Revolutionary Characters, Gordon S. Wood
Revolutionary Characters, Gordon S. Wood
26 Rating(s)
List: $20.00 | Sale: $14.00
Club: $10.00

Revolutionary Characters
What Made the Founders Different

Author: Gordon S. Wood

Narrator: Scott Brick

Unabridged: 9 hr 55 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 05/18/2006


Synopsis

In this brilliantly illuminating group portrait of the men who came to be known as the Founding Fathers, the incomparable Gordon Wood has written a book that seriously asks, ?What made these men great???and shows us, among many other things, just how much character did in fact matter. The life of each?Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton, Madison, Paine?is presented individually as well as collectively, but the thread that binds these portraits together is the idea of character as a lived reality. They were members of the first generation in history that was self-consciously self-made?men who understood that the arc of lives, as of nations, is one of moral progress.

About The Author

Gordon S. Wood is the Alva O. Way University Professor and professor of history emeritus at Brown University. His 1969 book, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787, received the Bancroft and John H. Dunning prizes and was nominated for the National Book Award. Wood’s 1992 book, The Radicalism of the American Revolution, won the Pulitzer Prize and the Emerson Prize. His 2009 book, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 17891815, won the New-York Historical Society American History Book Prize. In 2011, Wood was awarded a National Humanities Medal by President Obama. He contributes regularly to the New Republic and the New York Review of Books.Scott Brick, an acclaimed voice artist, screenwriter, and actor, has performed on film, television, and radio. His stage appearances throughout the US include CyranoHamlet, and MacBeth. In the audio industry, Scott has won over 20 Earphones Awards, as well as the 2003 Audie Award in the Best Science Fiction category for Dune: The Butlerian Jihad. After recording nearly 250 books in five years, AudioFile Magazine named Scott “one of the fastest-rising stars in the audiobook galaxy” and proclaimed him one of their Golden Voices. Brick’s range is unparalleled as he reads thrillers to narrative nonfiction, from biographies to science fiction with aplomb.


Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Dale on 2025-04-16 16:20:48

This book is an informative, fascinating history of America's founding based on the lives of many key individuals. The author illuminates the strengths and weakness of each individual. He reveals the intense differences in their views of government, law, power, the people and society. Their differing beliefs were so strongly held, and often appeared inflexible, that it became even more amazing to me that they were able to assemble a government with brilliant checks and balances upon each power so as to provide a stable foundation that continues today, withstanding numerous challenges since it's began. Surprisingly many of the founders became dismayed at what they created, the direction democracy was heading, and feared whether it would last much beyond their years. The author provides much insight into the culture of the times, so as not to misinterpret based on our current times. I found the book particularly relevant to current events of 2025, seeing the founders had similar arguments for and against different powers. And often the positions today appear reversed from then, regarding which party supports what. I plan to obtain a good used copy of this book, so as to highlight key information I wanted to remember while listening.

Goodreads review by Will on September 17, 2014

Wood offers a chapter each to a slew of household names from the time of the Revolution. It is like getting to read a very well-informed mini-biography on each. One thing I found was that the turmoil of the post revolutionary period left me in a bit of a daze. There was not only considerable diversi......more

Goodreads review by robin on February 20, 2023

America's Founders And American Ideals For much of our history, the leaders of the American Revolution and the framers of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution enjoyed iconic, mythic status. But they have also been subjected to criticism and debunking, based on their alleged elitism, racis......more

Goodreads review by Jim on December 15, 2008

An excellent book that looks at the characters of the American Revolution & what made them different. The book assumes a working knowledge of the time period since it focuses on eight men & what their motivations were. Extensively documented, other readings are suggested as needed. His basic premise......more

Goodreads review by Anthony on April 17, 2009

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. Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Diffe......more

Goodreads review by Ryan on March 12, 2013

While Gordon Wood is one of the leading historians of the 18th Century nascent American republic and his depth and breadth of knowledge is remarkably impressive, this book comes across as a pale version of Joseph Ellis's "Founding Brothers," with the essays on select founders. Too often does the aut......more


Quotes

"Of those writing about the founding fathers, [Gordon Wood] is quite simply the best." —The Philadelphia Inquirer