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The American Revolution: A History (Modern Library Chronicles)

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Gordon S. Wood faithfully fulfills the objectives of the fine Modern Libary Chronicles series, in The American Revolution (A History). The author, in a short space, effectively gives a history of the American Revolution from its ecomonic, demographic and ideological origins through the war itself and into the second revolution, that of the creation of the constitution. The story is told clearly and made interesting, sticking conservatively to the basic outline without adding any of the more radical views of recent years. This volume is definately not for those overly familiar with the Revolution but would be a good beginning or a refresher for those interested in the outlines of this fascinating event. All the major personalities makes brief appearances but the focus is on the revolution itself, as it should be.

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 history is history, war and politics can't be separated from culture and money, and that it is all interesting.

He probably doesn't emphasize enough the origin of the problems in the Constitution that led to its ultimate failure in the crisis of 1860. But that is a complicated subject, and he lays a sufficient groundwork for further study of that issue.

The bibiographic essay at the end is superb.

I didn't notice any typos - apparently the publisher has corrected in subsequent printings the "Yorktown, Pennsylvania" error noted by a previous reviewer.

Recommended without reservation.

Note: (April 15, 2007) For a broader view of Gordon Wood's thought I highly recommend the review that recently appeared in the Winter 2006/07 edition of the "Claremont Review of Books", V. VII, #1, pps. 27-30, by Steven F. Hayward, entitled "The Liberal Republicanism of Gordon Wood."

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.

Although the account is first rate, an additional reason this is such a valuable book is the exceptional bibliographical essay that closes the book. Wood provides a ten-page survey of the literature on the Revolution, and if one is unfamiliar with the period, he or she will have a host of suggestions of additional books to read upon completion of Wood's book.

I really find it difficult to praise this book too strongly. This book is ideal for someone unfamiliar (or even those familiar desiring a brief survey) with the central factors of the Revolution and wanting a brief but superb analysis of the events leading to the creation of the United States.

What was the American Revolution? While most people would probably identify the American Revolution with the American War of Independence, Gordon S. Wood sees it as something more: a complete change in the ideological and political structure of British America, from the Royal colonies of 1763 to the Unites States of 1787. Within a single generation, America twice revised its views about the government and sovereignty.

Wood does not disregard the material causes for independence, the interest groups and the petty local politics that fed fuel to the conflict between the colonies and the mother country, but his focus is on the ideological and philosophical issues - the British, who saw Parliament as the source of authority to all of the British Empire, whether the constituents voted for the MPs or not, and the Americans, who held to the principle of "no taxation without representation", and the ideology that contrasted liberty and self rule with the tyrannical power of the divine rights of kings.

With the deepening, crisis, the Colonists, although willing in principle to acknowledge that Parliament had the right to regulate external commerce and navigation laws "from the necessities of the case, and a regard to the mutual interests of both countries" (p.44), could no longer reconcile that view with the British all-or-nothing perspective, in which sovereignty lay within Parliament and Parliament alone. The widespread violence and King George III's declaration that the colonies were in open revolt helped push the Americans into declaring their independence.

Under the Articles of Confederation, the Founding Fathers of the United States formed an alternative form of government to the Imperial system - no longer a centre and a periphery, but a collective of equal, cooperating states. With the Northwest Ordinance, the Americans acknowledged the Western settlers as the equals of the thirteen original colonies. Proportionally representative legislative councils were seen as the instrument of government, the protection against executive tyranny.

The failure of the all-powerful legislatives to adequately answer the needs of the public good, and the lack of cooperation between the states, led to another change in the American political philosophy. Local legislative councils changed from being the ultimate expression of Public sovereignty, to one element in a complex national system, meant to keep checks and balances between the states and the Federal Union, and between the branches of government. The ultimate purpose was to keep sovereignty in the hands of "we, the people of the United States of America"

There is far more in Wood's book then I can do justice to in a short review. But Wood's detailed investigation of the political and ideological aspects of the revolution means that much remains neglected. The social changes of America are hardly more then alluded to, and the economic changes are never coherently explained. The worst neglect, though, is the Military history aspects of the Revolution - the American War of Independence is dealt with almost entirely in about 6 pages. Nor are the major personalities of the Revolution given due attention: Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, Henry and Washington are mentioned but only in the context of their ideas or public actions. There is only a single exception - Wood's short discussion of Washington's choice to re-enter political life and participate in the 1787 Philadelphia Convention.

In the past couple of years, I've tried to read three different accounts of the American Revolution, and have been unable to finish any of them. Gordon S. Wood's short book is a fascinating read and a good introduction to the Revolution and to the changes it brought on America.

This 166-page book introduces us to the American Revolution, with an emphasis on its causes and effects--economic, political, legal, social, racial, and religious. The writing style is a bit too factual and dry for me, perhaps because Wood is just briefly covering the topic, but I would have liked to see more details on the leaders and events to "bring them to life." For example, Wood writes that "it was mob violence that destroyed the Stamp Act in America," but there is little given us about the violent acts themselves, and the people who instigated them. Also, few details are presented about the battles of the Revolutionary War. (Read A. J. Langguth's Patriots to learn more about Samuel Adams, George Washington and others, as well as about most of the military campaigns.)

Wood's book is particularly useful for its discussion of the effects of the war: on the class structure, slaves, indentured servants and the Indians, monetary inflation, education, governments, and on the role of women. Wood summarizes some surprising trends: For example, he points out that wealth was distributed more unequally after the Revolution even though Americans believed that society was more egalitarian. He also gives us some fascinating details, such as that some women objected to the use of the word "obey" in the vows taken at their weddings in the last quarter of the 18th century.

This is a good overview of the American Revolution, although it is not written in the most exciting style. In addition, there is a good list of other sources of information, with comments about them at the end of the book.

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.

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 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.

if you're like me, you know less about the American Revolution than you let on. if you want to know more, then this is the right book. it's short, it's sweet, and no one knows the subject better or writes more engagingly about it (not to mention briefly) than gordon wood.

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.