William

Everyone who wants to understand what America is, how it was created, and where its values came from must read or listen to this book. When written it was recognized as a work of amazing detail, analysis and genius. It still is.

The Author spent years traveling America, researching its forms of life, forms of government, cultural values, religions, the Indians, slavery, its economic life and after developing a wonderful understanding of the parts, he was able to synthesis all the parts into a rational explanation of why America burst onto the world stage as one of the greatest countries on the globe in just a few short years. America was an amazing phenomenon. It was not the only new country, or a country will resources, or educated people. Yet, in a few short decades after its successful revolution, it had already become the standard by which all other countries were judged as successful. Tocqueville wanted to know why, and to take the lessons learned in America back to France to help the French develop rational government after the chaos that was the French revolution. To sum it up, Tocqueville claimed "America was great because Americans were good." His analysis showed that the shared cultural values of Americans concerning liberty, responsibility, religion were so strong that they outweighed any other factor in developing a great Nation from scratch. He also showed that the democratic/republican tradition had developed in America for over 200 years starting from the lowest level, through the town, county, colony, and finally the National government. This understanding of the rules of self government was a part of the American culture and did not have to be imposed from the top or learned anew. Finally, he described America's internal conflict about slavery and predicted the civil war and its aftermath. Fascinating reading. This is as relevant today as ever, it should be mandatory reading for all American students.

The discussion of the westward expansion and the subsequent interaction with the Indian nations was fascinating. I had never heard this description, and analysis, and it is right on the mark. I suppose that political correctness has limited this type of discussion today, but every American, and American Indian should read this analysis. Clear, dispassionate description of the inevitable westward expansion of Europeans. This class of cultures was not always, and maybe not usually violent. The Indian communities largely made a living by the "chase", or hunting. The European made his living by Agriculture, and needed land to settle. As the whites moved into a region, they would hunt the game out of the region for 200miles, so the game and the Indians were pushed ever westward. Attempts were made to fix the boundary of westward expansion, to include the Kind of England forbidding any settlement of lands that did not drain into the Atlantic. But, as settlers saw land that the Indians has abandoned, since the game was gone, they clamored farther westward. This started the whole cycle over again as the game was hunted out, and the Indians were forces westward for survival again. There were times were Indians sold their lands as they could not find enough game and needed to move west, and they would not or could not adapt to the agrarian forms of European life. Fascinating first hand research and analysis.

Yes, my reaction was "now I understand why we are the way we are" as a nation and as a people. As Issac Newton once states "we stand on the shoulders of great men", and we are all a part of our history, both our biological history encoded in our DNA and our cultural history encoded in our beliefs, values, laws and traditions.

Everyone should listen to this book. After listening to it I bought a copy so i could use it as a reference.

Sowell is such a intellect. He takes an issue, breaks it down into its key parts, and then analyses the whole to understand what is the cause and effect of the processes he is examining. Sowell follows the evidence, and the facts, where ever they lead. He is courageous and is not afraid of being attacked by the PC brigades.

The "Protestant Ethic" by Max Weber is looking at society and culture and trying to describe why American culture is the way it is. Sowell also is looking at the world, and trying to understand why we find what we find the culture.

Yes, this could be a one sitting book.

Powerful. Who knew that Hitler made a pact with the Muslim Brotherhood to exterminate the Jews in the middle east to get the support of the Islamic leaders in the region? I certainly did not know this piece of history. Hitler's plans were not fulfilled because the Allies pushed his forces out of North Africa. However, he did use his Mufti to recruit Muslim SS units in the Balkans to track down and exterminate Jews in the region.

God's Battalions is similar, since it provides some of the history behind the current conflict in the mid-East.

This was a good listen.

yes, it was fascinating.

I really had never heard anything like this before. This man analyzed the parts of the political debate and how the left has succeeded in mastering the process. The right has simply showed up to the game and thought since they obviously had the best ideas they would win. The author shows that having the right ideas is not enough since most of the people who vote can not articulate a rational reason for their choice. Something else motivates them to vote, and the author shows us some of the tactics that need to be used.

You could listen to this book in a sitting, I listened to it on the road in my truck.

It was fascinating how Rove described the election process. He really gave us an insight into the process that gets people elected in this country in the modern era.

Everyone called Rove the evil genius that got Bush the bumpkin elected, but Rove shows how he supported the President, and how Bush was always the leader. Rove was a key player, but he humbly shows how he was a part of the team, not the leader who lead the team to success. Leadership was Bush, Rove was an important staff aid to Bush.

Great book, and we should all thank Rove for his candid description of his duties, responsibilities, successes and failures.

No, not possible.

Listen to this book, Cheney's, Bush's,and Rumsfeld's books and you will totally understand the Bush administration.

This is how big decisions are made.

Decision Points by George Bush.

I loved Rumsfeld's description of his time as the Chief of staff in the White House. This is an unobserved position by the public, but it is the most important position in the US Government.

Not possible.

Listen to the book and understand our decisions to go to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Understand how government actually works. Listen to this book and Cheney's and you will have a clear understanding of the bureaucratic decision making process in the White House.

A genius at work. Listen to this work, but keep a tissue close.

The loss of a beloved and the struggle of a Christian to understand "why life is so hard".

Pain's purpose.

This is not only the best audio book I have ever listened to, it is the best book I have ever read. This is the powerful work of an honest genius. We as a people have been blessed buy the integrity and talent of this man. I wish I could have spent an hour talking to him, but the next best thing is reading this book, or listening to it. After listening to the book I bought a copy, and gave my kids a copy.

How C.S. Lewis reasoned his way to the knowledge that Christ was really who he said he was. How CS came to the faith in Christ at an advanced age rather than as a Child.

This is a good telling of the book.

This book made me take 9 graduate courses in apologetics and read or listen to 150 books and papers on the topic and listen to hundreds of hours of lectures and debates. This is an amazing work.

Christians or non Christians, read/listen to the book, you will be enriched.

Truman was a real person, ambitious, simple, tough, and a product of his time. When he left the Presidency, he and his wife got in their car and drove home to Missouri. No speaking tours for millions of dollars for the man that Nuked Japan and ended the war.

Truman. Tough, intelligent, serious, a man of integrity, but not a perfect man, he did what he had to do to serve the Nation.

I wish God would stop time so David McCullough could write more history.

Clearly, Truman's decision to end the war with Japan by bombing two of her cities with atomic bombs. Tough decision that not many people could make.

What more can be said about C.S. Lewis,and particularly the Screw Tape Letters. This is smart, interesting, compelling, and useful to every individual.

It is important, and humorous at the same time. Genius.

Great reading of the book.

Look out! The Devil is everywhere.

Do not miss this book.

This is not politically correct!

Baldwin, and others like him sold everything of their of their worldly possessions and took their families, recruited an army and marched from France to the Holy Lands to defend the Christians who were being slaughtered by the Saracens as they tried to visit the Holy Lands. These people decided to commit their lives to defending these people and these sites for Christianity. It was a calling and they heard the call. They never intended to survive this Crusade and return to France, they were going to establish a defensive position in the Holy Lands or die trying. This was not a quest for riches, this was a quest to defend the oppressed Christians of the land.

Really, this was a compelling telling of the story.

One group of crusaders did not have enough money to arm themselves and fund their trip to the Holy lands, so they decided to attack the Jewish communities along the way since they decided that the Jews were evil anyway. The Jews were actually defended by Catholic priests in Cathedrals. This is contrary to the typical version of the story known today.

The next time you year someone defending the horrible acts by Islamic barbarians toward Christians or the West as a reaction to the Crusades some 9 centuries ago, listen to this book. It will set the story straight.