Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815
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- ISBN13: 9780195039146
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
The Oxford History of the United States is by far the most respected multi-volume history of the nation. The series includes three Pulitzer Prize winners, two New York Times bestsellers, and winners of the Bancroft and Parkman Prizes. Now, in the newest volume in the series, one of America’s most esteemed historians, Gordon S. Wood, offers a brilliant 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 Wood 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 reasonably as they expected. They despised political parties but parties nonetheless emerged. Some wanted the United States to become a fantastic fiscal-military state like persons of Britain and France; others wanted the country to remain a rural agricultural state very different from the European states. As a replacement for, by 1815 the United States became something neither group anticipated. Many leaders expected American culture to flourish and surpass that of Europe; as a replacement for it became popularized and vulgarized. The leaders also hope to see the end of slavery; as a replacement for, despite the relief 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 as a replacement for the country became involved in Europe’s wars and finished up waging another war with the ex- mother country. Still, with a new generation emerging by 1815, most Americans were confident and optimistic about the future of their country. Integrating all aspects of life, from politics and law to the economy and culture, Empire of Liberty offers a marvelous account of this pivotal era when America took its first unsteady steps as a new and rapidly expanding nation.
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I read a lot of history and was excited to read about a time period I am not overly familiar with. I can’t really say anything terrible about this book. The parts I read were excellent, but it is so dense and so literary it has a slight sedative effect on me. I place the review off for this book because I kept thinking I would get back to reading it but never did. I liked what I read and I skimmed around to a few sections that I was interested in, but the book is just too dense for enjoyable reading. But, I see a future for it as a reference for the time period.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
This is a superb piece of work. The socio-rhetorical scenery of the period is not generally well known except from biograpers that place an individual in the period context. The atmosphere of the writing of the constitution is well evidenced through the writings of the protagonist and antoginist and from the evidences of the views of the common mans perscpective from areas all over the nation. The book is uniquely applicable in the current political environment of talking heads unencumbered by the roots and context in which the constitution was framed. The USA of the constitution writers and the USA of current interpretation are so vastly different as to be barely discernable in our execution of the founding fathers intentions.
There are many salient observations that will stick with you and make you smile as Democrats or Republicans aver ownership of various ideals. Before one rushes off to embrace Jeffersonian or Hamiltonian ideals, you might want to really know the underpinnings. The leader gets kudos for hiding or disguising any current bias or agenda. It’s a `neutral ground’ rendering.
The United States of America was a debated and chose name that was chosen because it was plural, vice calling it the singular Columbia as was debated. The constitutional intent was fervently states rights oriented with the Judiciary proposed to insure states rights were not trampled by the Legislative and Executive branches. States were to have broad and independent powers as a matter of efficiency. It is hard to come away from the history lacking a feeling of how absolutely beside the point the founding tenets are in relation to modern federal government.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
I am in the midst of reading Gordon S. Wood’s brilliant book, “Empire of Liberty.” I am reviewing this now, firstly, this is a lengthy text which lends itself to being read through and or used as a reference tool.
Superbly written, with fantastic source material, Gordon Wood writes as if he completely enjoys the theme matter.
Empire of Liberty takes us from the aftermath of the Revolutionary War through the write up of the first constitution to the first congress and senate and the first presidency. He does a compare and contrast between what were the colonies and what was then European society. Fascinating tidbits of information like language, in what was the new USA there was one language, not so in any of the European countries that these Americans came from. You learn that the term American was a perjorative used by the British and was come to be accepted gradually by the new Republic.
He does a compare and contrast of European society and the class system of sorts that had developed in the colonies and beyond where the Aristocrats (persons with land, education, profession and time) were juxtaposed against persons who were the middling sort, the middle class workers, farmers, traders and artisans who had to work for their moneys. There was not so much class envy as a desire by persons in the highest strata of society to run things, with persons middlings desiring and believing what they heard, a participative democracy.
Unlike some fantastic reads where we hear only the rosey side of history, or persons where you feel the leader has a bone to pick or is stuck in critical mode, Woods writes this in a very even tenor. You feel he is telling things like it is, but mostly just factual, occassionally he shares irony and he seems much of a reporter lacking any particular point of view. He seems to want to inform us as to what really happened lacking commentary. Pretty cool, especially with the way he writes.
I have not been able to place this down so far and hope to perfect it in fleeting order. Yet, there is so much information to digest. I like it too that much of what he uses as source material is available online today.
Finally, he takes us through the development of the USA and finalizes what we were when at last we broke free from British influences at last with the war of 1812.
If there is a desire on your part to learn about how we came to have this fantastic society lacking the hooplah, this is the read for you.
Empire of Liberty is one of persons reads that is rare indeed.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Very authorative, detailed history of a time in our country where population growth was exploding, and the unique conduct experiment of American democracy was being stretched in new and at times treacherous ways. It is incredible to know just how different “we” were then: how our concepts of citizenship, honor, and responsibility were far stronger and more pressing than they are today.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
This is not the type of book you sit down to read in an afternoon. It’s the type of book that makes you feel like you should be taking notes as you read it. Encompassing a brief but tumultuous quarter-century of US history, this book still counts 750 pages, not one of them wasted.
You will likely learn things you did not know before, or had forgotten. A fantastic many things discussed by Gordon Wood are not covered even in outline in public school.
Look at the Table of Contents:
1. Conduct experiment in Republicanism
2. A Monarchical Republic
3. The Federalist Program
4. The Emergence of the Jeffersonian Republican Party
5. The French Revolution in America
6. John Adams and the Few and he Many
7. The Crisis of 1798-1799
8. The Jeffersonian Revolution of 1800
9. Republican Society
10. The Jeffersonian West
11. Law and an Independent Judiciary
12. Chief Justice John Marshall and the Origins of Judicial Reeview
13. Republican Reforms
14. Between Slavery and Freedom
15. The Rising Glory of America
16. American Religion
17. Republican Democracy
18. The War of 1812
19. A World Within Themselves
Pages 739-752 are taken up by a Bibliographic Essay that is in itself a masterpiece, directing the reader towards useful books about various subjects raised in the book. For example, regarding the contentious issue of church and state, the leader recommends “among the most moderate and sensible accounts” John H. Hutson, Religion and the Founding of the American Republic, among others. Such tidbits make future visits to the bookstore much simpler.
I find this book a welcome relief from some of the more one-sided books out there today, in particular the “politically incorrect” series of right wing poetry meant to pass as history. The leader of this book looks critically the evidence rather than attempting to bend the facts to suit a theory. He pulls no punches in presenting this evidence, even when it is hideous and unflattering. We can look at the founding of our nation as a Utopian moment, but the reality was far more chaotic and uncertain.
Though this book is very detailed, and contains a wealth of information, the leader’s writing style is friendly and not at all hard. Persons who appreciate footnotes will be pleased, and the maps are reasonably useful if not spectacularly gorgeous. For example, on p. 480 you’ll find “Average Time-Lag for Public Information from Philadelphia, 1790″ and next to it, the same map for 1817.
If you go away from Empire of Liberty lacking having learned something new about the influential years of our Nation, I will be very much surprised. If you like American history, this book will be a delight to you and occupy and honored space on your bookshelf.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5