"The Jefferson Society is the University of VIrginia's oldest student organization. Founded in 1825, the Society has counted the likes of Woodrow Wilson and Edgar Allan Poe among its members and remains one of the largest and most active student organizations on the Grounds. Society Ties tells the Society's story and gives a history of student life at the University of Virginia, exploring what motivated students and how they experienced the ineffable place that is Jefferson's Academical Village." -- Front dust jacket flap.

The definitive treatment of Mr. Jefferson's favorite institution, with an updated section on entering the twenty-first century. In the nearly two centuries since the first building's completion in Thomas Jefferson's academical village, programs and facilities at the University of Virginia have been continually expanded and updated. The four years since the first publication of The University of Virginia: A Pictorial History have been no exception to that tradition: science and technology, athletics, public service, international programs, business, and the arts are just a few of the current growth areas at Mr. Jefferson's university. When the Board of Visitors approved a new master plan for growth and development in 1999--and the capital campaign of 2000 supported its ambitious outline with a $1.4 billion purse--they set in motion massive upgrades at the university. A South Lawn complex and "groundswalk" to reconnect the sprawling areas of the university, a new special collections library, expanded.