The Philosophical Conversations of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson

One of the unexplored characteristics of that correspondence, cornucopian to scholars, is its philosophical substance. Both men, though neither were philosophers, spent much of their leisurely time reading philosophy and their letters, upon resumption of their correspondence, are teeming with philosophical content.

That content has never been the subject of a book-length manuscript, until now. In this book, the author offers a critical analysis of the philosophical wisdom of the two Founders. He covers “heavy” conversation—topics include God, the meaning of life, the hereafter, and the function of grieving—in prose that is light, lively, and engaging and accessible to non-philosophers as well as philosophers.