Andrew J. O’Shaughnessy - Böcker

Already renowned as a statesman, Thomas Jefferson in his retirement from government turned his attention to the founding of an institution of higher learning. Never merely a patron, the former president oversaw every aspect of the creation of what would become the University of Virginia. Along with the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, he regarded it as one of the three greatest achievements in his life. Nonetheless, historians often treat this period as an epilogue to Jefferson’s career.In The Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind, Andrew O’Shaughnessy offers a twin biography of Jefferson in retirement and of the University of Virginia in its earliest years. He reveals how Jefferson’s vision anticipated the modern university and profoundly influenced the development of American higher education. The University of Virginia was the most visible apex of what was a much broader educational vision that distinguishes Jefferson as one of the earliest advocates of a public education system.Just as Jefferson’s proclamation that "all men are created equal" was tainted by the ongoing institution of slavery, however, so was his university. O’Shaughnessy addresses this tragic conflict in Jefferson’s conception of the university and society, showing how Jefferson’s loftier aspirations for the university were not fully realized. Nevertheless, his remarkable vision in founding the university remains vital to any consideration of the role of education in the success of the democratic experiment.

Europe’s crucial contribution to the achievement of American independence.American independence would not have been achieved without diplomatic, financial, and military support from Europe. And without recognition from powerful European nations, the young country would never have assumed an independent status "amongst the powers of the earth." This collection of essays not only offers new glimpses into the ways in which various European powers and actors enabled American patriots to fight and win the war, it also highlights the American Revolution’s short- and long-term impact on the Atlantic world.Because of the strength of European support, Great Britain found itself diplomatically isolated, without an ally in a war that had become a global conflict, and with a navy outnumbered by the combined fleets of America’s friends. This volume is a timely reminder of the importance of international support for the winning of American independence and the global context of the American Revolution as we approach its 250th anniversary.Contributors: Olivier Chaline, Sorbonne Université | Robert Rhodes Crout, College of Charleston | Kathleen DuVal, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Victor Enthoven, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam | Paul A. Gilje, University of Oklahoma | Jean-Marie Kowalski, Sorbonne Université | Andrew J. O’Shaughnessy, University of Virginia | Julia Osman, Mississippi State University | Munro Price, University of Bradford | Gonzalo M. Quintero Saravia, Senior Spanish diplomat | John A. Ragosta, Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello | Marie-Jeanne Rossignol, Université Paris Cité | Timothy D. Walker, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Europe’s crucial contribution to the achievement of American independence.American independence would not have been achieved without diplomatic, financial, and military support from Europe. And without recognition from powerful European nations, the young country would never have assumed an independent status "amongst the powers of the earth." This collection of essays not only offers new glimpses into the ways in which various European powers and actors enabled American patriots to fight and win the war, it also highlights the American Revolution’s short- and long-term impact on the Atlantic world.Because of the strength of European support, Great Britain found itself diplomatically isolated, without an ally in a war that had become a global conflict, and with a navy outnumbered by the combined fleets of America’s friends. This volume is a timely reminder of the importance of international support for the winning of American independence and the global context of the American Revolution as we approach its 250th anniversary.Contributors: Olivier Chaline, Sorbonne Université | Robert Rhodes Crout, College of Charleston | Kathleen DuVal, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Victor Enthoven, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam | Paul A. Gilje, University of Oklahoma | Jean-Marie Kowalski, Sorbonne Université | Andrew J. O’Shaughnessy, University of Virginia | Julia Osman, Mississippi State University | Munro Price, University of Bradford | Gonzalo M. Quintero Saravia, Senior Spanish diplomat | John A. Ragosta, Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello | Marie-Jeanne Rossignol, Université Paris Cité | Timothy D. Walker, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Reexamining a seminal work on British capitalism and Caribbean slavery and its continuing reverberations in the twenty-first centuryEric Williams's Capitalism and Slavery (1944), with its insightful and provocative theses about the relationship between Caribbean slavery and the growth of the British economy and the Industrial Revolution, has proved an enduring and controversial book. Never out of print since its publication, it is constantly being reevaluated and reassessed in the light of changing scholarship and new understandings of race, slavery, and capitalism. Recent years have seen considerable interest in the topics that first motivated Williams's lively and polemical work. The essays in this collection dissect the links between the existence of racial slavery in the Americas, the concomitant rise of capitalism, and the vital role of both slavery and capitalism in the making of the modern world—essential topics not just in the reevaluation of Williams's ideas for the twenty-first century but as areas of fierce interest and even fiercer debate in contemporary intellectual life.