Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Maier Reviews Wood's "Idea of America"

Pauline Maier reviews Gordon Wood's Idea of America in the on-line Washington Independent Review of Books.  Of particular interest is Professor Maier's comparison of Wood's position on ideas as causal factors in history in his famous "Rhetoric and Reality in the American Revolution" article with the views expressed in the conclusion of this collection of essays.  She writes: "Wood has, it seems, come to a certain peace with the role of ideas in human affairs."