This title is part of the National Geographic Directions series. I love reading this series and have read 7 of them so far. In this series National Geographic has commissioned well known authors to write about places with which they are intimately acquainted. Garry Wills attended the University of Virginia and wrote about its unique history and place in the history of the U. S. and of Virginia. This was primarily a book about Thomas Jefferson as architect, designer, and would be academic. This book has inspired me to visit the Charlottesville area so that I can see the work of this polymath first hand.

As for the series - I am going to request another title from them in a few weeks. This is a great series of travel essays. ( )

There are certain writers who can write compellingly about any subject to which they turn a hand, who can, even if the subject is one in which you would ordinarily have no interest, make you sit up late to finish "just another page". Garry Wills is, for me, one of those writers. So to have him write a book about a favorite subject (architecture) and a favorite historical personage (Thomas Jefferson) is a real treat.

Jefferson and Wills have a lot in common, both being men who did not confine their interests and erudition to even a few subjects. In addition to his political interests, Jefferson was an inventor, a designer, an architect, and not in a dabbling, dilettantish way. One of his projects was the campus of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. Wills' book describes the result in great detail (perhaps too great for some, but not for me!), accompanying the text with elevations, preliminary drawings and photographs, as he lays out the relationship of the buildings with each other and with the landscape, and, more important, the aesthetic behind the choices.

But the book is not merely about the buildings. It also is a history of the politics behind the founding of the school, of the difficulties of choosing and keeping faculty in those early years, both fascinating stories.

I find that now I would very much like to travel to Charlottesville, with this book in hand, to re-read it in situ, and see the place through Jefferson's eyes and mind.

I've been meaning to get a copy of Garry Wills' Mr. Jefferson's University since it was released in 2002 (it contains an image of the plan for Union's campus - the first architecturally designed campus in this country - so we knew of it when it came out), but I hadn't run across it and hadn't felt any particular compulsion to buy it online. So I waited, and it languished on my (very long) mental "to be read someday" list. While I was walking through the downtown Charlottesville shops on Thursday night the book's title crossed my mind again, and I managed to find a lovely used copy for a very reasonable price. Since I knew I'd be visiting the University this weekend for a walk-round, I thought I'd at least dip into the book before I went.

Once I started reading, I knew I would have to finish the book (or at least get a fair way through) before I took my walk over to the Grounds. Wills provides a (mildly scattershot) capsule history of the University and Jefferson's preeminent role in its foundation and design (both intellectual and architectural), combined with what amounts to a walking tour of the "Academical Village" as envisioned by Jefferson and still plainly on display today. Had I not had Wills to guide me, I'd have had no idea what I was seeing as I visited the Lawn and saw the different Pavilions (there are ten, each with a different design) and connecting ranges of student rooms which face out onto the greensward. I would have had little understanding of the design of the Rotunda, with its oval-shaped classrooms on the lower and first floors and large dome room (which originally housed the library).

Wills' excellent description of the spectacular main Lawn, as well as the gardens behind the Pavilions and the ranges of 'hotels' behind those are an excellent introduction to the University Grounds, and it seems a book perfectly suited to a morning or afternoon's read while sitting on the Rotunda's steps or in one of the several courtyards around the building (I settled myself on this bench to read the last forty pages or so, in fact). However, without having the visual cues to understand what Wills is talking about, this book might not come through at all. I think if I'd tried to read it at any other time, I'd probably have given it up. But if you're familiar with the University, or are going for your first visit, I can't recommend Mr. Jefferson's University highly enough.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2008/06/book-review-mr-jeffersons-university.htm... ( )

I picked up this book just before I left Charlottesville in May. As prose goes, this is not a well written book. The fact-forward, clunky style is more appropriate to journalism final exams... and in dire need of an editor. His word choice is puzzling at times and sentences often end (and begin) abruptly, unconscious of narrative finesse.

Yet in spite of its stylistic shortcomings, the book is easy to follow: that is, if you are familiar with UVA. I've been reading it on the bus to and from work, picking it up for 20-45 minutes at a time and setting it aside for the rest of the day. Wills attempts to reconstruct the building of UVA's "academical village" through Jefferson's perspective (his sources and citations primarily come from the letters of TJ and Joseph Cabell). I would stress the word "reconstruct" because Wills sees with the eyes of an architect. Furthermore, I should note that if you haven't been to UVA and familiarized yourself with the grounds, you may have trouble following his sinewy, structural descriptions. (Here is what I suggest. If you live in Charlottesville, or are planning to visit, take this book and read it as you walk around central grounds. There's little point in trying to read this unless you can easily visualize what Wills illustrates.)

There is little in the way of elaboration, comment, or speculation. With the exception of a concise summary or platitude to serve as a segue, Wills rarely adds his own voice. The "whys" are most often supplied by Jefferson's words. If there is a particular aesthetic beauty in one of Jefferson's architectural choices, we know it through comparison, contemporary criticism, or justification, but rarely by way of Wills own voice.

Which is a shame because he obviously loves C'ville and TJ. His specificity in regards to the masonry of each building of the Lawn & Range is enough to show his admiration. But I'm half-way through the book; I don't expect the status quo to change. ( )