Author: Gordon S. Wood
Publisher: Modern Library
Published: 2002-03-05
Total Pages: 204
ISBN-13: 1588361586
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “An elegant synthesis done by the leading scholar in the field, which nicely integrates the work on the American Revolution over the last three decades but never loses contact with the older, classic questions that we have been arguing about for over two hundred years.”—Joseph J. Ellis, author of Founding Brothers A magnificent account of the revolution in arms and consciousness that gave birth to the American republic. When Abraham Lincoln sought to define the significance of the United States, he naturally looked back to the American Revolution. He knew that the Revolution not only had legally created the United States, but also had produced all of the great hopes and values of the American people. Our noblest ideals and aspirations-our commitments to freedom, constitutionalism, the well-being of ordinary people, and equality-came out of the Revolutionary era. Lincoln saw as well that the Revolution had convinced Americans that they were a special people with a special destiny to lead the world toward liberty. The Revolution, in short, gave birth to whatever sense of nationhood and national purpose Americans have had. No doubt the story is a dramatic one: Thirteen insignificant colonies three thousand miles from the centers of Western civilization fought off British rule to become, in fewer than three decades, a huge, sprawling, rambunctious republic of nearly four million citizens. But the history of the American Revolution, like the history of the nation as a whole, ought not to be viewed simply as a story of right and wrong from which moral lessons are to be drawn. It is a complicated and at times ironic story that needs to be explained and understood, not blindly celebrated or condemned. How did this great revolution come about? What was its character? What were its consequences? These are the questions this short history seeks to answer. That it succeeds in such a profound and enthralling way is a tribute to Gordon Wood’s mastery of his subject, and of the historian’s craft.
Author: Alan Taylor
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2019-10-15
Total Pages: 448
ISBN-13: 0393652432
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →From a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian comes a brilliant, absorbing study of Thomas Jefferson’s campaign to save Virginia through education. By turns entertaining and tragic, this beautifully written history reveals the origins of a great university in the dilemmas of Virginia slavery. It offers an incisive portrait of Thomas Jefferson set against a social fabric of planters in decline, enslaved black families torn apart by sales, and a hair-trigger code of male honor. A man of “deft evasions” who was both courtly and withdrawn, Jefferson sought control of his family and state from his lofty perch at Monticello. Never quite the egalitarian we wish him to be, he advocated emancipation but shrank from implementing it, entrusting that reform to the next generation. Devoted to the education of his granddaughters, he nevertheless accepted their subordination in a masculine culture. During the revolution, he proposed to educate all white children in Virginia, but later in life he narrowed his goal to building an elite university. In 1819 Jefferson’s intensive drive for state support of a new university succeeded. His intention was a university to educate the sons of Virginia’s wealthy planters, lawyers, and merchants, who might then democratize the state and in time rid it of slavery. But the university’s students, having absorbed the traditional vices of the Virginia gentry, preferred to practice and defend them. Opening in 1825, the university nearly collapsed as unruly students abused one another, the enslaved servants, and the faculty. Jefferson’s hopes of developing an enlightened leadership for the state were disappointed, and Virginia hardened its commitment to slavery in the coming years. The university was born with the flaws of a slave society. Instead, it was Jefferson’s beloved granddaughters who carried forward his faith in education by becoming dedicated teachers of a new generation of women.
Author: Grace Lee Boggs
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Published: 2012-05-31
Total Pages: 256
ISBN-13: 0520272595
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →"Reading Grace Lee Boggs helps you glimpse a United States that is better and more beautiful than you thought it was. As she analyzes some of the inspiring theories and practices that have emerged from the struggles for equality and freedom in Detroit and beyond, she also shows us that in this country, a future revolution is not only necessary but possible." —Michael Hardt, co-author of Commonwealth "This groundbreaking book not only represents the best of Grace Lee Boggs, but the best of any radical, visionary thinking in the United States. She reminds us why revolution is not only possible and necessary, but in some places already in the making. The conditions we face under neoliberalism and war do, indeed, mark the end of an era in which the old ideological positions of protest are not really relevant or effective—and this book offers a new way forward."—Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination “Grace Boggs has long been a major voice of hope and action for transformation of the United States and the world. Here is her testimony of hope and program for action. It must be taken seriously.” —Immanuel Wallerstein, author of Utopistics: or, Historical Choices of the Twenty-first Century "One of the most accomplished radicals of our time, the Detroit-based visionary Grace Lee Boggs has become one of our most influential and inspiring public intellectuals. The Next American Revolution is her powerful reflection on a lifetime of urban revolutionary work, an ode to the courage and brilliance of her late partner James Boggs, and a plain-spoken call for us to address the troubled times we face with a sense of history, a strong set of values, and an unwavering faith in our own creative, restorative powers." —Jeff Chang, author of Can't Stop Won't Stop
Author: John Ziff
Publisher: Mason Crest Publishers
Published: 2015
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9781422233535
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →In April 1775, a decade of simmering tension between the government of Great Britain and inhabitants of 13 colonies that Britain had established in North America erupted into a full-fledged conflict. On July 4, 1776, colonial representatives declared that the colonies would henceforth be independent of British rule. The Declaration of Independence was a landmark event in American history, but many hard years of fighting and sacrifice lay ahead before the United States would truly become free. This book in the MAJOR U.S. HISTORICAL WARS series examines the events that led up to the American Revolution. It discusses the political and military strategies that colonial and British leaders employed, and provides information about key people, battles, and events. The American patriots' successful revolution inspired people in other places, including France and throughout Latin America, to fight for their own independence against tyrannical rulers. Each title in this series contains color photos, maps, chronology and back matter including: an index, further reading lists for books and internet resources, and a series glossary. Mason Crest's editorial team has placed Key Icons to Look for throughout the books in this series in an effort to encourage library readers to build knowledge, gain awareness, explore possibilities and expand their viewpoints through our content rich non-fiction books. Key Icons are as follows: Words to Understand are shown at the front of each chapter with definitions. These words are then used in the prose throughout that chapter, and are emboldened, so that the reader is able to reference back to the definitions- building their vocabulary and enhancing their reading comprehension. Sidebars are highlighted graphics with content rich material within that allows readers to build knowledge and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Text Dependent Questions are placed at the end of each chapter. They challenge the reader's comprehension of the chapter they have just read, while sending the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented there. Research Projects are provided at the end of each chapter as well and provide readers with suggestions for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis. A Series Glossary of Key Terms is included in the back matter contains terminology used throughout the series. Words found here broaden the reader's knowledge and understanding of terms used in this field.
Author: Kevin Phillips
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2012-11-27
Total Pages: 672
ISBN-13: 1101601086
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The contrarian historian and analyst upends the conventional reading of the American Revolution In 1775, iconoclastic historian and bestselling author Kevin Phillips punctures the myth that 1776 was the watershed year of the American Revolution. He suggests that the great events and confrontations of 1775—Congress’s belligerent economic ultimatums to Britain, New England’s rage militaire, the exodus of British troops and expulsion of royal governors up and down the seaboard, and the new provincial congresses and hundreds of local committees that quickly reconstituted local authority in Patriot hands—achieved a sweeping Patriot control of territory and local government that Britain was never able to overcome. These each added to the Revolution’s essential momentum so when the British finally attacked in great strength the following year, they could not regain the control they had lost in 1775. Analyzing the political climate, economic structures, and military preparations, as well as the roles of ethnicity, religion, and class, Phillips tackles the eighteenth century with the same skill and insights he has shown in analyzing contemporary politics and economics. The result is a dramatic narrative brimming with original insights. 1775 revolutionizes our understanding of America’s origins.
Author: Kirk D. Werner
Publisher: Greenhaven Press, Incorporated
Published: 2000
Total Pages: 232
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Differences in political, social, economic, and religious beliefs led the colonists in America to seek independence from Great Britain. This successful determination influenced liberal thought throughout Europe at the time and encouraged other revolutions to break out.
Author: Irving Kristol
Publisher:
Published: 1974
Total Pages: 8
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →A celebration of some kind seems to be in order for the bicentennial of the American Revolution. But the urge to celbrate is not exactly overwhelming.