Americanism

This bizarre book acutely, perceptively traces the Puritan lineage of what the author describes as Americanism, from the founders up through Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. In that journey, Puritanism is transmogrified into Americanism, or 'American Zionism', wh......more

This book speaks the truth about the fact that America should be thought of as a religion first and foremost. The problem with the book is that it is written from the perspective of a devout neoconservative Americanist who feels at liberty to browbeat the reader into worshiping as he does. I couldn'......more

This book gets two stars for a few nice turns of phrase and an enjoyable smattering of quotations from dead presidents on the subject of religion. But, based on the book jacket, I thought I was about to enjoy a detached, anthropological investigation and analysis of cultural phenomena such as people......more

The author, a Jew, argues that a belief in America, and in a set of American ideals or creed, has become a religion in itself in America and worldwide. Based largely on Old Testament conceptions of America as a new Israel, a second Promised Land, and the Puritans especially as a Chosen People, the r......more

I read this book, and now I need to read it again; because I forgot so much in it! Gelernter's point though, is very important, so I wish everyone would read it. There is a founding faith in America that is not doctrinaire, as all human religions had been until the reformulation of historic politica......more