{"product_id":"9781531511937-peculiar-satisfaction","title":"Peculiar Satisfaction","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThomas Jefferson and the Mastery of Subjects\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow Thomas Jefferson's vision for knowledge shapes what we know and how we access it – and why that matters more than ever\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, \u003ci\u003ePeculiar Satisfaction\u003c\/i\u003e examines how the ideals and contradictions of the nation's founding live on in libraries, archives, and museums. Thomas Jefferson championed an informed citizenry as essential to democracy, yet the systems he built to organize knowledge reinforced racial and ideological hierarchies that persist today.\u003cbr\u003e  Melissa Adler explores Jefferson's lasting influence on public institutions, from his personal library, which became the foundation of the Library of Congress, to his archival practices in government record-keeping and his museum at Monticello as a site of colonial knowledge production. Through an interdisciplinary lens, she reveals how his methods of classification and preservation shaped national memory and democratic participation.\u003cbr\u003e  Drawing from archival research and critical theory, \u003ci\u003ePeculiar Satisfaction\u003c\/i\u003e exposes the paradoxes of access, exclusion, and control embedded in information systems. As censorship and disinformation threaten democracy, Adler argues that understanding these foundational structures is essential to defending the role of knowledge in public life.\u003cbr\u003e  Offering a fresh perspective on the ways information, power, and race have shaped American institutions, this book will engage scholars and general readers interested in how libraries, archives, and museums influence history, democracy, and collective memory and argues for a nuanced understanding of these institutions at a critical moment where disinformation and authoritarian rule threaten to undo them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56758258794870,"sku":"9781531511937","price":96.72,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_38930505.jpg?v=1764822817","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781531511937-peculiar-satisfaction","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}