The American Revolution: A History

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It is written by a professor at an Ivy League university (Brown), and yet from reading his book I am unable to determine his personal political leanings. Either he thinks the same way I do, or he is that "rara avis", a historian whose only ax to grind is that of the search for objective truth about the past. He is a superb writer. There is not a dull sentence in the book, and the narrative flows like a good novel. It is a brief book, intended to be an introduction for general readers as part of a Modern Library series, and yet as a knowledgeable but non-specialist reader of the period, I learned something new on almost every page. Professor Wood has made himself one with the Revolutionary era, and has at the same time cultivated the ability to describe it clearly to us moderns. I suspect he was an excellent classroom instructor for freshmen students. These quotations illustrate his insightful thought and graceful style: "... the Revolution was not only about home rule; it was also about who should rule at home." "The Revolution, like the whole of American history, is not a simple morality play; it is a complicated and often ironic story that needs to be explained and understood, not celebrated or condemned." Note the skillful use of the semicolon, the mark of a good prose stylist, and the concise expression of some very complex concepts in two brief sentences. In a few pages he discusses in a very lucid manner a number of very complicated subjects, for example, the conflict between Burke's theory of "virtual" representation and the experience of "actual" representation in the new frontier towns of the American colonies, the development of a new conception of sovereignty as residing in the people to explain the proposed Constitution of 1789, the commonality of ideas shared by the Puritans of the English Civil War and the American revolutionists of a century later, the basis for the continued and unique American belief that we are "exceptional", outside the mainstream of history, and uniquely chosen as guardians of human freedom. Wood delves rather deeply into the evolution of American religious belief and practice and its effect on American society in the post-Revolutionary era. He also succinctly outlines the effect of the Revolution on slavery and women's rights. He devotes only 12 pages to The War of Independence, and yet in that brief space gives a surprisingly complete and detailed picture of the military, political, and diplomatic course of the war. His comments on the strategic problems of each side are quite incisive, and his narrative is much clearer than Higginbotham's, for example. The last chapters on the social and political changes set off by the Revolution are his best. I'm not a big fan of the "new history" emphasis on social and economic issues. I think history is mostly about war and politics, in that order. But Professor Wood shows that my prejudice is absurd, that hi

With less than 200 pages of text, you may well think that Wood's THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION is no more than historical Cliffs Notes. It rises above that level as a decent read and a refresher for general readers who have not revisited this part of history since school.As Wood notes in his preface, there is a tendency among some contemporary revisionists to downplay the significance of the American Revolution, to challenge its revolutionary stature because it did not fully achieve the full equality of humankind at the one time. In clean, practical fact-driven prose, he ably responds with a picture of an extraordinary coalescence of intellectual, social and political change that forged not only a new nation and way of governance, but one that quickly emerged as a world leader. Wood deftly sorts out the origins and spurs that produced the tensions in the colonies and in Britain, reviews the highlights of the war, and then visits the newly formed United States of America as its people try on their new identity and begin to build a new way of being. It ends with the production of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The central engine of the book is based in the ideas, particularly of the Enlightenment, that drove the Revolution. Only the most significant players make appearances, such as Patrick Henry, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and King George III. This is not the book to go looking for Betsy Ross or Nathan Hale. What struck this reader most of all were the issues that America faced as it took on the mantle of freedom. Many of the original tensions are still with us, and probably always will be given how democracy embraces diverse people and agenda. Wood's calm rendering of this period inspires wonder at what was in fact achieved.

Gordon S. Wood is one of the deans of scholarship on the American Revolution, and this volume in the Modern Library Chronicles series (each volume dedicated to providing a brief but sound introduction to a specific subject) is the distillation of a lifetime of study of the subject. Although short, this is not a book lacking in content. Some of the reviewers seem to misunderstand the subject: the American Revolution was not primarily a military adventure but an intellectual one. Therefore, the book rightfully dedicates most of its pages to the ideas that drove the revolt against Britain and the formation of a completely original form of government based upon equality and the sovereignty of the people. The genius of the book is not merely that Wood finds space to mention every significant aspect of the American Revolution, but that he is able in a very brief space explain the why and the wherefore. For instance, in explaining why the people making up the new nation did not respect the rights of Native Americans and consider them equals, Wood explains that the widespread view was that independent individual owned and cultivated land, and since the Indians were hunters, they could not could that they were potential citizens like themselves. Therefore, they could only treat them as foreigner nations. Wood does not condone their conclusions, but he does a great job of explaining their thinking. Likewise, when he addresses the question of slavery, he points out that while the founders did not carry through with the logical implications of the notion that all men are created equal, the foundations where nonetheless laid for its eventually expungement. As he writes, "The Revolution had a powerful effect in eventually bring an end to slavery in America. It suddenly and effectively ended the social and intellectual environment that had allowed slavery to exist everywhere for thousands of years without substantial questioning." The book contains a host of similar insights. Although I have read other and longer books on the Revolution, I have read few that were filled with as much insight.The book proceeds on a series of topics that are largely chronological, beginning with the changes in American society following the end of the French-Indian Wars and the refocusing of the British government on the colonies after several decades of some neglect, and ending with the Constitutional Convention in 1787 in Philadelphia. His focus is overwhelmingly on the ideas that drove the Revolution. He is almost entirely unconcerned with the battles of the War, which he does not view as especially decisive. As he points out, the odds of the British defeating the colonists were long at best, given the overwhelming hostility felt against the Crown and the widespread sentiments for independence. Wood spends approximately fifteen pages on the actual military campaign. There is little regret for this because he is so superb in discussing the nonmilitary aspects.A

This is more a long essay than a full-fledged treatment of a very complex subject. But sometimes it is invaluable to take an overview, to separate the forest from the trees. And Wood is skillful in outlining major issues underlying the details of these events and personalities. His views on the transformation of ideology during the Revolution, the innovations during the Confederacy period, the basic conceptual shift represented by the Constitution, are communicated with clarity and insight. This,without losing sight of the extemperaneity of those events, the trial-and-error of much of it, the incapacity to foresee what had never before been tried. Readable, concise, and insighful.

The American Revolution remains the formative event in our Nation's history. During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln looked back to it to define the significance of the conflict and to restate the ideals and aspirations of our country.Gordon Wood has written a succinct summary of the Revolution which will give the reader a good overview of the event. The book will allow the reader to think through for him or herself the meaning of our Revolution and to explore further through additional reading and thinking. The book has a good bibliography. In the short compass of the book, Wood offers his own interpretation of the importance of the Revolution. It was the source of what he calls "middling democracy". By this phrase, Wood means that any person, regardless of social status, wealth or education had the right to pursue his or her own ends, to find value, and to seek his or her own self-defined interests and economic success. The Revolution broke the hierarchical structures of Europe. We are still, for Wood, living through and developing the insights and consequences of the Revolution.For me, the most interesting section of the book was the discussion of the French-Indian War and how it lead Great Britain to place an army on the frontier and to impose certain taxes to pay its cost. From these small beginnings, a Revolution grew. Wood presents a good summary of the causes of the Revolution -- a topic difficult and fascinating in itself.Wood briefly discusses the Revolutionary War, and spends somewhat more space discussing the Articles of the Confederation and the experiments of the various states with constitutionalism and independence. Wood has explored this ground before in his longer books, particularly his "The Radicalism of the American Revolution" and it is pivotal to his understanding of the formation of American democracy.Finally Wood discusses the Constitutional Convention and the Federalist Anti-Federalist debate over the ratification of the Constitution. He discusses the significance of the Constitution as a written document (unlike the unwritten Constitution of England) and he suggests how the Constitution led, in a short time and in spite of the Framer's intentions, to the robust "middling democracy" that is the theme of his book.The American Revolution was not one event, but several. (The break with England, War, Articles of Confederation, Constitution)Wood gives each attention here and shows how they were each integrated with the other to produce the beginnings of American democracy. With the coming of Independence Day and the recollection of September 11, this is a good book to read to reflect on the nature of our country and its values.