REMAKING THE WORLD:
How 1776 Created the Post-Christian
West
By Andrew Wilson
Crossway. 384 pages. £21.99
ISBN 978 1 433 580 536
Andrew Wilson’s latest book, Remaking the World, is a stimulating and thoughtful read, lucidly written, and drawing on a wide and impressive knowledge of history and literature.
Wilson’s big idea is that the forces which have shaped our contemporary Western culture were all in play in 1776 (hence the subtitle), a momentous and memorable year not just for Americans, but for the development of the democratic societies of the west. ‘1776,’ he writes, ‘more than any other year in the last millennium, is the year that made us who we are. We cannot understand ourselves without it’ (p.7). The birth of the American nation, whilst not originating the trends he identifies, undoubtedly gave them an impetus which drove them forward to create our modern culture.
