I am sure this is a brilliant book discussing the philosophies and ideas of the American Revolution as it happened and as historians have been seeing them in the context of their own times. I just could not get into it. Maybe some other time. ( )

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 — 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. ( )

This is a series of lecture notes that form a coherent whole, again describing the radicalism of the American idea. ( )

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 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).

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 Revolution is the most important event in our history, bar none.