A Patriot's History of the United States

By: Larry Schweikart, Michael Allen

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

Length: 50 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Since the liberal revolution of the '60s and '70s, American history books have been biased toward the negative. They overemphasize America's racism, sexism, and bigotry while downplaying the greatness of her patriots. As a result, more emphasis is placed on Harriet Tubman than on George Washington, more on the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II than on D-day or Iwo Jima, more on the dangers we faced from Joseph McCarthy than those we faced from Josef Stalin.

This book offers a long-overdue acknowledgment of America's true and proud history. The authors reexamine America's discovery, founding, and development with an appreciation for the principles of public virtue, personal liberty, and private property that have made this nation so uniquely successful.

©2004 Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"A welcome, refreshing, and solid contribution to relearning what we have forgotten and remembering why this nation is good, and worth defending." (National Review)
"There are a thousand pleasant surprises and heartening reminders that underneath it all America remains a country of ideas, ideals, and optimism: and no amount of revisionism can take that legacy away." (Humane Studies Review)
"Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen remind us what a few good individuals can do in just a few short centuries....A fluid account of America from the discovery of the continent up to the present day." (Wall Street Journal)

Excellent full scope assessment

These historians do not skip over the flaws of our founding but they are not politically motivated to paint America as a ruthless people, (like Howard Zinn’s total left biased account of “history”) they have over 60 yrs of teaching between them and give a fair accounting of America’s remarkable history.

We are all Patriots

I’m pleasantly surprised with the intensity of passion and diversity of opinion from the reviewers who posted their comments here. It is an affirmation of what the author of this book is saying. The heart of American patriotism lies in our self proclaimed right to express ourselves. Right or wrong, Americans have had the strong will to stand up and take action. This book is an account of that American will. I highly recommend this read. We have a unique history. I chuckled at the account of how Europeans considered American colonists to be unrefined and lack class. As pioneers we have never dressed to impress. Our culture is rooted in a pragmatic approach to living, with special emphasis on the rights of the individual. Americans think differently than the rest of the world. History helps us recognize why. We protect our social freedoms and economic security with a 230 year old political system of checks and balances, laws, not kings, or dictators. Americans trust that system of laws where so many other nations have self destructed with violence. We don’t live in a perfect world. This book does not propagandize us as such. Mistakes and injustices are exposed. Men of genius and character are recognized. And just for the record, I am not of the politically right. I was not offended by this author’s perspective. My interest was kept as he explained how we created a system to challenge the unjust, employ reason and critical thinking to self analyze, to right the wrongs, to blunder, admit it, and pick ourselves back up, to be cautious when it came to starting the fight, but recognize when the time is right to come together with formidable strength to protect what we all know to be “self evident truths”. With eyes wide open, republican conservative, or liberal democrat, we are all patriots.

A story worth your time

This book is long overdue, finally the other side of the story can be told, the one you always knew or hoped for would be true. We live in a great country and its not run by crooks or crazy men. This book is an excellent story and well worth your time. After hearing this story I hope you will be proud to live in this country again.

History

Very informative, Very long book but it was worth it. I'm really tired of the misinformation that the politically correctness has brought us. Before long we will be saying the Holocaust didn't happen. Kind of like what they are starting to teach in Brittan(because the Muslims don't like it).

Counterbias

This is an entertaining and energetically read history. It is well-recorded and the reader’s voice is easy to understand (though he would have been wise to forgo the occasional attempt at a British accent). It was written in reaction to the (not just) perceived liberal bias of many American history texts. On the theory that two wrongs make a right, this book offers a pro-Christian, pro-free market bias. It’s pretty sketchy - a history can’t be both short and comprehensive - and not elegantly written, but still fun.

What You Never Knew...

Informative for the newbie to American history, but not overly simplified. Narrator changes tone when reading a quote. He almost seems to be doing an "impression" of the speaker. Great listen again and again.

Worth your time! American History as it should be taught!

American history for highschoolers and beyond any age wanting the fundamental basics of American history; clearly showing both sides of matters when needed. Long yet so worth your time! Great narrator too.

American History as it should be taught!

Better Than high School

This book took me back to my high school days when I took American History. This was deeper, though. I enjoyed the information and found it difficult to pause my listening. Yes, Patrick Lawler was probably not the best choice of narrator, and I have complained about him before to the Brilliance people, not Blackstone. I think Grover Gardner probably would've been better for this book. Narrator's voice aside, Patrick does make this interesting enough for me to keep listening. This is a good book. Don't let the narration hold you back from listening to a superior historical book.

Great historical survey, performance lacking

This is a great succinct narrative of American history, going into depth on events and individuals when appropriate. The author mixes historical fact with broader interpretive analysis, drawing out the inspirations and motives for different parties and major figures. The author frequently notes points of historical contention (at some points specifically addressing Zinn's American history book), and usually provides arguments for his statements. (Although there is some truth to the claim these are not always deeply proven... but that would put the length and scope of this book far beyond what it's meant to be; a sweeping factually accurate historical narrative mixed with interpretive guidance)

My main point in writing this review is to ask more from audiobook production. The reader's voice is great, very easy on the ears, with appropriate emphases. However it's embarrassing how many words have been mispronounced... especially in a story with so much Spanish and French history, it's unacceptable to not do a basic search for common pronunciations. This small preparation would have made a good audiobook *great*

Narration

I cannot rate on the full book, I am still listening to it. I do want to comment on the narration. For the people who think the narration on this book is bad, you haven't heard bad. Try listening to "Wealth of Nations".

The narration is "ok" in comparison to "Wealth of Nations".