Point of View

The Radicalism of the American Revolution is historian Gordon S. Woods' reflections on how the American Revolution radically transforms the world they are born into and set it on the path to becoming the society we today take for granted. The story, told in the third person, past tense, betrays its origins as the February 1986 Anson G. Phelps Lectures, which he delivered at New York University and through a fellowship has enlarged into this published version. As an experienced professor of history, Woods is acutely aware that the myth that later generations have erected around the founders makes it difficult for us to appreciate how radical their thought is. Thus, he takes pains to point out items we are likely to underestimate.

Setting

The Radicalism of the American Revolution is a book about ideas and movements and actually "sets" few scenes are beyond the big picture...