Gregory Taggart

Polyremedialmath | “By proving contraries, truth is made manifest.”| Go Cougs!

[Gregory Taggart @GregoryTaggart]

@DanielParker_13 @tracewoodgrains @mckaycoppins I don’t know why other Mormons are nice, but I know I try to be a peaceable follower of Jesus Christ. If that results in being “nice,” so be it.

[Gregory Taggart @GregoryTaggart]

We need (or need to know about) more men and women like this.

[Sheldon Gilbert @SheldonGilbert]

I first encountered the work of Gordon Wood as an undergrad history major. I thought then that "The Radicalism of the American Revolution" was a tour de force — and its reputation with me has only improved over time.

Over the years, I purchased every single Gordon Wood book. Many years ago, when I was a young husband and new dad, Gordon Wood came to the Mall in Washington DC as part of a book festival. I brought several books for him to sign. I dropped off my wife with our young child (and the pile of books) and then searched for parking.

Dear reader, I had to park very far away. So far, in fact, that Gordon Wood's window for signing books had long since passed. I finally found my wife and young child with Gordon Wood at an empty author's booth. He not only had signed all my books, but he had stayed well past his time to leave and graciously chatted with my wife, who had implored him to wait **just a little longer** so that I could meet him. He was so kind to my wife, our child, and — when I finally showed up — me.

Imagine my delight earlier this year when Gordon Wood agreed to be filmed for The Federalist Society @FedSoc for two days, to talk about America250 and the Founding (in particular, the path from the Declaration to the Constitution) and also to talk about his own life and career as a historian. I was honored to witness my good friends @kurtlash1 and Steve Calabresi interview Gordon Wood.

... and then Gordon Wood stayed long past the agreed upon filming time to talk to me about his life and our shared love of America's Founding.

We lost a brilliant man today. We also lost a good man, a kind man. Too often, that Venn Diagram of brilliance and kindness does not overlap. It did with Gordon Wood. May God receive his soul, and may his memory be a blessing.

[McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins]

Coolest @TheAtlantic cover in a long time:

[Joshua Claybourn @JoshuaClaybourn]

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.

[McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins]

In 2019, an independent commission comprising "distinguished jurists, Ivy League professors, nonprofit leaders, journalists, and theologians" invited @YAppelbaum to brainstorm concepts that might unite divided Americans. He suggested "patriotism"—and this is what happened: https://t.co/KVxW8FhYcF

[Gregory Taggart @GregoryTaggart]

@jasoninthehouse @BasedMikeLee @POTUS Well, he is friends with Captain Moroni after all.

[Gregory Taggart @GregoryTaggart]

@BasedMikeLee Maybe ask Captain Moroni to tell Hegseth to fix the list.

[Paul Novosad @paulnovosad]

Damn, every minute of this is excellent

[Steve Hartman @SteveHartmanCBS]

I see some of you are discovering our talented friend, Samuel, for the first time :)

[Gregory Taggart @GregoryTaggart]

@JonahDispatch Yup.

[Adam Rubenstein @RubensteinAdam]

NEW: Judge @RoyKAltman on the NYT/ Kristof controversy in @TheFP.

The allegations of a key source of Kristof’s seem to be falling apart.

https://t.co/uChl6Y5pvM

[Jonah Goldberg @JonahDispatch]

https://t.co/7J0eTyhfvX

[Aizenberg @Aizenberg55]

A devastating and critical debunking of the sensational sexual violence allegations against Israel. Story by @NickKristof relied on changing accounts, a terrorist supporting "journalist," a Hamas-linked NGO, and absurd claims like dogs trained to rape pushed with no evidence.

[Gregory Taggart @GregoryTaggart]

@ZedofMIB @j_divis Oh please. What a made up concept.

[Gregory Taggart @GregoryTaggart]

@davidHenkel20 @j_divis Really? I wandered around 3/4s of Brazil for two years. Met thousands of people. Made many friends—Brazilians, most of them. Very little day-to-day supervision. And “forced”? Entirely my decision. Entirely. And possibly the best one I ever made.

[Jarvis @jarvis_best]

Spencer Pratt is an actor. He does not have the education, experience, or know how to truly destroy a city like Karen Bass.

[Peacemaking Saint @PeacemakingSt]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spent more on humanitarian aid than nearly every nation on the earth in 2025.

No faith-based entity provides more humanitarian aid.

No Church membership dedicates more volunteer hours.

No organization does it at the global scale.

[Gregory Taggart @GregoryTaggart]

@DurrantMark @benshapiro Right on Mark.

[Dr Manhattva @Manhattva]

It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen all the lights on.

The crown Jewel of Salt Lake City is shining again.

[McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins]

This talk contained the outlines of a profound civic theology that @OaksDallinH has spent much of his life developing and articulating. I’m excited for more people, inside and outside of our church, to hear more of it.