Jefferson’s Labyrinth
August 7, 2012 3 Comments
Interior of Monticello, by Rufus Holsinger
Filed under Uncategorized
3 Responses to Jefferson’s Labyrinth
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
Categories
Recent Posts
Archives
Blogroll
- Excerpt in Smithsonian Magazine
- Farrar, Straus & Giroux website for this title
- IndieBound
- Jonathan Yardley's Best Books
- Lecture about Jefferson and slavery at Charlottesville City Council Chambers
- Link to "The Cycle"
- Powell's Books
- Purchase "Master of the Mountain" at Barnes & Noble
- Purchase "Master of the Mountain" on Amazon
- Signed copies may be ordered through New Dominion Bookshop — ndb@cstone.net (There is a charge for shipping.)
Henry Wiencek 
dizzying….
These stairs are so steep that historian Kenneth Lockridge calls them “narrow, dark, dangerous ladders, behind the doors to the halls . . .” Jefferson had seen space-saving staircases in Paris homes. Perhaps this claustrophobic design discouraged household residents from talking/conspiring in stairwells.
Steep stairs were the standard at the time, as if they were a luxurious improvement on the ladder.