The second volume of William Bennett’s history of the U.S. — America: The Last Best Hope — is out. I haven’t had a chance to start reading it yet, but I assume Bennett has adopted the same approach to American history that he used in the first volume, which he described as follows:
In this work, I will not try to cover up great wrongs. Injustices need sunlight — always, as Justice Brandeis said, the best disinfectant. I will try to paint America as Oiliver Cromwell asked to be painted: warts and all. But I will not follow the fashion of some today who see America as nothing but warts.
Volume II covers the period from 1914 to 1989. This was a period of great triumph for the U.S. — triumph in World War I, World War II, and the Cold War, as well as triumph over our worst warts. Bennett strikes me as the perfect author to tell this story.
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