Posted on Sep 24, 1999

Joseph Ellis, the Ford Foundation Professor of History

at Mount Holyoke College, speaks on “Why Jefferson Lives: A

Meditation on the Man and the Myth” on Thursday, Sept. 23, at 7:30

p.m. in the Nott Memorial.

His talk is the first of four this fall in the

Perspectives at the Nott lecture series.

A nationally-recognized scholar of American history from

colonial times through the early decades of the republic, he is the author

of six books including American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas

Jefferson, winner of the 1997 National Book Award in Nonfiction.

The book has been the subject of great critical and

public interest as it explores the complexities of Jefferson's character

and the central role of his political philosophy in the American

experience.