Rating: 
Summary: Belongs in every citizens library
Review: I bought my first copy of this book when it first came out in 1993. It has become one of my favorites. It's one of those books you take down off the shelf now and then just to make you feel good. Over the years, I must have given a dozen copies of this fine collection as graduation gifts.
Bennett, the former Secretary of Education, has put together a collection of timeless classics. Each chapter covers a different virtue that makes for good citizenship. Parents will read these stories to their children with delight at the lessons learned, yet it still appeals to older students and adults.
This is like an instruction manual for life. This book should be in every home library.
Rating:
Summary: This is an amazing tool with which to teach our children,
Review: which discuss the value of this collection of inspirational, character-building memories from our past. For years I refused to open this book, fearing subjection to dogmatic and pedantic musings from the right (which my advancing age has brought me closer to anyway), however, I have now learned that for years I deprived myself of the opportunity to read a phenomenal gathering of short stories, fables, psalms, poems, biblical passages and insightful reflection, that transcends the narrow constraints of political ideology. This is a fantastic contribution to anyone's personal library and it provides a roadmap to a better way of life. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: OK Book
Review: This book was a bit boring. It seemed to skip around a little too much. Bennett is smart, but he is a bit arrogant, which shows through in this book. He could have made the book better by organizing it better. Some interesting information, but maybe not worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: Truth shines in the eyes of its readers.
Review: This book's title has become proverbial, and I am glad for that recognition. You just need to look at the world around you to see the necessity of books like this. We have become moral imbeciles. Some people can't tell the difference between their right had and left hand, speaking poetically. Many people criticize this book as being too simplistic. That is an odd criticism. Not that this book is wrong, or factually in error. Even the accusation of impracticality would be a substantive point. But being too simplistic? Shakespeare wisely observed that simple truth is oftentimes miscalled simplicity (Sonnet 66). The accusation of being simplistic doesn't even rise to the dignity of a non-issue. This book is a collection of moral stories and precepts that serve to supplement and buttress peoples moral sense, which is our conscience, or the spark within that tells us to do good. In the Apology, Socrates said that he had this spirit, which guided him. We all have something like this, and truthful books like this help refine this sense of right and wrong. Just look at the fallen towers to see the need for books like this. Another accusation is that we can't turn back the clock. Well, if the clock is broken, then you are morally obligated to turn back the clock. By the way, are you giving you consent to the current state of things? It seems that we have made complaining a virtue. But it is complaining without corresponding action, which results mere noise pollution. We have to do something to change things, and Bill Bennett has done his part in compiling this book, which is an easy read. This is a thick book, but each one of the chapters is small. It seems to have been geared towards first and second graders, but anyone can benefit from reading the truth. Truth shines in the eyes of the readers.
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Summary: The Book of Humanity
Review: This broad-minded and big-hearted collection of stories for children and everybody else offers a simple antidote to modern life. We are inundated with passive entertainment and leisure - television, computers, popular music. Listening to and reading good stories, on the other hand, engages the mind and helps the child look outside of themselves and start to think about the complexities of life. Rather than preaching to us about his personal moral beliefs, William Bennett presents a cultural norm of basic natural moral instincts (on topics such as courage, honesty and perserverance) based on classic writings from every age and civilization. The authors range from Aristotle to Frederick Douglass to Hans Christian Anderson to Winston Churchill. An excellent, timeless collection and a lot of bang for your buck.
Rating: 
Summary: HYPOCRITICAL
Review: If anyone is still looking for this book I'm certain they can find plenty of copies in the trash. This guy is a joke and completely discredited by his personal behavior. Here he is preaching to us about virtue while blowing a fortune on the slots. I can't wait for his next book, The Virtuous High Roller.
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Summary: Could this book help our civilization survive?
Review: This is a book that every parent must buy and read to his children. William Bennett has done a masterful job in compiling and collating the best moral tales from history and literature to teach our children (and ourselves) how to live virtuous lives. The underlying supposition is that virtue must be taught and that it is not innate to human nature. This concept of teaching virtue is increasingly understand attack by the political left and ignored by just about everyone else. As our society drifts into a morass of moral relativism, The Book of Virtues is a bold stroke against the decay of virtuous living. It is interesting to note that the historian Will Durant repeated makes the observation that the decline of virtue, the innate sense of right and wrong, is the precursor to the decline of civilization. When the middle class ceases to purse virtue, the pursuit of hedonism and self-serving pleasure becomes paramount. The result is that instead of seeking the greater good and the common defense a society becomes weak. Religion, virtue and patriotism become objects of scorn by the so-called intellectuals and artist. Little do these intellectuals realize that the pursuit of art and philosophy is only possible because religion and of virtue made it possible. Until there is order in the land (economically, socially, and politically) people have little time or energy for the pursuit of art and philosophy. Only when a society obtains a level of order and economic prosperity does civilization turns it attention to the arts. Religion and the pursuit of virtue provide the stability and economic foundation upon which the arts and philosophy are founded. As civilization thrives, art and philosophy become increasing hostile to religion and virtue as they seek to find freedom from the restraints they impose. But what these intellectuals do not realize is that they have sown the seeds of their own destruction by doing do. Without virtue, men will not stand up for what is right, nor will they defend their society. The recent terrorist attacks in Spain are a case in point. The Spanish peoples response to terror was surrender. Nobody wants to fight, nobody wants to stand for virtue. As a result if current demographics continue within fifty years, most of Europe will be Moslem. European civilization as we know was mortally wounded after two world wars and will die unless the pursuit if virtue is rediscovered. All civilizations rise and fall. Their strength is the pursuit of virtue. Can American survive the current onslaught of relativism? Only time will tell. But as long as we have men like William Bennett who pass on the next generation the virtues that have made us great, I am hopeful we will survive.
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Summary: Ho Hum say my kids
Review: We received this book as a gift when it was popular (before Bennett's personal downfall with morality) and we tried to read it, but blah blah blah. This is what turns kids off from Sunday School. Have them read CS Lewis and JRR Tolkein instead; then discuss Bennett's gambling problems and others who make too much money and don't know what to do with it.
Rating:
Summary: A morally depraved paragon of American virtue.
Review: Too bad the pompous twit who wrote this book didn't pause in his gamboling amid the flesh pots of Vegas, to think about the morals of the stories in this book. Bennett is a preachy, self rightous hypocritical scold. The stories in the book are old gems, beloved by generations and untarished by Bennett's rather common and tacky behavior. Find them at your local library and read them with pleasure, but bypass this book, less it's sales enable further bad behavior on the part of this "moral paragon" of American virtue.
Rating:
Summary: Do As I Say, Not As I Do.
Review: A lovely collection of stories, perhaps marred somewhat by the hypocracy of the collector.
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