Book Review: 7 Events that Made America America

Larry Schweikart is a writer, film producer and historian based in the United States. He has had various diverse and unique careers that allowed him to have a lot of experience in writing. He attended Arizona State University and received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, then he traveled with many rock bands and opened their acts at shows. He then became a history professor and received a master’s degree in History at Arizona State and a Ph.D at the University of California. He’s been writing since 1985 and some of his notable works include, “Seven Events that Made America America”, “48 Liberal Lies About American History”, and his #1 NYTimes bestseller, “A Patriot’s History of the United States”.

It’s safe to say, that the thesis of the book is that, some significant but overlooked events that occurred have shaped the United States and, although they aren’t regarded as important, the founding fathers would have definitely interpreted and noted these events. The major point of the book is that the most interesting parts of history are those that have deep and significant changes but are not obvious or widely noticed. Most of these events were forgotten and probably unheard of in some generations, but they profoundly impacted the history of the United States, and the world in some cases. But, most importantly, the Schweikart wants you to learn that not all these events would have been approved, disapproved or even regarded by the founding fathers. They had a vision for America that was solely based on freedom of religion, speech and thought. They didn’t want to dictate every move of the American people, and they trusted that the later generations would grow from the principles they laid out for them. These events are only responses to what the founding fathers established.

This book was extremely well written. It provides a vast amount of information while still remaining truthful and entertaining. It’s interesting to read how these “insignificant” events helped change, realize and even begin new chapters in the history that the fathers wrote out for America. Schweikart supports his thesis by not only providing his point of view on these seven events, but also (possibly) what the founding fathers would have thought of them. He constantly brings up the question, “How would George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and the other Founders have interpreted these events?” (Schweikart, 1). How would the fathers react to the government trying to control the people’s diets? Or how would they react to the amount of unbiased and common opinion in today’s news?

Schweikart does not demonstrate much of his own bias in the book, but more towards the opinions of the Founding fathers. He merely states the events, gives a lot of information and details, and then goes further in depth on the effects, consequences and aftermath of that followed. Towards the end of the chapter he writes on how the fathers would have interpreted these events by providing some speeches made by them, snips from the constitution or just common sense, like when Schweikart stated “It is absurd to assert that the founders in any way, shape or form ever intended government to become involved in the personal affairs of individuals” (Schweikart, 213).

The sources of this book are very vast but range mostly from passages derived from documents like the constitution, to old speeches given by some of the founding Fathers, to opinions on other writers or historians and to older newspapers and information. Some of the sources also came from notable places, like universities. They are believable as these seven events did in fact, occur and there is proof that they did. Schweikart merely added more to them by giving other people’s opinions, facts and government responses.

I learned a lot from this book, such as how the supreme court managed to abuse the constitution to make decisions based on their own favor and how the government will always lag behind the private compassion of communities and neighbors, but most of all, I learned that history has been unfolding for centuries and were the results of previous decisions or issues. That every event that occurred had an intended and unintended consequence. The consequences of these events are still occurring to this day and have somehow changed American history, whether it be their diets, their views on the media or their generated opinions from music.

I would definitely recommend this book to others. It is entertaining, full of information and easy to understand. These seven events are ones that I had no idea existed, much less effect or influence American History as a whole! It’s good for others to know about these events, as it may change their viewpoint on American History and give them a much broader view on it than what they normally see. You will never look at American history the same way again as you read. I for one, am now completely compelled and fascinated by American History by experiencing the intrigue, fun loving spirit, compassion and many other emotions that derived from this book.