Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders by Jacob Needleman ISBN: 1-58542-226-6 Publisher: J. P. Tarcher Pub. Date: 29 May, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A "must read" for anyone who calls themselves an American
Comment: This book captures what our founders had in their minds and hearts when they envisioned what America could be. While we have strayed substantially from the original ideals, and lost sight of the original "American Dream," reading Needleman's words reminds us of what possibilities we are sitting on. We still have the potential to become as great, as free and as inspiring - to ourselves and all the world. All we need to do is get ourselves back on track. This book offers reminds us of our roots and instills visions of new possibilities. This is the kind of American I want to be!
Rating: 5
Summary: Required Reading for all American Citizens
Comment: Going to school at San Francisco State University, I am often confronted with cynical views of America. After going through four years at one of the most "liberal" schools in the country I could say that I to was very discouraged with my country and at times disgraced by the fact that I was a citizen of a nation riddled with such hypocracy.
With Needleman's book "The American Soul" I received great hope for myself and my country. While acknowledging the crimes of America, Needleman shows that the roots of this country are based on the freedom of the individual to pursue their own growth of "character" in light of bettering the whole of America. The flaws we now see in our country are simply a drifting from this ideal and a reflection of the lost individuals which compose our vast nation. It is not a single corrupt politition nor some unjust law which taint this great country, but a compilation of individual citizens who have all, in some way, lost sight of their role and purpose in supporting the whole of our nation.
"The American Soul" is a philosophical guide book on how to be a better American citizen which transends the dualities of liberalism and conservativism. It is a light of hope in our often depressing world.
After reading a book of such depth and conviction, one may wonder if the man speeking of such high ideas actually has the ability to live in such a manner himself. For that I am truely fortunate to have had Jacob Needleman as a professor at San Francisco State and can verify that he is a man of more integrity, joy and dedication than any I have met. Anyone who has the chance to meet this amazing human being will see that for themselves.
Rating: 5
Summary: Spiritual Democracy
Comment: This timely, provocative book combines and shows the relationship between two large themes: a)the nature and importance of spiritual and religous values and b) the nature and spiritual character of American democray, with all its flaws. I was struck to find this book and the manner in which Needleman developed his themes. In broad outline, Needleman's preocupations are my own. Without agreeing with everything he said, I came away from his book with my own ideas clarified and strengthened -- and a bit envious of Needleman's eloquence and ability to put his ideas into print.
Needleman draws a double picture of American freedom and its use. One picture is that freedom means everyone does simply as he or she pleases. This is, for Needleman, an America which has been criticized by many for its materialism, its emphasis on growth, its sole focus on the profit motive, its greed, racism, and, sometimes, bellicosity.
The other America is a spiritual American whose ideas of freedom and democracy was founded upon religous and metaphysical ideas of the nature of man, human commonality, the uniqueness of each person, and the search inward of each person for what is valuable and important. The ideal of democracy on this view is not simple pursuit of material wealth but rather a turning inward so that each person may pursue life and truth in his or her own way.
And what is the relationship between these two concepts of America? How do we help transform the one into the other?
Needleman's answer is in part a study of the wisdom literature common to all religions and great philosophy of life. (Needleman evidences a great deal of impatience with standard church or synagogue-going. He argues that he himself has found such conventional forms of religion sterile and routine.) He finds such wisdom, in various of its phases, in the writings of the American founders.
Thus the larger part of the book is a discussion and creative discussion of the American founders and a reading of certain of American texts. Thus Needleman gives us a paragraph-by-paragraph discussion of Washington's Farewell Address, The Tenth Federalist Paper, Lincoln's Second Inauguaral Address, an Oration of Frederick Douglass, and Iroquois Indian creation myth, and Walt Whitman's late essay, Democratic Vistas. He tries to show how these texts show an America of spiritual values rather than money-making. His aim is, avowedly, to remythologize America and its past.
In a broad sense his project is carried through well. Some of his readings of the texts, particularly of Washington's Farewell Address and of the Iroquois myth, seem to me forced. Needleman would have done better to let Washington speak for himself rather than create a Washington with, perhaps, Needleman's own spiritual preocupations. The readings of Whitman, Douglass, and Lincoln work much better, even on Needleman's own terms.
In trying to get people to think about America -- and to reassess its values in spiritual terms --Needleman has critical things to say about America's treatment of the Indians and about the long legacy of slavery. These themes are valuable and important and Needleman is right to dwell upon them. I have some question about whether the treatment of the Indians is inself free from a degree of modern stereotyping. Be that as it may, Needleman's point is that we may see America with its flaws and crimes and love it and try to recognize and bring about the ideal in the sometimes shabby nature of the real.
There is a great deal of erudition in this book, both on spiritual texts and on American history. In addition to his treatment of certain standard figures in American history, Needleman has a fascinating discussion of the Ephrata community in Pennsylvania and its founder Conrad Bissel. This Protestant spiritual community flourished briefly during the period just before the Revolutionary War.
Walt Whitman has the last word in this book, as he properly should, with his vision of America and of the American person.
There is a great deal of interest, as best as I can tell, in American history, as evidenced by the many new books on the Founders and the unending interest in Lincoln and the Civil War, and in spirituality, which I myself have found in a study of Buddhism. This book combines these two broad themes in an attempt to help the reader rething and reunderstand America. It is a worthy goal and the book carries it out well.
 |
Title: Time and the Soul: Where Has All the Meaningful Time Gone -- and Can We Get It Back? by Jacob Needleman, John Cleese ISBN: 1576752518 Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Pub Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
 |
Title: Lost Christianity: A Journey of Rediscovery by Jacob Needleman ISBN: 1585422533 Publisher: J. P. Tarcher Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: Money and the Meaning of Life by Jacob Needleman ISBN: 0385262426 Publisher: Currency Pub. Date: 15 September, 1994 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
 |
Title: The Heart of Philosphy by Jacob Needleman ISBN: 1585422517 Publisher: J. P. Tarcher Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: A Sense of the Cosmos : Scientific Knowledge and Spiritual Truth by Jacob Needleman ISBN: 0972635726 Publisher: Monkfish Book Publishing Pub. Date: 01 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
