Customer Reviews

The Real American Dream: A Meditation on Hope

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

By the authors admission and intention this is not an exhaustive study of our self-evident cultural illness and spiritual "neediness". However it provides useful signposts from which to read further. As someone who does not count himself among intellectuals I found it very readable and enjoyable. I particularly appreciated his exploration of Lincoln's will to repair and further build on the foundation of our nations founders - in particular Jefferson.

This book inspires me to ask the author to explore more in a future lecture series - to discuss the magnitude and meaning of volunteerism against his backdrop - and of the potential of Internet communities (naive hope or a positive sign?). As we approach the millenium and find ourselves awash in less thoughtful and more fearful views his lectures are a useful reassurance that in this young country there have always been far reaching uncertainties - always been a sense of spiritual incompleteness - and always been a hunger for remedy. In fact, isn't the hunger the solution rather than a problem to solve? The author speaks for the immediate importance of national and global solutions rather than personal and local solutions but I suspect that thriving in the coming age requires even further (albeit frustrating) introspection among peoples and local communities (and the consequent damage that will likely occur as we neglect one another)before we are ready to "will" this new paradigm to emerge. But he leaves us with the confidence it will emerge... with new promise and its own peculiar new neediness.

One negative: As in a live lecture... In the final 20 pages I felt it racing to conclusion and wondered if time constraints in the lecture or some mischevious editor were responsible or if Professor Delbanco was actually ready to conclude.

***Read It***

Anyone wondering what makes this country tick will find a fascinating thesis contained in just 100 readable pages. Obviously the scholarship is deep and thorough, but the thinking is fresh and applicable. (Did you ever wonder why the word 'academic' means 'useless'? This book is just the opposite.) At the end, when Professor Delbanco gets to the present day,though, he seems to run out of steam, and loses some of his clarity. He just kind of ends the book without really drawing the powerful conclusion he's leading to -- but a thought-provoking and important book nonetheless.