The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels

by Meacham, Jon
ISBN: 9780399589829
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Overview

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham helps us understand the present moment in American politics and life by looking back at critical times in our history when hope overcame division and fear.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR - The Christian Science Monitor - Southern Living

Our current climate of partisan fury is not new, and in The Soul of America Meacham shows us how what Abraham Lincoln called the "better angels of our nature" have repeatedly won the day. Painting surprising portraits of Lincoln and other presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and Lyndon B. Johnson, and illuminating the courage of such influential citizen activists as Martin Luther King, Jr., early suffragettes Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt, civil rights pioneers Rosa Parks and John Lewis, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and Army-McCarthy hearings lawyer Joseph N. Welch, Meacham brings vividly to life turning points in American history. He writes about the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the birth of the Lost Cause; the backlash against immigrants in the First World War and the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s; the fight for women's rights; the demagoguery of Huey Long and Father Coughlin and the isolationist work of America First in the years before World War II; the anti-Communist witch-hunts led by Senator Joseph McCarthy; and Lyndon Johnson's crusade against Jim Crow. Each of these dramatic hours in our national life have been shaped by the contest to lead the country to look forward rather than back, to assert hope over fear--a struggle that continues even now.

While the American story has not always--or even often--been heroic, we have been sustained by a belief in progress even in the gloomiest of times. In this inspiring book, Meacham reassures us, "The good news is that we have come through such darkness before"--as, time and again, Lincoln's better angels have found a way to prevail.

Praise for The Soul of America

"Brilliant, fascinating, timely . . . With compelling narratives of past eras of strife and disenchantment, Meacham offers wisdom for our own time."--Walter Isaacson

"Gripping and inspiring, The Soul of America is Jon Meacham's declaration of his faith in America."--Newsday

"Meacham gives readers a long-term perspective on American history and a reason to believe the soul of America is ultimately one of kindness and caring, not rancor and paranoia."--USA Today

  • Format: TradePaperback
  • Author: Meacham, Jon
  • ISBN: 9780399589829
  • Condition: Used
  • Dimensions: 9.10 x 1.50
  • Number Of Pages: 416
  • Publication Year: 2019

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  • Relative for Today's Political climate

    Kathy I. - 5 years 10 months ago

    Still reading this book but I have to say I have learned so much about our governmental history and not is a dry way. This book is so relevant for our times and political climate. I recommend this for a book club as it has many interesting points to discuss.

  • Perfectly describes the content

    JoAleen A. - 6 years 4 months ago

    I have read other books by this author & have seen him as an MSNBC contributor. I love how he expresses things with an underlying sense of humor. If one loves history but find lots of the books to be dry & written like a dictionary this author is for you. He is a wonderful story teller which it makes the reading very enjoyable.

  • Should be required reading for 2020.

    HPB S. - 6 years 6 months ago

    I have read Meacham articles; heard interviews; but not read his books. Fascinating study with rich insights to what shaped each President. Clearly demonstrates current White House tragedy without rant. Reading history I am always interested in how it shaped life and how some leaders shaped history!