Seven Events That Made America America: And Proved That the Founding Fathers Were Right All Along

Arrived on time as described

The title is not claiming that these are the most important events in American history. But they are each very interesting because of the unforeseen ways history unfolded after they occurred. One of the requirements of being a compelling historian is getting the facts right, explaining them with compelling analysis, and telling the story with the page turning urgency of great story telling. Schweikart achieves all three in this fine book. What are the 7 events? 1) How Martin Van Buren created the party system in order to win power by protecting slavery in the South and winning power in the North and West by not BEING from the South, but having "Southern Values". Along with this came patronage and the cynical notion of buying votes with government largesse. Sound familiar? Yep. 2) The Supreme Court decision against the slave Dred Scott's emancipation was so bad that caused violence and bloodshed in the west, gave energy to the rise of the new abolitionist Republican Part, and increased the likelihood of war between the North and the South. 3) How people in America responded to the tragedy of the flood following a dam failure in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Notice that it was the private sector response that fixed things quickly and ably. Compare that to the helpless dependence on the Feds for Katrina. 4) President Eisenhower had a heart attack during his second term in office which led to his program of "healthy living", which spread out into society and into government policy. Never mind that much of the advice has been dead wrong and overturned by later evidence. Never mind that there is no Constitutional power for a Nanny State to decide what Americans should or must eat and not eat. Just look at Bloomberg in New York City and listen to any recent speech by Michelle Obama and you know that Nanny State is not only getting stronger, it is moving from being a nag to enforcing with the power of law. Bad news for freedom and personal responsibility, folks. 5) I love Schweikart's tour of how rock and roll undermined the power of the Soviet Empire and its totalitarian control over people's lives. Well, it was Rock and Roll and fax machines, too. But this is about Rock and Roll, so let's party and have some fun. 6) Ronald Regan was a great president, but he made some serious mistakes. And the one that we are still paying for is his pull out of Lebanon after more than a hundred Marines were killed by a truck bomb. You can debate whether we should have been there or how the marines should have been better deployed, but the reality is that by pulling out, in the eyes of the Muslim fundamentalists that became Al Queda and similar organizations, we shamed ourselves. We made ourselves look week and emboldened them. You want to talk about recruiting terrorists that move and Bill Clinton's running from Somalia encouraged the delusions of Jihadists and Islamic Terrorists everywhere that they could conquer the West and destroy a weak a

I received this book about noon and stayed up until I finished it; it is really a superb work. In it we see how the citizens wanted government to stay out of their business,they know how to work together and get it done without interference. In light of the current happenings in our government, this book is right on target.

We must be reminded of how this country of freedom came about and what the essential foundation is for truly successful freedom. This book does this very well, displaying for us what must be done if we have any hope of maintaining that freedom. Delivery was also impressive: the book arrived well-packaged and earlier than promised.

Although one could argue with the author's choice of events in this volume, I found the selection very interesting if somewhat different than usual. After all, Dr. Schweikart does not contend these are the only events that shaped America, only that these should be considered important and worthy of examination. The events are: 1. Martin van Buren's creation of the Democratic Party and the spoils system leading to big government, 2. Chief Justive Taney's Dred Scott decision leading to a panic and a civil war, 3. The Johnston Flood as an example of how private enterprise ALWAYS handles a crisis better than the Federal Government, 4. Ike's heart attack gives birth to the food and health police, 5. Rock music spells doom for communism (at least temporarily), 6. Reagan learns that sending in "peacekeepers" is a fatal exercise in futility (but forgotten by Clinton and Bush), 7. Obama's charismatic speeches thrill the country, but plaster over inexperience and a lack of leadership with words, and the leftist media bias becomes a propaganda machine that would put Goebbels to shame. Each of the first six underscores American exceptionalism and provides a counterweight to the liberal/progressive spin taught daily in American schools and universities. Then the comparison is made with the seventh, and one comes to realize how out-of-control the Federal Government in the 21st century has truly become. This is a valuable work, and the review by the liberal/progressive Publishers Weekly shows how upset liberal/progressives can become when their propaganda is exposed through good scholarship. There is no "rabid anticollectivist sermonizing" (does the reviewer really have that much against pro-private enterprise writing), no "paranoid hyperbole" (my, my, such over-the-top hysterical writing), and no "obscure mutterings" (everything is right out there to read.) Conservatives will undoubtedly love this book, and socialists will probably hate it. But there is something for everyone -- more than that, there is much to learn here. This is American history at its best. Each event is examined closely, the facts presented, and the lessons to be learned and applied by us today are clearly and concisely presented. Absolutely recommended. Since this is a short book and extremely easy to read, it would also make a great present to high school kids who might want to expand their knowledge.

I have known and worked with Larry Schweikart for over ten years. Once again I am impressed by his ability to cut to the chase by using micrcosm. The "7 Events" span several fields of American history, from the political (Jacksonian Demcocrats) to the socio-cultural (Rock and Roll music). They are connected in their reflection of essential American themes---democracy, individualism, anti-authoritarianism, and creativity, all of which spring from freedom. Schweikart has written much longer monographs and documented narratives. The expertise he gained from writing these books enables him to serve up seven pithy and fascinating (hi)stories. 'Seven Events That Shaped America' will make a nice addition to to the bookshelves of anyone seeking to expand their knowledge of the American past. Mike Allen