Thomas Jefferson's Battle for Science: Bias, Truth, and a Mighty Moose!

A delightfully enlightening account and a welcome antidote to our own time’s precarious truthiness.

★ "With theatrical flair, Anderson and Holmes lay out a historical contretemps between Jefferson, who took 'supreme delight' in science and was an eager observer of the natural world, and renowned French naturalist Buffon over his unsupported claim that, with the mammoth extinct, the New World's wild creatures were uniformly smaller and weaker than those of the Old. Scarlet faced and with steam blowing out his ears (at least in the illustration), the founding father sets out furiously to prove Buffon wrong, not only by gathering data to disprove such outrageous errors but by sending the pundit tangible evidence, like a whole dead moose and 'an enormous panther pelt.' The illustrator underscores the narrative's droll, punchy tone by pinning cartoon figures in period dress, images of wildlife, leaf, and bone specimens with handwritten labels, and sheets and scraps with quotes on ruled or raw wooden backgrounds for an untidy scrapbook effect. In the end, Buffon dies before he can publish his promised corrections, but he turns out to be right about the mammoths, to Jefferson's great disappointment. Still, readers will come away knowing more about the multifaceted character of the man who, a few years later, sent out the Lewis and Clark Expedition and, oh yes, became our second president."—Booklist, starred review

★ "As a product of the Age of Reason, Thomas Jefferson was long fascinated by science in general and the natural world in particular... In other words, he followed the scientific method, nicely summarized in the back matter. The mixed-media illustrations, crafted with woodblocks and pencil, are highlighted in unusual but effective layouts. The written narrative appears in textboxes, acting either as previews for the often-humorous illustrations...or as comic panels." —The Horn Book, starred review