Wood, Gordon S.

The creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 by Gordon S Wood( Book )

91 editions published between 1969 and 2016 in 5 languages and held by 4,485 WorldCat member libraries worldwide

This classic work explains the evolution of American political thought from the Declaration of Independence to the ratification of the Constitution. In so doing, it illuminates the origins of the present American political system

Empire of liberty : a history of the early Republic, 1789-1815 by Gordon S Wood( Book )

31 editions published between 2009 and 2014 in English and held by 3,994 WorldCat member libraries worldwide

As part of the Oxford History of the United States series the author offers an account of the early American Republic, ranging from 1789 and the beginning of the national government to the end of the War of 1812. As he reveals, the period was marked by tumultuous change in all aspects of American life, in politics, society, economy, and culture. The men who founded the new government had high hopes for the future, but few of their hopes and dreams worked out quite as they expected. They hated political parties but parties nonetheless emerged. Some wanted the United States to become a great fiscal-military state like those of Britain and France; others wanted the country to remain a rural agricultural state very different from the European states. Instead, by 1815 the United States became something neither group anticipated. Many leaders expected American culture to flourish and surpass that of Europe; instead it became popularized and vulgarized. The leaders also hope to see the end of slavery; instead, despite the release of many slaves and the end of slavery in the North, slavery was stronger in 1815 than it had been in 1789. Many wanted to avoid entanglements with Europe, but instead the country became involved in Europe's wars and ended up waging another war with the former mother country. Still, with a new generation emerging by 1815, most Americans were confident and optimistic about the future of their country. This volumes offers an account of this pivotal era when America took its first unsteady steps as a new and rapidly expanding nation

The radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon S Wood( Book )

47 editions published between 1991 and 2019 in 4 languages and held by 2,959 WorldCat member libraries worldwide

Historical, cultural, social, and political analysis of the American Revolution

The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin by Gordon S Wood( Book )

19 editions published between 2004 and 2014 in English and Japanese and held by 2,585 WorldCat member libraries worldwide

Offers a portrait of the complex, often contradictory figure of Benjamin Franklin, a man who was at once the quintessential American and a cosmopolitan lover of Europe, and a one-time loyalist turned revolutionary

Revolutionary characters : what made the founders different by Gordon S Wood( Book )

19 editions published between 2006 and 2014 in English and held by 2,162 WorldCat member libraries worldwide

The author offers a series of studies of the men who came to be known as the Founding Fathers. Each life is considered in the round, but the thread that binds the work together is the idea of character as a lived reality for these men. For these were men, Wood shows, that took the matter of character very seriously. They were the first generation in history that was self-consciously self-made, men who considered the arc of lives, as of nations, as being one of moral progress. They saw themselves as comprising the world's first meritocracy, as opposed to the decadent Old World aristocracy of inherited wealth and station. Historian Wood's accomplishment here is to bring these men and their times down to earth and within our reach, showing us just who they were and what drove them, and that the virtues they defined for themselves are the virtues we aspire to still.--From publisher description

The American Revolution : a history by Gordon S Wood( Book )

39 editions published between 2001 and 2005 in English and held by 1,917 WorldCat member libraries worldwide

Chronicles and examines the American Revolution, discussing its character and its consequences, covering such topics as republicanism, the Philadelphia Convention, and the debate between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists

The idea of America : reflections on the birth of the United States by Gordon S Wood( Book )

18 editions published between 2011 and 2012 in English and held by 1,821 WorldCat member libraries worldwide

A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of the American Revolution explains why it remains the most significant event in our history. In a series of elegant and illuminating essays, Wood explores the ideological origins of the revolution--from ancient Rome to the European Enlightenment--and the founders' attempts to forge an American democracy

Friends divided : John Adams and Thomas Jefferson by Gordon S Wood( Book )

17 editions published between 2017 and 2018 in English and held by 1,536 WorldCat member libraries worldwide

"Thomas Jefferson and John Adams could scarcely have come from more different worlds, or been more different in temperament. Jefferson, the optimist with enough faith in the innate goodness of his fellow man to be democracy's champion, was an aristocratic Southern slave owner, while Adams, the overachiever from New England's rising middling classes, painfully aware he was no aristocrat, was a skeptic about popular rule and a defender of a more elitist view of government. They worked closely in the crucible of revolution, crafting the Declaration of Independence and leading, with Franklin, the diplomatic effort that brought France into the fight. But ultimately, their profound differences would lead to a fundamental crisis, in their friendship and writ large in the nation, as they became the figureheads of two entirely new forces, the first American political parties. It was a bitter breach, lasting through the presidential administrations of both men, and beyond. But late in life, something remarkable happened: these two men were nudged into reconciliation. What started as a grudging trickle of correspondence became a great flood, and a friendship was rekindled, over the course of hundreds of letters. In their final years they were the last surviving founding fathers and cherished their role in this mighty young republic as it approached the half century mark in 1826. ... Arguably no relationship in this country's history carries as much freight as that of John Adams of Massachusetts and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Gordon Wood has more than done justice to these entwined lives and their meaning; he has written a magnificent new addition to America's collective story."--Jacket

The making of the Constitution by Gordon S Wood( )

3 editions published in 1987 in English and held by 990 WorldCat member libraries worldwide

Wood presents important information about the founding period in our nation's history, conveying not only the content but also the spirit of the debates surrounding the Philadelphia Convention and its aftermath.--Book description, Amazon.com

The purpose of the past : reflections on the uses of history by Gordon S Wood( Book )

15 editions published between 2008 and 2014 in English and held by 888 WorldCat member libraries worldwide

History is to society what memory is to the individual: without it, we don't know who we are, and we can't make wise decisions about where we should be going. But while the nature of memory is a constant, the nature of history has changed radically over the past forty years, for good but also for ill. Historian Wood examines the sea change in the field, offers insight into what historians do, and how they can stumble. New currents of thought have brought refreshing changes to the discipline, expanding its compass to previously underexamined and undervalued groups and subjects. At the same time, however, extreme, even nihilistic, relativism has assaulted the relevance, even the legitimacy, of the historian's work, and the divide between academic and popular historians has widened into a chasm, separating some of the field's most important new ideas from any kind of real audience.--From publisher description