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
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Empire of Liberty A History of the Early Republic (Audible Audio Edition) Gordon S Wood Robert Fass Audible Studios Books Reviews
A few books ago, I read The Glorious Cause The American Revolution, 1763-1789 by Robert Middlekauff; I enjoyed it so much that I decided to continue reading the other books in the Oxford History of the United States series. Empire of Liberty A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 by Gordon S. Wood did not disappoint. It's a long book that covers a short, but intense period of United States History. From the time the U.S. Constitution took effect to the end of the War of 1812 saw a massive amount of change and political discord. Wood covers it all; exploring the political and economic changes the country underwent and how our relations with other countries transformed. He looks at how the War of 1812 came to be and how it changed the country. He also explores the societal and cultural changes the country underwent, explaining how our character as a people changed. He discusses how the schism between north and south, slave and non-slave states came to be and shows how the stage for Civil War began to be set.
At 797 pages, it is indeed a long read, but it is an engaging and interesting one. You wouldn't think you could get almost 800 pages from such a short period of History, but Wood does and does it without getting into tedious details. He gets into the personalities of both well known and lesser known figures; his insights into Jefferson, in particular, were something I really enjoyed about the book. The book is well documented and has an extensive bibliography for further reading and exploring his sources. Empire of Liberty is a book that anyone interested in US History should read because it's a deep dive into an important, transformative period in our History and explains how we became who we are, how we developed our national character. The decision to rate Empire of Liberty five stars was an easy one and I heartily recommend it.
I think that Empire of Liberty also has lessons for the present. You can see shades of today in the sometimes personal struggle between the Federalists and Republicans and in the lack of willingness to compromise. We can see parallels with today in the trade policies that helped bring about the War of 1812. We can reflect on these and apply the lessons to today, hopefully avoiding the traps of the past.
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 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.
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