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

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.

Very Helpful

I was assigned this book to read for a college course, and a lot of the topics covered in here were so dense and lengthy I knew I wouldn’t be able to read it on my own and comprehend it. Using the audiobook made it easier to divide it up and understand. Paul Boehmer did a great job, and I found the book surprisingly interesting.

The matter of class

What did you love best about The Radicalism of the American Revolution?

This account of the revolution is fascinating for its focus on issues of class which were, on the one hand, much less distinct than those of England, and yet more distinct than we would recognize. It is a useful perspective for me as a history teacher.

What about Paul Boehmer’s performance did you like?

I prefer readers who don't call attention to themselves in the reading. This fits the bill

How timely it is

I liked the last chapter, which is as insightful today as it was 30 years ago. Half our country is reviving the America of 200 years ago, while the rest of us are trying to make sure we have 200 more years.

Without a discussion about slavery RAR does not rate a 5

Gordon Wood is a giant in historical circles; an expert par excellence when it comes to the American Revolution. This work, beautifully narrated, turns the screw on the the now old school belief that the AR was a conservative movement. The clarity of Wood’s analysis, the depth of his research, and his compelling argument that the AR tore down a rigid stratification of society, leaving the enlightenment notions of the founding fathers, anachronistic, can no longer be debated. Yet, as I read his book with enthusiasm, I found myself waiting endlessly it seemed, for a discussion of slavery in the context of the pre revolutionary patronage system. After all, the “peculiar institution” was the ultimate patronage system in its most extreme and pernicious form. Indeed it lasted for over 60 years following the AR. Charles Pinckney exemplified this patronage and led his state as a political leader in the effort to preserve this ugly patronage. And yet nary a word from professor Wood on this subject. I can only express my consternation and surprise at this claring omission. Conrad Varner Kure Beach NC (Brown U. ‘65 ).

Captures the rapid changes in many dimensions

The Founding Fathers died unhappy with what they created. The gentry lost control to a rapidly growing populace that paid them no respect and that eschewed their advice and guidance. The populace went populist in a big way, accelerated by cheap land to the west, immigration and migrations within the country.

The book tells both the story of the break with Britain and the break of the populace with the leadership and ideals of the revolutionaries. It explains a great loss of layers of status and a popular rejection of deference and the undermining of support for indentured servitude and the beginning of the rejection of slavery, with the first antislavery society founded in Philadelphia in 1775.

Great book. I highly recommend.

Narrator is so distracting

The narrator emphasizes the wrong parts of the words and sentences. It sounds like he’s speaking without understanding the content of what he’s saying. At first, he sounds like he has a good and typical audiobook voice, but the cadence is all over the place and something about his acting is very off putting. Just listen to the way he says “society”…it’s overly stylized and every time he said it I couldn’t pay attention to the rest of the sentence. This type of distraction happens over and over and you’ll either totally know what I mean or not care.

Regurgitating Gordon Wood

If you could sum up The Radicalism of the American Revolution in three words, what would they be?

Seminal social history

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I think my head would explode. Look, this is the kind of thing that qualifies as Very Legitimate History, and if you want a fairly deep understanding of what made the American Revolution revolutionary in the social sense, it's a great listen. It's probably not what the casual watcher of the History Channel wants to chew on, unless he's in training to go to a Harvard bar and have an argument with a math genius from Southie.