The American Patriot’s Almanac Book Review
As I read this book, all I could think was “what a terrific idea!” William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb have produced a marvelous work. Their introductory words capture the book’s charm, and this quote said it all for me: “Every American has a claim on the contents of this book. Many of us don’t have ancestors who were in this country when it was founded, but we’re all heirs to that founding, even the most recent arrivals. That’s one of the great things about the United States.”
The book is organized like a 365-day devotional journal – but instead of focusing on the Creator, this journal’s target is to illuminate the heroes, patriots, inventors, and everyday people who made the United States great. It isn’t sappy or pretentious. Each day’s nugget effectively captures the excitement and wonder of the event, trial, or personal achievement.
My favorite day so far was January 6th, “Samuel Morse Starts a Communication Revolution.” Those of us who are fans of all forms of communication will appreciate this quote captured on that day’s entry: “On May 24, 1844, an amazed crowd in the Supreme Court chambers in Washington, D.C., watched Samuel Morse demonstrate his telegraph by sending a message over a wire to Baltimore, 35 miles away. In Morse code, he tapped out a quote from the Bible: What hath God wrought! Soon telegraph lines linked countries and continents, and the world entered the age of modern communication.”
The authors did not disappoint with the September 11th entry either. They paid proper respect to the events of that day in 2001, and mentioned Todd Beamer’s famous “Let’s Roll!”
The bottom of each page has an “American History Parade,” section, where four or five facts unique to the United States’ history are captured. On the September 11th entry for that section, I learned that on September 11, 1941, a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Pentagon took place. Fascinating.
I am using this book as a way to teach our children about our country’s rich (and often rooted-in-Christianity) heritage. It is a great companion piece to our daily devotional Bible reading.
