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What books does Thomas Jefferson recommend?
Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence and amassed a personal library of over 6,000 volumes that seeded the Library of Congress, and his book recommendations survive in the letters he wrote to friends and family. This page assembles 27 titles cited across his correspondence, from advice to his nephew Peter Carr to letters to James Madison and others, spanning philosophy, history, fiction, and political economy. His top pick is Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, which he called, in political economy, the best book extant. He rated The Federalist Papers the best commentary on the principles of government which ever was written, praised Don Quixote as a book he read repeatedly, and held Ossian's poems as a source of daily and exalted pleasure. Classical morality, republican political theory, and the great works of literature run through a reading life that was, in every sense, foundational to the American experiment.
Last updated March 2026 · Every recommendation cited to its original source.
The Wealth of Nations
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
byAdam Smith
17761264 Pages“In political economy, I think Smith's Wealth of Nations the best book extant.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Source: Letter to Thomas Mann Randolph, 30 May 1790
byAlexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay
1788559 Pages“The best commentary on the principles of government which ever was written.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Source: Letter to James Madison, 18 November 1788
Read by Albert Einstein, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud and 3 others
Don Quixote
The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha
byMiguel de Cervantes
2003976 Pages“Don Quixote... I read it twice or three times before I can read one of [novels of the present day].”
— Thomas Jefferson
Source: Letter to Peter Carr, 19 August 1785
Read by Thomas Jefferson
A Treatise on Political Economy
To Which is Prefixed a Supplement to a Preceding Work on the Understanding
byAntoine Destutt de Tracy
2011288 Pages“The merit of this work will, I hope, place it in the hands of every reader in our country. By diffusing sound principles of Political Economy, it will protect the public industry from the parasite institutions now consuming it.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Source: Letter to Joseph Milligan, 6 April 1816
Read by Thomas Jefferson
The Poems of Ossian
And Related Works
byJames Macpherson
1765592 Pages“These pieces have been, and will I think during my life continue to be, to me, the source of daily and exalted pleasure. The tender and the sublime emotions of the mind were never before so wrought up by the human hand. I am not ashamed to own that I think this rude bard of the North the greatest Poet that has ever existed.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Source: Letter to Charles McPherson, 25 February 1773
Read by Thomas Jefferson
byLaurence Sterne
2003784 Pages“The writings of Sterne... form the best course of morality that ever was written.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Source: Letter to Peter Carr, 10 August 1787
Read by Thomas Jefferson
byJohn Locke
1988478 Pages“Locke’s little book on government, is perfect as far as it goes.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Source: Letter to Thomas Mann Randolph, 30 May 1790
Read by Thomas Jefferson
A New and Impartial History of England
From the Most Early Period of Genuine Historical Evidence to the Present Important and Alarming Crisis
byJohn Baxter
2018884 Pages“He has taken Hume's work... and wherever he has found him endeavoring to mislead... he has changed the text to what it should be, so that we may properly call it Hume's history republicanised.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Source: Letter to John Norvell, 11 June 1807
Read by Thomas Jefferson
Discourses
And Selected Writings
byEpictetus
108304 Pages“In morality, read Epictetus, Xenophontis Memorabilia, Plato’s Socratic dialogues, Cicero’s philosophies, Antoninus, and Seneca.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Source: Letter to Peter Carr, 19 August 1785
Read by Thomas Jefferson
Memorabilia
Recollections of Socrates
byXenophon
2001208 Pages“In morality, read... Xenophontis Memorabilia.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Source: Letter to Peter Carr, 19 August 1785
Read by Thomas Jefferson
Travels of Anacharsis the Younger in Greece
During the Middle of the Fourth Century Before the Christian Era
byJean-Jacques Barthélemy
1788594 Pages“I have just finished reading the Travels of Anacharsis... it is a most excellent work.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Source: Letter to Cornelia J. Randolph, 3 June 1811
Read by Thomas Jefferson
Moral Tales
Marmontel's Moral Tales
byJean-François Marmontel
2004464 Pages“Such, I think, are Marmontel's new moral tales, but not his old ones, which are really immoral.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Source: Letter to Nathaniel Burwell, 14 March 1818
Read by Thomas Jefferson
The Vicar of Wakefield
A Tale, Supposed to be Written by Himself
byOliver Goldsmith
1766224 PagesSource: Letter to Robert Skipwith, 3 August 1771
Read by Thomas Jefferson
byLaurence Sterne
2002160 PagesSource: Letter to Robert Skipwith, 3 August 1771
Gulliver's Travels
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World
byJonathan Swift
1726336 PagesSource: Letter to Robert Skipwith, 3 August 1771
Read by Thomas Jefferson
The Adventures of David Simple
Containing an Account of His Travels Through the Cities of London and Westminster in the Search of a Real Friend
bySarah Fielding
2002528 PagesSource: Letter to Robert Skipwith, 3 August 1771
Read by Thomas Jefferson
Elements of Criticism
A rational science of taste
byHenry Home, Lord Kames
1762864 PagesSource: Letter to Robert Skipwith, 3 August 1771
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Meditations
A New Translation
byMarcus Aurelius
2003256 Pages(1,240,000)
“In morality, read... Antoninus.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Source: Letter to Peter Carr, 19 August 1785
byWilliam Shakespeare
1608456 Pages“Thus a lively and lasting sense of filial duty is more effectually impressed on the mind of a son or daughter by reading King Lear, than by all the dry volumes of ethics, and divinity that ever were written.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Source: Letter to Robert Skipwith, 3 August 1771
Read by Thomas Jefferson
byAlgernon Sidney
1996645 PagesSource: Letter to Robert Skipwith, 3 August 1771
Read by Thomas Jefferson
A Commentary and Review of Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws
To Which Are Annexed Observations on the Thirty-First Book by the Late M. Condorcet
byAntoine Destutt de Tracy
1811304 Pages“I cannot express to you the satisfaction which I received from its perusal... I had found [Montesquieu's] book to be but a collection of heresies... The Review of Montesquieu... is the element of that science which I have always so much wished for.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Source: Letter to Antoine Destutt de Tracy, 26 January 1811
byJohn Milton
1667512 Pages(184,500)
Source: Letter to Robert Skipwith, 3 August 1771
byVirgil
2008496 Pages(143,669)
Source: Letter to Peter Carr, 19 August 1785
Read by Thomas Jefferson
The Misanthrope
or, The Cantankerous Lover
byMolière
2000352 PagesSource: Letter to Robert Skipwith, 3 August 1771
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Frequently asked questions
What books does Thomas Jefferson recommend?
His 27 recommendations include The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, The Federalist Papers by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, A Treatise on Political Economy by Destutt de Tracy, and The Poems of Ossian by James Macpherson.
What is Thomas Jefferson's most recommended book?
His top pick is The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, which he singled out in a 1790 letter, writing, "In political economy, I think Smith's Wealth of Nations the best book extant."
Where do Thomas Jefferson's book recommendations come from?
They are drawn from his letters, including his famous reading advice to his nephew Peter Carr, correspondence with James Madison and Robert Skipwith, and other letters where he named the books he valued.
Has Thomas Jefferson written any books?
Yes. He authored two works listed here: Notes on the State of Virginia, his only full-length book, and The Jefferson Bible, his edited account of the life and morals of Jesus.
What subjects did Thomas Jefferson read most?
His recommendations span philosophy and history, with heavy fiction and society and politics threads, reflecting his interests in classical morality, republican political theory, and the great works of world literature.
All 27 Books Thomas Jefferson Has Recommended
- The Wealth of Nations · Adam Smith
- The Federalist Papers · Alexander Hamilton
- Don Quixote · Miguel de Cervantes
- A Treatise on Political Economy · Antoine Destutt de Tracy
- The Poems of Ossian · James Macpherson
- The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman · Laurence Sterne
- Two Treatises of Government · John Locke
- A New and Impartial History of England · John Baxter
- Discourses · Epictetus
- Memorabilia · Xenophon
- Travels of Anacharsis the Younger in Greece · Jean-Jacques Barthélemy
- Moral Tales · Jean-François Marmontel
- The Vicar of Wakefield · Oliver Goldsmith
- A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy · Laurence Sterne
- Gulliver's Travels · Jonathan Swift
- The Adventures of David Simple · Sarah Fielding
- Elements of Criticism · Henry Home, Lord Kames
- Meditations · Marcus Aurelius
- King Lear · William Shakespeare
- Discourses Concerning Government · Algernon Sidney
- A Commentary and Review of Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws · Antoine Destutt de Tracy
- Paradise Lost · John Milton
- The Aeneid · Virgil
- The Misanthrope · Molière
- A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful · Edmund Burke
- Experiments and Observations on Electricity · Benjamin Franklin
- Horse-Hoeing Husbandry · Jethro Tull