Product Description

America, how well do you know your history?

• Who quelled a coup d'etat by putting on a pair of reading glasses?
• Which U.S. senator was nearly caned to death on the Senate floor?
• Which first lady refused to serve alcohol in the White House?
• What famous inventor was called to find the assassin's bullet in President Garfield's back?
• Which successful candidate for president insisted on telling the truth about his sex scandal?
• Which beloved ex-president raced with death and poverty to write his best-selling memoirs and which famous humorist came to his rescue?
• Which president carefully read the trial notes of 303 condemned Sioux warriors and spared all but 38 from the hangman's noose?
• Which "four-eyed" future president beat up a drunken bully in a saloon?
  

In his Farewell Address, Ronald Reagan said if we forget what we have done, we will forget who we are. This book, written by one of Reagan's most loyal lieutenants, responds to Reagan's heartfelt call for an informed patriotism.

We all need to know more about this land we love. In this gripping tale of a nation, our country's past comes alive. Here is the story of those we chose to lead us and what they did with the awesome power we gave them. Join Bill Bennett for the great adventure. America's teacher will lead you on a voyage of discovery.

What others are saying:

"William J. Bennett artfully and subtly makes connections between our past and current events, reminding us ... that we are intimately and immediately connected to the extraordinary Americans who have bestowed upon us our great heritage.... [T]he importance of America: The Last Best Hope probably exceeds anything Dr. Bennett has ever written, and it is more elegantly crafted and eminently readable than any comprehensive work of history I've read in a very long time. It's silly to compare great works of history to great novels, but this book truly is a page-turner.... Prepare to have your faith in, hope for, and love of America renewed."
-Brad Miner, American Compass

"The Role of history is to inform, inspire, and sometimes provoke us, which is why Bill Bennett's wonderfully readable book is so important. He puts our nation's triumphs, along with its lapses, into the context of a narrative about the progress of freedom. Every now and then it's useful to be reminded that we are a fortunate people, blessed with generations of leaders who repeatedly renewed the meaning of America."
-Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

"For too long Americans have been looking for a history of our country that tells the story of America's triumphs as well as its tragedies. Now Bill Bennett has come forward with America: The Last Best Hope, which tells the story-fairly and fully-from 1492 to 1914. Americans who have been reading recent biographies of the Founding Fathers will love this book."
-Michael Barone, US News & World Report

"Bill Bennett's book will stand as perhaps the most important addition to American scholarship at this, the start of the new century. For the past fifty years American historians have either distorted American history or reduced it to a mess of boring indictments of our cultural and political heritage. With this book Bennett offers to Americans young and old an exciting and enjoyable history of what makes America the greatest nation on earth.
-Brian Kennedy, president, The Claremont Institute

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #102725 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 596 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781595551115
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Bennett, a secretary of education under President Reagan and author of The Book of Virtues, offers a new, improved history of America, one, he says, that will respark hope and a "conviction about American greatness and purpose" in readers. He believes current offerings do not "give Americans an opportunity to enjoy the story of their country, to take pleasure and pride in what we have done and become." To this end, Bennett methodically hits the expected patriotic high points (Lewis & Clark, the Gettysburg Address) and even, to its credit, a few low ones (Woodrow Wilson's racism, Teddy Roosevelt's unjust dismissal of black soldiers in the Brownsville judgment). America is best suited for a high school or home-schooled audience searching for a general, conservative-minded textbook. More discerning adult readers will find that the lack of originality and the overreliance on a restricted number of dated sources (Samuel Eliot Morison, Daniel Boorstin, Henry Steele Commager) make the book a retread of previous popular histories (such as Boorstin's The Americans). This is history put to use as inspiration rather than serving to enlighten or explain, but Bennett does succeed in shaping the material into a coherent, readable narrative. (May 23)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–This exhaustive political and military history is well organized, with an excellent table of contents, 13 chapter titles that include dates, and each chapter divided into sections with headings for easy scanning. The chronological narrative covers familiar content, and Bennett writes in a conversational tone. In each chapter he sets the stage, relates events in detail, sprinkles in quotes from personages or literature of the time, and then shifts into editorial mode on such issues as slavery, the treatment of Native Americans, and child-labor practices. He humanizes the main characters with physical descriptions and anecdotes. This lively book acknowledges mistakes and shortcomings, yet patriotically asserts that the American experiment in democracy is still a success story.–Sondra VanderPloeg, Tracy Memorial Library, New London, NH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The Washington Post
I admit to a soft spot for William J. Bennett. To be sure, I disagree with him on most major issues, find his fondness for gambling morally troubling and do not share his enthusiasm for President Bush. But we have all too few former government officials and cable television talking heads who write books that actually deal with ideas. By and large, Bennett's books have been pretty good. I helped raise three children on his Book of Virtues, and they are the better for it.

With his new venture, Bennett shifts focus from philosophy to history. America: The Last Best Hope will be a two-volume affair dedicated to retelling the story of America's development into the world's most powerful liberal democracy. Volume I begins with the explorations of Christopher Columbus and ends with the world's plunge into the chaos of World War I.

If you believe that good historical writing involves years of archival research leading to the unearthing of new knowledge, Bennett's book will disappoint; all the references are to the works of previous historians, and no new discoveries await the reader. But non-academically trained historians have always tried to capture the grand sweep of the American past, so Bennett belongs in a long-established tradition. He has a strong sense of narrative, a flair for anecdote and a lively style. And the American story really is a remarkable one, filled with its share of brilliant leaders and tragic mistakes. Bennett brings that story to life. The pessimism of the Federalists in an increasingly democratic society, James K. Polk's war against Mexico, the Mormon Great Trek -- all are related with a sense of excitement and engagement.

Pundit that he is, Bennett is not content just with narration; he also has lessons to impart. Americans, he believes, fail to appreciate the great things their country has achieved; a rousing, explicitly patriotic history can help them overcome the cynical defeatism that he sees lurking in contemporary society. This sounds like a formula for right-wing political correctness, and to some degree it is. Bennett defends Spanish colonization; excuses away the three-fifths rule that enabled slave-owners to increase their power by counting 60 percent of every slave as a person for purposes of congressional representation; bends over backward to understand why settlers might hate Native Americans (although he properly criticizes Andrew Jackson's vicious campaign of Indian removal); and claims that racial segregation harmed both whites and blacks.

Still, Bennett on balance resists a moralistic tale in favor of a nuanced one. As might be expected from so pugnacious a commentator, he takes sides. But the sides he takes are surprising. Americans throughout their history have been divided into camps not unlike the liberals and conservatives of today. Depending on the circumstances in which they lived, some of our leaders believed in a strong national government and equal citizenship for all, while others pledged their allegiance to state and local authority and were quite content to live in a society in which inequalities of birth were reinforced by existing institutions and practices. Bennett nearly always takes the side of the former against the latter.

Nowhere are Bennett's sympathies more strongly pronounced than in his discussion of the ideas and events leading up to the Civil War. American conservatism has long had a tendency to romanticize the Old South as a land of virtue and courage. Bennett will have none of it. Not a trace of sympathy for slavery and slave-owners appears in his book. He castigates John C. Calhoun, slavery's most brilliant defender, for bringing on the conflict. He denounces the Dred Scott decision as "inimical to the Founders' vision." He has nothing but praise for Frederick Douglass and his campaign for equal rights. Bennett is a Lincoln man, pure and simple.

Bennett takes the same side when discussing periods in which Americans were divided over the role of government in their society. He prefers James Madison's more restrained Virginia Resolution defending states' rights to Thomas Jefferson's more secessionist-leaning Kentucky one. Theodore Roosevelt gets more praise than William McKinley. Bennett's America even holds a place for labor leaders such as Samuel Gompers. Immigration and religious pluralism are welcomed by him. (Sometimes, in fact, his book reads like a Catholic -- more specifically, an Irish Catholic -- history of America.) Bennett may be a conservative today, but he has little positive to say about Know-Nothings, Copperheads and isolationists, all of whom were conservatives yesterday.

Liberal readers will be wary of his explicitly nationalistic history. They ought instead to recognize what a tribute to liberalism this book is. Precisely because he is so proud of his country and wants to celebrate its greatness, Bennett calls attention to all those movements toward liberty and equality that enabled the United States to expand its ideals and strengthen its citizens. The fact that so prominent a conservative as Bennett accepts nearly all the major reforms of the 19th century suggests just how much the current American consensus remains a liberal consensus. Whether he finds the same to be true of the 20th century awaits Volume II of America: The Last Best Hope.

Reviewed by Alan Wolfe
Copyright 2006, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

Customer Reviews

Great Book!
I am not sure if other reviewers have been able to read this whole thing or not, since it did just come out yesterday. Admittedly, I myself have yet to finish it,however, I have read about half of it. Being a history student in a department with many prominent historians, most notably Leonard Richard who has become particularly famous for his original analysis of John Quincy Adam's anti-slavery rhetoric as a congressman, I am extremely fond of new history books.

Mr. Bennett's book is truly a masterpiece. The very fact that I have already read about half of it in the past day it has been released should attest to how difficult it is to put this book down. Despite the fact that Mr. Bennett clearly has a political past, this book is highly non-partisan as he praises both political sides. The only bias that Mr. Bennett holds is that he (as do I ) think America is the greatest nation on the face of the Earth. This is not blind patriotism or nationalism. Instead it is patriotism based on fact more than pure emotion. He admits that our nation has had MAJOR problems, especially in terms of racial history. However, as he states, no nation is perfect and every other nation has similar disturbing facets of their past. Keeping that in mind, America has been and still is the beacon of freedom and hope around the world. Mr. Bennett's research is extremely thorough (first thing I do when I check a history book are check the sources.... he derives his information from historians ranging from Shelby Foote to Harry Jaffa to Douglas Brinkley to Henry Steele Commager to David McCullough; really some of the greatest in their field). Furthermore, he is an exquisite writer as he does things such as refer to men such as Ronald Reagan (in his only reference to the former president) as "the old man who dreamed dreams and lived to see those dreams become reality".

It is a rather long book (and only volume I too) but it is more than worth all the pages and you will actually find yourself wishing that this 525 page masterpiece was even longer. Here's looking forward to spring 2007 so volume II will come out.

From Columbus to WWI
William Bennett has long established himself as an author of sorts, not so much by what he has written, but in what he has compiled. He has given us such great compilations of writings from an array of sources in monumental books such as the Book of Virtues, The Moral Compass and Our Sacred Honor, but in his latest venture, AMERICA: THE LAST BEST HOPE, Bennett varies from the role of editor, into the full blown role of writer and does so in superb fashion.

Bennett's personal indiscretions will cause the shallow minded reviewer who chooses to "kill the messenger" to delight in denigrating this fine work, but do not let that discourage you from exposure to this magnificent book. This is not just another dogged approach to American history. This is the story of America presented in a flowing narrative that is concise, insightful, accurate and teeming with adoration for the country that is, in fact, the world's last best hope for the future. Concurrently, Bennett is not averse to exposing the faults of our history in such areas as slavery and Jim Crow laws.

The truly defining moments of our rich history have inclusion here. Of course, even with it's rather hefty 544 pages, it is impossible to do little more than scratch the surface, but for an overview of history, Bennett has meticulously chosen the essential events necessary to impart the desired outcome.

Throughout the years, many have sought to duplicate this effort as volumes covering the matter here are abundant, but with the passage of time, I believe this work will stand the test and emerge as one of the best sources available in this venue. Not because it simply presents the history, but because it instills pride in the reader. It reaffirms all that we love about America and reminds us of how great she truly is, and how great a role those who came before us have been to building her.

If you already love America, your love will be deepened here. If you are less than 50 years old, this book will perhaps shed light as to why we of older generations hold such a profound admiration for our country. These are the things that used to be openly taught in our schools. These are the stories of American history previous generations grew up with. This is the history of America that is so overlooked and even rewritten by those today who loathe our history. This book belongs in every American home.

Monty Rainey
www.juntosociety.com

readable and engaging.. american facts, ideals and issues.. optimistic.. moving forward together
Net net I liked this book and I look forward to the next volume (Volume 1 covers 1492 to 1914).

The main reason I like it is that it summarizes in one readable place many of the lesser well known but important and intriguing aspects of American history. I have been reading up the last couple years from Washington to Lincoln to Grant to Reagan, so I had fresh and detailed readings with which to compare Bennett's work.

As an example, General Washington's main strategy in the War of Independence was to last out til British citizens were weary of the war and essentially forced the king and parliament to compromise. As another example, the Bank of the United States was what kept the country out of depressions yet it was opposed furiously by Jefferson and killed off once by Jackson. Many more examples abound where famous names and anecdotes are more fully explained. A fun one is how the Donkey and Elephant became the symbols of the Democratic and Republican parties.

Two aspects of Bennet's work intrigue me. First is his use of the issue of slavery as a binding thread throughout the whole of this Volume 1. Bennett discusses slavery from the beginning starting with the practice in Columbus' time. Bennett's discussion of Lincoln's political approach to emancipation is superb, as is his analysis of Calhoun's attempt to totally reverse the intent of the founders that slavery would be isolated and eliminated over time (since it could not be eliminated immediately without costing union).

The second intriguing practice is Bennett's regularly defining of (to me seemingly) obvious and well-known terms. I think Bennett is targeting a newer, less textually more visually taught audience, the one that Jay Leno loves to target with his "man and woman on the street quizzes" with simple questions that get amazingly wrong but funny answers ("What is the capital of New York?, Who is Mario Cuomo? etc.)

An example is defining "impressment", where British warships took American sailors off American ships into service, claiming they were British. Another example is Bennett's defining, in mentioning that Woodrow Wilson is the only president so far to have a doctorate (in political science), that "doctorate" meant he had a "Ph.D.".

The book is readable and engaging for the selection of facts and principles and narrative connection that Bennett presents. I learned many new things about Teddy Roosevelt and William Taft and Woodrow Wilson and may find myself reading some more detailed works now. The book is an excellent overview of America and should both improve Jay Leno test scores (hee hee) but even more importantly lead new readers to be curious to read more about and understand and identify with American facts, ideals and issues. And it is optimistic in tone, encouraging the melting pot that is our inherited and present culture to continue and move forward together.