Light and Liberty: Reflections on the Pursuit of Happiness »

ERIC S. PETERSEN is a managing partner at the New York law firm of Hawkins Delafield & Wood LLP. Educated at Brown University and the University of Chicago Law School, he has studied Jefferson’s life and works since 1993. He lives in Connecticut and can be reached at www.lightandliberty.org.

Were Thomas Jefferson alive to read this book, he would recognize every sentence, every elegant turn of phrase, every lofty, beautifully expressed idea. Indeed, every word in the book is his. In an astonishing feat of editing, Eric S. Petersen has culled the entirety of Thomas Jefferson’s published works to fashion thirty-four original essays on themes ranging from patriotism and liberty to hope, humility, and gratitude. The result is a lucid, inspiring distillation of the wisdom of one of America’s greatest political thinkers.

From his personal motto—“Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God”—to his resounding discourse on “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson defined the essential truth of the American spirit. In the essays that Petersen has crafted from letters, speeches, and public documents, Jefferson’s unique moral philosophy and vision shine through. Among the hundreds of magnificent sentences gathered in this volume, here are Jefferson’s pronouncements on

Gratitude: “I have but one system of ethics for men and for nations—
to be grateful, to be faithful to all engagements and under all circumstances, to be open and generous.”

Religion: “A concern purely between our God and our consciences.”

America’s national character: “It is part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate; to surmount every difficulty with resolution and contrivance.”

Public debt: “We shall all consider ourselves unauthorized to saddle posterity with our debts, and morally bound to pay them ourselves.”

War: “I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind.”

In stately measured cadences, these thirty-four essays provide timeless guidance on leading a spiritually fulfilling life. Light and Liberty is a triumphant work of supreme eloquence, as uplifting today as when Jefferson first set these immortal sentences on paper.

Library Journal

In the vein of The Jefferson Bible, lawyer Petersen (Hawkins, Delafield & Wood) has attempted to distill the best of Jefferson's copious personal correspondence and public writings into one thin volume of philosophical and practical essays. In this "attempt to bring the light of Thomas Jefferson back into the American sky," Petersen has painstakingly chosen exemplary quotations and arranged them into a series of short paragraphs that highlight Jefferson's thinking and advice on diverse topics, including faith, fitness, sincerity, seeing the good, Jesus, nature's beauty, living in the present, enthusiasm, patriotism, oneness, hope, and truth-seeking. While the text is naturally somewhat disjointed, Petersen has done a remarkable job of tying the quotations together into unified essays. One criticism is that the essays are not arranged by category (such as healthy living, political advice, spiritual advice). The book includes a brief chronology of Jefferson's life, as well as copious notes on the sources used. Recommended for Jefferson aficionados.-Robert Flatley, Kutztown Univ., PA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.