Preview
  • The Jefferson Lies

  • Exposing the Myths You've Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson
  • By: David Barton
  • Narrated by: David Barton
  • Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (207 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Jefferson Lies

By: David Barton
Narrated by: David Barton
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.95

Buy for $19.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

The American public was nearly deprived of the opportunity to hear this book.

In 2012, popular historian David Barton set out to correct what he saw as the distorted image of a once-beloved Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson, in what became a New York Times best-selling book, The Jefferson Lies.

Despite the wildly popular success of the original hardcover edition, or perhaps because of it, a campaign to discredit Barton's scholarship was launched by bloggers and a handful of non-historian academics.

What happened next was shocking, virtually unprecedented in modern American publishing history. Under siege from critics, the publisher spiked the book and recalled it from the retail shelves from coast to coast. The Jefferson Lies is thus a history book that made history, becoming possibly the first book of its kind to be victimized by the scourge of political correctness.

But more than three years later, it's back as an updated edition in which Barton sets the record straight and takes on the critics who savaged his work.

And that's just part of the story. Why did this book spark so much controversy?

It could only happen in an America that has forgotten its past. Its roots, its purpose, its identity, all have become shrouded behind a veil of political correctness bent on twisting the nation's founding, and its Founders, beyond recognition.

The time has come to remember again.

This new audio edition of The Jefferson Lies re-documents Barton's research and conclusions as sound, and his premises true. It tackles seven myths about Thomas Jefferson head-on and answers pressing questions about this incredible statesman, including:

  • Did Thomas Jefferson really have a child by his young slave girl, Sally Hemings?
  • Did he write his own Bible, excluding the parts of Christianity with which he disagreed?
  • Was he a racist who opposed civil rights and equality for Black Americans?
  • Did he, in his pursuit of separation of church and state, advocate the secularizing of public life

Through Jefferson's own words and the eyewitness testimony of contemporaries, Barton repaints a portrait of the man from Monticello as a visionary, an innovator, a man who revered Jesus, a classical Renaissance man, and a man whose pioneering stand for liberty and God-given inalienable rights fostered a better world for this nation and its posterity. For America, the time to remember these truths is now.

©2012, 2016 David Barton (P)2016 David Barton
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about The Jefferson Lies

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    187
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    7
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    158
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    4
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    161
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    6

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

affair and balanced historical account of Jefferson his faults and the lies that have been told about him.

the author does a wonderful job in setting the facts of History out for the reader/listener to follow. truly a great work of in honest in responsible historian. author and historian David Barton does a fantastic job with describing Thomas Jefferson's faults while also correcting those which have been falsely alleged and sadly for far too long. I see now along with a few other works that have corroborated the same evidence although not necessarily as balanced as in this book, that Thomas Jefferson could not

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fake news just didn’t happen in the last election

This book shows how Thomas Jefferson was viciously libeled and slandered by people in his own time and how those lies continue to be perpetuated to this day by liberals and secularists for their own political gain. Barton uses primary sources in their entirety and with proper context proving his points about Jefferson. He expertly refute those who say that his work is not accurate. A great read and one that all Americans should read to find out what an amazing and complicated man Jefferson truly was.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Jefferson (and his times) Live again!!

While this is not a complete Biography, it is a wonderful correction of the many obvious falsehoods that have been spread about this great man. David Barton has done all the work and research for you. The truth awaits within!
David And a Team of great voice actors, bring Jefferson and his times to the listener. All that was missing was a musical score and sound effects and this could practically have been an audio drama.
I heard the Original (1 reader) version and while that was good, It was boring by comparison, this was SO MUCH more engaging, with David reading his own work, a "sage voice" to rival that of David McCullough. This is how ALL Biographical / history audio books should be done.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A true “must read”

Fantastic book! Anybody interested in founding father history should read this book to keep from getting swept into the current of misinformation or to climb out of it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Original source material

Not based on conjecture or personal like or dislike of TJ, but on original source material. Consideration given to who wrote the material as well - a friend, or a political or clerical enemy? All quotes considered in context, as everything should be. I learned a lot. sgb

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Hard work in obj research vs. lazy attitudes

Enjoyed the deep research in this book and convinced me that i don't know what I don't know.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing

This book is written by a historian and someone who has access to the primary sources of President Jefferson and I personally loved the entire thing. I learned so much about this amazing American President and look forward to sharing it with all my friends and family. Especially my children

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book with great source material

This book was top notch. Some of the information I have never heard anyone mention regarding Jefferson. The best part was the source material used. He went straight to the origonal documents and letters, using several to make his points, without just taking one sentence or phrase.

I also enjoyed the narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

awesome

Struggled with listening to some of the readers raspy voices. otherwise tremendously inspiring and appreciate the hard work.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Soundly Stated

I was led to this material after a college professor advised I take a recommendation of Barton's 10-DVD "American Heritage Series" out of my master's thesis.

I knew that Barton's work on Jefferson had come under fire and was willing to believe he had been a bit overzealous.

I looked into it and found that Throckmorton really wasn't qualified to contradict Barton. I looked for the former's book on Audible but it is not available. I also listened to several YouTube interviews of Barton on the subject matter.

Eventually, I decided I would listen to the book. I suspect that there is academic elite and secular interest in discrediting Barton, especially on Jefferson, who is a darling of those 2 groups.

What Barton presents, with a heavy emphasis on primary sources, is a devout but unorthodox believer in Jesus. Jefferson didn't like St. Paul or the OT God, but he believed Christianity to be the best religion extant.

I recommend the listen. It's a convincing presentation. I'll have to see what credible evidence Throckmorton offered.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!