by Gordon S. Wood
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Product Description
“An elegant synthesis done by the leading scholar in the field, which nicely integrates the work on the American Revolution over the last three decades but never loses contact with the older, classic questions that we have been arguing about for over two hundred years.”
-Joseph J. Ellis, author of Founding Brothers
A magnificent account of the revolution in arms and consciousness that gave birth to the American republic.
When Abraham Lincoln sought to define the significance of the United States, he naturally looked back to the American Revolution. He knew that the Revolution not only had legally created the United States, but also had produced all of the great hopes and values of the American people. Our noblest ideals and aspirations-our commitments to freedom, constitutionalism, the well-being of ordinary people, and equality-came out of the Revolutionary era. Lincoln saw as well that the Revolution had convinced Americans that they were a special people with a special destiny to lead the world toward liberty. The Revolution, in short, gave birth to whatever sense of nationhood and national purpose Americans have had.
No doubt the story is a dramatic one: Thirteen insignificant colonies three thousand miles from the centers of Western civilization fought off British rule to become, in fewer than three decades, a huge, sprawling, rambunctious republic of nearly four million citizens. But the history of the American Revolution, like the history of the nation as a whole, ought not to be viewed simply as a story of right and wrong from which moral lessons are to be drawn. It is a complicated and at times ironic story that needs to be explained and understood, not blindly celebrated or condemned. How did this great revolution come about? What was its character? What were its consequences? These are the questions this short history seeks to answer. That it succeeds in such a profound and enthralling way is a tribute to Gordon Wood’s mastery of his subject, and of the historian’s craft.
From the Hardcover edition.
Amazon.com Review
Gordon S. Wood's The American Revolution, part of the Modern Library Chronicles series, is an erudite, concise summary of the events and circumstances surrounding the seminal conflict, both physical and philosophical, in American history. The Modern Library Chronicles are accessible-but-serious works of scholarship, meant to serve as introductions (or refresher courses) on large subjects for interested readers. The American Revolution is an excellent case in point. Wood deftly describes seeds of the Revolution, most notably disgruntlement on the colonists' part brought about by increasingly maladroit and fiscally punishing British policies. He then follows the course of actual warfare and its aftermath, most interestingly the fraught, bitter battle to draw a governing blueprint for the new country. Wood breaks little new interpretive ground himself, here, but as a synthesizer (and amiable, skillful narrator/guide) he stands on high ground. --H. O'Billovitch
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Average Customer Review:
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 A Good Introduction, 2007-11-08
Gordon S. Wood provides a pleasantly swift account of the conflicts and motivations of the period from 1760 to 1790. Its language is simple and straightforward, and the organization of the book is logical and precise. Altogether, its pace and elementary approach provides for an entertaining read.
The work's objectives, according to Wood, are: "How the Revolution came about, what its character was, and what its consequences were- not whether it was good or bad- are the questions this brief history seeks to answer" (Wood xxv). This is preceded by a quick overview of past works on the subject, which Wood claims, rightfully, as being biased and too much in toe with the authors' contemporary strains. However, despite his wish to be seemingly objective in his prologue, Wood himself seems to be not without his own biases in the book. Often times the work feels not so much an explanation of how the Revolution came about, but more a justification of the actions taken by American patriots. Much attention is given to the fumbling efforts of Parliament and early on describes Great Britain's politics as "ramshackle" (5), "haphazardly" (5), "rickety" (18), "hodgepodge" (20), and declares that it was "no wonder that it took only a bit more than a decade for the whole shaky imperial structure to come crashing down" (21), while at the same time depicting Americans as "confined" (7), and "enmeshed" (23) in the empires blunderings. He then begins to show Americans in a light growing steadily brighter, describing their actions as "spectacular" (33), and as being "raised to the highest plane of principle" (39), "extraordinary" (47) and so noble as to aim to "bring freedom to the whole world" (47). His language, therefore, seems ambitious and patriotic at times, and although they are perhaps not without merit, the argument tends to be greatly one-sided.
The book ends, rather suddenly it seems, with the creation of the constitution. However, it is perhaps too sudden. The Revolution hardly seems complete without at least some attention given to the first presidential term of Washington, which set the Revolutionary principles in practice. Wood deals with the creation of the government, but in not somehow conveying whether or not these revolutionary principles were successful in practice for the figures that formed them allows the claims for the historical granduer of their fight to be rather unjustified. Now that the American (white) people had broken the bonds of an oppressive monarchy, how will their newly elected presidential leader act? Will he encompass their ideals and set new standards for the modern world? A history of the American Revolution, even a short one, hardly seems complete without at least some attention given to this chapter of the story, for just explaining that these people thought up and wrote down the ideas is not the end of the Revolution: it is those ideas put into action that truly can, in at least in some way, conclude the tale.
Despite these minor and perhaps irrelevant grievances, the work is a wonderfully quick way for one who wishes to be introduced to the origins, people, process, and outcome of the Revolution. It excels in its simple overviews of political movements and struggles, as well as concisely displaying the motivations and reasons for events and their results. Overall, it provides for a fun, quick read of a dramatic and interesting period in history.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 American Revolution by Gordon Wood, 2007-10-25
The American Revolution is generally acknowledged to be the most crucial event in the birth of the United States of America. Copious interpretations have resulted from this status. Yet, few historians have been able to provide a pioneering viewpoint by so coherently integrating the complex factors surrounding the revolution until Gordon S. Wood in his The American Revolution.
Through this book, Wood attempts to demonstrate that the Revolution "needs to be explained and understood, not celebrated or condemned" (xxv). He is not interested in whether the revolution was good or bad. Instead, he brings to light a view of the revolution that few historians have embraced recently. He focuses on "the worth of the Revolution" (xxiv), stating this simply yet eloquently: "How the Revolution came about, what its character was, and what its consequences were--not whether it was good or bad--are the questions this brief history seeks to answer" (xxv). Wood's simple yet succinct style in the book suggests that his audience is the general public.
Wood is no neophyte of historiography. Having received his B. A. from Tufts University and his Ph.D. from Harvard University, he has already demonstrated his masterful expertise of history in his two previous books: The Creation of the American Republic, winner of the Bancroft and John H. Dunning prizes, and The Radicalism of the American Revolution, winner of the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. As an experienced author, Wood understands that writing history demands more than simply explaining one's whims and preferences. This is clearly seen in The American Revolution. Wood realizes that the works of historians who analyze the revolution subjectively "tell us more about the political attitudes of the historians who make such statements than they do about the American Revolution" (xxv). He perceives the American Revolution objectively, rather than subjectively, and The American Revolution is remarkably free of biases. The reader thus proceeds in reading the book with confidence of Wood's impartiality.
With a book called The American Revolution, the reader would expect to find matter dealing only with the American War of Independence. However, Wood sees it as more than a simple military conflict. He sees it as a complete ideological, political, and social revolution: "It was a genuinely radical event, which led to the breakdown of such longstanding patterns of society as deference, patriarchy, and traditional gender relations" (Brinkley, American History, 131). This is his thesis, and it explains why his book concerns more than the American War of Independence.
In order to explain his thesis, Wood must demonstrate how the United States was impacted by this radical revolution, evolving from English colonies to an independent republic. He does this by organizing the book into seven chapters: Origins, American Resistance, Revolution, Constitution-Making and War, Republicanism, Republican Society, and the Federal Constitution. The fact that only fourteen out of the almost two-hundred pages of the book are dedicated to the actual military conflict and that the longest chapter is "Republican Society" demonstrate once again where Wood's emphasis lies. In each chapter, he intertwines the many issues (economic, cultural, political, and ideological), giving the reader a well-rounded image of the proceedings. The short book is dense with evidence for his thesis, creating a sense of "rush of events". The reader can detect that Wood is fascinated by his topic and that fascination is transmitted to the reader.
Wood traces the origins of the American Revolution to three fundamental sources: the growth and movement of the American population, economic expansion, and the reform of the British Empire. These dynamic developments "demanded that England pay more attention to its North American colonies" (Wood 6). They woke Britain from its "salutary neglect" policy and the increasing British presence was seen as an invasion of the colonists' rights. When Britain did reform, Americans were not fervently opposed to the ensuing taxes until Parliament passed the Stamp Act, which Wood describes as the key event in the rise of American resistance.
The nature of American resistance was what made the Revolution so radical. The colonists began by protesting British taxes. These protests came to justify a larger debate: the ideological one. Tensions rose over the differing views on actual/virtual representation and the nature of British Empire. These strains, combined with the ineffectiveness of the British government, caused the crisis to become "more than a simple breakdown in the imperial relationship" (47). Wood traces the changes in the American mentality, but doesn't omit the impact of smaller localized events, such as the Regulator Movement, involved in the rise to independence. He describes the events leading up to Independence as a "spiraling momentum" (51) growing increasingly radical. He explains how America developed its own unique view on liberty, best exemplified in the Declaration of Independence, and how it was primarily motivated by a "desire to root out tyranny once and for all" (67). The results were the radical state constitutions, the Articles of Confederation, and later the Constitution. They were radical because of their unprecedented egalitarianism. Along with these developments, Wood does an excellent job in providing a brief yet exhaustive summary of the military conflict of the American Revolution.
However, his emphasis is on the radical effects of the war, not the war itself. Beginning with the Republicanism chapter, Wood finally unveils these much-awaited radical outcomes, the most important of which is the adoption of a Republican worldview: "This republicanism was in every way a radical ideology" (91). Accompanying this political revolution was a cultural revolution. The flourishing of American literature, art, and architecture are all explained. There emerged a social revolution: a new belief that "the natural affection, moral sense, and benevolence of people were no utopian fantasies" (103). Penal codes were liberalized and humanitarian societies formed. Wood discusses the significance of the concept of equality in American society and juxtaposes it with the subjugation of blacks and natives. The American Revolution also weakened the patriarchal structure of America, increasing the power of women and reforming the concept of "family". A religious revolution, characterized by religious toleration and the growth of formerly underground religions, is described by Wood as the "city upon a hill" assuming a republican character, becoming "the Christian Sparta" (129). Out of these many sub-revolutions, Wood focuses on the Republican society that emerged and how it came to be.
Following the weak central government created by the Articles of Confederation, there was a growing fear of the tyrannical power of state legislatures. Interstate trade also needed to be regulated, and this could only be accomplished by a central authority; the result was the Constitution. Born out of the raging Federalist/Anti-Federalist debates, it created a strong central government, while retaining specific state rights. In doing so, it transformed the concept of sovereignty by locating it in the people at large. The government became only a "temporary and limited agency of the people" (161). Wood concludes by asserting that the most radical impact of the American Revolution is democracy itself: "this democracy was no longer a technical term of political science...Instead, it became the civic faith of the United States" (166). As a result of the American Revolution, America began as "thirteen insignificant British colonies" (xxv) and grew to be a democracy.
By concluding in such way, Wood shows clear evidence for his thesis. The American Revolution truly changed America. He is able to demonstrate this in a book that does not exceed two-hundred pages in length. The book's neat division into chapters concerning each component of the American Revolution, from its origins to its effects, helps the reader digest the material and comprehend Wood's thesis.
Wood's The American Revolution cannot be overestimated in its contribution to history. It strikes new ground by completely renovating the American Revolution's place in American history. It breaks free from all the schools of thought concerning the Revolution, creating its own new category. Because of its innovativeness, persuasiveness, and exactitude, this book is strongly recommended not only for the skilled historian, but also for the amateur who wishes to introduce himself to the American Revolution. The reader of this book will truly understand "the worth of the Revolution" and, along the way, be enthralled by it.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
An excellent concise overview, 2007-08-02
Professor Wood, considered by many to be one of the better historians of the American Revolution, has written perhaps the classic summary of the conflict that founded one nation,ended the first empire of another and has changed the world. What sets this book, at less than a 170 pages, is its conciseness and ability to sum up many and large complicated issues well.
Wood does a wonderful job if explaining how a struggle between 13 of Britain's 21 North American colonies was virtually inevitable due to many circumstances that were surely incomprehensible at first, and to hard to untangle afterwards when the issues were of the present day, until all at once, individuals who would rather not, were forced to choose sides. The unusual thing about the American Revolution, is that both sides were choosing between two different types of traditionalism, and were forced to fight a contemporary battle among issues that had divided English speaking peoples since early Norman times, over 600 years in the past. As Wood easily explains, a series of disputes over trade acts and taxes hardly seems like the justification to start the world anew, especially considering that the Revolution saw a huge proportion of military and civilian deaths, leading to economic destruction and civil war in many of the colonies.
Wood only spends 14 whole pages on direct discussion on the military conflict proper, though a reader will not come away with misunderstandings about how the conflict developed or why it was concluded the way it was. The strategic limitations of the British military, not least of which was that were told to wage general war on people most of their office class considered to be as much their countrymen as a Scotchman or Welshman, in the fast American frontier, are explained crisply.
Along the way, Wood does a fine job of explaining why the culture of the American colonies was more united than they gave themselves credit for, why it was overwhelmingly optimistic, with a bent on radical equality of the sort that British people had not hoped for in over 400 years. Wood quotes a British traveler in America from 1759 who writes of the American urgency to rise to the point where the American British reached their destiny to write the laws of the rest of civilization. From that frame of reference, of a new American nation, built with the best of British hopes of tradition, law and religion is how Wood has framed the story of the American Revolution. The book is recommended in the highest way.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 A Well Informed, if Very General, Overview, 2007-07-10
Gordon Wood has taken on the subject he's best at again, The American Revolution, with this short, concise history. With the book itself running only about 170 pages, it serves as a nice refresher for the regular scholar, and an above average briefing for the layman. In addition, it provides an extremely helpful bibliography, which is broken down by subject within the Revolutionary movement.
By nature, this book is a bit more simple than many of Wood's other works, but it is also considerably more clear. He is able to make his point about liberalism and forward thinking in a much more digestible way than he attempted in Radicalism in the American Revolution.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Strong and Clear, 2007-04-22
Light, rapid history, a good refresher on the dates, the book carries Wood's major contention, the liberalness of the revolution itself. He also makes some good points on Washington's real strengths.
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