Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 3, 1993 TAG: 9309260237
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: D-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by ROBERT HILLDRUP
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
TURNING THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN: INSIDE THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. By John Tebbel. Orion Books. $27.50.
THE LINCOLN NOBODY KNOWS. By Webb Garrison. Rutledge Hill Press. $16.95.
Each of these books speaks to a different portion of the life and history of the American nation and with varying degrees of distinction and merit.
By far the best and most comprehensive is Randall's work on Jefferson. And while it may not replace Dumas Malone's multivolume study to which Malone devoted his life, it is hard to imagine a better job being done in a single volume.
Randall brings to his book credentials as both journalist and academic. Almost 600 pages of text are backed by more than 100 pages of notes, and a quantity of that sort can easily stun a reader to numbness unless the writing is brisk and lively without sensationalism and hyperbole.
Randall wisely does not try to gild the lily of Jefferson's reputation, something that hardly needs doing, but which Virginians in particular are wont to attempt. What emerges is a sum that is almost greater than its parts, a man who had vision and balance, temper and temperament, wisdom and judgment. He is most certainly the true American genius unrivaled by any, and approached only by Franklin.
The Jefferson of the Declaration is fully covered, as is Jefferson on religion, both his own continual questioning and the religious liberties he set out for others. That Jefferson could fall victim to the pleasures of the flesh is made clear, particularly in an account of his affair with Maria Cosway. As to the alleged Sally Hemmings affair, Randall dismisses it with the short treatment it deserves, noting correctly that is is based upon discredited testimony and irresponsible scholarship.
Jefferson did not see himself as beyond reproach or without error. Randall makes this clear. But what emerges beyond it is the contrast between Jefferson and the pygmies who have succeeded him on both state and national levels. Randall's book thus results, for the reader, in a conclusion both sobering and sad.
In a kind of hip-hop present tense, John Tebbel's "Turning the World Upside Down" recites the moves and countermoves that led to the American Revolution and the prosecution thereof. Like all wars, it was a series of triumphs and blunders. His book is at its best when it emphasizes the wide range of opinions and conduct, from the British (and the Americans) who didn't want to fight, to those who wanted to squash each other flat, and those who wanted to make sure they didn't alienate anyone.
A professor of journalism at New York University, Tebbel uses his skill to sprinkle his story with the kind of anecdote from the common citizen and soldier that makes for good history. He does this particularly well in reciting the bitterness with which some British troops took the surrender at Yorktown - his title comes from the air played by the British at that time, "The World Turned Upside Down" - and of how the British tried to insult the Americans, even in surrender, without success.
"The Lincoln Nobody Knows" is rather more of a rehash of what is already known, at least by scholars. To jazz things up a bit, Garrison quotes strange mutants known as "psycho-biographers" who analyze a president who, if not already strange, was justifiably made so by the strains of the Civil War and the preserving of the Union. It is hard for Southerners to understand how strongly many in the North felt about the Union, and Garrison does a good job of stressing this aspect of Lincoln's character.
The book is well illustrated with drawings, cartoons and photos of the day, and if at times it reads like an expanded version of a Reader's Digest condensation, it should have popular, if not scholarly appeal.
\ Robert Hilldrup is a Richmond writer and former newspaperman.
by CNB