I’ve been carrying around with me a gift I got for Christmas: The American Patriot’s Handbook: The Writings, History, and Spirit of a Free Nation.  Small and hardbound, like a small bible, the book contains, in chronological order, key writings and orations that have shaped American culture since the founding of European colonies in North America.

The author, George Grant, writes that he was interested in restoring something that used to be common in American upbringing: such handbooks of civic education.  In an era of growing interest in government transparency and citizen participation, it is increasingly important to stimulate thinking and understanding of how the systems that we have (and are wrestling with)  came to be, and under what very explicit philosophies some of them were created.

I’m finding the book to be quite interesting and something I wish we had been giving many years ago as students.