The Radicalism of the American Revolution: Pulitzer Prize Winner

by Gordon S. Wood

Overview

In a grand and immemsely readable synthesis of historical, political, cultural, and economic analysis, a prize-winning historian describes the events that made the American Revolution. Gordon S. Wood depicts a revolution that was about much more than a break from England, rather it transformed an almost feudal society into a democratic one, whose emerging realities sometimes baffled and disappointed its founding fathers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780679736882
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/02/1993
Edition description:	Reprinted Edition
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	166,963
Product dimensions:	5.15(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.95(d)

About the Author

Gordon S. Wood is Alva O. Way Professor of History Emeritus at Brown University. His books include the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Radicalism of the American Revolution, the Bancroft Prize-winning The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787, The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin, and The Purpose of the Past: Reflections on the Uses of History. He writes frequently for The New York Review of Books and The New Republic.

Table of Contents

I. Monarchy

1. Hierarchy
2. Patricians and Plebeians
3. Patriarchal Dependence
4. Patronage
5. Political Authority

II. Republicanism

6. The Republicanization of Monarchy
7. A Truncated Society
8. Loosening the Bands of Society
9. Enlightened Paternalism
10. Revolution
11. Enlightenment
12. Benevolence

III. Democracy

13. Equality
14. Interests
15. The Assault on Aristocracy
16. Democratic Officeholding
17. A World Within Themselves
18. The Celebration of Commerce
19. Middle-Class Order

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"The most important study of the American Revolution to appear in over twenty years...a landmark book." —-Pauline Maier, The New York Times Book Review

Editorial Reviews

"The most important study of the American Revolution to appear in over twenty years ... a landmark book." —The New York Times Book Review

"A breathtaking social, political, and ideological analysis. This book will set the agenda for discussion for some time to come." —Richard L. Bushman

From the Publisher

The gifted Wood offers a fresh take on the formative years of the United States, explaining the astonishing transformation of disparate, quarreling colonies into a bustling, unruly republic of egalitarian-minded citizens. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Historians have always had problems explaining the revolutionary character of the American Revolution: its lack of class conflict, a reign of terror, and indiscriminate violence make it seem positively sedate. In this beautifully written and persuasively argued book, one of the most noted of U.S. historians restores the radicalism to what he terms ``one of the greatest revolutions the world has ever known.'' It was the American Revolution, Wood argues, that unleashed the social forces that transformed American society in the years between 1760 and 1820. The change from a deferential, monarchical, ordered, and static society to a liberal, democratic, and commercial one was astonishing, all the more so because it took place without industrialization, urbanization, or the revolution in transportation. It was a revolution of the mind, in which the concept of equality, democracy, and private interest grasped by hundreds of thousands of Americans transformed a country nearly overnight. Exciting, compelling, and sure to provoke controversy, the book will be discussed for years to come. History Book Club main selection.-- David B. Mattern, Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville

Library Journal

The thesis of Wood’s thoughtful analysis is that the American Revolution, though primarily political, resulted in a new type of social egalitarianism. Paul Boehmer’s voice is clear, and he’s usually sensitive to the text, using tone and expression to support its meaning. However, his reading style is somewhat stilted, more declaimed, like a series of pronouncements, than easily conversational, an approach that draws attention to the narration over the text. But in time, one becomes used to it, and it doesn’t interfere with the sense, which he conveys clearly. Some errors of pronunciation and emphasis could be confusing. But the persistent listener will find that the good outweighs the bad. W.M. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

SEPTEMBER 2011 - AudioFile