Liberty Fund names Gordon Wood as inaugural recipient of George F. Will Award

Liberty Fund, based in Carmel, announced Thursday that Gordon Wood, the noted historian of the American Revolution, is the winner of the inaugural George F. Will Award for the Advancement of Liberty and the Free Society.

Wood received his award at a ceremony and dinner held Wednesday in Washington, D.C. It was presented to him by George F. Will and Mitch Daniels, a senior adviser to the Liberty Fund, president emeritus of Purdue University, and a former governor of Indiana.

“Gordon Wood and George F. Will are two titans of American thought,” Liberty Fund Board Chairman Nate Feltman said. “It is a real privilege to honor these great writers in this way. Throughout their extraordinary careers, Professor Wood and Mr. Will have both shown us that ideas have consequences. They have helped us understand our country’s roots and inspired us to think about the meaning of the Founding for today.”

“The Award celebrates original thinkers who, like George F. Will, have made exceptional contributions to the public’s understanding of individual liberty, markets, self-government, constitutional government, and the rule of law,” Liberty Fund President and CEO Sean Shelby said.

Gordon Wood is the Alva O. Way University Professor and Professor of History Emeritus at Brown University. Previously, he has won the Pulitzer Prize, the Bancroft Prize, and the National Humanities Medal for his impressive scholarship and writing. His books include The Creation of the American Republic, The Radicalism of the American Revolution, and Friends Divided: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.

Professor Wood has had a significant influence on the broader world of ideas, where his teaching and writing have encouraged a renewed approach to the study and appreciation of the ideal of liberty and to the originality and radicalism of the founding of the American republic.

“More than any other historian of his generation, Professor Wood was the single most important scholar to bring forth and revitalize the rich history of republican ideas and their implications,” Liberty Fund Senior Fellow Hans Eicholz said. “Through his close study of American and British pamphlets, he unearthed a whole trove of historical complexity in both moral and political thought that formed the very underpinnings of American self-government from the late colonial period forward.”

About the Liberty Fund
Liberty Fund is a private educational foundation established by Indiana philanthropist Pierre Goodrich in 1960. Today, Liberty Fund pursues Goodrich’s vision through programs inspired by his educational philosophy, including more than 6,000 Socratic colloquia and the publication of almost 500 classic books. Learn more at libertyfund.org.