the radicalism of the american revolution review

Population expansion, migration, capitalism, and republicanism all combined to undermine the patron-client relationships that had been so ubiquitous under the crown. Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2011. I really loved some of Gordon Woods other books. Teaching The Radicalism of the American Revolution. Numerous authors have chronicled, with varying degrees of success, the trials and tribulations of the early days of the American empire, but very few have illuminated the spirit of the American body politic and its cultural paternalism as poetically as Wood. x, 427. According to Wood, the American Revolution radically altered relationships in American culture that later significantly impacted its economic and political growth. Great author...not such a great book for consumers. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. 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. Revolutionaries like John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson believed that the old monarchical society unfairly excluded individuals of skill because of its hierarchical nature. The Radicalism of the American Revolution is a nonfiction book by historian Gordon S. Wood, published by Vintage Books in 1993. Review: The Adequate Revolution [pp. First, the South barely appears in Wood’s formation. They lost control when others appropriated ideas like equality and interest redefining them in their favor. You can still see all customer reviews for the product. 693-702] Review: Equality and Social Conflict in the American Revolution [pp. The Radicalism of The American Revolution by: Gordon S. Woods Published by: Vintage Books 1991 In Woods Pulitzer Prize winning account of U.S. society during the time of the American Revolution, he shows how the Revolution was not merely a coup de taut but a complete remodeling of social structure and organization. Professor Wood has taught early American history at Brown for more than 40 years and has earned a place as one of a handful of great scholars that have reached a comprehensive understanding of what happened in our democracy's creation and how this history affects the country even today. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. The American Revolution as Radical Departure from the Monarchical and Hierarchical Mind-set of 18th Century Europe, Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2017. Gordon Wood's "The Radicalism of the American Revolution" was highly touted in my search for good histories to read, so I gave it a read. The book strays a bit by extending its commentary into the 1830s, in order to show the full-blown effects of commerce on the noble ideals once espoused. The revolutionaries did have revolutionary ideas for the time, but modern historians failed to consider changing perceptions of long-standing concepts such as equality, interest, and the “disinterested gentlemen.”. ; ed., The Rising Glory of America, 1971) impressively argues that it was anything but conservative. There's a problem loading this menu right now. Pp. He writes frequently for The New York Review of Books and The New Republic. “Prosperity” had been thought to be detrimental to average Americans since it robbed them of the initiative, but economic expansion proved this belief incorrect. Gordon Wood's "The Radicalism of the American Revolution" was highly touted in my search for good histories to read, so I gave it a read. Moreover, expanding businesses needed access to credit, contributing to the growth of the banking industry, but at the expense of the old client-patron relationship, as the benevolence of the local “gentlemen” became less relevant. Probably both feeding into each other. Attitudes about work and the accumulation of wealth changed, as capitalism expanded. But they are 5 star ideas, in fact this book has radically changed (pun intended) the way I view the American revolution. His book The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 (1969) won a 1970 Bancroft Prize.In 2010, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal Perhaps, as is often noted, the American Revolution was not as convulsive or transforming as its French and Russian counterparts. However, as Wood explains in his third section Democracy, the concepts the revolutionaries promoted were co-opted by others who then redefined or altered their meanings. Yet this sparkling analysis from Wood (History/Brown Univ. As such, Wood rebuts the traditional representation of the Revolution as a conservative tax rebellion. It provides a good picture of a lost world that once existed in the new world. 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. Social changes doomed the Federalists, who had hoped for the disinterested leadership of an enlightened elite. Wood describes the social situation in pre-independence times under the monarchy, and then he follows the gradual changes towards republicanism and democracy. Additionally, they believed that work meant you were not gentlemen even if you were rich which later led to odd alliances after the revolution between more proletarian workers and factory owners who were not considered of the highest class because they still engaged in labor. 219 reviews. Instead, the “mutual mistrust” between businessmen encouraged the use of contracts. Even the American’s eventual repudiation of the English monarchy in some ways serves as an example of this exaggeration. Disabling it will result in some disabled or missing features. To be considered a gentleman prior to the revolution meant one had wealth but also did not have to work. “Gentlemen” became the targets of diatribes that criticized them for idleness, their claims of “disinterest” lacked resonance since arguments were made that they acted in self-interest to maintain their station in society. Instead, they wanted to create a nation led by an “aristocracy of virtue and talent”. The banking system that developed around these economic changes expanded access to credit for many Americans, befuddling many former revolutionaries who never adapted to the economic transformation of America they helped create. It's good at giving a good picture of colonial society and its change to something quite different. The typeface in the paperback often led to my trying to find my place on the page. The weakness of the state expanded the power of such men since they were able to support others and were believed to provide an economy for locals through their consumption. In brief, American society changed from a socially rigid monarchical society to a fully democratic, egalitarian society after passing through a brief period of idealistic republicanism. Reviewed in Canada on July 26, 2001. But perhaps great for academics. About The Radicalism of the American Revolution 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. Historians and philosophers (Wood cites Hannah Arendt’s On Revolution as one example) have argued that the French and other “modern revolutions” … Repetitive and boring for American history enthusiasts like me. This change does not always merit the designation as “revolutionary”. Wood’s book focuses exclusively on elites, few if any common people appear. Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2016. It's good at giving a good picture of colonial society and its change to something quite different. Historians and philosophers (Wood cites Hannah Arendt’s On Revolution as one example) have argued that the French and other “modern revolutions” arose out of “internal violence, class conflict, and social deprivation.” (3) In contrast, America seemed to lack the wide-scale poverty and political oppression present in other revolutions. Of course, Wood’s book has endured criticism. Traditional relationships of the period were of this nature. In this book, Gordon Wood methodically explains its radical and unique nature. As the economy expanded, so did the people’s taste for “luxuries” stimulating growth, thus no longer were such goods reserved for the wealthy. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. Citation: Wood, Gordon S. The Radicalsim of the American Revolution. Wood applies his narrative expertise to expose just how novel Amercian thinking was, at the time, to fostering modern visions of, Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2013, Wood's magnum opus; an erudite, scholarly and enlightening read, Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2013. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for The Radicalism of the American Revolution at Amazon.com. These widely held beliefs included the notion that governments were best run by “disinterested gentlemen” who had attained wealth, so they were incorruptible and unwilling to allow personal interest to interfere with the common good. The Radicalism of the American Revolution focuses on the radical change that the revolution brought to how Americans organized themselves, their relation to others, the nation’s economic transformation and the resulting government. His narrative dives deeply into the lives and context of the 19th century. His examples overwhelmingly arise from northern examples with some notable exceptions. The radicalism of the American Revolution — and its lessons for today Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen discusses the US’s founding, prison abolition, and the future of democracy. Pp. pursued with intellectual and moral rigour. There was also tumultuous guilt to be felt, as their emancipation from the crown established a collective disobedience akin to the English Civil War between royalists and parliamentarians in 17th Century Britain. Poverty was no longer seen as the motivation for citizens to work. Gordon S. Wood, in his introduction to The Radicalism of the American Revolution, asserts that "the Revolution was the most radical and far reaching event in American … It is academic, rather than a popularized history. It was only by way of revisionist history which represented our American founders as stable pillars of traditionalism that we have been conditioned to think that the American Revolution was not as radical as the nearly contemporary French Revolution which began in 1789. I give it one star less because this is a much more difficult book to read; the concepts presented here are much more complex and require effort and contemplation on the part of the reader. None of the revolutionaries attempted to reshape the new country’s “social order,” instead they settled for more conservative measures that resulted in a government distinct from Britain’s but also sharing many striking characteristics. He provides an illustrative picture of daily life without getting lost in the detail. Gordon Wood's premise in this work is simple and concise and it is can be summed up by saying that given the monarchical/hierarchical mind-set of 18th century Europeans, the Republicanism that the American Revolution instilled and promulgated for all white males (not just property owners) was truly radical and revolutionary for its time. Other social changes in the 19th and 20th centuries were also enabled by this social revolution: the second Great Awakening in religion, fair labor laws, and movements for racial and gender equality. Wood vivifies the colonial society out of which the American Revolution arose, delineating in particular the gulf between aristocrat and commoner (he notes in passing that students at Harvard were ran The concept of republicanism permeated colonial society. The weakness of the state along with its multiple forms (since colonies lacked a unified, centralized power each had its government structures) resulted in a society in which a patron-client paternalistic dynamic developed between colonists. Instead, they got money-grubbing John Q. The democratization, or radicalization, of the people was noted by Benedict Arnold while he was stationed in Philadelphia. It left me with some confusion as to whether social change caused the Revolution, or whether it was the other way around. New York: A. Inside you'll find 30 Daily Lessons, 20 Fun Activities, 180 Multiple Choice Questions, 60 Short Essay Questions, 20 Essay Questions, Quizzes/Homework Assignments, Tests, and more. This change did not occur suddenly (in fact it's probably still on-going) but by the late 18th century it was pronounced enough that political independence from England was an inevitable conclusion. 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