Rediscovering America

Ever wonder why everyone wants to immigrate to America? Rediscovering America answers that question, and it’s like no other history you have ever read. More than an account of people, dates, and events, this story is about the hidden hand of a purposeful historical development where the main actors are colorful characters, participating in an American drama of little known but remarkable events where overcoming incredible odds of failure is more unbelievable and engaging than fiction. And while each chapter is a stand-alone tale—some quite wild—about what is behind each of the American holidays, the page- and chapter-turning appeal of Rediscovering America is in the narratives that link the holiday stories together, revealing an account of progress and redemption in America covering over four hundred years—never before told in a concise and readable book.

What is an American? Our diversity makes us unique. It also makes us strong. But from Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin to Ronald Reagan and James Baldwin, those born and raised in the land of the free share some common traits. Who exemplifies and who betrays America's promise? The three controversial essays in REDISCOVERING AMERICA ("America and the Perfectibility of Man," "James Baldwin: Loving and Leaving America," and "The Pattern American") examine the character of the United States as expressed in the writings of Crevecoeur, Benjamin Franklin, James Baldwin and other significant American figures. A history lesson as sophisticated as it is succinct.

“Rediscovering America makes available in English for the first time a varied sampling of writings about the United States by Japanese observers from many different walks of life.” – Robert Tierney, author of Tropics of Savagery: The Culture of Japanese Empire in Comparative Frame “Rediscovering America is a splendid collection of Japanese writings on "the American century," covering the period from 1868 to 1989 (from the Meiji to the Showa eras in Japanese calendar). Many of the issues raised by the authors are still heard today,” – Akira Iriye, author of Across the Pacific: An Inner History of American-East Asian Relations

God only knows what possessed Bill Bryson, a reluctant adventurer if ever there was one, to undertake a gruelling hike along the world's longest continuous footpath—The Appalachian Trail. The 2,000-plus-mile trail winds through 14 states, stretching along the east coast of the United States, from Georgia to Maine. It snakes through some of the wildest and most spectacular landscapes in North America, as well as through some of its most poverty-stricken and primitive backwoods areas. With his offbeat sensibility, his eye for the absurd, and his laugh-out-loud sense of humour, Bryson recounts his confrontations with nature at its most uncompromising over his five-month journey. An instant classic, riotously funny, A Walk in the Woods will add a whole new audience to the legions of Bill Bryson fans.

Returning to the ideas of John Locke and the Founders themselves, Barbara A. McGraw examines the debate about the role of religion in American public life and unravels the confounded rhetoric on all sides. She reveals that no group has been standing on proper ground and that all sides have misused terminology (religion/secular), dichotomies (public/private), and concepts (separation of church and state) in ways that have little relevance to the original intentions of the Founders. She rediscovers a theology underlying the founding documents of the nation that is neither anyone's particular religion nor one requiring religion. Instead, it justifies freedom of conscience for all and provides a two-tiered public forum—a civic public forum and a conscientious public forum—for the debate itself and the actions that debate inspires. America's Sacred Ground—this theology and its public forum—determines the meaning of freedom and the ways in which Americans can pursue "the good": good government, good communities, good families, good relations between individuals, and good individuals from a plurality of perspectives. By exploring our past, McGraw answers the critical question, Who are we as a people and what do we stand for?

An Approach to Political Philosophy: Locke in Context brings together Professor Tully's most important and innovative statements on Locke in a systematic treatment of the latter's thought that is at once contextual and critical. Each essay has been rewritten and expanded for this volume, and each seeks to understand a theme of Locke's political philosophy by interpreting it in light of the complex contexts of early modern European political thought and practice. These historical studies are then used in a variety of ways to gain critical perspectives on the assumptions underlying current debates in political philosophy and the history of political thought. The themes treated include government, toleration, discipline, property, aboriginal rights, individualism, power, labour, self-ownership, community, progress, liberty, participation, and revolution.

America is in decline. What is the cause, and what must be done to re-establish our founding principles? Nothing in print today clearly answers these questions from a biblical standpoint. Until now. Mark Burrell's Rediscovering the American Covenant provides fresh light on biblical principles for civil government and the citizenship duty all Christians have in the communities in which they live. These principles are extracted empirically from the Bible, showing how they informed the actions of the founders in 1776, thus establishing our national covenant. The simple, yet critical blueprint they followed is described--the same blueprint needed today to restore America's founding principles. The author concludes with a call to action for Christians and the church, to rediscover the American covenant and fulfill the citizenship duty we have as Christians. A roadmap makes this content actionable. All the opposing arguments aimed to dimmish America are addressed, some in fresh ways. Given the breadth of the material, full 2-page illustrations are used to set the tone for each chapter. Additional illustrations draw the reader in and help connect concepts to the active citizenship duty Christians have. A 2-page theological monograph is also included, incorporating key governing principles. The aim of this book is to present a thorough biblical argument for: 1. Active citizenship as a vital part of the Christian faith (including sharing the Gospel). 2. How this duty informed the actions of the founders as they codified and declared our American national covenant. 3. Steps for Christians to re-engage politically, to restore their local community and America to a God honoring nation.

"A brilliant analysis of the current political crises we face at home and abroad and how we might extricate ourselves by returning to our Founding principles. All who value freedom and believe in the American Experiment should read this book." - Linda Chavez, Fox News analyst and Chairman, Center for Equal Opportunity What has happened to the American ideals of liberty and equality? Has America's image become tarnished at home and abroad? Does democracy itself merely trigger repression instead of fulfilling the promise of freedom? Can individual rights coexist with national security? In Rediscovering America, John Agresto urges a return to the founding principles of our republic in order to revive the great American experiment. Rejecting the simple slogans of both the left and the right, Agresto confronts the challenges that inequality and injustice pose to our ideals of democracy and freedom. From the burgeoning of new "rights" to the growth of entitlements, from clamor in the public square to ideological struggles in the halls of academia, Rediscovering America is a trenchant critique of our contemporary political culture. The art of American statecraft, Agresto argues, is both to free and to restrain, to turn individual liberty into a social good. Our task is to understand, respect, and transmit what the Founding Fathers hoped to accomplish, why they did what they did, and how they hoped to achieve it. Drawing on history, political theory, and current affairs, Rediscovering America is a searching examination of our country's crisis in self-understanding - and a ringing call to restore America's promise to its citizens and to the world. John Agresto, former president of St. John's College in Santa Fe and former Acting Chancellor, Provost, and Academic Dean at the American University of Iraq in Sulaimani, is the author of Mugged by Reality: The Liberation of Iraq and the Failure of Good Intentions and other books. "John Agresto cuts through the fog of present day debates to re-mind Americans that the way forward in the 21st century must be through a renewed commitment to the nation's founding ideals and institutions. This is a book that will inspire and inform every thoughtful American." - James Piereson, President, William E. Simon Foundation "An elegantly written and cogently argued account of how the recovery of America's first principles, rightly understood in the way the Founders themselves understood them, would go a long way toward alleviating the serious problems we face today.... This book should be required reading for all university students and concerned citizens." - Edward J. Erler, Senior Fellow, The Claremont Institute "If you want to understand why we should be patriots, and how to make America lovely and lovable once again, start with this pithy, accessible, instructive book." - Matthew Franck, Director, William E. and Carol G. Simon Center on Religion and the Constitution "Agresto guides the reader to understand that America stands, first and foremost, for the principle of equality, a principle he then admirably defends from contemporary critics on both the right and the left." - Ralph A. Rossum, Salvatori Professor of American Constitutionalism, Claremont McKenna College