For too long we've lacked a compact, inexpensive, authoritative, and
compulsively readable book that offers American readers a clear,
informative, and inspiring narrative account of their country. Such a
fresh retelling of the American story is especially needed today, to
shape and deepen young Americans' sense of the land they inhabit, help
them to understand its roots and share in its memories, all the while
equipping them for the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship in
American society
The existing texts simply fail to tell that story with energy and
conviction. Too often they reflect a fragmented outlook that fails to
convey to American readers the grand trajectory of their own history.
This state of affairs cannot continue for long without producing serious
consequences. A great nation needs and deserves a great and coherent
narrative, as an expression of its own self-understanding and its
aspirations; and it needs to be able to convey that narrative to its
young effectively. Of course, it goes without saying that such a
narrative cannot be a fairy tale of the past. It will not be convincing
if it is not truthful. But as Land of Hope brilliantly shows, there is
no contradiction between a truthful account of the American past and an
inspiring one. Readers of Land of Hope will find both in its pages.