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C. Bradley Thompson
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America's Revolutionary Mind: A Moral History of the American Revolution and the Declaration That Defined It Kindle Edition

by C. Bradley Thompson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 218 ratings
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America's Revolutionary Mind is the first major reinterpretation of the American Revolution since the publication of Bernard Bailyn's The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution and Gordon S. Wood's The Creation of the American Republic.

The purpose of this book is twofold: first, to elucidate the logic, principles, and significance of the Declaration of Independence as the embodiment of the American mind; and, second, to shed light on what John Adams once called the "real American Revolution"; that is, the moral revolution that occurred in the minds of the people in the fifteen years before 1776. The Declaration is used here as an ideological road map by which to chart the intellectual and moral terrain traveled by American Revolutionaries as they searched for new moral principles to deal with the changed political circumstances of the 1760s and early 1770s. This volume identifies and analyzes the modes of reasoning, the patterns of thought, and the new moral and political principles that served American Revolutionaries first in their intellectual battle with Great Britain before 1776 and then in their attempt to create new Revolutionary societies after 1776.

The book reconstructs what amounts to a near-unified system of thought—what Thomas Jefferson called an “American mind” or what I call “America’s Revolutionary mind.” This American mind was, I argue, united in its fealty to a common philosophy that was expressed in the Declaration and launched with the words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident.”
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  1. Print length
    458 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Encounter Books
  4. Publication date
    July 5, 2022
  5. File size
    1023 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“From one of America’s most astute scholars comes an extraordinarily rich study of the ideas that propelled the United States into existence, and to greatness. C. Bradley Thompson understands not just that ideas have consequences, but that, a quarter of a millennium later, the revolutionary mind retains its relevance.”―George F. Will, columnist and author of The Conservative Sensibility

“A bold new interpretation of the political and moral theory of the American Revolution. It is sure to be provocative.”―Gordon S. Wood, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Radicalism of the American Revolution

“Behind the American Constitution is the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln’s ‘apple of gold’ in a ‘picture of silver.’ Brad Thompson here explains the apple of gold, the American revolutionary mind, and how to recover its moral power as well as its principles from the studied denigration current today. With strong argument, broad evidence, and shining clarity, this is a book that will last.”―Harvey C. Mansfield, Kenan Professor of Government, Harvard University; Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford

“Since Bernard Bailyn’s and Gordon Wood’s work a half century ago, no study has appeared that takes us on so fruitful a voyage of rethinking, at a deep level, the moral, civic, and cultural causes and meaning of the Revolutionary era. At once eloquent and erudite, this book argues for and exemplifies a refreshingly distinguished method, or way of practicing the historian’s craft: ‘the new moral history’―emphasizing the thinking, judging, choosing, and acting of individuals as the true moral agents of history, rather than large-scale social processes moved by unseen tidal forces.”―Thomas Pangle, Joe R. Long Chair in Democratic Studies, University of Texas at Austin

About the Author

C. Bradley Thompson is professor of political philosophy at Clemson University and the executive director of the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism. He received his PhD at Brown University, and he has also been a visiting scholar at Princeton and Harvard universities and at the University of London. He is the author of the award-winning John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty as well as Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea.



Tom Parks is an AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator who has also been a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. He has been involved in recording audiobooks and voice-overs for over thirty years and through an eclectic range of projects. In addition to performing and directing, he is also an active musician, drumming in musical theater productions in the Midwest, and is in demand as a conference speaker.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09BBJ187R
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Encounter Books (July 5, 2022)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 5, 2022
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1023 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 458 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1641772603
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 218 ratings

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C. Bradley Thompson

C. Bradley Thompson

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C. Bradley Thompson is the BB&T Research Professor in the Department of Political Science at Clemson University and the Executive Director of the Clemson Institute for the Study Capitalism. He received his Ph.D from Brown University, and he has also been a visiting scholar at Princeton and Harvard universities and at the University of London.

Professor Thompson is the author of the award-winning book John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty. He is also the author (with Yaron Brook) of Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea. Thompson has edited two books: The Revolutionary Writings of John Adams (Liberty Press) and Antislavery Political Writings, 1833-1860: A Reader (M.E. Sharp). He was also a co-editor of the four-volume Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment (Oxford University Press).

Dr. Thompson is currently completing two books: one on "The Ideological Origins of American Constitutionalism" and another tentatively entitled "Manifesto for a Free Society."

Dr. Thompson is also an occasional writer for The Times Literary Supplement of London, The Objective Standard and various other national publications. He has lectured around the country on education reform and on the moral foundations of capitalism, and his op-ed essays have appeared in scores of newspapers in the U.S. and abroad. His lectures on the political thought of John Adams have twice appeared on C-SPAN, and he has been a guest on the John Stossel show.

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4.8 out of 5 stars
218 global ratings

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Customers find the book's scholarly content great, relevant, and educational. They describe it as one of the best philosophical history books they have read. Readers also appreciate the excellent condition, well-sourced, and researched content.

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Customers find the book's scholarly content great, important, and relevant. They say it's one of the best philosophical history books they have read. Readers also describe the investigation as impressive, intellectual, and moral. They mention the depth of their knowledge and thought is astounding.

"...after sentence of the Declaration itself and illuminates both its philosophical heritage and its innovative ideas in a manner that will astound even..." Read more

"...He provides a fascinating and productive new way to read the Bible...." Read more

"...founding of the greatest country that ever existed is well worth taking the time to understand and C. Bradley Thompson explains it eloquently." Read more

"Probably the most important and relevant book to understanding why we believe what we believe in relation to our natural rights and their self..." Read more

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Customers find the book to be sturdy. They say it's well-sourced and researched. Readers also describe it as a masterful work.

"...This masterful work is not only an homage to the formative yesteryears of America’s birth but also a clarion call to rise up again, this time as an..." Read more

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A forensic look at the soul of America
5 out of 5 stars
A forensic look at the soul of America
Once you read this whole stack of books, “America’s Revolutionary Mind” serves as rediscovering of this country’s moral and political philosophy in response to the radical direction some want to take this country. We all need to draw a line in the sand and this book will help you articulate why and how
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Top reviews from the United States

MARK
5.0 out of 5 stars Required reading especially for high school and college-age young people
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2019
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Brad Thompson’s meticulously researched and carefully crafted new book A Moral History of the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence That Defined It is a must read for any American interested in a fresh and enlightening view of our country’s intellectual foundation. A deep thinker of the highest order, this professor-author takes us step by step, sentence after sentence of the Declaration itself and illuminates both its philosophical heritage and its innovative ideas in a manner that will astound even those of us who already have a fine grounding in the subject. He makes us think (and appreciate) anew the Declaration’s radical, historically original depth of moral meaning and the brilliant minds of those who created it. He also deals evenhandedly and compassionately to all—slaves and many owners as well--with the subject of slavery in a way I have never encountered before. [The only book I can think of that should be read as a companion to Thompson’s is Matthew Stewart’s NATURE’S GOD: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic because where Thompson focuses on the learned intellectuals who led us into war against England and achieved our independence, Stewart limns “ordinary” rebellious Americans like Ethan Allan and Thomas Young—who ever heard of Young before?—who were so operative in encouraging a revolutionary mind-set in “average” Colony folks.] It is particularly notable that the Epilogue of A Moral History. . . reads like a Prologue for another book of warning regarding America’s future. Who knew that so many slave holders blatantly supported slavery and outright socialism—their plantations having been “little countries” to be emulated nationally—even after the emancipation? This book should be required reading especially for high school and college-age young people who are being indoctrinated into voluntary enslavement every day by “educators” brainwashed as completely as the students they now guide into the shackles of collectivism in one form or another. This masterful work is not only an homage to the formative yesteryears of America’s birth but also a clarion call to rise up again, this time as an internally threatened people, and fight for the freedom of all our tomorrows.
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Michael
5.0 out of 5 stars American Mind and New Moral History
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2020
Verified Purchase
I received this book and Ben Witherington's New Testament Rhetoric on the same day and have been reading them in parallel. Serendipitously, not only are their theses original in their own disciplines, but they complement one another. Witherington claims that the epistles are not in an epistolary format; they are traditional rhetorical forms in the Attic or Asian style and are epideictic as befits sermons (with of course deliberative and forensic elements). More importantly, he describes how the “cultural script” (worldview) changed with the advent of Christianity from a “collectivist” ancient model, to an individual model. He provides a fascinating and productive new way to read the Bible.

Similarly, Thompson's conception of the "American Mind" (a new “cultural script”) as being a "revolutionary" phenomenon apart from the political and martial aspects of the Revolution is equally compelling as a new governing metaphor for how to “read” the Revolution.

Thompsen is arguing that although the Revolution occurs in a global Enlightenment milieu that uniformly emphasizes Reason, what he calls the “American Mind” (AM) is /unique/ to the Founding Fathers. It is absolutely convincing that this is the case when you contrast it with the old "cultural script" (Witherington) prevailing in supposedly Enlightenment nations like England which I characterize, riffing off Thompson, as retaining the Old Moral History: the Medieval mindset of hierarchy and the Chain of Being characterized by a "collectivist" (Witherington) epistemology.

The reason Thompson’s thesis is so timely is because we are seeing a new “revolution” unfold before our eyes: the Left is rebooting the “cultural script” of our nation from an individualist, exceptionalist culture to an identitarian, collectivist one. In order to do that, they must first destroy all vestiges of the old by knocking down statues, erasing names from buildings, destroying the character of the Founding Fathers, changing the curriculum, removing the Ten Commandments from public buildings, all in the service of raising subsequent generations with an “old mind” of collectivist tribal hatred.
5 people found this helpful
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Henry L. Solomon
5.0 out of 5 stars The integration of events and ideas in America's founding.
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2020
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C. Bradley Thompson has written a great book. This is a book that should be read by anyone who wants to understand the intellectual founding of America. Many books have documented the historical events leading up to the American Revolution and the events that followed leading to the civil war and those proceeding after it. As far as I know, this is the only book on the founding of America that fully identifies the meaning of the principles as Jefferson stated them in the Declaration of Independence and the history of the development of these ideas from the events which occurred during the period between about 1760 and 1776, known as the imperial crisis.

I believe that this book should be read by every student of American history to understand the exceptional nature and truth of the principles stated in the Declaration, that it is a unique historical achievement in the history of civilization.

This book exhibits a certain perfection in that it is a history of events and a history of the development of philosophic ideas at the same time. This is culminated, as identified by Abraham Lincoln, in the Declaration of Independence as not merely the statement of our separation from Great Britain, but the statement of a timeless moral abstract principle that underlies the separation, that “all men are created equal.” The story of this principle in the founding of the greatest country that ever existed is well worth taking the time to understand and C. Bradley Thompson explains it eloquently.
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