Dinner at Mr. Jefferson's

The title and subtitle caught my eye on a recent tour of Monticello. And, despite a decent knowledge of U.S. history, I did not remember learning about the turning-point dinner hosted by Jefferson and attended by Madison and Hamilton. I held off on picking up the book until my book club could begin Ellis' “Founding Brothers,” which includes the dinner as one of six portraits of the interrelationships between the Founding Fathers.

The chapter describing said dinner moved quickly, but, was placed in the middle of a book filled with interesting, but not necessarily related, historical issues and events. For example, there are sections covering Jefferson's Vice Presidency and Presidency, which were interesting, but not tied back to the pivotal dinner. There are several pages devoted to Benjamin Banneker, about whom the author wrote a separate book. This very interesting figure simply did not fit into the great compromise forged at a very private dinner.

So, this is an okay attempt at bringing a dusty footnote to early U.S. history to light.