Pun Salad

Back in 2009, I watched Julie & Julia, a movie about a 30-something New Yorker (Julie) working through all 500+ recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Its parallel narratives involved Julia's days learning her craft in France with Julie's sometimes amusing efforts. Amy Adams as Julie, Meryl Streep as Julia, and it's not the worst chick flick your wife will ever drag you to see.

I was reminded of that more than once reading this book. It could well have been titled Derek & Tom. The author, Derek Baxter, a Jefferson fan from his youth, got an idea to get to know his idol better by following his travels, mostly in Europe. He's mainly inspired by Jefferson's brief Hints to Americans Travelling in Europe, with its subsection "Objects of Attention for an American". TJ suggested paying detailed attention to topics that might be useful to transfer to the young nation: agriculture, mechanical arts, gardens, architecture, politics.

But not everything. TJ's amusing aside on painting and statuary: "Too expensive for the state of wealth among us. It would be useless therefore and preposterous for us to endeavor to make ourselves connoisseurs in those arts. They are worth seeing, but not studying." And the "courts" (haunts of the nobility):

To be seen as you would see the tower of London or Menagerie of Versailles with their Lions, tygers, hyaenas and other beasts of prey, standing in the same relation to their fellows. A slight acquaintance with them will suffice to shew you that, under the most imposing exterior, they are the weakest and worst part of mankind. Their manners, could you ape them, would not make you beloved in your own country, nor would they improve it could you introduce them there to the exclusion of that honest simplicity now prevailing in America, and worthy of being cherished.

There are a lot of great anecdotes in this book. I especially liked Jefferson's efforts to rebut a snooty European who maintained that American animal species were degenerate compared to their European counterparts. TJ wangled the shipment of the corpse of a seven-foot New Hampshire moose across the pond. (It did not travel well.)

And the thing Baxter and his wife notice about Versailles? It smells like pee.

Baxter found a lot to like about Jefferson. It is difficult to comprehend TJ's breadth and depth of interests today; in comparison, our modern politicians seem to know little more than how to get elected via bullshit.

But there's also one big item to despise, unfortunately. Slavery, of course. Baxter's discoveries in this area dishearten him, and also this reader. Despite his glowing words about inalienable rights in the Declaration, TJ's post-revolution behavior was mostly self-interested. His lavish lifestyle in Virginia required a raft of involuntary servants, and he made no effort to free them, or to plan for their eventual freedom.

And, of course, Sally Hemmings.

Baxter is seemingly mild progressive, and semi-woke. His efforts to drag in modern issues occasional induce eye-rolling. His discussion of climate change (relevant due to TJ's interest in meteorology) clocks in at approximately 0.73 Thunbergs on the alarmist scale. A few pages are expended in describing his White Guilt and White Privilege. (In keeping with trendy usage, he capitalizes "White" and "Black" throughout.) And this is really bad:

Jessup White lives in Richmond, following a career as a broadcast journalist. No matter what her family achieves, though, she's left with a constant worry about their safety. White violence can affect any African American, across all genders, ages, and occupations. "My son went to MIT. But he's six feet tall with broad shoulders. He's a big strong Black man. I know what can happen to him," she says, referencing the never-ending police killing of African Americans.