Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Considering the continuous claim by Barton to not only have read, but to own a wealth of original source material, I can only come to one of two conclusions. Either Barton has not read the sources that he owns, or he is a fantastical liar. Given the insidious relationship between the sources and Barton's interpretations, I am almost certain that the latter conclusion is correct. His book is an exercise in intellectual intimidation and wishful thinking. The rhetoric is likely to fool anyone who shares Barton's religious sentiments and is ill-acquainted with Jefferson's biography. Fortunately for Barton, there is a substantial overlap between these two categories of people. It would be a dark moment in education if Barton's book comes to be the only view of Jefferson that many US citizens read. I recommend Chris Rodda's book, not only as a refutation of Barton's work, but also as a great example of how history can be written in light of modern technology. Her website links to images of all the original sources so you can figure out for yourself which version of history is closer to the truth. Liars For Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternate Version of American History Vol. 1 Read some of Jefferson's letters on Rodda's website and try to imagine what Jefferson would think of Barton's authoritarian approach to knowledge, and the his vision of a closed-society based on 'Christian values'. I predict this book with be the future source material for religious bigots. If left unchallenged and unquestioned, it will spread from Liberty University, to Fox News, to the Tea Party. Every US citizen who values their exceptional secular democratic republic -the great gift that Jefferson gave us- must seek to refute these ideas at every opportunity.