Gordon S. Wood, Pulitzer Prize-winning Historian of the American Revolution, Dies at 92
Wood died Sunday after being struck by a car in East Providence, Rhode Island. He authored prize-winning books on the founding era and taught at Brown University.
FortuneGordon S. Wood, professor emeritus at Brown University, died Sunday after being struck by a car in a supermarket parking lot in East Providence, Rhode Island, according to police. He was 92. Wood wrote dozens of books and essays on the American founding.
His first book, “The Creation of the American Republic,” won the Bancroft Prize in 1970. “The Radicalism of the American Revolution” received the Pulitzer Prize in 1993. “Empire of Liberty” was a finalist for a major prize in 2009.
U.S. Constitution. Wood was born in Concord, Massachusetts.
D. from Harvard University, where he studied under Bernard Bailyn. He married Louise Goss in 1956. They had three children, two of whom became history professors.
Wood appeared in Ken Burns’ PBS documentary about the American Revolution and consulted on Burns’ film about Jefferson. He chaired an advisory panel for the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Fellow historian John L.
Then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich listed “The Radicalism of the American Revolution” as an essential work of history. Wood later recalled the endorsement as a “kiss of death” among many liberal peers.
