I. Monarchy
1. Hierarchy
2. Patricians and Plebeians
3. Patriarchal Dependence
4. Patronage
5. Political Authority
II. Republicanism
6. The Republicanization of Monarchy
7. A Truncated Society
8. Loosening the Bands of Society
9. Enlightened Paternalism
10. Revolution
11. Enlightenment
12. Benevolence
III. Democracy
13. Equality
14. Interests
15. The Assault on Aristocracy
16. Democratic Officeholding
17. A World Within Themselves
18. The Celebration of Commerce
19. Middle-Class Order
Gordon S. Wood is Alva O. Way Professor of History Emeritus at Brown University. 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. He writes frequently for The New York Review of Books and The New Republic.
"The most important study of the American Revolution to appear in
over twenty years ... a landmark book." —The New York Times Book
Review
"A breathtaking social, political, and ideological analysis. This
book will set the agenda for discussion for some time to come."
—Richard L. Bushman
"The most important study of the American Revolution to appear in
over twenty years ... a landmark book." -The New York Times Book
Review
"A breathtaking social, political, and ideological analysis. This
book will set the agenda for discussion for some time to come."
-Richard L. Bushman
Historians have always had problems explaining the revolutionary character of the American Revolution: its lack of class conflict, a reign of terror, and indiscriminate violence make it seem positively sedate. In this beautifully written and persuasively argued book, one of the most noted of U.S. historians restores the radicalism to what he terms ``one of the greatest revolutions the world has ever known.'' It was the American Revolution, Wood argues, that unleashed the social forces that transformed American society in the years between 1760 and 1820. The change from a deferential, monarchical, ordered, and static society to a liberal, democratic, and commercial one was astonishing, all the more so because it took place without industrialization, urbanization, or the revolution in transportation. It was a revolution of the mind, in which the concept of equality, democracy, and private interest grasped by hundreds of thousands of Americans transformed a country nearly overnight. Exciting, compelling, and sure to provoke controversy, the book will be discussed for years to come. History Book Club main selection.-- David B. Mattern, Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville
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