Gordon Wood's work carefully paints the portraits of eight leaders of the American Revolution in new brushstrokes by placing each historic leader in the timeframe of the eighteenth century. In doing so, Woods not only fleshes out the character of each leader (Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, Adams, Paine, and Burr) but makes their motives and behavior better understood in terms of what it meant to be a gentlemen leader in colonial 18th Century America.

Some of the leaders were well educated (Jefferson, Adams, Madison) some were born into wealth (Burr, Jefferson, Madison,) while others obtained wealth, social status in society (Franklin, Hamilton, Washington). Two were foreign born (Hamilton and Paine).

These eight leaders of the Revolution were guided by the principles of leadership expected of gentlemen. The expectation that leaders were of the higher class of society and were expected to be"disinterested" in making decisions that would bring them benefit in terms of wealth or position. The virtue of leadership was its own reward. How different political leaders of the 19th and 20th century would be from these eight Americans!

The two most surprising characters that Wood's describes are Thomas Paine and Aaron Burr. For most students of history, Thomas Paine is noted solely for "Common Sense." Yet there is much more to this most interesting and least known leader. In the case of Aaron Burr, Wood posits the belief that Burr's trial for treason in the early 19th Century had more to do with his rejection of the principles of "disinterestedness." One example was Burr's serious consideration of taking cases before the court while he was Vice President, before he was convinced by a friend that it would not be appropriate!

The ultimate result of the Revolution as it played out in the 18th Century was the establishment of a egalitarian society that would foster the rise of the common man into politics and leadership with a greatly different view of those roles. As a result, the rather unique and outstanding gentlemen leadership class that produced Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, Adams, Paine and Burr, would no longer exist. For leaders such as Adams and Jefferson, who lived long enough to see this development, it was not a world they wanted or expected as a result of 1776.