I grew up in Wilmington, Delaware where, among other things, I studied art at the Delaware Art Center’s school. I studied Philosophy as an undergraduate and graduate student at the University of Virginia. As a graduate student, I lived across the Rivanna River from Monticello on the Shadwell farm of Jefferson's eldest daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph. In four years there, I began what has proven to be a continuing investigation into "the philosophy" of Thomas Jefferson. I cultivated my interest in the History of Ideas teaching courses in Philosophy, Religion, and Ethics and in Western Civilization at Strayer University in Alexandria, Virgi…
I grew up in Wilmington, Delaware where, among other things, I studied art at the Delaware Art Center’s school. I studied Philosophy as an undergraduate and graduate student at the University of Virginia. As a graduate student, I lived across the Rivanna River from Monticello on the Shadwell farm of Jefferson's eldest daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph. In four years there, I began what has proven to be a continuing investigation into "the philosophy" of Thomas Jefferson. I cultivated my interest in the History of Ideas teaching courses in Philosophy, Religion, and Ethics and in Western Civilization at Strayer University in Alexandria, Virginia. I have written seven books. Commonwealth Books of Virginia published The Birth of Virginia’s Aristocracy in 2010, The Dubious Achievement of the First Continental Congress in 2011, and Thomas Jefferson’s Enlightenment – Paris 1785 in 2014. CBOV published Thomas Jefferson’s Enlightenment – Background Notes in the spring to 2015 and George Washington’s Mulatto Man – Who was Billy Lee? in the fall of 2015. I have not yet published The First Revolutions in the Minds of the People. I am currently writing a two part “pictorial narrative” called Painting America’s Portrait. The first part, subtitled How Illustrators Created Their Art, will appear in the fall of 2016. The second part, subtitled How Illustrators Created America, will be released on the 100th anniversary of our entry into “the war to end all wars.”
I completed the research on his first book, Beyond the Veil of Reason - Thomas Jefferson's Early Political Initiatives, as a Batten Fellow at the Jefferson Center for International Studies at Monticello. That was in the fall of 2005. In the fall of 2009, I founded Commonwealth Books of Virginia. In addition to writing my own books and publishing books by other talented writers, I lecture on topics I discuss in my books. Comments I made on Billy Lee at the DAR Library can be seen on CSpan’s Hisotry Channel. I have also spoken at the Naval Academy, the Virginia Historical Society, Stratford Hall, and Wilton House in Richmond. I have presented lecture series for continuing education programs at the University of Virginia, William & Mary, George Mason University, and the University of Delaware.