Intellectual Origins of American Radicalism

Now an established classic, Intellectual Origins of American Radicalism was the first book to explore this alternative current of American political thought. Stemming back to the seventeenth-century English Revolution, many questioned private property, the sovereignty of the nation-state, and slavery, and affirmed the common man's ability to govern. By the time of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine was the great exemplar of the alternative intellectual tradition. In the nineteenth century, the antislavery movement took hold of Thomas Paine's ideas and fashioned them into an ideology that ultimately justified civil war. This updated edition contains a new preface by the author, which describes the inquiries that he undertook in his books of the 1960s and their conclusions. David Waldstreicher has contributed a new historiographical essay that discusses the book's lasting importance and contrasts its ideas with the work of Bernard Bailyn and Gordon Wood.

Author: Staughton Lynd
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 08/01/2009
Pages: 222
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780521134811

About the Author
Lynd, Staughton: - Staughton Lynd received his B.A. from Harvard College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. He taught at Spelman College and at Yale University. He is the author, editor, or co-editor of more than a dozen books and has published articles in journals including the Journal of American History, the William and Mary Quarterly, and the Political Science Quarterly.Waldstreicher, David: - David Waldstreicher is a Professor of History at Temple University.