Jefferson on Display

G. S. Wilson is Shannon Senior Historian at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies, Monticello.

"An instant classic destined to endure as the authoritative account of how Thomas Jefferson affected the ways in which others envisioned him. This highly original and engagingly written work makes a substantial contribution to the literature on the third president." --Robert M.S. McDonald, United States Military Academy at West Point, author of Confounding Father: Thomas Jefferson's Image in His Own Time Although navigating in the crowded sea of literature on Thomas Jefferson, G. S. Wilson, in Jefferson on Display, makes a substantial contribution to our knowledge of the man and his times.... [T]he strongest part of the book concerns Jefferson's attire, reflecting the author's own stated background as a clothing historian and costume designer. Wilson's well-researched and clearly written book stands as an excellent addition to the Jefferson bibliography. -- "The Journal of American History" In Jefferson on Display: Attire, Etiquette and the Art of Presentation author G.S. Wilson dives into the ways in which Jefferson and fellow founders of a new nation used the day's complex language of wardrobe and grooming choices to express professionalism, independence and a new form of power. -- "Daily Progress" International Center for Jefferson Studies historian G. S. Wilson uses a wide array of sources to reveal how Jefferson shaped his public persona to promote his political agenda.... Each calculated presentation was designed to strengthen his party and weaken his opponents, yet the accounts of Jefferson's outrageous attire or his elegant occasions perhaps tell readers more about the persuasion of those who offered them.... Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. -- "CHOICE" One of the most exciting fields in historiography is cultural history.Ranging beyond conventional boundaries of political history, culturalhistory can situate an individual in historical context.... One of the best recent contributions to cultural history is G. S. Wilson's Jefferson on Display: Attire, Etiquette, and the Art of Presentation. Blending her experience as a clothing designer and costume historian with close and attentive research, Wilson branched out from studying Jefferson's portraits to present this elegantly written, beautifully illustrated book.... The book is essential reading for students of Jefferson and his time. -- "Virginia Magazine of History and Biography"