Explore the Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Journey

kerrion thedford: My bestfriend needed this book last minute for a class. I ordered this book on Sunday, and it was here Tuesday morning just in time.

United States on Aug 18, 2023

Kathleen V.: Nice book to assist the high school student in learning correct history.

United States on May 25, 2023

NickNick: Good:
1. Chronology of events
2. Writing style and pacing
3. Brevity
4. References and index

Bad:
1. Between pages 224 and 225, are 12 sheets of pictures of various figures, events, etc; why are these pictures not spread out throughout the book? Not worth taking a star off, but worth mentioning. (see picture 1)

2. On page 330 is the map of the European theater of World War II. (see picture 2) There are 4 marked Major Battles fought by Western allies (USA, Britain, etc), and only ONE Major Battle marked for the Soviet Union.

As the author postulates, "... it is clear that D-Day broke the back of the Nazi effort." (p. 333) This is a blatant lie. It is WELL KNOWN that the bulk of the German war machine came to a GRINDING HALT in DECEMBER of 1941. 1941! Three years before D-Day, and the same month as the attack on Pearl Harbor. (1941 - Germans halted at Leningrad and Moscow, and 1942 - Stalingrad and the Caucasus)

3. On page 335 is the map of the Japanese theater of World War II (see picture 3). The Soviet counteroffensives in Manchuria, and the Sakhalin/Kuril islands are completely missing! Coincidentally, Soviet forces entered Manchuria on...

United States on Apr 17, 2022

Nam: A book that is really worth having.

Thanks Dr. Wilfred!

Spain on Nov 10, 2020

Gregory: In his epilogue, the author wrote that is book was an attempt " . . . to tell the story of the American past . . . in as objective manner as i could, while being fair and generous to all legitimate positions." In my opinion, the author was successful in his attempt. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know the American story, even if one has "heard it before".
The author mentions (in the introduction, as I recall) that in writing such a history, the writer has to let some of the events and some of the pivotal actors go unmentioned. I understand that, and like anyone else, I wonder why some of my personal favorites were not even mentioned in the book. But I understand. One has to draw the line somewhere, and you can't kiss all the pretty girls.
However, I am truly flummoxed that the greatest social issue of the past fifty years was not even mentioned at all. For the past fifty years or so, the practices of abortion and euthanasia (especially the former) have been broadly accepted by the American people, and actively promoted by a great number of the governing class. Surely, this is an important social phenomenon, and it constitutes a great break with the ideas of...

United States on Sep 19, 2019

S. Johnson: I grew up at a time where history was taught such that all the founding fathers were heroic men of virtue; All their warts and blemishes were airbrushed from the texts. The message was clear--we should be proud of our American history and we should be proud to be Americans. Now it seems the tide has radically turned such that history is written in terms of just warts and blemishes, such that we should be embarrassed (ashamed?) about our American history and embarrassed to be Americans. In this book however, the proper balance is found; the shapers of early American history are neither painted as perfect pillars of virtue, but nor are they painted as immoral colonizing, land grabbing, slave owning scoundrels. History is more nuanced than that and as the author points out must be viewed through the lens of the time of the events, not the lens of our own time. This book portrays historical figures as flawed, but yet these flaws did not obviate their great achievements; This is not a strictly binary either or world we live in, where there is only all good or only all bad, full stop. All men are flawed, but it is not rational to then conclude, that only flawed bad results can come from...

United States on Jun 03, 2019