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America: The Last Best Hope (Volume III): From the Collapse of Communism to the Rise of Radical Islam

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I was eager to read the latest book I received to review for my blog. A Century Turns: New Hopes, New Fears by William Bennett is a fair, informative, and sometimes encouraging look at the political and global events of the years 1998-2008. This book was a far departure from my usual literary palette. Aside from a couple of non-fiction writers, most of my reading time is spent on books about theology, church work, and leadership. However, I have long been an admirer of Bill Bennett and both his writings as well as his political stances. Bennett is a strong conservative and has been heavily aligned with Republican leaders and causes for many years. However, his political ties have never hindered him from both offering strong opinions as well as voicing strong opposition to policies he disagrees with. This has made him a well-respected figure in Washington on both sides of the aisle.

A Century Turns is a follow-up to Bennett's previous works, America: The Last Best Hope volumes 1 and 2. I have not read those books. Bennett explains that after their publication and embrace by many, he was encouraged to write a book about the events leading up to the turn of the century. I am a product of most of the events that he writes about. In 1998, I was a 20-year old, not well-informed, college student who was being asked to vote in his first significant presidential election. The list of events over the last 20 years described by Bennett are staggering: the fall of communism, the quick war to free Kuwait from Iraq, the bombing of the World Trade Center, the election of two liberal presidents - Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, the election of a father and a son - George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, 9/11, the war in Afghanistan, the controversy of the 2000 presidential election, "hanging chads", the war and fall of Iraq, the arrest and execution of Saddam Hussein. These events, and dozens more, have all occurred and radically shaped our world in the last 20 years.

Bill Bennett does an excellent job of walking through the events that have occurred over this 20-year time span and their political implications. While not backing away from his strong conservatism, he does a fair job of giving the good and the bad of both the Democratic and Republican parties. He is not afraid to open up the issues and reveal much of what the "mainstream media" has under or mis-reported over the last few years. In his asterisk notes he usually adds his commentary on how he advised a certain president or how he debated liberals on television about these events. Bennett primary purpose is not to get the reader to agree with him politically. His primary purpose is to show how America has long been a light and beacon of freedom and how this has been shown or hidden in the last 20 years. Bennett is first and foremost an American and a patriot. He has a huge grasp on American history and the constitution.

If you like history, especially the kind that hasn't been revised by today's liberal press, this is a great book. If you are like me, you will read this and find yourself reminiscing as you think about where you were when these moments were taking place. I didn't realize at the time how significant the election of a charming Southern Governor with a checkered moral past would be at the time. It didn't seem imaginable after Bush's soaring popularity in the post 9/11 events would diminish and have him leave office as one of the most unpopular presidents (according to so-called "approval ratings" and because of the heavily biased attacks of the media). It was unthinkable when Jesse Jackson ran for president in 1998 that 20 years later, a man with African-American background would be elected and sworn in. Reading through the pages of A Century Turns is a gentle reminder that while history is prologue, the making of it occurs in everyday events that are never insignificant.

This book was graciously provided for review by Thomas Nelson books as part of their [...] program.

The past 20 years of America's history have been filled with crises and successes, with hope and fears. We now stand on the edge of so much that is possible -- possibly good, possibly bad. But in the words of the cliche "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it", it's important for all Americans to know where we've been, how we got there and what we can do differently or better.

Bennett's book does this for us -- he elucidates the past 20 years of our history ... the political machinations, the international disruptions and eruptions, the economic issues ... and helps the reader understand not just what happened but a bit of the background that explains WHY these things happened. As a long-time Washington "insider", Bennett is uniquely positioned to relate this history; as a consummate story-teller, Bennett's book is a great read!

The book will bring the reader from Mr. Bush, Sr's one-term presidency right up to the eve of Mr. Obama's presidency -- detailing along the way all the major events that impacted the United States for good or bad. Personal comments (from a very conservative view) are scattered throughout the text which reads fairly even-handed on the good, the bad and the ugly of the 20 years.

I'd recommend this book for highschool American History students and every American adult that would like to understand where we were and how we can improve where we're going.

William Bennett takes a look at the past 20 years of history form 1988-2008. He contends that this is a vital part of American history and one that saw some of the greatest changes in our history. The sub title, new hopes and new fears, captures that sentiment. While some would not consider this a complete or exhaustive history of the past 20 years, Bennett captures the events that most greatly affected the U. S. From the end of the Reagan era, the fall of Bush I, the Clinton years, Rodney King, even OJ and the election of Barack Obama, Bennett looks at the ins and outs of these significant historical events. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, even more than I first thought. It was during these years that I came of age. I remember where I was when some of the events were detailed. Bennett's writing style is more than just sharing information and is more of storytelling. Of course, Bennett found himself in the middle of some of these historical events as well. While he has a tendency to lean to the right, Bennett shoots the history pretty much down the middle. I appreciated that he did not editorialize in the main text and left that mostly for the foot notes. This could almost read as Bennett's memoirs. After reading this work, I am intrigued to read his previous two works on American history as well. A very well written book and quick read. I highly recommend it.

The teaching of American History is worse than neglected in our schools and even our universities. Students are convinced that history is boring and even irrelevant to their lives and schools pretend to accommodate this need for relevancy by providing misleading pabulum and calling it history. It would be sad if it weren't so damaging to our nation and its people. The truth is that each of us needs a strong grounding in the history of our nation, its major events, important documents, and founding culture. Obviously, someone with a political agenda that wanted to overthrow that founding and replace it with a new, say, progressive culture would be better off if our schools taught our founding as unimportant, our Constitution as out of date, and taught a collectivist culture as superior to the ideas of individual liberty and responsibility that built this great country. You see the noxious fruit of this approach to history education everywhere in our schools for the past many decades.

Bill Bennett is working hard to reinvigorate the teaching of a sound, fair, but positive history of America. He wants people to feel full of hope and optimism about the great promise America has been and remains for the world. The beacon of Liberty can still shine bright if our citizens rekindle their desire for it.

This is the third volume of Bennett's history of America. You can get the first two either individually or in a two volume set that covers America from the Age of Discovery through the Reagan Administration. America: The Last Best Hope Volumes I & II Box Set I recommend this history highly. There are also other patriotic histories that do a very good job. The American Patriot's Almanac: Daily Readings on America Just stay away from the cynical approaches that see America as the source of all evil, pain, and misery in the world. Not only are those kinds of books lies, they are depressing to read, and will affect you, your students, and your family very negatively. After reading Bennett's books you will know why millions risked everything to come here, how America became the greatest nation on Earth, and why we must hold tightly to our founding culture and our Constitution.

This volume covers the election of George H.W. Bush, the two Clinton administrations, and the two George W. Bush administrations, and ends with the election of Barack Obama. Bennett is even handed in all he discusses, but not in the sense that he tries to have it both ways. He has a point of view, but is unwilling to be partisan. He is clear that Bush 41 broke his promises on taxes (even if he is a bit negligent in explaining that Congress turned on Bush and did not use the new tax revenues to bring the budget in balance. Instead, they spend something like $1.80 for every $1.00 in new tax revenues). Bennett is clear about Clinton's talents and promise, but also about how his personal foibles damaged his Presidency and the country. He is clear where he thinks our leaders (of all sides) made mistakes, where their thinking was wrong, and when they pandered for their own gain or agenda over their duty to America.

While Bennett is terrific in covering the political history and provides terrific insights from his personal knowledge and conversations with key players, he is also superior on bringing issues with the popular culture into focus and how they both reflect and influence our political culture. Of course, nothing is more important in this book that the War on Terror and especially 9/11. Here, the book is passionate and recounts the events so clearly, but not pathetically, that all the pain from that period is evoked again and I was strongly moved by how Bennett told the horrors of those days. The book has two sections of terrific color pictures that help us remember or see the images of the events covered in this book.

As I think about educating young people, I would probably want them to start with this book in the trilogy and then work backwards. Why? Because a teenager would see the events of his or her life covered in this book including the decade previous to their being born. For them, this book is the history of America and their life. Once they have that context clear in their minds, they can reach back to the lives of their parents and grandparents in the previous volume. Then, with that in mind, they can reach into the origins of our nation, its colonization, the Revolution, the Founding, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Westward Expansion, and World War I.

This is a terrific book and I think everyone should read it, use it to teach their children, and give it as a gift to anyone who could use an optimistic grounding in America.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

A Century Turns - New Hope, New Fears is a book about recent American history, covering the time period from 1988 to 2008. It covers the events from the selection of George H. W. Bush as a presidential candidate to the election of Barak Obama.

The general picture William Bennett is painting is the drastic turns that America has taken in the past two decades and how those changes have affected the world. He knows many of the people in the book and is able to give readers a view that we normally would never see.

Bennett chronicles the successes and failures of our nation's leaders in a way that remains interesting, even though the events are recent history and may still be fresh in our minds. Bennett shows that, in spite of our many challenges and failures, there is still hope for the American dream and the Christian value system.

This is a well-written book that builds on the concepts of his last two books: America, the Last Best Hope volumes 1 and 2. It is very interesting and easy to read. It is an enlightening journey as he shows how politics has affected the American home and family.

Bennett's conservative slant is obvious, but he does not give conservatives a free pass or condemn all liberal's actions. He is very fair and firm.

I highly recommend every work of William J. Bennett, including this one. Five out of Five stars!



Disclosure of Material Connection: I'd like to thank Thomas Nelson Publishers for providing me this Book free as part of their (...) book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

I got this book from booksneeze.com to review. It is not the type of book that I normally would choose to read. That being said, I was pleasently surprised at how easy this book was to read. Mr. Bennett made the subject matter engaging and easily remembered.
I felt that Mr. Bennett kept the book fairly balanced and unbiased. I was worried that this would be another one of those bashing the other guy type books and didn't find that to be the case.
I think this would be a great read for someone that likes non-fiction books. It would also be a great source for those that feel they need to brush up on the events of the recent past.

Occasionally, I receive a book that I know I'll share with the whole family and this is one of those. I enjoy just about anything Bill Bennett manages to put into print so reminiscing the last twenty years from his perspective reminds me of so much I want to share with my children about the years in which I became a "grown up".

I appreciate the insight he shares about events beginning with George H. W. Bush becoming President of our country and ending with the election of our current President. This book, however, is not centered only on political history. It covers events throughout that time period that shaped our country, events like the Pan Am bombing, the fight against the drug culture, race conflicts, the Branch Davidians, technological advancements, hurricane Katrina, and many other events of that time period. There is, of course, a massive amount of information on politics and foreign relations, too though, including terrorist attacks, elections, and controversies that were linked to politicians of the time.

His book includes a wealth of bibliographic material to back up the accuracy of the events as told, but as he mentions early on one of the main sources is Bill Bennett, himself, as he was there. That is a perspective I have much appreciation for as he was a voice of reason and calm I remembered through many of the events he writes about.

First I want to thank BookSneeze.com for this book. The title sounded great thats why I got the book. The book starts off kind of slow in the beginning so it took me a little while to get into the book. But after I got over that initial hump the book gets really good. William looks back 20 years of history. He contends that this is a vital part of American history and one that saw some of the greatest changes in our history. The sub title, new hopes and new fears, captures that sentiment. While some would not consider this a complete or exhaustive history of the past 20 years, Bennett captures the events that most greatly affected the U. S. From the end of the Reagan era, the fall of Bush I, the Clinton years, Rodney King, even OJ and the election of Barack Obama, Bennett looks at the ins and outs of these significant historical events. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, even more than I first thought. It was during these years that I came of age. I remember where I was when some of the events were detailed. Bennett's writing style is more than just sharing information and is more of storytelling. Of course, Bennett found himself in the middle of some of these historical events as well. While he has a tendency to lean to the right, Bennett shoots the history pretty much down the middle. I appreciated that he did not editorialize in the main text and left that mostly for the foot notes. This could almost read as Bennett's memoirs. After reading this work, I am intrigued to read his previous two works on American history as well. A very well written book and quick read. I highly recommend it.

A Century Turns: New Hopes, New Fears

"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." This quote (George Santayana) came to mind as I read William Bennett's account of American political history from 1988 to 2008. Beginning with the G. H. W. Bush administration, Bennett gives a fascinating overview of major events for the past twenty years. He discloses that he is a conservative and that he has worked in Republican administrations. However, I think his experience as a historian and educator helped him to present the material in an objective manner. He presented many issues from the conservative viewpoint without denigrating opposing views.

I was middle-aged in 1988, and I remember wondering why President Bush did some of the things he did. Bennett explains some of those actions, and I'm glad that I now understand those actions. Progressing to the Clinton administration, Bennett covers everything from the attempt at health insurance reform through the impeachment proceedings in a matter-of-fact way. Keeping the Santayana quote in mind, I see parallels between what happened during Clinton administration and what's happening in 2010.

In Bennett's account of the G. W. Bush administration, he remembers the controversy of the 2000 election, giving some background that I had not heard before. From 9/11 to the Iraq surge, he delivers a masterful summary of the change in mood from unity and support for the president to divisiveness and opposition to the Iraq war.

I lived through these times and considered myself a follower of current events. However, I gained a unique perspective from Bennett. I recommend this book to history buffs and political junkies alike. In fact, I think it should be required reading in American history classes in high schools and colleges.



Disclosure of Material Connection: As a participant in the book review bloggers program, I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers. Reviewers are not required or encouraged to post a positive review. The opinions in this post are mine and mine alone. This disclosure required by the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255, "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

"A Century Turns: New Hopes, New Fears" is a wonderful piece of American history painted within the frame of someone who was in the room as events, discussions, policy fights and diplomatic decisions were made in the last decade of the twentieth century. William Bennett not only discusses the policy issues and societal shifts of the day, but he relays behind the scene commentary in such a way that the reader is drawn into the moment.

Bennett uses great skill in crafting the story of history with the personalities and the culture of the United States in the 1990's and the first decade of the twenty-first century. Events that shaped policy at the time are now viewed with the consequences, both positive and negative, in view. Decisions to support foreign leaders at one point in our history have at another point led to tragedy and terror. William Bennett portrays the rationale behind certain policies and explains the fights that took place as members of different parties, factions, and cultures dug in their heels.

"A Century Turns" is a must read for the generation that lived this history. Over the course of twenty years the culture, language, technology, allies and foes of the United States have ebbed and flowed as the rivers of history moved forward. Bennett captures the context behind the content. For any lover of history or culture, "A Century Turns" is a thrilling and captivating experience.