<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br>Literary Nonfiction. Italian American Studies. Linda L. Carroll invites us to reconsider Jefferson's relationship with Italian thought and culture in a more expansive and encompassing manner. Going beyond Filippo Mazzei to Boccaccio's <em>Decameron</em> and Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel, from Vespucci, to Ariosto, Machiavelli and Guicciardini, from Tasso, to Sarpi, to Galilei. In the universe of Jefferson's library, we see the Italian texts functioning as a universal law of gravitation, holding everything--from natural law to conciliarism--in exquisite balance. A delight for philologists, bibliophiles, philosophers, and all those in Italian Studies.--Stanislao G. Pugliese