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Publication
New York : Penguin Press, 2011.
Description
A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of the American Revolution explains why it remains the most significant event in our history. In a series of elegant and illuminating essays, Wood explores the ideological origins of the revolution--from ancient Rome to the European Enlightenment--and the founders' attempts to forge an American democracy.
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LibraryThing member albanypubliclibrary
The preeminent historian of the American Revolution explains why it remains the most significant event in our history.
More than almost any other nation in the world, the United States began as an idea. For this reason, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Gordon S. Wood believes that the American
More than almost any other nation in the world, the United States began as an idea. For this reason, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Gordon S. Wood believes that the American
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Revolution is the most important event in our history, bar none. Show Less
LibraryThing member HistReader
Gordon S. Wood's book is a collection of his essays through numerous decades of scholarship. He provides a retrospective look and explanations about each work.
What makes him such an important historian in my estimation can be summed up in a paragraph from his introduction:
I don't believe that
What makes him such an important historian in my estimation can be summed up in a paragraph from his introduction:
I don't believe that
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historians should take sides with the contestants of the past.... The responsibility of the historian, it seems to me, is not to decide who in the past was right or who was wrong but to explain why the different contestants thought and behave as they did (p. 21). Show Less
LibraryThing member kcshankd
This is a series of lecture notes that form a coherent whole, again describing the radicalism of the American idea.
LibraryThing member dhmontgomery
An interesting collection of essays about the American Revolution and the Early Republic — and specifically about the ideas motivating the revolutionary generation.
Some, such as a look at the impact ideals of ancient Rome had on the Founders, are good for background. Others are more provocative
The introduction, which focuses on the historiography of the Revolution, is a bonus for students of Revolutionary history but largely superfluous.
Overall this is a short book that can be read all at once or one essay at a time, and that succeeds in helping modern readers penetrate the Early Modern minds that so shaped modern America.
Some, such as a look at the impact ideals of ancient Rome had on the Founders, are good for background. Others are more provocative
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— such as a devil's advocate attempt to argue that the Antifederalists were actually more forward-looking, an examination of the anti-democratic and anti-legislative impulses motivating James Madison and other Founders in the drafting of the Constitution, and (my favorite) a look at why the Founders were so conspiracy-minded.The introduction, which focuses on the historiography of the Revolution, is a bonus for students of Revolutionary history but largely superfluous.
Overall this is a short book that can be read all at once or one essay at a time, and that succeeds in helping modern readers penetrate the Early Modern minds that so shaped modern America.
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Original publication date
2011
ISBN
9781594202902