false 32588242 695116 3113 1594200939 9781594200939 59 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1162362121m/3113.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1162362121s/3113.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3113.Revolutionary_Characters_What_Made_the_Founders_Different 3.70 202
Revolutionary Characters offers a series of brilliantly illuminating 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 and gives it the cumulative power of a revelation is this idea of character as a lived reality for these men. For these were men, Gordon Wood shows, who took the matter of character very, very seriously. They were the first generation in history that was self-consciously self-made, men who understood the arc of lives, as of nations, as being one of moral progress. They saw themselves as comprising the world's first true meritocracy, a natural aristocracy as opposed to the decadent Old World aristocracy of inherited wealth and station.

Gordon Wood's wondrous 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. In so doing, he shows us that although a lot has changed in two hundred years, to an amazing degree the virtues these founders defined for themselves are the virtues we aspire to still.]]> 2124 3.86 922 190 2006 Stuck right now for time, still very good. 0 2008-12-11T07:17:21-08:00 167308 170 2008-12-11T07:17:21-08:00 0 2008-12-08T09:49:51-08:00 158702 160 2008-12-08T09:49:51-08:00 Excellent. I'm through 4 of the Founders. He really separates the man from the myth. 0 2008-11-24T08:07:22-08:00 122982 140 2008-11-24T08:07:22-08:00 After reading the long introduction (good) & chap. 1 on Washington, I'm now on chap 2, Franklin. A little windy, but good. 0 2008-11-19T04:12:44-08:00 109983 96 2008-11-19T04:12:44-08:00 0 2008-11-18T03:52:10-08:00 106648 65 2008-11-18T03:52:10-08:00 So far, I've only read the Introduction & the first chapter on Washington. He does a very good job of humanizing Washington & showing his mo 0 2008-11-18T03:51:55-08:00 106647 2008-11-18T03:51:55-08:00 4 5 false Sat Dec 13 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Sep 11 03:20:38 -0700 2008 Mon Dec 15 03:22:20 -0800 2008 more...]]>