The Oxford History of the United States is by far the most respected multi-
volume history of our nation. The series includes three Pulitzer Prize winners,
two New York Times bestsellers, and winners of the Bancroft and Parkman Prizes.
Now, in the newest volume in the series, one of America's most esteemed
historians, Gordon S. 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.
As Wood reveals, the period was marked by tumultuous change in all aspects of
American life.in politics, society, economy, and culture. 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. They hated political parties but
parties nonetheless emerged. 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. Instead, by 1815 the United States became something neither group
anticipated. Many leaders expected American culture to flourish and surpass
that of Europe; instead it became popularized and vulgarized. The leaders
also hope to see the end of slavery; instead, despite the release of many
slaves and the end of slavery in the North, slavery was stronger in 1815
than it had been in 1789. Many wanted to avoid entanglements with Europe,
but instead the country became involved in Europe's wars and ended up waging
another war with the former mother country. Still, with a new generation
emerging by 1815, most Americans were confident and optimistic about the
future of their country.

Integrating all aspects of life, from politics and law to the economy and
culture, Empire of Liberty offers a marvelous account of this pivotal era
when America took its first unsteady steps as a new and rapidly expanding
nation.

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