Although the 1980s brought about the fall of the Soviet Union and its empire in Eastern Europe, as well as the decline of many of its proxies elsewhere in the world), that was not until the tail end of that wild decade. The first nine years had a world very clearly defined by the West, led by the United States of America, and the Communists, led by the Soviet Union. America’s special role in the world was well understood by almost everyone in the world. Later, this came to be called “American exceptionalism,” but at the time, it was simply known as “America.” This America was built on a firm foundation of inspired men from Columbus to the great president of the 1980s, Ronald Reagan. In between, there were the Founding Fathers, Abraham Lincoln, and the Greatest Generation.
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The book was an interesting read and presented some things that I was either not very familiar with or, in the case of the foggy day during the Revolutionary War, had not heard of at all. I liked the detailed reviews of the events and people, which helped make the case that the events really were miraculous. I think the case was presented effectively. I found the concluding chapter, where the authors proposed that God’s intervention in the past likely meant God would intervene in the future to also be sound analysis, especially as it was paired with God’s discussion with Abraham about preserving the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorra as long as even a few righteous remained there. What I found to be less interesting was the historical fiction (not one of my favorite genres to begin with, admittedly) that was used as a scene setter. It seemed to me that it was there simply to make this more of a book-length affair, and I think it would have been possible to find solid, historical material to fill in a lot of the space taken by the fictionalized accounts. A shorter book would have also been acceptable as I believe the points were adequately made. In any case, it was a great reminder of America’s exceptionalism and of our individual responsibilities to help keep it that way by being part of the righteous that God is willing to preserve.
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