Spirited Americans: A Commentary on America's Optimists-From the Puritans to the Cybr-Century

Jeffcoat does a a great job of leading us through a brief lesson on American History and how it was influenced by the resident optimists over the last 250 years. Sprited Americans is a good reminder of the values that have made this country great.At points the book drags a little and there are a few blantantly distracting typographical errors. But overall this is a very good book written from a uniquely upbeat perspective.If one enjoyes American History or likes to be reminded of the benefits of a positive perspective then this book is well worth the time and money.

I I found Jeff Jeffcoat's book thoroughly inspiring. Yes, it is a short history of America, but it is much more. It gives credit where credit is due: To those remarkably articulate and talented leaders who have shaped our deatiny ... and our ideals. Our Nation is the lengthened shadow of these extrordinary human beings.The author makes it clear that we've elected far too few giants in the past four decades. Sadly, I fear, we've gotten the leaders we deserve. But I completed the book hopeful that we will do better, in part because books like this one--in addition to being a refresher course in history that every citizen should know--remind us of what lie, now latently, in the American spirit.

From the beginning to the end, this book is intended to serve as a morale booster for the supposedly disillusioned reader. Jeffcoat does a good job in distilling the positive qualities of our forefathers, and successfully reinforces the current of optimism that is truly unique to the American experience. Being half-European myself, I am often confronted with the pessimism that persist the old continent, and I'm always grateful that at least there is one place on earth where they never tell you that you can't. Although most of the examples he uses are of presidents, he is also careful to consider general social movements like manifest destiny, civil rights, and the current information revolution. What Jeffcoat intends to be the most important point for readers to understand is freedom's dependence on moral virtue. A free and prosperous society cannot be sustained without the maintaining of moral discipline. Thus he indicts the Clinton administration longer than necessary. He ends with a very hopeful message, one that rings closely with "compassionate conservatism". I did not give this book the full five stars for the fact that the editing was kind of poor. I spoted an unusual amount of typos, and much of Jeffcoats writing is redundant, repeating phrases a little excessively (count the number of times he uses the phrase "national malaise"). One can tell that this book was written a tad too swiftly. Otherwise, a great read.

This is American History from a perspective too often missing in today's classrooms. Few readers will agree with all his insights about Jefferson, Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, Reagan, Clinton, et al. But it would be hard for thoughtful observers to disagree with his assessment of the challenge of our new millennium; ie. our "abandonment of the Protestant ethic and the advent of" hedonism has left capitalism "with no moral or transcendental ethic." Religion had been "the most civilizing influence in Western society, in effect the conscience of the new society. . . . It had imposed moral norms and restraints and a framework for public policy, and it laid the basis for traditional American optimism." Too many modern Americans feel themselves to be "metaphysical orphans in a hostile universe." We can never recapture the optimism of our forefathers until we somehow recapture the "quintessential American" values: "a moralism ranging from religiosity to equal rights, an abiding regard for integrity, and a commanding respect for hard work, patriotism, ambition, family and self-fulfillment." Jeffcoat sees some signs of a "New Awakening" fueled by "revulsion over the corruption of contemporary society. It is a rebellion against preoccupation with material acquisition and sexual debauchery, gluttony, against financial greed . . . and all other forms of self indulgence that titillate the senses and destroy the soul." I hope he is correct in his assessment. In any case, I wish his book could be required reading in history classrooms.

This new approach to American history is directed to general leisure readers and traces the optimistic spirit of Americans throughout the decades from early to modern times. Chapters survey psychological atmosphere, economics and social condition with an eye to revealing the presence and nature of this optimist spirit which has so fueled the nation's development.