Empire of Liberty A History of the Early Republic (Audible Audio Edition) Gordon S Wood Robert Fass Audible Studios Books
Download As PDF : Empire of Liberty A History of the Early Republic (Audible Audio Edition) Gordon S Wood Robert Fass Audible Studios Books
In Empire of Liberty, 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. Named a New York Times Notable Book, Empire of Liberty, part of The Oxford History of the United States series, offers a marvelous account of this pivotal era when America took its first unsteady steps as a new and rapidly expanding nation.
The Oxford History of the United States is considered the gold standard for serious historians and general readers (and listeners) alike. Three of the titles have won the Pulitzer Prize for history; two have been Pulitzer Prize finalists, and all of them have enjoyed critical and commercial success.
Please note The individual volumes of the series have not been published in historical order. Empire of Liberty is number IV in The Oxford History of the United States.
Empire of Liberty A History of the Early Republic (Audible Audio Edition) Gordon S Wood Robert Fass Audible Studios Books
I bought the book thinking that I was going to get a better explanation of the reasons and ideas that lead to the U.S. War of 1812. No such luck. This book explains some of the political reasons for the war. My search for a book that explains the economic reasons for “the second war of independence” conclusively continues. This is a book that explains in detail the change from the monarchy to the republican way of government. A scholar’s work that is 1) easy to read, 2) well researched, 3) contain lots of insights, and 4) is well balanced. I am not a fan of the way the book was structured. The first 8 chapters seem to be linear and chronological from the 1787 Constitutional Convention to 1800, but in chapter 9 after reaching Jefferson’s election of 1800, the author hits reverse and goes back to cover specific topics of the 1790s. Then chapter 18 attempts to get back to the chronology with the War of 1812. Half of the book is organized chronologically and the other half by topic. I would say that coverage of the 1790s take about 75% of the Empire of Liberty. The book’s focus on Jefferson and the Republican ideas keeps the Federalists anglophiles in the background, leaving with it the largely unexplained British-American relationship after independence. The Louisiana Purchase, the act that double the size of the country and opened up the Mississippi’s commercial highway, was gloss over rather quickly. No mentioning of the fact that our former enemy’s (England) financiers facilitated the purchase, by lending money to a nation that was broke. How did that happen? I would have preferred a chapter explaining financial operations during this period, than the chapter that was spent on religion. Personally I don’t like when authors hint things like “the second war of independence” without explaining it. Was the War of 1812 a second war of independence? Regardless of the weaknesses we can come up with, this book is still a “must read” if you are looking for insight on this period of American history.Product details
|
Tags : Amazon.com: Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic (Audible Audio Edition): Gordon S. Wood, Robert Fass, Audible Studios: Books, ,Gordon S. Wood, Robert Fass, Audible Studios,Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic,Audible Studios,B0031KN6SY
People also read other books :
- Wicked Charm eBook Maria Hardin
- Fractures Facets of Reality Book 2 eBook Jeremy Bullard
- Tattoo Bible Book Two TattooU eBook Superior Tattoo
- The Demons of Khemas eBook Kiti Lappi
- Down In Whisper edition by Bonnie Elizabeth Literature Fiction eBooks
Empire of Liberty A History of the Early Republic (Audible Audio Edition) Gordon S Wood Robert Fass Audible Studios Books Reviews
The Oxford History of the US is one of the greatest series of history books of which I am aware. Being of that series, Empire of Liberty (EoL) is certainly an interesting and in-depth look at the United States during a critical period in our evolution. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the period.
That said, there are several reasons I would only give this volume 3 stars.
The book is structured as a series of essays on topics. So for instance, a chapter (essay) on the evolution of Amerian law is followed by a chapter (essay) on Chief Justice Marshall. A reader can't help wondering if the two topics could be covered at once. Because of this structure, almost every chapter until the last few is constantly reviewing the entire period. Over and over again, the book swings through a period of 50 years or more. The essay structure is further exacerbated since many of the chapters are structured as multiple essays. The chapter on religion for instance has a separate essay on millenial beliefs.
Overall while the essay structure might be interesting for many readers on particular topics, it leads the book to be a tough read. And it also makes it difficult to get a feel of the overall chronology of the period. Even more distracting for me, this essay structure leads the book to often be a list of examples. Take the millenial essay, it is essentially a list of millenial proponents and statements during the period. OK, but this doesn't place these people in context or give one a feel for how they fit overall in the period.
EoL is a great book. (It probably is warranted 5 stars compared to the mass of history books.) But as part of the Oxford series, I would expect it to be better written.
I have been a fan of both Gordon Wood's and the Oxford History of the U.S. project for years. This book did not disappoint. Even though it seems like a daunting task to pick it up and read it, Mr. Wood's writing is extraordinary and moves the story along swiftly. It is a work of incredible scope and scholarship. Professor Wood not only covers the basic, better-known stories of the period in refreshing detail and style, but also gets deep into other societal and political issues that are usually not covered in tomes like these. We, of course, are likely to be familiar with the challenges faced by the early administrations of Washington, Adams and Jefferson to create a practical government and "set the tone" for us subsequent generations of Americans. As well, the struggle between Jefferson and Hamilton and their concepts for American society are well-covered. But more than any other single volume I have read on American history, Professor Wood takes us on an illuminating tour of issues like the slow death of the Federalist party as the Jeffersonian philosophy took hold, the development of our religious character (or lack of), the issue of Native Americans and the government's policy toward them, the development of Americanism in the arts, sciences and letters, how we eventually stopped trying to emulate British, French and general European traditions and attitudes in favor of developing our American Way (especially after the War of 1812), family and social issues, racial issues and, of course, slavery and the impact it had on our social and political life. The last issue is where he closes his book...with its mention as the one thing that kept America's promise from being completely fulfilled and setting us up for the next great volume in the Oxford series, "What Hath God Wrought." I don't know why Mr. Wood's book didn't win the Pulitzer Prize in History, but it should have.
Lastly, I have mourned before the move away from bibliographical notes and essays that we see in many of today's historical writing. Notes and citations at the bottom of each page and the back of the book can be helpful but are often distracting; they break up the flow of the narrative for me. For people who enjoy a book like this and want to read more about any of the main ideas discussed in the book, a bibliographical essay is of great use. Professor Wood's bibliography is outstanding. It is a treasure trove of significant works that amateur historians like me can use to seek more writing on specific subjects that happen to be well-regarded by historians like Professor Wood (up to 2009). It was one of my favorite parts of the work.
I bought the book thinking that I was going to get a better explanation of the reasons and ideas that lead to the U.S. War of 1812. No such luck. This book explains some of the political reasons for the war. My search for a book that explains the economic reasons for “the second war of independence” conclusively continues. This is a book that explains in detail the change from the monarchy to the republican way of government. A scholar’s work that is 1) easy to read, 2) well researched, 3) contain lots of insights, and 4) is well balanced. I am not a fan of the way the book was structured. The first 8 chapters seem to be linear and chronological from the 1787 Constitutional Convention to 1800, but in chapter 9 after reaching Jefferson’s election of 1800, the author hits reverse and goes back to cover specific topics of the 1790s. Then chapter 18 attempts to get back to the chronology with the War of 1812. Half of the book is organized chronologically and the other half by topic. I would say that coverage of the 1790s take about 75% of the Empire of Liberty. The book’s focus on Jefferson and the Republican ideas keeps the Federalists anglophiles in the background, leaving with it the largely unexplained British-American relationship after independence. The Louisiana Purchase, the act that double the size of the country and opened up the Mississippi’s commercial highway, was gloss over rather quickly. No mentioning of the fact that our former enemy’s (England) financiers facilitated the purchase, by lending money to a nation that was broke. How did that happen? I would have preferred a chapter explaining financial operations during this period, than the chapter that was spent on religion. Personally I don’t like when authors hint things like “the second war of independence” without explaining it. Was the War of 1812 a second war of independence? Regardless of the weaknesses we can come up with, this book is still a “must read” if you are looking for insight on this period of American history.
0 Response to "≫ Download Free Empire of Liberty A History of the Early Republic (Audible Audio Edition) Gordon S Wood Robert Fass Audible Studios Books"
Post a Comment