The Radicalism of the American Revolution

By: Gordon S. Wood

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Pulitzer Prize, History, 1993

Grand in scope, rigorous in its arguments, and elegantly synthesizing 30 years of scholarship, Gordon S. Wood's Pulitzer Prize–winning book analyzes the social, political, and economic consequences of 1776. In The Radicalism of the American Revolution, Wood depicts not just a break with England, but the rejection of an entire way of life: of a society with feudal dependencies, a politics of patronage, and a world view in which people were divided between the nobility and "the Herd." He shows how the theories of the country's founders became realities that sometimes baffled and disappointed them. Above all, Bancroft Prize–winning historian Wood rescues the revolution from abstraction, allowing readers to see it with a true sense of its drama---and not a little awe.

©1993 Gordon S. Wood (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"The most important study of the American Revolution to appear in over twenty years...a landmark book." (Pauline Maier, The New York Times Book Review)

Wonderful book, unlistenable narration.

Would love...to finish this, I can’t take it...anymore. Breathing is frequent...and arbitrary, obscuring meaning...and intent.

Great book, bad reader

emphasis and expression too often wrong. Only buy this book if the subject enthralls you

MAGAchuds of the world, please read this.

loved the book. please read this. it explains the revolution at the level of the individual.

A unique and relevant look at the founding

It is easy to see how this book is relevant to understanding America today - society, politics and government.

Wood doesn't quite say it this way, but his basic argument is this: the founding generation were trying to create a new society, but they failed to create the one they envisioned. Instead, the society they created turned out better - from the perspective of modern Americans - because it is more democratic than they imagined any place ever could be.

Why America is different than England

Perhaps this is a wonderful complement to Alexis to Toqueville democracy in America.
It describes the religious revivals in America Americans, Everest, and pecuniary interest. White men were deemed to be all equal. It was great to learn about how class distinctions were slowly being eroded and people sought money to become new men, and that men of leisure were considered idol rather than noble.