Thomas Jefferson's Italian and Italian-Related Books in the History of Universal Personal Rights: 1 (Robert Viscusi Essay)

Literary Nonfiction. Italian American Studies. Linda L. Carroll invites us to reconsider Jeffersons relationship with Italian thought and culture in a more expansive and encompassing manner. Going beyond Filippo Mazzei to Boccaccios Decameron and Giottos Scrovegni Chapel from Vespucci to Ariosto Machiavelli and Guicciardini from Tasso to Sarpi to Galilei. In the universe of Jeffersons library we see the Italian texts functioning as a universal law of gravitation holding everything--from natural law to conciliarism--in exquisite balance. A delight for philologists bibliophiles philosophers and all those in Italian Studies.--Stanislao G. Pugliese