Summary: AuthorViews is proud to present two minutes with the erudite Jonathan Gross, taken from an interview conducted at the 2007 Virginia Festival of the Book. Thomas Jefferson's Scrapbooks is one of the earliest anthologies of American literature, with 243 poems that Jefferson himself collected -- beautiful prose concerning nation, death, love and family. By exploring Jefferson's taste for American poetry, Gross is able to examine Jefferson through a lens neglected by most historians and biographers. Along with the poems, the anthology contains annotations, essays and photographs that together make this one of the richest volumes ever created on America's third President. In this video, professor and Jeffersonian expert Jonathan Gross talks about Jefferson's use of poetry to teach his grandchildren how to read, as well as Jefferson's fascination with romantic poetry.
