Understanding the American Revolution: Issues and Actors

Greene addresses four major themes: why the Revolution occurred and how contemporaries explained it; how developments in the colonial era and the nature of colonial political societies affected the shape and character of the Revolution; what impact the Revolution had upon existing political cultures, particularly in Virginia; and how the experiences of important individuals can be used to illuminate the origin, nature, and impact of the Revolutionary experience.

In Understanding the American Revolution, Greene explores such problems as Virginia's political behavior during the Revolutionary era; the roles of three cultural brokers, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and Phillip Mazzei; and why the Revolution had such a short half-life as a model for large-scale revolutions. He explores the colonial roots of the political structures that Revolutionary leaders created, and he asks why the American Revolution was not more radical.

This volume brings together sixteen essays on the American Revolution by leading historian Jack Greene. Originally published between 1972 and the early nineties, these essays approach the Revolution as an episode in British imperial history rather than as the first step in the creation of an American nation.

In Understanding the American Revolution, Greene explores such problems as Virginia's political behavior during the Revolutionary era; the roles of three cultural brokers, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and Philip Mazzei; and why the Revolution had such a short half-life as a model for large-scale revolutions. He explores the colonial roots of the political structures that Revolutionary leaders created, and he asks why the American Revolution was not more radical.

Booknews

Greene (humanities, Johns Hopkins U.) queries why the American Revolution was so tame and what its impact as an example has been on other large-scale revolutions. Approaching it as an event in British imperial history rather than the creation of the US, he shows how it was shaped by, the nature of colonial politics, particularly in Virginia, and by the backgrounds and roles of individual players. Paper edition (unseen), $24.50. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jack P. Greene is Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at The Johns Hopkins University. He has published extensively, and his books include Peripheries and Center: Constitutional Development in the Extended Polities of the British Empire and the United States, 1607-1783; Landon Carter: An Inquiry into the Personal Values and Social Imperatives of the Eighteenth-Century Virginia Gentry and Pursuits of Happiness: The Social Development of the Early Modern British Colonies and the Formation of American Culture.