As expected, there are numerous treats and small treasures in The Point of it All, the new collection of writings by the late Charles Krauthammer assembled by his son Daniel after his too-early death.

Among them Krauthammer’s description of how Thomas Jefferson managed to square his belief in liberty for all of humanity with the unsettling fact that he owned slaves: He installed a dumbwaiter between his dining room and the kitchen beneath it, allowing the food to be brought to his table without the sight of the servants he owned.