Howard Zinn And The American Revolution

Gordon S. Wood and Howard Zinn are both brilliant professors whom are great and entertaining writers. Beside the facts that they see the origins of the American Revolution with different views. One argues that the true origins of the American War were a social revolution while the other argues that it was a war used by colonial elites for their own personal gains for power and status. And I felt Howard Zinn and his arguments were better presented due to the fact that he gave a different perspective to the reader and viewer of how a war is seen differently than what it is documented in history.
Howard Zinn’s argues that the true nature of the American Revolution were not a social revolution, but instead considers it a contrived product of the …show more content…
Wood argues that changes in the American Revolution did experience a genuine social transformation. That what it bought, as he asserts, were the creating of a sense of equality for all Americans. In his book, The Radicalism of the American Revolution published in 1992, he interpreted that the Revolution was a genuine radical event. An event which led to the breakdown of such long-standing patterns of society as deference, patriarchy, and traditional gender relation. Also that even if class conflict and radical goals may not have caused the Revolution; the Revolution had a profound, even radical, ideological impact on society nevertheless. A book that demonstrated how society and culture were transformed. He also gave other perspectives on events that leads the colonial to side with independence as a conservative yet radical revolution. To further support his arguments, Wood uses revolutions that involve with radicalism to emphasize that that the American Revolution were not conservatives, based on the transformation of social change both in the colonies and Britain, but were as radical and revolutionary as any in history. Also continues with talks about the condition of the revolutions, talks about the patriots vs. courtiers, the dependency of slavery, inheritance, and …show more content…
Both Gordon S. Wood and Howard Zinn have a brilliant interpretation on what they thought the origins of the war was. How they both executed their interpretation along with supporting it with evidences that happens in history were phenomenal. But to me, I still felt that Howard Zinn’s arguments were better presented and precise in how he worded and emphasizes his thoughts on the American Revolution. Unlike Zinn, I felt that Wood’s argument focus more giving a great overview of the historical, political, and intellectual ideas and events that make up this fascinating time in our country’s