This is an excellent book and a wonderful companion to "The Well Trained Mind" and also the philosophy of Charlotte Mason. The focus here is to teach our children to think and to give them the opportunity to interact with great thinkers who have come before us through the reading of great books. It is a call to action to parents and educators to not settle for the mediocre, to become the guides our children and students need by reading great works ourselves, and to train our students and children not to fit in and follow - but to lead.

From the back cover:
"Is American education preparing the future leaders our nation needs, or merely struggling to teach basic literacy and job skills? Without leadership education, are we settling for an inadequate system that delivers educational, industrial, governmental and societal mediocrity? In 'A Thomas Jefferson Education'...Oliver Van DeMille presents a new educational vision based on proven methods that really work! Teachers, students, parents, educators, legislators, leaders and everyone who cares about America's future must read this compelling book."

The book includes chapters on education today, different systems of schooling, mentoring, the classics, Thomas Jefferson education in public schools and college, leadership careers, and statesmanship. In the appendices, the author includes a list of 100 recommended classics to read, a list of classics for children and youth, and sample discussion questions for some of them. Also included is a section called "Putting Thomas Jefferson Education to Work." The addition of these appendices makes it a very complete explanation of how to implement the ideas presented in the first part of the book.

This book is highly recommended, for as Thomas Jefferson said, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."