Rating: 
Summary: An interesting, but seriously flawed book.
Review: Peter Marshall and David Manuel have done their homework. There is no doubt about it. They have proposed a thesis - that America was discovered, explored, and founded as an explicitly Christian nation, and that God's hand can be evident in it's early history - and have defended it well. They have gone back to some interesting primary sources, which do, in fact, shed light on our nation's early history. As such, the book is a valuable read.THIS BEING SAID, for the author's thesis to stand, one must comprehend and assume a totally Calvinistic understanding of Christian theology, AND assume that our Founding Fathers were working under similar paradigms. Such an historical point of view is difficult to defend. Some of our nation's Founders did indeed come from such a theological viewpoint. Many, however, did not. (And our two significant founding documents were penned by a Deist and an Episcopalian!) Such a point of view is also difficult, not only to those who do not profess the Christian faith, but for the enormous majority of those who do! (Catholics, Orthodox, many Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, some Baptists, etc.) If a Calvinistic viewpoint is removed from the book, the entire premise collapses. Please don't get me wrong -- Marshall and Manuel have assembled a great deal of research, and have presented it in an interesting and entertaining fashion. The "facts" are there. It's just that I (speaking as both a committed Christian and a historian) can't buy their "interpretation" of those facts.
Rating: 
Summary: This Book is a Necessity
Review: The first of three (to date) history books written from a Christian perspective. Gripping and fast-paced. A rating of "10" is too low!!
Rating:
Summary: New Look at the Facts
Review: The writers do an admirable job of going back to original source documents and giving them an objective interpretation. The original text allows the reader to validate Marshall & Manuel's thesis. I was amazed at the clarity of the original documents. From these documents you'll be certain that America was founded by Christians, using a Christ-like pattern for society. The fictional scenes and dialogue make it a lively read ... and far more faithful to the facts than some of the made-for-TV history that's been produced. This is an enjoyable and informative read. Every Christian and every American will benefit from this book. The only faith requirement to reading (and enjoying) this book is to believe that "God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone he wishes." (Dan 5:21)
Thank you, Mr. Marshall and Manuel! I've benefited spiritually and intellectually by this book.
Rating:
Summary: New Look at the Facts
Review: The writers do an admirable job of going back to original source documents and giving them an objective interpretation. The original text allows the reader to validate Marshall & Manuel's thesis. I was amazed at the clarity of the original documents. From these documents you'll be certain that America was founded by Christians, using a Christ-like pattern for society. The fictional scenes and dialogue make it a lively read ... and far more faithful to the facts than some of the made-for-TV history that's been produced. This is an enjoyable and informative read. Every Christian and every American will benefit from this book. The only faith requirement to reading (and enjoying) this book is to believe that "God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone he wishes." (Dan 5:21)
Thank you, Mr. Marshall and Manuel! I've benefited spiritually and intellectually by this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Christian History?
Review: There are many problems with this book, but the greatest one may be that Manuel and Marshall set out to find a "Christian" history of America. The problem with this is that when ideology comes first, facts must be shoehorned to fit a predetermined interpretation. This cannot but lead to intellectual dishonesty. Whether that ideology is religious (in any form) or secular, scholarship withers when it is asked to be put to the service of a greater good.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: This book blends a keen insight into the unknown (and untold) stories of America's past with a sense of God's divine will in guiding those events. It is an excellent source of American history and it confirms what many of us already knew, God did have a plan for America when He guided our founders here. This book also shows our many stumblings and mistakes along the way and whether they produced repentence or led to further confusion. I would recommend this book to ANY serious student of American history.
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Summary: These wonderful story-tellers make this book enjoyable.
Review: This book deals with how God was involved in the founding of America and how she developed. These authors did their homework. They brought out diary accounts and anything relevant and wove them into a easy to read and enjoyable story-type format. I'm not a history buff, but I could not put this one down. They made a compelling case for God's involvement in the founding of America, why some attempts to establish colonies failed because of the motives of founders and His miraculous hand in the lives of those who would honor Him. If high school text books had been this enjoyable to read and had showed history as more than a set of unrelated facts, I might have been a better student. A must read.
Rating:
Summary: Must Read for any who calls their self and American
Review: This book is fantastic. I love History. I especially enjoy learning about our History as a Country. When I read this book I was amazed how much of our History has been left out of our childrens books when they are in school.
Because the publishers, administrators, and others have tried so hard to push God out of our schools, our text books no longer cover this information.
Read this book and discover what was left out of your childs education. I have a degree from a major University and even the classes I took at the University level did not touch on the things that are in this book.
We truely are a blessed Nation. Read this book and discover how much.
Rating:
Summary: extreme impact
Review: This book sparked a dead interest in the History of our country. I read it, coincidentally, just before Thanksgiving this year. It put in perspective the unbelieveable sacrifice the first emigrants gave in order to be truly free. It is an excellent starting place for anyone interested in political history and theological history in our country since Marshall wove the threads of religious evolution and political evolution together as they actually were.
Rating:
Summary: The Light and The Glory
Review: This book starts out by the authors telling how they came to write the book. It is from a christian view point in that it points out that Columbus felt it was God calling him to sail the seas for His glory.It does not read like a boring text with just names and dates.It goes into detail about Columbus, and reads like a story book. Its tells you the names of people and why they may have done what they did. Whenever it can it will have actually writing of the person they arewriting about. If you want to read history toyour kids so they will want to learn and so they can remember more than places and dates this is book for you. It will inspire you to dig deeper.
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