Customer Reviews

Saving Monticello: The Levy Family's Epic Quest to Rescue the House that Jefferson Built

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I highly recommend Marc Leepson's book 'Saving Monticello' because it gives credit to the Levy family without whose help and stewardship Monticello may have been erased forever.
His detail and insight of story serve to hold the reader's interest of not only Thomas Jefferson, but of the history of the time. Mr. Leepson very patiently educates us about the Levy family and their unwavering loyalty to Monticello. I had often wondered what had happened to Monticello during the years after Jefferson's death until the Memorial Foundation took it over and now is supplied to us a fascinating history, a thread which we must all be tempted to follow and remember as part of our own history. I cannot imagine looking at Monticello in the same way as I did before I read Mr. Leepson's, "Saving Monticello".

I have just finished reading "Saving Monticello" and want to say just how much I enjoyed it. I am a long-time fan of Jefferson and particularly his architectural endeavors (the subject of my master's thesis) so I go out of my way to find new items on the subject. It was great to learn about those "lost years" of Monticello that up until now have barely been touched on and I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in American history. The author has clearly delineated what a tenuous hold we sometimes have on important landmarks and how easily they can be lost to future generations if we are not careful.

Pass on this one. Monticello itself takes a back seat to the Levy saga of buying the estate.

This is an excellent book that details a forgotten piece of history - that another family owned this famous house longer than Jefferson did. The author has done an excellent job detailing that history that was at one time completely forgotten. If you are a history buff you will love this story.

Saving Monticello was a history-lover's dream. The author made it easy to become intimate with the real-life characters, enabling this wonderful story to unfold without becoming just a recitation of historical facts. It was also obvious that the author went to great pains to accurately depict the sequence of events. Great read!

Everyone who knows the basic history of Monticello knows about Jefferson bringing his young bride to his "little mountain"; the evolution and growth of the house he was continually tearing down and putting up; his mostly happy retirement there, shadowed by his battles with debt; and finally the end of that magnificent life there on July 4, 1826, fifty years to the day after the young republic had declared its independence with the words from his pen....

And we know the magnificently restored estate of today, a beacon for millions of visitors who want to draw closer to that man of countless gifts.....

But there's been a missing chapter in the Monticello story for too long; the years from Jefferson's death to its opening to the public have been passed over in most histories with at best, a few paragraphs.

"Saving Monticello" fills that gap perfectly. Here we learn of the estate's decline after Jefferson's death, only arrested with the intervention of the Levy family, who are given their rightful due as stewards of this magnificent property. What happened to Monticello during the Civil War? What were some of the odd uses proposed for it? For answers to these questions and many more, read this well-crafted book.

Our third president, Thomas Jefferson, possessed many talents, but a grand vision was among the top of his possessions. Over a period of many years, he designed, built, and re-built his grand home in the Piedmont of Virginia. Neither the plain saltbox home of John Adams nor the stately yet conventional Mount Vernon home of George Washington, Monticello was a home of which the entire country could be proud. Exhibiting many classical architectural elements along with some truly unique touches, Thomas Jeffersonï¿s Monticello was a home that completely fit the remarkable qualities of its owner.

After Jeffersonï¿s death on the 50th anniversary of the countryï¿s birth, Monticello was soon sold to clear some of his substantial debts. Saving Monticello is the story of the ultimate preservation of this irreplaceable national treasure. The story primarily features the Levy family, a collection of intriguing characters who continue the goal preserving Jeffersons home, at great person cost, through several decades, and against substantial opposition. Marc Leepson has produce a clear narrative of this fascinating history, covering Monticelloï¿s repeated near ruin and its restoration to its original glory. Written in a clear manner, yet with abundant detail, this book is required reading for Jefferson scholars, students of architecture, or merely those interested in a great historical tale. It is clearly the best account of the largely unknown saga of the saving of Monticello.

Thank you Mr. Leepson for "Saving Monticello". I found it a very enjoyable read and very interesting. As a Virginian, we are proud of all our historic sites and heritage and the story of the Levy family is one of the best that I have read in a long time. Anyone who reads this book will discover that Uriah and Jefferson Levy deserve a lot credit for "Saving Monticello". Preserving Monticello was the Levy's way of keeping the memory of Thomas Jefferson alive. If it wasn't for the resources of the Levys, the many treasures of Monticello would have been lost to future generations.

My best friend gave me Saving Monticello for Christmas, and I have totally enjoyed reading it and pondering it, especially when I spend my nickels. I would even read parts of it aloud to my boyfriend, who never reads. I visited Monticello some years ago, therefore the book had special meaning to me, having walked the grounds and experienced the essence of Thomas Jefferson's home.

Saving Monticello is an excellent way to spend a weekend. The author, Marc Leepson, has obviously thoroughly researched the quest by the unknown heroes of Monticello's restoration, the Levy family, who rescued Thomas Jefferson's Monticello from the ravages of time.

So much of the history of Monticello has been swept under the rug for generations and generations. As a Virginian living in such close proximity to Monticello, I, as the majority of people who have made the requisite trip through Mr. Jefferson's estate had literally no grasp on its actual history. Mr. Leepson's watershed book is eminently readable, even for those of us who are not students of historical preservation and brings to light the actual gritty past of this now pristine national monument. The fact that the Jefferson family or the Jefferson Foundation has not exclusively owned Monticello is often downplayed by many persons associated with it in its current condition. Perhaps the greatest merit of Saving Monticello is that it reveals the fact that this estate has a much deeper and more complex history than many Americans realize or may be willing to believe.

Mr. Leepson has masterfully peeled back the onion skin of history and shows the reader that Monticello's historical significance is not restricted to early American or Architectural history alone, but can actually stand as a microcosm of American History in its full form. From the birth of the nation to civil war to anti-Semitism- Monticello has seen it all. Mr. Leepson's book artfully reveals Monticello's sometimes colorful, often tragic history in a text that marries the all too frequently opposing qualities of being both informative and entertaining.

This book is worth every minute spent reading it and may even entice its readers to delve further into Monticello's family tree. We truly owe the Levy family a debt of gratitude for preserving Monticello for future generations. Without their intervention, this estate would not be in existence today for us to enjoy and appreciate. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, and I thank Mr. Leepson for finally giving us, the reader, access to the story behind this historical treasure.