A Virginia native, William G. Hyland Jr. is the author of four widely praised historical biographies, including “In Defense Of Thomas Jefferson” (St. Martin’s/Thomas Dunne Books), which was nominated for the Virginia Literary Award. He is a seasoned litigation attorney with the national law firm of Vernis & Bowling, with nearly thirty years of high profile trial experience. He is also a former Adjunct Professor of Law at Stetson University College of Law. His professional lectures have included speeches at the National Archives and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Hyland is a member of the Virginia and New York Historical Societies and serves on the Board of Directors of the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society. Mr. Hyland holds a B.A. from the University of Alabama and a J.D. from Samford University. Before law school, Mr. Hyland held a Top Security clearance and worked for the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.
REVIEWS
IN DEFENSE OF THOMAS JEFFERSON
“[Hyland's] approach to the alleged Jefferson-Hemings relationship is ingenious and he has made what I judge to be an irrefutable case.” ―Professor Forrest McDonald, History Professor (Emeritus), University of Alabama, and National Endowment for the Humanities, 16th Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities, author of The Presidency of Thomas Jefferson and The American Presidency: An Intellectual History.
“Hyland’s productivity is most impressive…producing some great scholarship. This is an achievement on many fronts.”
Historian H. Lee Cheek, Jr., Ph.D., Professor of Political Science and Dean Emeritus Director, Correll Scholars Program East Georgia State College.
“This is a well-written book that draws on new discoveries and previously unnoted details about Thomas Jefferson's life and relationships. Hyland peels back the rumors to rehabilitate one of our most cherished presidents. In the process, the author challenges others who have sloppily tried to fit a round peg in a square hole.” ―Larry Cox, Tucson Citizen
“The case [Hyland] makes is persuasive and in my view well presented, and it's a historically important project.” ―Peter Rodman, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, and author of Presidential Command: Power, Leadership, and the Making of Foreign Policy from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush
“As a practicing civil litigator and former prosecutor, Hyland casts a critical lawyer's eye over the two-hundred-year old question of whether Thomas Jefferson had a romantic, sexual liaison with his servant Sally Hemings. Using what would be acceptable in a court of law as his standard for accuracy, Hyland painstakingly separates revisionist ideology from historical accuracy. In page after page, Hyland dissects just how evidence was manipulated to reach a predetermined yet utterly false verdict of guilty. Thankfully, Hyland's book once and for all---in a convincingly unemotional fashion---clearly establishes that not Thomas Jefferson, but rather his brother Randolph or one of Randolph's sons, was the father of Sally Hemings's children.” ―John Works Jr., former president of the Monticello Association
“A well-written and provocative lawyer's brief challenging the popular story that Thomas Jefferson fathered a child by his household slave Sally Hemings. Hyland has assembled a mass of forensic evidence to refute the saga much favored by revisionist historians and novelists, who were building on the testimonies of Jefferson's political enemies from his own lifetime. Like the litigation attorney he is, Hyland argues a formidable case before a jury---readers trying to reach a verdict.” ―Peter Grose, former executive editor at The New York Times and Foreign Affairs and author of Operation Rollback: America's Secret War Behind the Iron Curtain
“Hyland's book is well researched with material from many sources. It is a powerful insight.… As assistant to Dr. Foster, the DNA study coordinator, I can reveal that the DNA proved only that the Hemings descendant had Jefferson DNA that supported their oral family claim that they descended from a ‘Jefferson uncle,' meaning Randolph Jefferson.” ―Herbert Barger, Jefferson family historian
GEORGE MASON
George Mason: Author of the Revolution, is a welcome contribution to the literature about one of the most important—yet least known—founders of the American Republic. Drawing heavily upon original documents and research, author Hyland has produced a valuable work which should put all of us in his debt. Highly recommended for scholars, students, and the general public alike.
Historian and Author, Prof. Robert F. Turner, University of Virginia School of Law
SJD Distinguished Fellow Center for National Security Law
William Hyland’s eloquent work is a welcome addition to the growing library of books about George Mason, author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights. In this new book, Mason’s often under-appreciated contributions to the Revolutionary period and to the US Constitution, as well as his relationships with family and contemporaries, are explored and examined in a personal and engaging fashion. Anyone interested in Mason and the founding of the United States would enjoy reading this intimate portrait of one of America’s greatest statesman.
Historian Scott Stroh, Executive Director of Gunston Hall
George Mason has always been considered one of the Founding Fathers, but one who stood just outside the main spotlight. Now, fortunately, William Hyland has moved Mason into that spotlight by his illuminating and carefully researched biography of this intriguing figure. Hyland provides a scholarly portrait of Mason with new emphasis on the complete Mason—his wives, children, friends, business affairs, physical ailments, and his treasured Gunston Hall—with this splendid and balanced new chronicle. Hyland’s clear-eyed review will enlighten anyone seeking to understand the special role that Mason played in breaking from England and creating a new nation with a governing structure that rests on safeguarding human rights.”
Historian and Author Arthur Downey, The Creole Affair: The Slave Rebellion that Led the U.S. and Great Britain to the Brink of War (2014) and Civil War Lawyers: Constitutional Questions, Courtroom Dramas, and the Men Behind Them (2011)
Thomas Jefferson called George Mason "the Cato of his country," and the renowned biographer of Jefferson, Dumas Malone, claimed that "more than any other single American...George Mason may be regarded as the herald of this new era." Such praise and acclaim was also voiced by James Madison, George Washington, and a host of American Founding Fathers. But Mason's name is hardly known today, and the studies of his life and thought are few. But William Hyland in this seminal biography has set the record straight. In close, scholarly examinations of Mason's writings, Hyland demonstrates the profound influence he had on Revolutionary America's history and thought; and he does so in a way which presents to us the man we have forgotten. Textual study and biography are hand in glove. The former sheds great light on Mason the fiery opponent of slavery, the man of unbending principle who voted against the Constitution though it cost him his friendship with his life-long friend and neighbor, George Washington, and who shunned public life out of an intense devotion to his family, home, and fields. William Hyland set the scholarly bar very high in this great and much needed book, and we are in his debt for seeing his task through successfully.
William McF. Wilson, Ph.D Professor Emeritus, University of Virginia
Director of Graduate Studies at the Jefferson Scholars Foundation
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