On Sunday, my friend Gordon Wood was struck and killed in a car accident. Gordon taught history at Brown Univ. and was among the most accomplished historians America has produced. He won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for The Radicalism of the American Revolution, and his earlier book The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 took the 1970 Bancroft Prize. He also received the National Humanities Medal.
He was, in my view, the finest historian of America's founding—which makes it all the sadder that he did not live to see the nation's 250th birthday. His reputation reached popular culture, too. Matt Damon's character in Good Will Hunting invokes him by name in the famous bar scene, accusing a Harvard student of simply "regurgitating Gordon Wood, talking about [...] the pre-Revolutionary utopia and the capital-forming effects of military mobilization."
I feel fortunate to have collaborated with Gordon on several projects. In a 2019 anthology I compiled, he wrote an essay on the possibility of a shared American narrative. He centered his argument on equal rights as "the most radical and most powerful ideological force" the Revolution unleashed. "This powerful sense of equality is still alive and well in America," he wrote, "and despite all of its disturbing and unsettling consequences, it is what makes us one people."
When I needed jacket blurbs for my new book Lincoln's Compass, coming out this November, I turned to Gordon. The fit was natural: the book argues that Abraham Lincoln took the Declaration's claim that "all men are created equal" as his guiding moral compass—and that he refocused the nation on that claim. Gordon, ever the gentleman, offered generous praise.
He was, in many respects, the dean of American historians. He will be very hard to replace.
In 1982 at the Dedication Day Parade for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, WWI veteran Joseph Ambrose clutches the flag that covered his son’s casket, Staff Sgt. Clement Ambrose of the 3rd Infantry Division, who was killed in action during the Korean War.
Memorial Day 🇺🇸
@FBGreatMoments Kony Ealy, SB 50. He had a sack, INT, forced fumble, and a fumble recovery, plus around 10 tackles. Had the Panthers won, he would have been Super Bowl MVP.
@themagaking@BunnyMerica If Thune experienced even a tiny sliver of the evil they brought in, he’d be the first in line to vote for it, but he is a protected class…for now.
@lattyshaw@KoleMusgrove23 Since 2021, Hurts has accounted for 20,030 yards & 164 TDs; Darnold has 12,934 yards & 87TDs. Saying Hurts is ass is simply football ignorance.
The NFL should move the Super Bowl to Saturday after the bye instead of Sunday
- Day off after
- Center of the weekend
- Prime watch with friends and family time
There has been a bye before the SB since 2004, why haven’t we done this already?
The defending Super Bowl champs, with maybe the most loaded offensive roster in the league, gave playcalling duties to a man who had never called plays before, and they just waited an entire season for him to try and figure it out.
I’ll never get over it. What a waste of a year.
@TheDegenDoc This was so clearly a fumble YOU could determine it from viewing it immediately. How’s it hard to officiate that? It’s just the newest excuse to ban it.
@TheDegenDoc This was a fumble. In the stands we Eagles fans even thought it was a fumble. Don’t be mad at us. And don’t be mad at the play. This is 100% on the officials and it was clear as day.
Give the ‘00 Ravens, ‘76 Steelers, ‘13 Seahawks or ‘02 TB a bottom 5 offense and they wouldn’t be in this conversation.
1991 Eagles D was the best ever. #1 rush, pass, yards, Takeaways, sacks.
27 years old, looked like he was coming off two straight years of bad crops, couldn’t afford a new tractor, and was worried about his grandson going to Vietnam.