Discussion of the role of religion in the formation of the Republic becomes a soapbox for right-wing reimagining of American history by the chairman of the National Journalism Center. In his introduction, Evans lists among the titles his friends suggested for the project ``Everything You Were Ever Taught Was Wrong''—a situation he sets out to remedy. The so-called liberal version of US history distorts the role of religion, in particular Christianity, in the founding of the nation, he asserts; America was, and is, a Christian nation. The founders of our liberty were in his view deeply religious men (yes, men!) who sought to embody their faith in the principles of the new country, believing that religious precept was essential to freedom. Among his other points: Liberals, who would deny this nexus between religious values and our political system, distort the Bill of Rights provision that forbids a state-established church into a rigid wall of separation between church and state that allows them to ban prayer in public schools and to deride those who would seek to inject faith into public discourse. Such a distortion of the historical record also permits government intervention in economic affairs despite the fact that the framers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were firm supporters of private property and free enterprise. Far from being radicals, says Evans, those who engineered American independence were true conservatives, seeking to preserve the best elements of their Anglo-Saxon heritage while achieving political sovereignty. The great achievement of that heritage, to the author's mind, has been the imposition of limits on state power, a trend he claims modern liberals would reverse. This selective reading of history, complete with attacks on multiculturalism, will doubtless infuriate women, minorities, and those who consider themselves liberals. The religious right and true believers in Reaganomics, however, will cheer Evans on every step of the way.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-89526-497-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Inspirational stories of the miraculous, assembled from a wide range of settings by journalist and novelist Wakefield (New York in the Fifties, 1992, etc.). Not so long ago, the author asserts, it was a solecism to think that miracles take place or that anything that could not be observed and measured was real. Wakefield contrasts these attitudes of his youth with today's fascination with psychic powers and readiness to see miracles everywhere. He quotes research on how medical procedures have been affected by prayer and introduces us to Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist exponents of spiritual healing. Wakefield takes the position that ``miracles'' stand for the unexpected, even divine, possibilities that surround us every day and that will transform our lives if we only look for them. When he visits the famous Catholic shrines of Lourdes in France and Knock in Ireland, Wakefield finds a medical commission that performs careful evaluation of supposed miracles and an emphasis on personal, rather than bodily, healing; yet he also interviews a young mother who got up and walked in front of Mary's statue after being paralyzed with multiple sclerosis. A great many of his stories have no religious components and tell of such relatively ordinary occurrences as childbirth, escape from alcoholism, and chance meetings that changed lives. Wakefield provides a rather preachy commentary in which he is content to moralize, but he fails to address the vital questions that his stories inevitably raise, e.g., the relationship between the natural and the preternatural and the significant differences between the merely unexpected and the strictly miraculous. Lightweight and anecdotal exhortation meant to cultivate an attitude of wonder in daily life. ($40,000 ad/promo; author tour)
Pub Date: June 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-06-069225-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1995
The prominent historian of Victorian ideas here boldly links her scholarly research to contemporary cultural issues. Her not-so- hidden agenda is to provide the intellectual basis for a ``new reformation'' that would restore ``moral and civic virtues'' in an increasingly amoral society. In order to recast the current debate about ``values,'' Himmelfarb (On Looking into the Abyss, 1994) turns attention from this relativistic term and focuses on the Victorian-era notion of ``virtue,'' which was family-oriented and more secular than traditional Christian virtue. In 19th-century England, both the working class and the bourgeoisie aspired to a level of respectability that incorporated beliefs in ``work, thrift, cleanliness, and self-reliance.'' Far from the coercive, absolutist morality posited by most radical historians, Himmelfarb discovers a civil society that democratized virtue: Working men could be ``gentlemen,'' and wives could find satisfaction in managing their homes and families. In short, ordinary people could attain ordinary virtues. Himmelfarb's truly revisionist account lets her Victorian witnesses speak for themselves, and they pay tribute to a time when enlightened self-interest coincided with the public good. Though some historians persist in portraying the era as materialistic, Himmelfarb re-examines Victorian attitudes toward both poverty and reform. Her contemporary subtext becomes clearer in controversial chapters on Victorian Jews as the quintessential Victorians and 19th-century government intervention in social issues as the precursor of present-day failures. One need not accept Himmelfarb's explanation for social and cultural decline—she's rabidly anti-materialist—to agree that the Victorians provide an admirable counter-example to our present malaise. This is first-rate intellectual history, fully attentive to the social and political contexts.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-679-43817-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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