Kirkus
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Recitation of events that, by the author’s account, were turning points in American history. If you watched Ken Burns’ series on the American Revolution as well as Thomas Jefferson, you’ll have most of Fox News host Kilmeade’s book: Jefferson made a daring risk in pulling off the Louisiana Purchase, which brought “possibility” to the new nation; George Washington spent much of the Revolutionary War simply trying to keep his army alive, “practicing a boldness tempered by prudence.” John Quincy Adams, for his part, couldn’t stay away from the capital once his single term as president ended, so he served eight terms in the House, unlike James Madison, who “never returned to Washington” after leaving office. John Adams stood up for the rule of law when he defended the British soldiers who fired on a Boston crowd in 1770, killing five. And so forth, with each principal illustrating a principle. A novel departure is Kilmeade’s inclusion of Daniel Shays, the Massachusetts veteran of the Continental Army who instigated an armed rebellion over, yes, taxation without representation. Borrowing from Washington, the author credits Shay as a case in point to prove that the Articles of Confederation did not give the federal government sufficient power to intervene in such matters, paving the way for the Constitution. Kilmeade is good on correcting errors in historical artworks that have become canonical, such as Washington’s crossing of the Delaware. He waves them away, however: “But do such inaccuracies matter? [Emanuel] Leutze’s image has become a part of American mythology, capturing a turning point both symbolic and real in the national quest for independence.” There are more throwaway lines in this triumphalist “patriotic project,” as when he writes of Adams the second, “He accepted, as an Anglo--Saxon male, that Negroes, along with Jews, Indians, and Mexicans, were his ‘inferiors.’ Still, that didn’t make slavery right or acceptable.” Middling journey on well-trod historical ground. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.