America's Prophet: How the Story of Moses Shaped America - Softcover

Feiler, Bruce

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061726273 ISBN 13: 9780061726279

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks, 2010

Synopsis

Bruce Feiler’s New York Times bestsellers Abraham, Walking the Bible, and Where God Was Born brilliantly explored the roots of faith. With America’s Prophet, Feiler looks at Moses and the essential role the prophet has played in our nation’s history and development. Bruce Feiler’s most fascinating and thought-provoking book to date, America’s Prophet delves deeply into how the Exodus story and America’s true “Spiritual Founding Father” have inspired many of the most important figures and defining events in this country’s history—from the Mayflower Pilgrims to the Civil Rights movement—and how Moses can provide meaning in times of national crisis, even today.

 

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Review:

Book Description

The exodus story is America's story. Moses is our real founding father.

The pilgrims quoted his story. Franklin and Jefferson proposed he appear on the U.S. seal. Washington and Lincoln were called his incarnations. The Statue of Liberty and Superman were molded in his image. Martin Luther King, Jr., invoked him the night before he died. Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama cited him as inspiration. For four hundred years, one figure inspired more Americans than any other. His name is Moses.

In this groundbreaking book, New York Times bestselling author Bruce Feiler travels through touchstones in American history and traces the biblical prophet's influence from the Mayflower through today. He visits the island where the pilgrims spent their first Sabbath, climbs the bell tower where the Liberty Bell was inscribed with a quote from Moses, retraces the Underground Railroad where "Go Down, Moses" was the national anthem of slaves, and dons the robe Charlton Heston wore in The Ten Commandments.

"Even a cursory review of American history indicates that Moses has emboldened leaders of all stripes," Feiler writes, "patriot and loyalist, slave and master, Jew and Christian. Could the persistence of his story serve as a reminder of our shared national values? Could he serve as a unifying force in a disunifying time? If Moses could split the Red Sea, could he unsplit America?"

One part adventure story, one part literary detective story, one part exploration of faith in contemporary life, America's Prophet takes readers through the landmarks of America's narrative—from Gettysburg to Selma, the Silver Screen to the Oval Office—to understand how Moses has shaped the nation's character.

Meticulously researched and highly readable, America's Prophet is a thrilling, original work of history that will forever change how we view America, our faith, and our future.

Photographs from America's Prophet
(Click to See Full Image)

The Hebrew Letter "Bet" “In every generation one should regard oneself as though he had come out of Egypt.” The large letter “bet” contains the word “bad” and images of ancient Egypt at top and Nazi concentration camps at bottom. Drawing by Yosef Dov Sheinson from A Survivors’ Haggadah. (Courtesy of The Jewish Publication Society)	Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in a never-before-published photograph, delivering his sermon “The Death of Evil Upon the Seashore” at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, New York, May 17, 1956, during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. (Courtesy of the Archives of the Episcopal Diocese of New York at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine)	Liberty Enlightening the World With ships and New York Harbor in the background. Lithograph published by Currier & Ives, c. 1886. (Courtesy of The Library of Congress)	The Great Seal of the United States John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson’s proposal for the Great Seal of the United States, as drawn by Benson J. Lossing for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, July 1856. (Courtesy of The Library of Congress)

From the Back Cover:

Hailed as one of the most original works of history in years, America's Prophet reveals how generations of Americans have been inspired by the story of Moses.

The pilgrims quoted his story. Franklin and Jefferson proposed he appear on the U.S. seal. Washington and Lincoln were called his incarnations. The Statue of Liberty and Superman were molded in his image. Martin Luther King Jr. invoked him the night before he died. Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama cited him as inspiration. For four hundred years, one figure has inspired more Americans than any other. His name is Moses.

Traveling through touchstones in American history, bestselling author Bruce Feiler traces the biblical prophet's influence from the Mayflower through today. Meticulously researched and highly readable, America's Prophet is a thrilling, original work of history that will forever change how we view America, our faith, and our future.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0061726273
• ISBN 13: 9780061726279
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400