Robert Allison

Prof of History Suffolk University; teach in Harvard Extension; Pres Colonial Society of Mass & chair Revolution 250.

[Robert Allison @profallison]

Talking about " The French in Boston 1778" at https://t.co/oawEOx4NXZ

[Robert Allison @profallison]

Talking about " Closing the Ring; George Washington's War" in the North with Jeffrey Denman at https://t.co/8s8gTvCQxw

[Robert Allison @profallison]

Peter Mancall Book Launch https://t.co/U1giqKzPIT via @YouTube

[Robert Allison @profallison]

Talking about George Washington "Refusing a Crown" with Richard M. Lim at https://t.co/p89z64PJ7A

[Robert Allison @profallison]

Talking about "Rising Sons" with novelist Joe Wearmouth at https://t.co/qOvLJ30mDy

[Robert Allison @profallison]

Talking about "Travels with George" with Nathaniel Philbrick at https://t.co/KAcARI0UAI

[Robert Allison @profallison]

Talking about "The Creation of American Democracy" with Johann Neem at https://t.co/x0zyZXWEyr

[Robert Allison @profallison]

Talking about "Cannonballs in Jersey City" with Chris Bray at https://t.co/ruWQPDgnPY

[Robert Allison @profallison]

Talking with John Lowe about his new book, "“Benevolence & Bondage”: Jonathan Edwards, Slavery, Race, and the Paradox of Spiritual Equality." at https://t.co/YflNo7kWMR

[Robert Allison @profallison]

Talking about " Liberty & Equality in America"with Byron Williams at https://t.co/JQEiHSPK15

[Robert Allison @profallison]

Talking about "The Long Revolution" with Nathan Perl-Rosenthal at https://t.co/t9RRH8LQSh

[Robert Allison @profallison]

Talking about "James Wilson & the Forgotten Fight for a People's Constitution" with Jesse Wegman at https://t.co/rVE9A3FmgH

[Robert Allison @profallison]

Talking about "The Improbable Patriot Pierre-Agustin Caron de Beaumarchais" with Iris de Rode at https://t.co/QGJjHkmhev

[Robert Allison @profallison]

Talking about "The Living Declaration" with Ted Widmer at https://t.co/LqiPu9w3SF

[Robert Allison @profallison]

July 4, 1826 https://t.co/90uKIWfPgb via @YouTube

[Robert Allison @profallison]

Talked to Ira Flatow about science and technology at the time of the Revolution; the greatest innovation was the idea of self-government. https://t.co/lgRXLJOufL

[Robert Allison @profallison]

Talking about "Charleston, SC & the Southern Strategy" with Ken Scarlett at https://t.co/8297Muvx1j

[Robert Allison @profallison]

Talking about "The Home Front" with Lauren Duval at https://t.co/BaGtqwylqB

[Robert Allison @profallison]

Talking about "This Fierce People: American Revolution in the South, 1778-1781," with Alan Pell Crawford at https://t.co/WIzZvnydyu

[Bob Elder @southernphd]

I never met Gordon Wood, but I have a story about him.

In one of my grad school seminars, we read Wood’s Creation of the American Republic. The sheer erudition and evidentiary depth of the book bowled me over.

Back then, before kids and before life accelerated to warp speed, I used to call my mother every Sunday to catch up. Lots of times, we ended up talking about what I was reading that week in my grad seminars or for leisure. Mom had an omnivorous mind, and she was always looking for something else to read. She was a true intellectual—curious about almost everything, always eager to integrate new arguments or ideas into her existing schemas of how the world worked or to have those schemas challenged and changed.

When we talked that particular Sunday, I think I tried to describe to her part of Wood’s argument about the relationship between the state constitutions during the Articles of Confederation era and the federal Constitution. Maybe I was tired, maybe I didn’t completely understand her questions, but the end result of the conversation was that Mom had questions about Wood’s argument that I didn’t answer satisfactorily. I told her that she should probably just read the book, and we said goodbye.

She did eventually read the book, but the next Sunday, Mom started our conversation by saying, “Well, I had a lovely conversation with Gordon Wood this week.” For a split second, I thought she was joking, but then I remembered who I was dealing with. I started to sweat. “How?” I asked. A whole variety of unlikely scenarios in which the foremost historian of the American Revolution and my mother, who lived in Wichita, Kansas, might have met ran through my mind. “Oh, I just looked up his office phone number on Brown’s website and called, and he picked up!” Mom said. I decided I would have to find another profession.

As it ended up, Gordon Wood spent about an hour on the phone with my mother answering her questions about the Constitution. Ever since, I’ve had a soft spot for the man when I imagine him picking up the phone in Providence and finding Becky Elder from Wichita on the other end of the line. His generosity in that moment spoke very well of him.

Rest in peace, professor.