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5.0 out of 5 stars
An important read!, June 15, 2009
This review is from: The Soul of America: Essays on the 4th of July (Paperback)
The book drives at what it means to be an American from multiple perspectives. The essence is a set of beliefs, but people understand those beliefs in different ways. It is these different and sometimes contested understandings that, at times, convey the impression that we Americans are polarized.
Gilligan points out that the Declaration of Independence was exactly that, a declaration of independence. And at that point the 13 Colonies became 13 independent states united in their common goal of obtaining independence from Great Britain. The ideals expressed in the Declaration were the philosophical, political, and moral concepts that provided a foundation upon which the Founding Fathers laid out the rationale for dissolving the political bands that had connected them to the mother country.
America may have been born 4 July 1776, but it was an infant without any swaddling clothes. There was much growing to do and Gilligan describes that maturing process following Lincoln's understanding of the Declaration as "an abstract truth applicable to all men and all times." He does this in 20 brief, yet very concise and precise chapters that makes American history not just informative, but interesting and exciting.
If you love America and want to know more about the nation's founding, you will want to read this book.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
John Gilligan's Book Is Required Reading For Everyone Who Cares About America's Future, June 15, 2009
This review is from: The Soul of America: Essays on the 4th of July (Paperback)
John Gilligan has given us a book for the ages. This work is a compilation of essays he authored over several decades that were published in his local newspaper the Peoria Journal Star. The essays are reader-friendly, packed with historical facts and insights, and written by someone who clearly has great love for his country. The essays progress in three sections from the founding of our country, to our current cultural and political problems, to what it means to be a patriot in our country today. Gilligan is concerned that the American people have lost sight of the beliefs and principles that animate our Declaration of Independence. He discusses civic virtue and the common good. He notes that America is the first people in history to form a nation from a diversity of racial, ethnic, and religious groups under the motto, "E Pluribus Unum," unity in diversity, and with the underlying fundamental belief that "all men are created equal." But can this nation so conceived endure? In the second section of his book, Gilligan maps out the philosophical, cultural, and political changes that challenge America's survival: cultural relativism, spiritual cynicism, political apathy, self-indulgence, personal violence, racial and ethnic hatreds, and a general blurring of the distinction between right and wrong. He questions whether there is any longer a unity in the diversity and wonders whether we, as a country, have veered so far from our founders' lofty and noble precepts that we have passed the point of no return. He rejects this notion, however, and in the last section of his book Gilligan discusses what it means to be "patriotic" in today's society. He writes about the "American project," and argues that if America's problems are to be solved, the heavy lifting must start in the local communities. Each citizen must take responsibility for his or her actions if America is to thrive and continue to fulfill the goals and dreams of her founders. This is a wonderful little book that encourages us to reflect on the essence of America, the "great experiment" all of us are blessed to be a part of, and what we might do to keep America great. It is required reading for everyone who cares about the soul of America.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Inspiration, April 26, 2009
This review is from: The Soul of America: Essays on the 4th of July (Paperback)
These essays are the essence of what America was, is and will continue to be. There is no doubt that the author causes us to pause to reflect on the responsibilty of all of us working together as a moral nation that will truly "shall not perish from the earth."
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