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Product Details

About the Author
Dr. William J. Bennett is a best-selling author, educator, and speaker. Host of the top-ten nationally syndicated radio show Bill Bennett's Morning in America, he is also the Washington Fellow of the Claremont Institute. Serving as secretary of education and chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities under President Reagan and director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President Bush, today Bennett is a regular contributor to CNN and has contributed to America's leading newspapers, magazines, and television shows. He is the author and editor of seventeen books, including The Book of Virtues, The Death of Outrage, and the New York Times bestseller, America: The Last Best Hope (Volume I). John Cribb is president of the Palmetto Creative Group, a Communications firm. His previous work includes co-authoring The Educated Child (with William J. Bennett and Chester E. Finn), co-editing The Human Odyssey, and developing on-line history courses. During the Reagan administration, he served at the Dept. of Justice and the Dept. of Education. He and his wife Kirsten have two daughters, Molly and Sarah.

Customer Reviews

An American History Daily Reader
William Bennett and John Cribb have done Americans a great favor. They have compiled hundreds of vignettes from American history and have condensed them into short, readable, one-page accounts in this great book. The stories recounted in this volume are informative, inspirational and even surprising, at times. They will help refresh your memory of your high school or college history classes and even inspire you to search out more information on the events they highlight.

The authors have formatted the book as an almanac, with a one-page reading for each day, along with a listing of significant events that happened on that date on the calendar, along with the year it occurred. Between each month, there are also special segments which offer information on the American flags across the years, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and a number of other segments.

This book doesn't take the place of a good American History textbook, but I think every American should read it. The book organizes the readings according to the day of the year, but not by the year, so the stories are not in chronological order. The editors have compiled and included a great, but not exhaustive index in the back. It would have been nice to have a chronological index in the book of all the events discussed also.

I am sure that I will be re-reading this book again and again. I highly recommend it to you!

Daily reader.
This book is a great way to remember what this country stands for. A daily dose of American history untouched by revisionists. Be proud to be an American.

Makes history come alive
I think this book would be a great gift for history buffs, people who like history trivia, and anyone interested in "firsts" (when an event first happened). Each day, you read a page essay on some important event that happened in American history (including science, military, government, and sports) on this day. At the end of the essay, a list of four to seven events that happened on this day is listed. There are also sections at the end of most of the months that cover things like Flags of the Revolutionary War, How the Declaration of Independence was Written and Signed, The Gettysburg Address, and Songs of American Patriotism.

This book helped the facts of history come alive for me. For example, I knew that the Pilgrims began coming ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts on December 21, 1620, but reading this entry while looking out at freezing cold weather (and I'm in the south!) gave the fact totally new dimensions. I also enjoyed the frequent quotes given from people in those events. It's interesting to see how they viewed the events happening around them. Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the United States of America.

Different Time, Different Place Book Reviews
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