Author | Michael Allen, Larry Schweikart |
---|---|
Language | English |
Subject | U.S. History |
Publisher | Sentinel HC |
Publication date | December 29, 2004 (Hardcover), February 27, 2007 (Paperback) |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
Pages | 944 |
ISBN | 1-59523-001-7 |
OCLC | 55105371 |
973 22 | |
LC Class | E178.1 .S3795 2004 |
A Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus's Great Discovery to the War on Terror is a 2004 book on American history by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen. Written from a conservative standpoint, it is a counterpoint to Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States and asserts that the United States is an "overwhelmingly positive" force for good in the world. Schweikart said that he wrote it with Allen because he could not find an American history textbook without "leftist bias". [1] [2]
Larry Schweikart recounted to Steve Bannon that the book had respectable sales for several years after publication, but rocketed up the best seller charts after being recommended by talk-show host Glenn Beck, hitting #1 on the New York Times and Amazon.com bestseller lists. [3]
In a review in the conservative magazine National Review , Matthew Spalding of The Heritage Foundation wrote that, "A Patriot's History rejects the economic determinism of Beard and Zinn, and others who 'wrongly assume that people were (and are) incapable of acting outside of self-interest.'" Spalding continued:
"Anything that has to do with patriotism has long been controversial in academic circles. The idea that the teaching of American history might actually foster patriotism is to some deeply problematic. The rejected assumption, which is the foundation of A Patriot's History, is that there are principles and purposes reflected in American history that make this imperfect country worthy of our affection, and that honest history should explain those principles and illustrate those purposes as the centerpiece of our nation's story." [4]
Reviewing the book in the journal The History Teacher , David Hoogland Noon was critical of it. According to Noon, the book's peculiar priorities – it "devotes a single paragraph to the Japanese internment while squandering an entire page with denunciations of liberal historians and their treatments of the subject" – as well as the omission of landmark works from its sources, suggest "ignorance of the basic parameters of actual historical scholarship". Moreover, according to Noon, "the authors make claims that are not even remotely endorsed by the footnoted sources". "Written for an audience of the previously converted," Noon concluded, "this book is hardly worth anyone else's time." [5]
Writing in the Claremont Review of Books , David J. Bobb praised the book as a fine teaching tool, stating that every page of the book is "full of statements that would make Zinn snarl" and that it "gives students an example of honest historical inquiry. [6]
Criticizing the book from a conservative perspective, Paul Gottfried in The American Conservative characterized A Patriot's History as an example of neoconservative historiography:
"Schweikart, a regular on Fox News, takes to task leftist historians who disparage America's past or glorify the expansion of public administration... Yet many of the views that this patriotic historian considers far leftist are actually those of the Old Right... [The] broad area of agreement about heroes and villains—and about how we reached the glorious present by overcoming the prejudices of the past—unites the liberal and patriotic versions of American history. This is the new consensus history, and it leaves little room for the Old Right's take on the past to get a fair hearing." [7]
In his review of the book in The Wall Street Journal , Brendan Miniter called a Patriot's History a "fluent account of America from the discovery of the Continent up to the present day", [8] and wrote that the book serves to "remind us what a few good individuals can do in just a few short centuries." [9]
John Coleman reviewing the book in the Institute for Humane Studies , praised it as "thorough and easy to read" and stated:
The packaging of the book would have benefited from editorial restraint in a few key areas, but overall, the work is a model of balance, and it stays true to the first principles outlined so clearly by the authors in the introduction defending, one might say, 'truth, justice, and the American way.' In addition, for every fault in A Patriot's History, there are a thousand pleasant surprises and heartening reminders that underneath it all America remains a country of ideas, ideals, and optimism and no amount of revisionism can take that legacy away. [10]
Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to a country or state. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one's homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, political, or historical aspects. It may encompass a set of concepts closely related to nationalism, mostly civic nationalism and sometimes cultural nationalism.
A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism.
Howard Zinn was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist intellectual and World War II veteran. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a political science professor at Boston University. Zinn wrote more than 20 books, including his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United States in 1980. In 2007, he published a version of it for younger readers, A Young People's History of the United States.
Harry Victor Jaffa was an American political philosopher, historian, columnist, and professor. He was a professor emeritus at Claremont McKenna College, Claremont Graduate University, and was a distinguished fellow of the Claremont Institute. Robert P. Kraynak says his "life work was to develop an American application of Leo Strauss's revival of natural-right philosophy against the relativism and nihilism of our times".
Richard Miniter is an American investigative journalist and author whose articles have appeared in Politico, The New York Times, The Washington Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, Newsweek, The New Republic, National Review, PJ Media, and Reader’s Digest. A former editorial writer and columnist for The Wall Street Journal in Europe, as well as a member of the investigative reporting team of the Sunday Times of London, he is currently the National Security columnist for Forbes. He also authored three New York Times best-selling books, Losing bin Laden, Shadow War, Leading From Behind, and most recently Eyes On Target. In April 2014, Miniter was included by CSPAN's Brian Lamb in his book Sundays At Eight, as one of Lamb's top 40 book author interviews of the past 25 years for Miniter's investigative work on 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
The Claremont Review of Books (CRB) is a quarterly review of politics and statesmanship published by the conservative Claremont Institute. A typical issue consists of several book reviews and a selection of essays on topics of conservatism and political philosophy, history, and literature. Authors who are regularly featured in the Review are sometimes nicknamed "Claremonsters."
Larry Paul Arnn is an American educator and academic. He has served as the twelfth president of private Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan, since May 2000.
The National Society Children of the American Revolution (NSCAR) is a youth organization that was founded on April 5, 1895, by Harriett Lothrop. The idea was proposed on February 22, 1895, at the Fourth Continental Congress of the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). The organization was promptly chartered by the United States Congress, and is now the nation's oldest and largest, patriotic youth organization. NSCAR offers membership to anyone under the age of 22 who is lineally descended from someone who served in the Continental Army or gave material aid to the cause of freedom in the American Revolution.
Allen Carl Guelzo is an American historian who serves as the Thomas W. Smith Distinguished Research Scholar and Director of the Initiative on Politics and Statesmanship in the James Madison Program at Princeton University. He formerly was a professor of History at Gettysburg College.
Sentinel is a dedicated conservative imprint within publisher Penguin Group (USA) and was established in 2003. It publishes a wide variety of right-of-center books on subjects like politics, history, public policy, culture, religion and international relations. Its most notable books include Donald Rumsfeld’s memoir, Known and Unknown, Mike Huckabee’s Do the Right Thing, A Simple Christmas, and A Simple Government, and A Patriot’s History of the United States by Larry Schweikart.
Larry Earl Schweikart is an American historian and retired professor of history at the University of Dayton. During the 1980s and 1990s, he authored numerous scholarly publications. In recent years, he has authored popular books, including A Patriot's History of the United States (2004) and 48 Liberal Lies About American History. According to professors Guy Burton and Ted Goertzel, "Schweikart and Allen are both history professors with distinguished publication records."
We Still Hold These Truths is the title of a 2009 non-fiction political history book by Dr. Matthew Spalding. Spalding was Director of American Studies at The Heritage Foundation. He later became the Kirby Professor in Constitutional Government at Hillsdale College and the Dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government at Hillsdale College's Washington, D.C., campus. As Vice President for Washington Operations, he also oversees the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship and the academic and educational programs of Hillsdale in the nation's capital.
Americanism, also referred to as American patriotism, is a set of patriotic values which aim to create a collective American identity for the United States that can be defined as "an articulation of the nation's rightful place in the world, a set of traditions, a political language, and a cultural style imbued with political meaning". According to the American Legion, a U.S. veterans' organization, Americanism is an ideology, or a belief in devotion, loyalty, or allegiance to the United States of America, or respect for its flag, its traditions, its customs, its culture, its symbols, its institutions, or its form of government. In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, "Americanism is a question of spirit, conviction, and purpose, not of creed or birthplace."
This is a selective bibliography of conservatism in the United States covering the key political, intellectual and organizational themes that are dealt with in Conservatism in the United States. Google Scholar produces a listing of 93,000 scholarly books and articles on "American Conservatism" published since 2000. The titles below are found in the recommended further reading sections of the books and articles cited under "Surveys" and "Historiography." The "Historiography" and "Critical views" section mostly comprise items critical or hostile of American conservatism.
Reclaiming Patriotism: Nation-Building for Australian Progressives is a 2009 book by Tim Soutphommasane published by Cambridge University Press. It's the lead title of the Australian Encounters series which argues that the Australian left have misunderstood patriotism and should embrace it in order to re-engage with political discourse and ordinary Australians.
A People's History of the United States is a 1980 nonfiction book by American historian and political scientist Howard Zinn. In the book, Zinn presented what he considered to be a different side of history from the more traditional "fundamental nationalist glorification of country". Zinn portrays a side of American history that can largely be seen as the exploitation and manipulation of the majority by rigged systems that hugely favor a small aggregate of elite rulers from across the orthodox political parties.
America: Imagine the World Without Her is a 2014 American political documentary film by right-wing political commentator Dinesh D'Souza based on his book of the same name. It is a follow-up to his film 2016: Obama's America (2012). In the film, D'Souza contends that parts of United States history are improperly and negatively highlighted by liberals, which he seeks to counter with positive highlights. Topics addressed include conquest of Indigenous and Mexican lands, slavery, and matters relating to foreign policy and capitalism. D'Souza collaborated with John Sullivan and Bruce Schooley to adapt his book of the same name into a screenplay. D'Souza produced the film with Gerald R. Molen and directed it with Sullivan. The film combined historical reenactments with interviews with different political figures.
The 4% Solution: Unleashing the Economic Growth America Needs is a 2012 non-fiction book. Alongside a foreword by President George W. Bush, it features articles from academics and businesspeople, including five winners of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
The Patriotic Order Sons of America is an American patriotic fraternal organization that traces its origins to the anti-alien riots of the 1840s. Founded in 1847 in Philadelphia, the P.O.S. of A. once had "camps" (chapters) in well over 20 states. At its peak, there were more than 800 Camps in Pennsylvania alone. Today, the society maintains a presence only in Pennsylvania, where it has 14 camps. The national headquarters are in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
The 1776 Commission, also nicknamed the 1776 Project, was an advisory committee established in September 2020 by then-U.S. President Donald Trump to support what he called "patriotic education". The commission released The 1776 Report on January 18, 2021, two days before the end of Trump's term of office. Historians overwhelmingly criticized the report, saying it was "filled with errors and partisan politics". The commission was terminated by the successive President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021, his first day in office.