Why is this book important now? Our present era has been called “The Great Unraveling”. It will dawn on you, as it dawned on me, and will dawn on the readers that what it means to be an American has been carried from generation to generation in our youth, is our youth, and we were them.
But, we need a re-minding about where we have come from both the good and the bad. American youth will have to overcome great economic, political, religious crises to come. What dawns on the reader as you read about the contemporary generation – and compare them to the past - is that we can experience the unraveling through the biographies – but we’re not done yet.
This "dawning on us" is the point of this book’s design. It is a genuine and true insight. Because we care, we who are trying to read the “tea leaves”. We believe we Americans are a unique whole because of our diversity. Our country was forged in the crucible of independence – we unraveled from an English monarchy - but quickly struggled to form a union, a community, a state, a country.
At a time of unraveling, this may be the kind of shared story that is very important.
