If You Can Keep It

The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty

By: Eric Metaxas

Narrated by: Eric Metaxas

Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

From the number-one New York Times best-selling author Eric Metaxas comes If You Can Keep It, a new book that is part history and part manifesto, steeped in a critical analysis of our founding fathers' original intentions for America. Two hundred and forty years after the Declaration of Independence, it examines how we as a nation are living up to our founders' lofty vision for liberty and justice.

If You Can Keep It is at once a thrilling review of America's uniqueness, and a sobering reminder that America's greatness cannot continue unless we truly understand what our founding fathers meant for us to be. The book includes a stirring call-to-action for every American to understand the ideals behind the "noble experiment in ordered liberty" that is America. It also paints a vivid picture of the tremendous fragility of that experiment and explains why that fragility has been dangerously forgotten - and in doing so it lays out our own responsibility to live those ideals and carry on those freedoms.

Metaxas believes America is not a nation bounded by ethnic identity or geography, but rather by a radical and unprecedented idea, based upon liberty and freedom. It's time to reconnect to that idea before America loses the very foundation for what made it exceptional in the first place.

©2016 Eric Metaxas (P)2016 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Profound and thoroughly entertaining ... This book has made me think in ways that I haven’t in years. Metaxas is a major writer. Not to be missed." (Dick Cavett)

"If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty - along with such essentials as Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington and The 5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen - must be front and center on every reading list." (The Washington Times)

"Everyone in every country, at every socioeconomic level, of every religious and secular persuasion, of every political bent, should read it.... It’s the book you must read this year." (Martha Rogers, PhD, coauthor of Extreme Trust: Honesty as a Competitive Advantage)

Exceptional book

I truly enjoyed all the history and stories in this book. It should be read by every American! There is no way for our country to recover without first understanding how it was founded and embracing it. We have lost so much as a society.

A must read for America!!!

I loved it! I am anxious to listen again. My favorite chapter is six, where the author is talking about the integrity and ability to be a leader. Does having integrity make a better leader if they are not qualified, or having the ability to lead, but no integrity? I believe both are necessary.

A book every American that loves America should read.

We in America today have lost the very concepts that were essential for our system of government to work and thrive. Eric has written an elegant wake up call to our contemporary culture, saying that if we don't understand what it takes for the United States to work we will forever lose her and be Americans in name only.

I would recommend this book to all patriots who still love our country and have not given up on her.

Best possible read on July 4th.

Very compelling. Superbly well written. This filled a hideous hole in the public school education I received in the 60's and 70's in California. We must never forget what really makes America great and why it is so vitally important that it remain so.

Timely word for America

The timely book that every American should be reading right now. Thank you Eric for spending the time to put this beautiful book together. I wish I would have learned even half of these stories in my many years of education. I'll be sharing this with everyone I know.

Not what I was expecting, but much better

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting. Maybe political commentary? What I actually got was more exciting and thought-provoking than imaginable. It was, from my perspective, a history of Christianity and Judeo-Christian values in America. This book ticked all the boxes for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it to anyone. I’m looking forward to reading/listening to more books by Eric Metaxas.

A very timely book that every American should read.

I myself very much enjoyed reading this book and I was enlightened by it. The extensive discussion on the subjects of liberty and self governance were eye opening. I was especially challenged to study up on the history of America and what makes her great.

Don’t let other reviews fool you

This is simply a Christian author telling other Christians to pat themselves on the back for being the only reason that America exists and has been successful.

Atheist loved it.

This is a great book on freedom. I think Eric attributes a little too much of freedom with religion and he draws most of his conclusions to his faith but that wasn’t a huge problem to me. The main point was he was an advocate through and through for the first amendment. To include freedom OF religion and freedom FROM religion. If only every man could see it like that, how it was intended, how it’s supposed to be. Too many atheists would ban religion in a heartbeat and too many Christians would force Christianity upon their nation in an instant. Thank you Mr. Metaxas, for a wonderful and refreshing look at our history and why we need to preserve it and stay vigilant tomorrow and the day after next

The "Why" of America that has been forgotten

Soon after the Constitution was completed, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin what kind of government we would have. His answer, "A, Republic, if you can keep it," is the center piece of this book. Eric Metaxas vividly dives into history to explore the meaning of these words. He articulately and poetically reveals the deep meaning and many characters and events of American history, stories that have been neglected and forgotten. He artfully reveals the principles that once made us "One Nation, Indivisble."
Metaxas' respectful, informative, and warm approach will open your eyes and tug at your heart no matter your political persuasion.