our history, bar none. American identity is not based on any universally shared heritage, so we have had to return to our nation's founding to understand who we are. Wood explores the ideological origins of the revolution's attempts to forge an American democracy, and traces the origins of American exceptionalism. What may simply seem like audacity now was considered radical in the 18th century. Today there exists what Wood calls a terrifying gap between the founders and us, such that it requires almost an act of imagination to fully recapture their era. Because we now take our democracy for granted, it is nearly impossible for us to appreciate how deeply the founders feared their grand experiment in liberty could evolve into monarchy or dissolve into mob rule. Gracefully written and filled with insight, The Idea of America helps us to

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