Cart is empty Cart is empty. View cart. My Account. Sign in Register. We also recommend Write a review. Availability: In stock. Add to wish list. Description Features Tags Reviews. I have not yet had the privilege of reading this book, in researching it, I found several noteworthy things about it: It is a national bestseller, endorsed by political conservatives.
It generally receives the highest ratings from its readers, with very few dissenting views. Prayer founded our nation. Prayer can revive and save it. The author, Dr. Cleon Skousen spent many years researching American history and teaching it at public meetings. The book was originally published in and was revised in and , the year in which the author passed away.
In , the volume was in its fourteenth printing. Mar 14, Suzanne rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: everyone. If you believe in the principles of freedom that America stands for than you will appreciate this book.
I know that because of human nature there is no perfect society and that men are fallible. That is exactly what the founders believed also. We have faltered much along the way, not because of the weakness of the constitution but because of the weak If you believe in the principles of freedom that America stands for than you will appreciate this book. We have faltered much along the way, not because of the weakness of the constitution but because of the weakness of men.
It is non-partisan. This book is also a powerful argument against socialism and clearly illustrates how socialism and all of its forms are unconstitutional. The name of the book reflects the fact that these freedoms created an environment for which we have progressed greatly in technology, science, living standards, etc: more in the last years than in the first 5, of recorded history.
It makes the point that mankind can progress when the shackles of bondage are broken and an atmosphere of freedom abounds. So what are some of those principles? Basically, a belief in God and of Natural Law. Our rights are God-given - "we hold these truths to be self evident Also, that a virtuous and moral people and leaders are necessary for a strong society.
If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks, no form of government, can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people is a chimerical idea.
All in all, I learned a lot, gained some good tidbits from history, and enjoyed the many wonderful quotes. Read this book! But be forewarned that it may leave you a bit disillusioned at how far from the constitution we have strayed. Nonetheless these principles need to be taught for us to get back on the right track and I WISH every voting American would read this book. Sep 15, Brian Hodges rated it it was ok Shelves: non-fiction , never-finished.
Okay, I gave it a fair shot. I got through a little over pages of it and had to restrain myself from shouting out loud almost the entire time. I picked up this book for two reasons.
First, back when I was a Glenn Beck fan, he used to rave about the principles espoused in this book and how we need to get back to them to make America great again. Also, after reading "A People's History of the United States" I figured I should give a fair shot to a book with a less cynical and more forgiving vi Okay, I gave it a fair shot. Also, after reading "A People's History of the United States" I figured I should give a fair shot to a book with a less cynical and more forgiving view of our founding fathers.
Unfortunately, every word I read was filtered through that Howard Zinn lens. But beyond that, even if we forgive the double-speak of our founders slave owners who said all men are created equal mind you , I think I have finally reached my saturation point for anyone who holds the words of the founders to some kind of supernatural status. And that really seems to be the whole M. They knew that as times change, so to would the needs of the country.
But the author of this book doesn't seem to understand that unless he gets into it later on. After spending the first several chapters essentially saying that if you don't believe in God, you're a lost cause, he then spends pages and pages droning on about states rights and whatnot, issues that made a TON of sense back in when it took whole days to cross from one state to another, but have less dire importance in a world that has the airplane, automobile, telephones and internet.
Still, the individual points I disagreed with I'm pretty sure I could have forgiven. For me it was the ad nauseum reverence bordering on adoration for the founders that ultimately turned me off. The founders were men. Famous men. Important men. In some sense, great men. Depending on who you talk to, good men.
But MEN nonetheless. They were fallible. And they knew it. So let's learn from them and take lessons from them, yes. But let's also temper those lessons against the context of both the times they lived in and the reality of these men's lives and exploits. It will be eye-opening to say the least. Absolutely essential reading. With all the rewriting of history that has been going on since the Social Gospel of the late 's became the Progressive movement, a clear outline of the principles that the founders used in the formation of our government has been needed.
This book shines a light on the path that we are on now and how lost we have become. All the sophomoric doublespeak that has become the language of the MSM and political hacks is now exposed for what it is: a lie. Principles, su Absolutely essential reading. Principles, such as the absolute necessity of having a moral people, have been eroded by emotional choices that seemed right at the time.
Our courts allowed freedom of religion to be misinterpreted as freedom from religion. The christian notion that "All men are created equal", has been subverted by the Marxist pablum that all men should be the same. When sameness becomes the new equality, nobody is safe. Equal rights become a thought crime. Racism an epithet that only one race may be smeared by. By rewriting the Constitution into a document that outlines what we are free to do, instead of what we originally were free from namely government meddling , we have become a nation of serfs.
Skousen has written a book 30 years before its time. Today, conservatives are alarmed by these recent power grabs: Government ownership of auto manufactures, banks, and now health care, with more on the way. The IRS is being made a security force that answers to no one.
He was able to see this all. This is our way back. Jan 27, Dawn Lennon rated it it was ok Shelves: non-fiction. After I was about half way through, I came to the Goodreads reviews to see if I could sort out my discomfort with it.
The review by Scott Zuke helped me untangle both my ambivalence and my annoyance. I won't recount Scott's points but add to them. It's generallysuspect when an author's message is based on the extraction and sequencing of quotes by learned people. When ideas are lifted and reset, the reader doesn't have the benefit of their context or any changing of perspectives over time, as i After I was about half way through, I came to the Goodreads reviews to see if I could sort out my discomfort with it.
When ideas are lifted and reset, the reader doesn't have the benefit of their context or any changing of perspectives over time, as in the case of the Founding Fathers and the others quoted here.
The author inserts his own perspectives strategically between the words and ideas of these historic men, often revealing his personal political viewpoints and fears. The reader needs to be discriminating not to merge the historical content from the opinion. At one point,the author writes about how America is a nation of immigrants who have been able to integrate with the broader society. When he included African Americans among the category of "immigrants," I was astounded and horrified.
I read this book on the recommendation of a well-read friend of mine who has strong conservative views. Now I see why he liked this book. I didn't but was glad that I read it. Oct 16, Nicole rated it it was amazing. The Center for Constitutional Studies has really been pushing for every American to read this book. It's been kind of a controversial book--some people really pushing for it to be included in public school curriculum, others pushing hard to have it banned.
Anyway, it explores the fundamental principles that our nation was founded on, and how those principles let to more advancement in years than had been accomplished in the years previously. I thought it was wonderful--so clear and conc The Center for Constitutional Studies has really been pushing for every American to read this book. I thought it was wonderful--so clear and concise! Apr 08, Leila rated it it was amazing. Recommended for all whom are concerned about it's direction.
September final word This book is supremely frustrating. I enjoyed reading some of the later principles and agreed with much of the overall idea, but Skousen continually packages political revisionist history as objective truth and cannot be trusted. His overall thesis that these principles were universally agreed upon by all of the Founding Fathers is false. He gives no context to his sources or quotes, and treats modern commentators and past memoir writers like de Toqueville as credible phil September final word This book is supremely frustrating.
He gives no context to his sources or quotes, and treats modern commentators and past memoir writers like de Toqueville as credible philosophical sources.
He employs "Appeal to Authority" logical fallacies in direct and subtle ways. One typical example was in the Principle of political independence and neutrality not exact wording, but I don't have the book here in front of me. I agree with much of his overall idea and think the US and world would be better if the US had stayed out of many conflicts, but Skousen's approach is just manipulative and self-serving.
There were Hawks and Doves, power-hungry politicians and pacifists, just like today. Second, at the beginning of the chapter, Skousen quotes Thomas Jefferson in on how we should stay neutral in regards to European conflicts. Putting that quote in WITHOUT mentioning Jefferson jumped into taking sides during the Napoleonic Wars for territorial greed, allying with an immoral dictator in order to leverage the relationship to pry Florida from Spain and eventually negotiate the Louisiana Purchase, is dishonest.
Not to mention that his wrong-headed, anti-banking fiscal policies both before and during the war bankrupted the US during the War of , avoiding humiliating defeat at the hands of the British only because they were too busy fighting Napoleon to do more than force an advantageous treaty. And Jefferson, the man who embargoed his own country before in an attempt to punish the British, is liberally quoted in the financial principle chapters as well.
A final example from the chapter shows both Skousen's extreme positioning and his silly, subtle Appeals to Authority aimed at his largely Mormon audience. He builds up a source, saying he was an under-secretary of such-and-such and a Constitutional scholar, and then quotes him with no context, advocating in that the US stay out of World War II.
Skousen then reveals his identity with something like "His name was J. Reuben Clark," knowing that Mormons will instantly recognize the name of the past general authority and presumably assign credibility to Skousen's use of his words. It's just stupid. Even pre-Pearl Harbor, I don't really believe that blatant, unembarrassed evil such as Hitler should be left unopposed in the name of morality.
WWI, Korea, Vietnam with false prevocations, different story, though the line of when to oppose other takeovers is a difficult one to define I think. But I would be very interested if Clark still thought the war was unjustified after Pearl Harbor as Skousen implies. Anyway, I think people should read this book, but they should also read several other accounts of the crafting of the Constitution and the loves and ideas of the Founding Fathers to separate the spin from fact in Skousen's political epistle.
I have been wanting to read this. August update OK, I'm over halfway through and this is really irritating me. I'll admit I came in predisposed to dislike this both because of the arrogance with which people cite this as proof that everyone who disagrees with them politically is stupid, and because Cleon Skousen wrote a horribly, HORRIBLY false exposition titled "The Atonement" that is still circulating, especially in Brazil, and causing all kinds of misunderstandings of the doctrine of the Atonement.
Anyone who could glibly twist scripture like that and claim everyone should be boldly preaching this false doctrine is very suspect. First of all, as I read Glenn Beck's foreword, I just wanted to punch his smug little face as he tried to sell his books and his ignorance. More importantly, this is not history. This is someone with a philosophical point to prove picking and choosing his evidence to support his thesis. He claims these are "secret, classic ideas" the founders shared to hide the fact that much of this is conservative revisionist philosophy of the past century.
When people cite this book and lament the fact that "no one learns from history," that just makes me angry as reading any decent book about the creation of the constitution will clearly show the over-simplification and cherry picking Skousen is employing. Skousen can't find many writers that agree with him, so his strategy appears to be to really talk up the ones who do, or he can at least claim they do, and then use the mere fact they wrote something as proof that it is an inherently true idea.
If Cicero or Polybius said it, it must be true. Or worse, if wandering writer Alexis de Toqueville thought so, so should you. Skousen's claim of profound democratic principles among the Israelites and the Anglo-Saxons is extremely shaky.
The organization of leaders in Israel was more akin to a church ward with a central authority than a democracy and some clan traditions of coastal raiders are not inherently good. But Skousen will give an abbreviated claim that these societies had it all figured out and then just cite anything someone thinks Israel or the Anglo-Saxons did as good.
He idolizes Thomas Jefferson who was a credible philosopher, but a poor president, and not a particularly nice or moral man. The last chapter I read had a hyperbolic quote from a historical London newspaper editorial with no context provided as "proof" of a point.
I'm just starting his economic chapters where he cites Jefferson and Andrew Jackson as economic role models. I in contrast believe those two did serious damage to our nation and economy as detailed in the work of John Steele Gordon. Besides the fact that Jackson was a brutal, cruel man in general. The frustrating thing is I agree with Skousen on many of the global issues here--I generally believe in a limited government and a free-market economy--but in my mind he does more harm than good to his arguments by playing so fast and loose with the evidence.
Then others read him and start spouting off these over-simplifications and misrepresentations as truth. I'm very glad I am reading this, but it's just solidifying my low opinion of Cleon Skousen.
Jul 25, Erin McDonald rated it liked it. The author states way too many opinions as facts and very cleverly makes his language mirror that of the quotes he includes so I sometimes had to reread a section just to remind myself what was truly a quote and what was his own statement.
Jul 27, Ashley Jacobson rated it liked it Shelves: read-politics-econ-law-current. Well, it wasn't what I thought it was. Yet, a group of weather beaten colonists established something very different from what we have seen in the past. The question is: how? The 5, Year Leap is divided into two main parts. He then demonstrates the history of several very foundational principles that guided the founding fathers in crafting the American system.
These principles, such as: the rule of law, separation of powers and the importance of small limited government, are clear to see in the writings and testimonies of the founders. All of this is accomplished in less than 30 pages! Like the rest of his work, this section holds so many areas of insight while maintaining a very easy to read length. Each point is roughly 15 pages, and taken one at a time, they are a very easy read. There are two overarching themes that relate to these principles.
Herein lies the secret to the origin of "property rights. Principle 15 - The highest level of prosperity occurs when there is a free-market economy and a minimum of government regulations. Prosperity depends upon a climate of wholesome stimulation with four basic freedoms in operation:. Principle 16 - The government should be separated into three branches.
This pamphlet, you know, was very unpopular. No man appeared in public to support it but yourself. Principle 17 - A system of checks and balances should be adopted to prevent the abuse of power by the different branches of government.
Principle 18 - The unalienable rights of the people are most likely to be preserved if the principles of government are set forth in a written Constitution. The structure of the American system is set forth in the Constitution of the United States and the only weaknesses which have appeared are those which were allowed to creep in despite the Constitution. Principle 19 - Only limited and carefully defined powers should be delegated to government, all others being retained by the people. The Tenth Amendment is the most widely violated provision of the bill of rights.
If it had been respected and enforced America would be an amazingly different country than it is today. This amendment provides:. Principle 20 - Efficiency and dispatch require that the government operate according to the will of the majority, but constitutional provisions must be made to protect the rights of the minority.
Principle 21 - Strong local self-government is the keystone to preserving human freedom. Principle 22 - A free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of men.
For in all the states of created beings, capable of laws, where there is no law there is no freedom. For liberty is to be free from restraint and violence of others, which cannot be where there is no law. Principle 23 - A free society cannot survive as a republic without a broad program of general education. They made it a crime for such a town to be destitute of a grammar schoolmaster for a few months, and subjected it to a heavy penalty.
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