Circle of Friends: Thomas Jefferson and His Women Correspondents

For historians who love the formal language common in letters of the 18th and 19th centuries, Gawalt's collection of Jefferson's correspondence with women will be a pleasure. For the rest of the world, it's going to be a plodding challenge. And that's unfortunate, because the book contains some amazing moments. In one letter, a Jefferson correspondent, in describing her escape from Paris before the storming of the Bastille, writes, "I am not sure the Revolution can be prevented." This is a chilling and prescient comment about the impending French Revolution, coming from a woman during a time when females were expected to be delicate, uneducated, and cloistered. In another letter, Madame de Corny, commenting on the Louisiana Purchase, remarks, "I am not sure even with all your skill Louisiana will not give you some embarrassment." The correspondence also provides a glimpse of Jefferson as a romantic dreamer, shows the struggles he endured, and illustrates his lifelong financial problems. He writes to a daughter about his plans to "sell the detached tracts of land... so as to pay the debts I have." Gawalt's pithy commentary between letters is so informative that fewer letters and more contextual information might have allowed the correspondence to shine more brightly.