Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815
Author(s): Gordon S. Wood
The Oxford History of the United States is by far the most respected multi-volume history of the USA. 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 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. 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. A Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for History Winner of the New-York Historical Society American History Book Prize A New York Times Bestseller Selected as one of the Top 25 Books of 2009 by The Atlantic "On every page of this book, Wood's subtlety and erudition show.
Grand in scope and a landmark achievement of scholarship, Empire of Liberty is a tour de force, the culmination of a lifetime of brilliant thinking and writing." --The New York Times Book Review "Empire of Liberty will rightly take its place among the authoritative volumes in this important and influential series." --The Washington Post
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A Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for History
A New York Times Bestseller
"Told with enormous insight ... On every page of this book, Wood's subtlety and erudition show. Grand in scope and a landmark achievement of scholarship, Empire of Liberty is a tour de force, the culmination of a lifetime of brilliant thinking and writing."--The New York Times Book Review
"Empire of Liberty will rightly take its place among the authoritative volumes in this important and influential series."--The Washington Post
"In illuminating the theoretical underpinnings of the long 1960s era, Wood provides an excellent contribution to present understandings of how late twentieth century convictions fundamentally emerged to shape our modern world." --UCLA Historical Review
"A bold, intelligent, and thoroughly engaging interpretation of the period from the birth of the republic to the emergence of a mass democratic society in the early part of the 19th century... Gordon Wood has written an immensely important book that deserves a wide readership among scholars and anyone interested in American history. The book will certainly influence how future historians write about the triumphs and tragedies of the early republic."--The Providence Journal-Bulletin
"Deftly written and lucidly argued, it teems with insights and arguments that make us look at familiar topics in fresh ways.--The Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Wood's contribution will stand both as an extraordinary achievement of historical synthesis, and as witness to its own time. It will not soon be surpassed"--The Weekly Standard
Selected as one of 'The Top 25 Books of 2009'--The Atlantic
Selected as one of 'The Most Notable Books of 2009'--The New York Times Book Review
"This work by the dean of Federalist scholars, and the newest title in the splendid Oxford History of the United States, has been widely hailed as the definitive history of the era."--American Heritage Magazine
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION; INTRODUCTION: RIP VAN WINKLE'S AMERICA; 1. 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 THE 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 REVIEW; 13. REPUBLICAN REFORMS; 14. BETWEEN SLAVERY AND FREEDOM; 15. THE RISING GLORY OF AMERICA; 16. REPUBLICAN RELIGION; 17. REPUBLICAN DIPLOMACY; 18. THE WAR OF 1812; 19. A WORLD WITHIN THEMSELVES; BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY
General Fields
- :
- : Oxford University Press, Incorporated
- : Oxford University Press, Incorporated
- : 1.074
- : 23 November 2011
- : 234mm X 155mm X 71mm
- : United States
- : books
Special Fields
- : Gordon S. Wood
- : Paperback
- : English
- : 800
- : 40 halftones