoirs, no tormented self-examinations in his Commonplace Books, and very few epistolary revelations. Ultimately, then, Hayes helps us penetrate the mind of Jefferson. But the third president's soul remains unexplored, as it probably always will.
Highly recommended. A genuine treat.The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson Overview

Want to learn more information about The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...