Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power | Jon Meacham | Talks at Google

Pulitzer Prize--winning author Jon Meacham returns to the Googleplex for a talk about "Thomas Jefferson: the Art of Power."
You can find Jon's books on Google Play: goo.gl/5lDWk
From the publisher: Thomas Jefferson hated confrontation, and yet his understanding of power and of human nature enabled him to move men and to marshal ideas, to learn from his mistakes, and to prevail. Passionate about many things-women, his family, books, science, architecture, gardens, friends, Monticello, and Paris-Jefferson loved America most, and he strove over and over again, despite fierce opposition, to realize his vision: the creation, survival, and success of popular government in America. Jon Meacham lets us see Jefferson's world as Jefferson himself saw it, and to appreciate how Jefferson found the means to endure and win in the face of rife partisan division, economic uncertainty, and external threat. Drawing on archives in the United States, England, and France, as well as unpublished Jefferson presidential papers, Meacham presents Jefferson as the most successful political leader of the early republic, and perhaps in all of American history.
The father of the ideal of individual liberty, of the Louisiana Purchase, of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and of the settling of the West, Jefferson recognized that the genius of humanity-and the genius of the new nation-lay in the possibility of progress, of discovering the undiscovered and seeking the unknown. From the writing of the Declaration of Independence to elegant dinners in Paris and in the President's House; from political maneuverings in the boardinghouses and legislative halls of Philadelphia and New York to the infant capital on the Potomac; from his complicated life at Monticello, his breathtaking house and plantation in Virginia, to the creation of the University of Virginia, Jefferson was central to the age. Here too is the personal Jefferson, a man of appetite, sensuality, and passion.
The Jefferson story resonates today not least because he led his nation through ferocious partisanship and cultural warfare amid economic change and external threats, and also because he embodies an eternal drama, the struggle of the leadership of a nation to achieve greatness in a difficult and confounding world.

[@rockstarr9000]

I went to college with Jon. He is as brilliant now as he was then.

[@margotadair1007]

Someone with JM’s knowledge of the past (of past presidents’ lives) should be an adviser to any sitting president. His knowledge of how past presidents dealt with issues is so on point. I like his commentary on Jefferson’s belief that civic engagement in politics should be met with compromise is important for the continuation of our republic. Meacham’s mention of G Washington’s letter to both Hamilton and Jefferson about their cutthroat dealings with each other endangered the new republic’s survival and making the country vulnerable to foreign enemies is so applicable to todays’ politics. Of how some elected leaders now see enemies of decades ago as not an enemy (i.e. Russia, North Kore, Nazism) and how Congress is at an impasse regarding governance for the entire country and focusing on partisan politics and the politization of government agencies is so scary and discouraging.

[@TaylorThought]

Jon is so cool. I love hearing him talk.

[@USCPSC-uz6yl]

I got the book yesterday and it's very informative and interesting. Jefferson is probably one of my favorite Presidents.

[@gls600]

What I love about Jefferson is the willingness he showed to set aside dogma in order to accomplish the purchase French Louisiana. Today it seems that politicians would rather see the country fall apart rather than compromise on positions that stem from their world view.

[@Heraclitean]

I envy people like Meacham, who can answer the question, "Does there need to be yet another book about Jefferson?" with an unproblematic, unhesitating "Yes, and I shall write it."

[@JustinUrban1]

What we are missing now is more intellectuals like Jon. Now people only listen to KZbin Political and Conspiracy theorists.

[@forrestpowell12]

I read the remainder of the book this week while having a cough/fever. Absolutely displayed accuratemy to the mind and long life. It researched heavily into numerous Jeffersonian images that I couldn't believe we're found, especially his fascination in balloons under his administration.

[@dejure9178]

Here is a non-fringe commentary on this book. Well-written, insightful biography that belongs in the recent pantheon of excellent biographies written on a number of Founders: Adams and Hamilton come to mind.

[@wildbudda]

He's great. Wow, what a tough crowd though! No one is laughing at his jokes which are pretty funny!

[@Satyr_Art_Studio]

49:15 This is a valuable point made here, and it touches on an important aspect of Google's current attempts at tuning and revising it's services; Google is currently practicing customizing search results, both in Google Search as well as in KZbin. Consequently individuals are being presented with self-reinforcing query results and denied alternate POV to evaluate. My wife & I already experience VASTLY different search results. We surprise each other with them daily. It's VERY disturbing.

[@HEALInformatics]

Meacham is not some basement blogger: "A former Executive Editor and Executive Vice President at Random House, he is a contributing writer to The New York Times Book Review, a contributing editor to Time magazine, and a former Editor-in-Chief of Newsweek. He is the author of several books. He won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House. He holds the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Endowed Chair in American Presidency at Vanderbilt University." -WP

[@writethisthat3613]

fantastic, I really enjoyed this

[@HundreadD]

That comment about Twitter was more than prescient

[@blackstar101kesha]

"We did it for SEO"

[@davysteak]

Over their heads.

[@wcgreennyc]

To say that "The War between Eng. & Am. was from 1764 to1812" is to say that Great Britain was at war with the world. King & Parliament treated the world with the same pomposity that it treated the United States. American reactions were no different than, say French, Prussian, Indian, Chinese, etc., etc., etc.

[@firstlady...]

When Jon Meacham speaks, you need to get your dictionary out!

[@FCSchaefer]

Meacham's book is a great work on a great man, unfairly maligned in this too politically correct age.

[@thinkingman2]

I always thought that Jefferson stalled on slavery so that he would not lose his African sister-in-law lover who reminded him of his dead wife who he loved more than anything.