Scott S. Powell - Rediscovering America: How the National Holidays Tell an Amazing Story about Who We Are

Advance Praise for Rediscovering America

Rediscovering America is not only genuinely entertaining to read, but it is also deeply important! I learned many things from reading it and am already excited to share them with anyone I meet. Scott Powell has provided a fresh overview of America, revealing many things we all must know if we are to keep this republic! Please read this book!

Eric Metaxas, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Bonhoeffer, If You Can Keep It , and Is Atheism Dead?

Scott Powell reminds us in the current age of uncertainty that without national commemorative holidays, shared reverence for our founding customs and traditions, and some sense of collective gratitude to past generations, a huge, increasingly divided, diverse, and often volatile American democracy simply cannot endure.

Victor Davis Hanson, The Hoover Institution, author of The Dying Citizen

If you understand that human beings are flawed (the Founders did), then you understand (and marvel) at what a moral achievement America is. The Left wants to denigrate that achievement. Scott Powell wont let them get away with it. Read his powerful, inspiring, and concise new book and reaffirm what you always knewAmerica is an exceptional nation.

Dennis Prager, Founder of PragerU, syndicated radio talk show host, and bestselling author of The Rational Bible

Scott Powells delightful book, a luminous retelling of the great American saga through the stories behind its holidays, will be for many Americans a vehicle for recovering a deep appreciation of our profoundly unique and virtuous heritage. In his hands, the stately procession of those holidays, from Columbus Day in October to Constitution Day in September, are made to open us up to our pasta past that is already a part of us. Like the elements making up a great liturgy, the elements in our procession of holidays help us to find ourselves again, and recover the faith and hope that animated the creation of our nation in the first place.

Wilfred M. McClay, Professor of History, Hillsdale College, and author of Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story

Its always a good time to rediscover America. Our countrys story is a history of great men, monumental achievements, and what may appear, even to skeptics, as providential interventions. Scott Powell has had the good idea of telling Americas story by focusing on our national holidays, and how they came to bestories that tell American readers why they should be grateful to those on whose shoulders they are fortunate enough to stand.

Michael Barone, Senior political analyst, Washington Examiner , Founder and longtime co-author, The Almanac of American Politics , Author, Our Country: The Shaping of America from Roosevelt to Reagan

A POST HILL PRESS BOOK

ISBN: 978-1-63758-159-9

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-63758-160-5

Rediscovering America:

How the National Holidays Tell an Amazing Story about Who We Are

2022 by Scott S. Powell

All Rights Reserved

Cover jacket design by John Cote,

JC Creative Services

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publisher.

Post Hill Press

New York Nashville

posthillpress.com

Published in the United States of America

Contents

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To all those who are or have been in military service and to those who gave their lives for the American cause of liberty and justice

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What this book is about and what its not, and why you should read it

Rediscovering America is like no other book because of its approach to the central issue of our timethat our country is now in a fight for its life. A hydra-headed war of ideas is being waged by enemies of America to undermine our heritage and divide our people so as to bring an end to life in our constitutional republic as we and generations before us have known it. This book was written to defeat these enemies of our republic by equipping readers from every walk of life to get connected to the great accomplishments and the arc of redemption that punctuate and define our history. Americans of different generations who shared a similar greatness of moral vision and believed in the beauty of freedom and equality sacrificed their all so that this nation might be protected, guided, and healed. We are called to do no less.

Many readers will find the stories in the narrative inspire them like a call to action. Most will find that the book transcends the history genre. Almost every chapter has elements of the spiritual and self-help genre with many stories of successful and inspirational figures. Other readers have commented that Rediscovering America actually provided a transformational experience by connecting them with the greatness of a purpose-driven past, where individuals accomplished amazing things, and affirmed their own self-worth by making life better for so many others.

In short, Rediscovering America is much more than a history about people who came before us. To the extent we are shaped by what our forebears did to contribute to and form our present world, this is a book about the here and now. It may be a bit trite, but there is no denying that we stand on the shoulders of great people who came before us. And this book reveals the variety of virtues that made those people successful, which in turn can help you understand the qualities of character to direct or redirect your own life, calling, and journey.

Unlike many historical accounts that often exceed five hundred or more pages, this book delivers what you need to know in some 237 pages. And whether you are a descendant of a lineage that has been in America for generations or you are a newcomer immigrant, this book will tell you succinctly what has made America great, why it is irreplaceable, and how you can tap into and build on that greatness.

In spite of missteps and setbacks in America, the results have been profoundly positive over the long termfrom the exploration and colonial period, the war for independence, to victory in two world wars and a cold war. The United States has survived and thrived, becoming a beacon of freedom and a magnet for immigrants seeking more opportunity and a better life. Through it all, engaged Americans have had the opportunity to gain clarity about the basis for freedom, equality, and the real meaning of progressoften more from their struggles and failures than from their material and business successes.

What you may have thought were random and disjointed events turn out to be developments, accumulation of knowledge, and transitions that make sense and explain why the ideas of America being a land of perpetual opportunity, progress, and hope are so enduring.

Its no secret that most academic historians approach their teaching and writing from a secular perspective. Few of them seem comfortable in exploring the spiritual ideas and motivations behind the movers and shakers of history, even though most of those movers left behind voluminous writings, correspondence, and diaries of their beliefs. This book unapologetically explores those beliefs, for that is essential to understand what motivates people and explains their chosen course of action. In addition, the books narrative includes the recounting of happenings that fall into the category of providential miraclesevents that actually occurred for which there is unassailable evidence, but no plausible explanation for how those events happened.