The Soul of America

The Battle for Our Better Angels

By: Jon Meacham

Narrated by: Fred Sanders, Jon Meacham

Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Number-one New York Times best seller

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham helps us understand the present moment in American politics and life by looking back at critical times in our history when hope overcame division and fear.

Named one of the best books of the year by NPR, the Christian Science Monitor, and Southern Living.

Our current climate of partisan fury is not new, and in The Soul of America Meacham shows us how what Abraham Lincoln called the "better angels of our nature" have repeatedly won the day. Painting surprising portraits of Lincoln and other presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and Lyndon B. Johnson, and illuminating the courage of such influential citizen activists as Martin Luther King Jr., early suffragettes Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt, civil rights pioneers Rosa Parks and John Lewis, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and Army-McCarthy hearings lawyer Joseph N. Welch, Meacham brings vividly to life turning points in American history. He writes about the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the birth of the Lost Cause; the backlash against immigrants in the First World War and the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s; the fight for women's rights; the demagoguery of Huey Long and Father Coughlin and the isolationist work of America First in the years before World War II; the anti-Communist witch hunts led by Senator Joseph McCarthy; and Lyndon Johnson’s crusade against Jim Crow. Each of these dramatic hours in our national life have been shaped by the contest to lead the country to look forward rather than back, to assert hope over fear - a struggle that continues even now.

While the American story has not always - or even often - been heroic, we have been sustained by a belief in progress even in the gloomiest of times. In this inspiring book, Meacham reassures us, "The good news is that we have come through such darkness before" - as, time and again, Lincoln’s better angels have found a way to prevail.

Praise for The Soul of America:

“Brilliant, fascinating, timely... With compelling narratives of past eras of strife and disenchantment, Meacham offers wisdom for our own time.” (Walter Isaacson)

“Gripping and inspiring, The Soul of America is Jon Meacham’s declaration of his faith in America.” (Newsday)

“Meacham gives readers a long-term perspective on American history and a reason to believe the soul of America is ultimately one of kindness and caring, not rancor and paranoia.” (USA Today)

©2018 Jon Meacham (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"This is a brilliant, fascinating, timely, and above all profoundly important book." (Walter Isaacson)

"Rather than curse the darkness, Jon Meacham, with his usual eloquence and surpassing knowledge of our history, has offered us all the sublime and calming reassurance that as threatening as so much of the present moment seems, Americans have weathered such storms before and come out on the other side with fresh and progressive horizons. This is a beautifully expressed and convincing prayer to summon our own 'better angels' to meet the obvious challenges of today." (Ken Burns)

"Meacham has become one of America's most earnest and thoughtful biographers and historians.... Meacham gives readers a long-term perspective on American history and a reason to believe the soul of America is ultimately one of kindness and caring, not rancor and paranoia. Finally, Meacham provides advice to find our better angels - enter the arena, resist tribalism, respect facts and deploy reason, find a critical balance and keep history in mind. He’s provided a great way to do it." (USA Today)

Inspiration Just When We Need it Most!

So educational and inspiring with capable and fitting narrations. Jon Meacham is a calm and measured, yet powerful force in helping the reader more fully understand that we've been to this place before in our nation's history and politics, and again we are called to denounce fear tactics, look forward instead of back, speak kindly to one another through ongoing dialogue, and vote! Only then can our better angels prevail. Truly a masterful look at our nation's history as it leads up to our present social and moral crisis. Such an inspiring book for these unsteady times in our nation, complete with a plethora of fitting quotes from a variety of consequential leaders. Well done, Mr. Meacham.

A must read!

Meacham has captured the essential historical ideals that have made America unique among nations. His writing is vivid and inviting and his message is one of hope despite his awareness that these ideals are under siege by the current administration. The narrator is competent but the preface and epilogue, which are narrated by the author, make this audiobook very special.

An Excellent Reminder

Thank you, John Meacham, for reminding us that we have been at these crossroads many times before and our Democracy has prevailed. And for the sobering realization that we are not perfect, that we never have been, but we have also never stopped striving for perfection. I feel so much better for having read this.

Required reading

All those who care for this country should read, and absorb, this book. It is a lesson in the necessity and value of selfless leadership and the role such leaders have had at critical moments in American history. Thank you, Mr. Meacham, for reminding us of these better angels.

Some things are worth fighting for.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Progress can come during difficult times and from imperfect people. Always strive to be better than we are.

Excellent read.

Interesting reading with many illustrations and examples to highlight key points. Well researched and enlightening.

Combination History Lesson, Sermon and Pep Talk

I’ve admired Meacham’s analysis of current events for years from his appearances on News shows. His has often been the voice of sanity grounded in historical fact in times of questioning, fear and real crisis in our era.

He comes forward again with this book of history and encouragement that often reads like a prayer for hope in times of distress. His opening sermon recounts many quotations from wise leaders of the past to preach that we Americans have survived and often overcome monumental challenges in our history. It is a lesson worth remembering now.

He goes on to describe critical milestones in the life of America and some of the characters and movements that peopled those challenges and led us to overcome them:

The soul of America is strong

We’re living a part of American history that divides the nation like few other eras. No matter what is happening today Jon Meacham adequately describes that the soul of America is resilient and will withstand the test of time—no matter what’s thrown at it. Meacham and Fred Sanders take us on a journey throughout history that shows that we’ve been here before and will be here for years to come. Democracy is stronger than any one person or group that tries to tear it apart.

Hopeful message for these dark times

Donald Trump and the dark impulses in the population that enabled his ascent are nothing new. It’s both comforting to realize that despite making the same type of mistakes over and over again, with time the people correct the mistakes. However of course still troubling that this is the first time one of the worst of our demagogues has become president.

Timely

Refreshing to be reminded of some of the great leaders we have had in this country and how what made them great was their ability to sacrifice in order to do the right thing.