Danny J. (DanJohnson) reviewed Seven Events That Made America America: And Proved That the Founding Fathers Were Right All Along on + 63 more book reviews
Well researched, well written, interesting and thought provoking.
Ronald A. (rarendt) reviewed Seven Events That Made America America: And Proved That the Founding Fathers Were Right All Along on + 107 more book reviews
I have this book on cd, and listened to it while on a recent road trip; I'm not posting it on PBS because it contained so much interesting information I was not aware of that I want to keep it for a reference. While I thought at first that the reader sounded a little preachy, I got so engrossed in what he was reading that soon his voice mattered not at all. The author takes 7 disparate and not very notorious events in American history and demonstrates how each had far-reaching and unintended consequences.
For example, Ike's non-fatal heart attack in 1959 led to an amazing eruption of government health consciousness which persists to the present day. Before 1959 hardly anyone had heard of cholesterol, and our government certainly had little or no interest in the cholesterol levels of the general population. Today the "mommy state" has set itself up to dictate so many things about our diets and lifestyles. For example, Mayor Bloombereg's crusade to regulate the size of soft drink cups in NYC. It's not too much of a stretch to see where such meddling has led to the "global warming" panic - which activists don't want to remember was preceded in the 70's by the "global ice age" panic.
The author includes a tremendous amount of background information. One of his events is the rock and roll craze which he claims had a lot to do with the decline of communism and the collapse of the Soviet Union. While he's making this point, he puts out a very interesting capsule history of rock and roll. I learned a lot there; maybe information I'll never need or think of again, but is was very interesting even though my taste runs to classical music, not rock and roll.
The author has a very conservative bent, and spends a lot of time documenting government overreach, and positing the theory that government intervention usually makes things worse and/or delays events which would have happened anyway without Uncle Sam's helping hand. One of the events he explores is the Johnstown PA Flood, and a second deadly flood which occurred several years later in Dayton OH, both of which were handled very expeditiously by self-help and the efforts of volunteers and local businesses - He contrasts these with the New Orleans Katrina debacle which demonstrated the inefficiencies of government disaster relief at all levels - federal, state and local.
If you're a big government person (I'm not) you probably won't like this book; read it anyway - you just might learn something...
For example, Ike's non-fatal heart attack in 1959 led to an amazing eruption of government health consciousness which persists to the present day. Before 1959 hardly anyone had heard of cholesterol, and our government certainly had little or no interest in the cholesterol levels of the general population. Today the "mommy state" has set itself up to dictate so many things about our diets and lifestyles. For example, Mayor Bloombereg's crusade to regulate the size of soft drink cups in NYC. It's not too much of a stretch to see where such meddling has led to the "global warming" panic - which activists don't want to remember was preceded in the 70's by the "global ice age" panic.
The author includes a tremendous amount of background information. One of his events is the rock and roll craze which he claims had a lot to do with the decline of communism and the collapse of the Soviet Union. While he's making this point, he puts out a very interesting capsule history of rock and roll. I learned a lot there; maybe information I'll never need or think of again, but is was very interesting even though my taste runs to classical music, not rock and roll.
The author has a very conservative bent, and spends a lot of time documenting government overreach, and positing the theory that government intervention usually makes things worse and/or delays events which would have happened anyway without Uncle Sam's helping hand. One of the events he explores is the Johnstown PA Flood, and a second deadly flood which occurred several years later in Dayton OH, both of which were handled very expeditiously by self-help and the efforts of volunteers and local businesses - He contrasts these with the New Orleans Katrina debacle which demonstrated the inefficiencies of government disaster relief at all levels - federal, state and local.
If you're a big government person (I'm not) you probably won't like this book; read it anyway - you just might learn something...
