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Title details for America by William J. Bennett - Available

America

The Last Best Hope (Volume III): From the Collapse of Communism to the Rise of Radical Islam

by William J. Bennett
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America began to breathe easy at the close of the Cold War and loosened its grip on the fear of nuclear confrontation for the first time since World War Two. Peace was palpable, but in retrospect the years between 1988 and 2008 were as rocky as they were uncertain. Turbulence, not tranquility, marked the turn of the century: the war on drugs, race riots, values debates, deep economic shifts, and the growing threat of terrorism on U.S. soil that would tragically play out on September 11, 2001.

In this, the third volume of America: The Last Best Hope, William J. Bennett explores America's recent and momentous history: the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of global Communism; sweeping changes in political and popular culture; the war on terror and the election of America's first African American president. Surveying the players, personalities, and pivotal moments, Bennett captures this recent chapter in the American story with piercing insight and unrelenting optimism.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 10, 2011

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781595554567

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781595554567
      • File size: 2093 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      March 27, 2006
      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.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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