Story perspectives

Pulitzer Historian Gordon Wood Dies at 92 After Accident

6/9/2026

Summary

Gordon Wood Dies

Gordon S. Wood, 92, died Sunday in Providence, Rhode Island after being struck by a motorist.
He had taught history at Brown University from 1969 until his retirement.
His 1992 Pulitzer-winning book *The Radicalism of the American Revolution* argued colonists rejected a worldview separating common people from nobles.
Historians call Wood a pre-eminent scholar of the American Revolution who deepened understanding of the forces that created the United States.

Summary

Gordon Wood Criticized

In 2011 President Barack Obama presented Gordon Wood with the National Humanities Medal for his scholarship on the nation’s founding.
Younger historians have accused Wood of downplaying the roles of slaves, women, and Indigenous peoples, sparking debate over his “old-school” approach.
Wood publicly criticized the 1619 Project, arguing it promoted a victimhood narrative he did not endorse.

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Gordon Wood Dies

Gordon S. Wood, 92, died Sunday in Providence, Rhode Island after being struck by a motorist.
He had taught history at Brown University from 1969 until his retirement.
His 1992 Pulitzer-winning book *The Radicalism of the American Revolution* argued colonists rejected a worldview separating common people from nobles.
Historians call Wood a pre-eminent scholar of the American Revolution who deepened understanding of the forces that created the United States.

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