who is your favorite person to read up on in american history?

[redirish28]

mine would be Thomas Jefferson.

[Shredr]

1. Jefferson is up there for me, but I just love TR!

Yes, he had flaws, but he was such a strong-willed, magnificent personality. He's been an inspiration for me.

Plus, he was so prolific in his writing, his own autobiography is still one of the best books about his life.

[redirish28]

2. what is the title of his autobiography?

[Shredr]

3. Not a very inspired title...

"An Autobiography" by Theodore Roosevelt. Great book, though.

[Yupster]

4. Speaking of Jefferson,

Jefferson Davis sure had a fascinating life. Plenty to study and contemplate when reading of his life. I thought the most recent biography by William Cooper was particularly good.

[Bzzzz]

5. Mine would be...

John Adams.

[David Zephyr]

6. Frederick Douglass

[YankeyMCC]

7. Lincoln and Washington

[redirish28]

8. I got 2 very good biographies on...

Washington, and 1 ten volume biography on Lincoln. All 3 rock.

[YankeyMCC]

9. Wow a 10 volume on Lincoln

Which is that?

My favorites are "Lincoln's Virtues" and
"An Imperfect God" for Washington

I'm currently looking around for a good bio on Sam Adams, I want to get a good look at what the more radical side of the revolutionary movement looked like.

[redirish28]

10. the 2 bios on Washington are...

a 4 volume bio by James Thomas Flexner and a 7 volume bio by Douglass Southall Freeman. The 10 volume bio ob Lincoln was written by John Hay and John G. Nicolay

[Tangledog]

11. Flexner, Washington's biographer

...did a one-volume version, too. It's surprisingly hard to find these days, but worth looking for if you don't want to tackle the entire series.

[suigeneris]

12. Jefferson. I love a raging intellect and there is much to admire

in his thought. I particularly like his ideas about unobstructed liberty. The patrician farmer thing as an ideal for the nation leaves me cold though.

I also like Jefferson because of his internal contradictions, his complexity regarding religion and the distance between his thought and his personal practice. It all makes him human to me.