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The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787
One of the half dozen most important books ever written about the American Revolution.
"New York Times Book Review"
During the nearly two decades since its publication, this book has set the pace, furnished benchmarks, and afforded targets for many subsequent studies. If ever a work of history merited the appellation 'modern classic, ' this is surely one.
"Will
...morePaperback, (Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia), 675 pages
Published
April 6th 1998
by University of North Carolina Press
(first published 1969)
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Bought this for eleven dollars at Powell's on a trip to Portland back in October, and started it soon after; I think it took so long to finish because reading it felt like work, or perhaps homework (although I was a history major at college I'm uncertain whether I read him then in my poor excuse for an American history curriculum*). Or maybe it was the interminable circularity of his points and Zagatian pathology of constructing prose not by synthesizing and summarizing but by hitching quotatio...more
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One of the best books on American government I've ever read.
This was not exactly a school book, but one of my teachers kept recommending it so frequently and so heartily that I had to give it a try, even if its not exactly in my field. He was right. It is just an amazing piece of work.
It's an intellectual history of sorts, except there are practically no individual characters or thinkers. Most of the innumerable quotes come from a barely distinguished mass of newspapers and...more
This was not exactly a school book, but one of my teachers kept recommending it so frequently and so heartily that I had to give it a try, even if its not exactly in my field. He was right. It is just an amazing piece of work.
It's an intellectual history of sorts, except there are practically no individual characters or thinkers. Most of the innumerable quotes come from a barely distinguished mass of newspapers and...more
An intellectual tour-de-force. I have learned more about the development of American political theory by reading this book than by any other. The founders understood that people were by nature self-interested and could not design a system reliant upon virtue for its success. "America would remain free not because of any quality in its citizens of spartan self-sacrifice to some nebulous public good, but in the last analysis because of the concern each individual would have in his own self...more
Detailed explanation of the role of republicanism in establishing the American republic, and necessary reading for anyone hoping to understand the role Wood and his mentor, Bernard Bailyn, played in changing historical understandings of early American politics.
This is a fantastic book on the political philosophy of the new American republic. It's got a pretty dry narrative (if there's even one at all). However, his understanding of Whig, Republican, Federalist, Anti-Federalist and other political philosophies remains second to none, over half a century later.
Craig J.
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"The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 (Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia) by Gordon S. Wood (1998)"
One of the half dozen most important books ever written about the American Revolution. This 615 page book is no light read.
Fantastic, but *dense.* But no one has been more significant in shaping our understanding of the American founding.
The best book on the revolutionary period. This book is packed and well written. A tour do force.
The book on how the US republic was built constitutionally.
One of the most enjoyable works to read about those years essential to the formation of the Republic, despite the factional rivalries that were already well-established (and continue to characterize American society). Many authors are too technical or just plain dry when writing about the Constitutional era, but this is a lovely exception.
Mark Singer
rated it
Essential for an understanding of how the American Republic was created, from the Declaration of Independence, through the Articles of Confederation and ending with the creation and adoption of the Constitution. This was required reading for a course I had on that subject in the Spring of 2010 at Temple University - Ambler.
Debbie
rated it
Recommends it for:
Anyone interested in early America, or in debunking "experts" on the Founding Fathers.
Shelves:
american-history
Gordon Wood defined a new concept of understanding early American political history with this brilliant book. He literally wrote the book on republicanism, a concept fashioned out of the bits and pieces of previous ideologies as well as contemporary issues in post-revolutionary America.
This book is a great explanation of how we came to have the Constitution.
Not an easy read, but the ideas are powerful and well argued.
Michael
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Once again, dry..But chaulk full of wholesome Americana
Read to p288
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Gordon S. Wood is Professor of History at Brown University. He received the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for History for The Radicalism of the American Revolution and the 1970 Bancroft Prize for The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787.
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