Siqi He
HST 109
Prof. Barth
Book Review
Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different written by Gordon Wood, who is a great historian focused on the history of the founding era, successfully argues about the great character of seven founders of America which includes George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Adams as well as Thomas Paine and the great contributions they have made to the establishment of early America. From reading this refined and well-planned book, readers could receive precious treasure of American history and heritage through the detailed portrait of the history of founding era and the profound analysis of the character of American founding fathers. This book comprises 8 essays that were previously published before respectively by the author. In this book, the author also adds an introduction and an epilogue which not only enrich the content of this book but also bind the whole essays together.
In this book, Wood hugely comprises the great character and attributions of the seven founding fathers, at the same time, sternly criticizes those who deliberately find faults from them. He thinks thoroughly from the environment which the founding fathers were born and treats them like common people to sympathize their miseries. He particularly analyzes the political statement of these founding fathers and what kind of secular tempts they are faced with. In his eyes, those seven founding fathers are all born aristocracies with the careful nurture of enlightenment ideas. In this case, he proclaims that only a leader with the combination of virtues and capabilities can evade the power from being abused. But he also believes that the seven founding fathers are built by the specific period of history and the particular desire of missions, thus it’s impossible for today’s era to have other copies of those examples. He also implicates that today’s society of America is not what founding fathers wanted it to be. As a non-fictional record of the description of seven founding fathers, the delicate details about the history facts and the critical analysis on the hidden reasons are worthy of readers to explore. The author Gordon Wood, who is the expert of founding era, has won a Bancroft Prize in 1970 and a National Humanities Medal in 2010. With Wood’s great accumulations and accurate application of wording, Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different is definitely a so convincing work in its argumentation. For American people, this book is of great importance. Just like Wood said in the introduction part of this book that these seven founding fathers are needed for today’s society on the ground that Americans need to remind themselves consistently about their identities. Those other countries like German and French have survived a so long history that they already take their identities for granted. However, for American people living in a country with a short history, it’s more significant for them to “reaffirm and reinforce the values of the men who declared independence”(Wood,4). And for those foreign readers, it’s also a valuable work. Foreign readers can learn about the history of founding era in detail, especially the life experiences of those founding fathers which are one of the most attracting part of the history. This book successfully achieves its goal of praising the great character of seven founding fathers of America and bringing their images to life. …show more content…
In Wood’s description of all the seven founding fathers, he argues that all of these founding fathers share a common character or virtue. They have the awe to the god and the clear understanding of their responsibilities that their power is to serve the public and the whole country, not to pursue their self benefits. That virtue is the greatest character which is lost by many leaders today. And among the eight essays, I prefer the one depicts Washington most. Wood chooses to introduce Washington right after the introduction part of this book. It is not only because Washington was the first president of America, but also because of his great character that makes him stick out even among so many other elites. From Wood’s vivid description, we can learn that Washington is not a so great commander on
HST 109
Prof. Barth
Book Review
Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different written by Gordon Wood, who is a great historian focused on the history of the founding era, successfully argues about the great character of seven founders of America which includes George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Adams as well as Thomas Paine and the great contributions they have made to the establishment of early America. From reading this refined and well-planned book, readers could receive precious treasure of American history and heritage through the detailed portrait of the history of founding era and the profound analysis of the character of American founding fathers. This book comprises 8 essays that were previously published before respectively by the author. In this book, the author also adds an introduction and an epilogue which not only enrich the content of this book but also bind the whole essays together.
In this book, Wood hugely comprises the great character and attributions of the seven founding fathers, at the same time, sternly criticizes those who deliberately find faults from them. He thinks thoroughly from the environment which the founding fathers were born and treats them like common people to sympathize their miseries. He particularly analyzes the political statement of these founding fathers and what kind of secular tempts they are faced with. In his eyes, those seven founding fathers are all born aristocracies with the careful nurture of enlightenment ideas. In this case, he proclaims that only a leader with the combination of virtues and capabilities can evade the power from being abused. But he also believes that the seven founding fathers are built by the specific period of history and the particular desire of missions, thus it’s impossible for today’s era to have other copies of those examples. He also implicates that today’s society of America is not what founding fathers wanted it to be. As a non-fictional record of the description of seven founding fathers, the delicate details about the history facts and the critical analysis on the hidden reasons are worthy of readers to explore. The author Gordon Wood, who is the expert of founding era, has won a Bancroft Prize in 1970 and a National Humanities Medal in 2010. With Wood’s great accumulations and accurate application of wording, Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different is definitely a so convincing work in its argumentation. For American people, this book is of great importance. Just like Wood said in the introduction part of this book that these seven founding fathers are needed for today’s society on the ground that Americans need to remind themselves consistently about their identities. Those other countries like German and French have survived a so long history that they already take their identities for granted. However, for American people living in a country with a short history, it’s more significant for them to “reaffirm and reinforce the values of the men who declared independence”(Wood,4). And for those foreign readers, it’s also a valuable work. Foreign readers can learn about the history of founding era in detail, especially the life experiences of those founding fathers which are one of the most attracting part of the history. This book successfully achieves its goal of praising the great character of seven founding fathers of America and bringing their images to life. …show more content…
In Wood’s description of all the seven founding fathers, he argues that all of these founding fathers share a common character or virtue. They have the awe to the god and the clear understanding of their responsibilities that their power is to serve the public and the whole country, not to pursue their self benefits. That virtue is the greatest character which is lost by many leaders today. And among the eight essays, I prefer the one depicts Washington most. Wood chooses to introduce Washington right after the introduction part of this book. It is not only because Washington was the first president of America, but also because of his great character that makes him stick out even among so many other elites. From Wood’s vivid description, we can learn that Washington is not a so great commander on