I have downloaded and will listen to the other Oxford History of the US works at Audible (What Hath God Wrought by Howe, Battle Cry of Freedom by McPherson.) I hope Audible will consider getting the others in the series now that they have made such an excellent start.īottom line, this book provides an exceptional insight into the culture and politics of a burgeoning nation, and it goes a long way to explaining the foundations of much of what we see around us today. The narration is competent but not spectacular. Also, his style is just great - the words flow, the vignettes are well-chosen to illustrate his points, and the result is a beautifully told story of the early republic. For example, I think I had a pretty good understanding already of the basic Federalist/Republican differences, but Wood has retold the story in such a clear and interesting way that the whole thing felt fresh. There is probably not much new being revealed here, but I find his synthesis of the facts about this era very enlightening. This is just very good narrative history, much like the other Oxford History of the US books. He manages to write in a popular, main-stream way without dumbing anything down. Wood's writing - his "Creation of the American Republic" is one of my favorite books of all time. Empire of Liberty is number IV in The Oxford History of the United States. Please note: The individual volumes of the series have not been published in historical order. 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. The Oxford History of the United States is considered the gold standard for serious historians and general readers (and listeners) alike. 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. Instead, by 1815 the United States became something neither group anticipated. 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. They hated political parties but parties nonetheless emerged.
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. 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.Īs Wood reveals, the period was marked by tumultuous change in all aspects of American life - in politics, society, economy, and culture. In Empire of Liberty, one of America's most esteemed historians, Gordon S.
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