Mr. Jefferson's University by Garry Willis

 

Summary (from the publisher): In the paperback edition of the critically acclaimed hardcover, bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize-winner Garry Wills explores Thomas Jefferson's final and favorite achievement, the University of Virginia.

The University of Virginia is one of America's greatest architectural treasures and one of Thomas Jefferson's proudest achievements. At his request his headstone says nothing of his service as America's first Secretary of State or its third President. It says, "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia." For this political genius was a supremely gifted artist as well, and of all Jefferson's stunning accomplishments, the school he built in Charlottesville is perhaps the most perfect expression of the man as leader, as architect, and as philosopher.

In this engrossing, perceptive book, Garry Wills once again displays the keen intelligence and eloquent style that have won him great critical praise as he explores the creation of a masterpiece, tracing its evolution from Jefferson's idea of an "academical village" into a classically beautiful campus. Mr. Jefferson's University is at once a wonderful chronicle of the birth of a national institution and a deft portrait of the towering American who brought it to life.

Review: An absorbing brief history of the creation and design of the University of Virginia's academical village and the man behind it, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson spent the last years of his life fighting for and working towards the creation of a university, which included political maneuvering for funding, ongoing collaboration with the best architects of the day, and fighting to secure the best professors and resources possible for the school. 

I learned a lot about the early days of the university and the intent behind the design through this book. Jefferson intentionally designed the pavilions around his great rotunda with a paradoxical effect - "Of regimentation and individual expression, of hierarchical order and relaxed improvising. Some seize on only one aspect of this complicated experience, calling it either too orderly and systematic or too heterogenous and disordered. But it is the reconciliation of these apparent irreconcilables that is the genius of the system" (17). 

There is no way to discuss the founding of the University of Virginia without also discussing its founder, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was not afraid to "fight dirty" to achieve his vision (38). In pursuit of state funding, he actively sought to thwart the goals of competing institutions, specifically William & Mary, in order to capture state funds for his own project. It was fascinating to imagine Jefferson at home at Monticello from which he "could see whether work was being done by training his telescope on the site - and workers knew that his superintending intellect always had them under survey" (70). It is particularly astounding to see what he achieved given all of his many competiting responsibilities at the time: "putting up the university while carrying on all his other activities as the manager of two working plantations, an advisor to political allies, and a correspondent with philosophes around the world" (102). 

I also enjoyed the author's detailed description of the interior design of the Rotunda. When it burned after Jefferson's death, it was redesigned. Many years later, in the 1950s, Jefferson's original plans were uncovered, and a great debate ensued until it was originally restored to approximately the original design. 

This was a relatively dry text, with the early chapters consumed by detailed minute descriptions of the different pavilions around the great lawn of UVA. While there are a few black and white photos and sketches, some of this was hard to follow without a comprehensive mental map of the layout of the university. While others have criticized the inclusion of so much detail about Jefferson himself, I found it essential to a true understanding of the university and the decisions behind much of the design. As someone with an interest in history and Virginia history in particular, as well as a frequent visitor over the years to both Monticello and the University of Virginia, I enjoyed learning more about its origins and history through this text. 

Stars: 4