The NY Times obituaries section of June 10, 2026 announced the death of Gordon Wood. I have not known his name and not read his books. But I learned Wood has been recognized as one of the country’s preeminent scholars of the American Revolution. Wood was a professor emeritus of history at Brown University, a Pulitzer Prize winner and a recipient of the National Humanities Medal in 2011. According to the NY Times obituary, “Wood has been described by fellow historians as doing as much as anyone to deepen understanding and change perceptions of the forces and events that led to the birth of the United States.”

As the country is to celebrate this coming weekend the semiquincetennial, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it would not be a better time for me to read one of his books and learn our country’s history from the one of the incisive scholars.

The book I have picked from his many books is “The Power and Liberty: Constitutionalism in the American Revolution” (2021), Wood described “critical events in the nation’s founding, ranging from the imperial debate that led to the Declaration of Independence to the revolutionary state constitution making in 1776 and the creation of the Federal Constitution in 1787.” Wood mentioned this period was “the most creative era of constitutionalism in American history, and perhaps in the world.”

As the balance of the power in the government between three branches has been shaken and discussed frequently these days. this may be the best time to learn how this American democracy experiment has started. How do we secure the checks and balances in this country’s continuing experiment?

Happy Fourth of July and happy summer.