A battle rages for the heart
and soul of America.
For one group, the idea of “American Exceptionalism” is dead. Some never
tire of lecturing us about how out-of-step America is with the rest of the
world and how she needs to get with it. Worse, America, they say, is bad for the
world. Her freedom and prosperity are merely historical accidents.
Of course, this narrative
presupposes there are better places in the world to live. Are there? Were
Alec Baldwin to leave the country permanently as he once promised, where would
he go?
As a writer who travels all
over the world, I see a lot: extremes of wealth and poverty; brutal regimes and
those that seem impotent to maintain a rule of law; persecuted minorities and
monocultures; feted
miserable masses and the happy poor—all of this and more.
As the debate over America
broke forth into our streets with the defeat of Democrat presidential candidate
Hillary Clinton and the inauguration of Republican Donald Trump in 2016, it
occurred to me that most Americans have never been abroad. Indeed, 64 percent
have never been to another country. So, when The New York Times declares
as they did in 2019 headline, “Please Stop Telling Me America Is Great,” how is
one to judge the truth of such a statement?
My book Around the World
in (More Than) 80 Days: Discovering What Makes America Great and Why We Must Fight
to Save It was my answer to this problem. Don’t have a passport? Can’t get
time off? Lack the resources to travel around the world? I’ll do it for you! My
book takes the reader on a virtual global expedition, of sorts, touring them
through those countries with which America is most often compared and
not just a few others.
I take you to some 26
countries to see how America
stacks up and to explore the question of national greatness: Is it an accident
of history or do nations determine their own fate? Is it all about
national wealth and healthcare? Is religion a positive or a negative
factor? Along the way, he experiences many adventures and offers us greater
perspective on the ultimate question:
Is America truly great when measured
against the rest of the world or do we join the lynch mob gathering at the feet
of the Statue of Liberty and punish her for her sins?
About the Book
The
belief in “American Exceptionalism” is under attack, declares Larry Alex
Taunton, an award-winning author, columnist, and cultural commentator. “A
battle rages for the heart and soul of America.”
For Taunton, the question
comes down to: Is there a better place to live than America?
To
explore the idea of “national greatness,” Taunton
went on a global odyssey, visiting some 26 countries. He records his
discoveries in his new book, AROUND THE WORLD
IN (MORE THAN) 80 DAYS: DISCOVERING WHAT MAKES AMERICA
GREAT AND WHY WE MUST FIGHT TO SAVE IT.
If all
of this sounds like a slog over some serious philosophic and political terrain,
it is, but Taunton’s
wry humor leavens the loaf.
In a
chapter on Sweden,
for example, the author hears, on a boat tour of Stockholm, a litany of Swedish
accomplishments from his guides: “America? We discovered that. Skype?
We invented it. The flat screen? You’re welcome. IKEA? You guessed it.”
Taunton’s mix of socio-political observations and cheeky wit in AROUND THE
WORLD IN (MORE THAN) 80 DAYS opens the book up to a large and diverse group
of readers.
The online
publication The Federalist says of Taunton’s
work: “The social elites want evangelicals to be as dumb as they suspect they
are. But when a person comes along who proves that tale false, which Taunton clearly does…they
simply don’t know what to do.”
In advance
praise for AROUND THE WORLD IN (MORE
THAN) 80 DAYS, Paul Reid, co-author with William Manchester, of THE LAST LION: WINSTON SPENCER CHURCHILL:
DEFENDER OF THE REALM, 1940-1965 observes:
Larry Taunton—historian, columnist, and a
man of abiding Christian faith—traveled (often at great risk to himself) to
twenty-six nations in order to hold a mirror up to the United States of America
and ask: Is America Good and is America Great? Mark Twain did much the same
more than a century ago. Twain’s and Taunton’s
conclusions are identical: There is no place—literally No Place—like home. “Around
the World in (More Than) 80 Days is fabulous.” It’s going on my shelf next to “The Innocents
Abroad.”
AROUND THE WORLD IN (MORE THAN) 80 DAYS is a book for all seasons.
ORDER YOUR COPY
Simon
and Schuster → https://bit.ly/3nu9UtG
About the Author
Larry Alex
Taunton is an American author, columnist, and cultural commentator. A frequent
television and radio guest, he has appeared on CNN, CNN International, Fox
News, Al Jazeera
America,
and BBC. You can find his columns on issues of faith and culture in The
Atlantic, USA Today, CNN.com, and The Blaze.
Taunton has been quoted by Rush Limbaugh, The
New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, TIME, Vanity Fair, and NPR, among others.
He is the author of "The Grace Effect" and "The Faith of
Christopher Hitchens."
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