The Five Thousand Year Leap
By W. Cleon Skousen
Synopsis: A book about the 28 principles which underlie the genius of the Constitution, and which have allowed America, and the world, to progress farther in the last 200 years than it has in the last 5,000 years. The principles are discussed by liberally drawing upon the words of the Founders themselves or of the philosophers and great minds that influenced them.
Strong Points: This is an excellent book and is very important. It tells in a very concise and interesting way the inspired philosophy and principles of truth behind the Constitution of the United States, the greatest freedom-formulating document in the history of mankind. The chapters are brief and it is very readable. Nevertheless, the reader will come away with a greatly enriched understanding of the principles of freedom given to men from above, which need to be regained and preserved. Highly recommended!
Weak Points: In their haste to come out with this new edition, the editors have made many formatting and editing mistakes (with punctuation, etc.) that unfortunately detract from the excellent content of the book. Something to just look past, I guess. Also, the cover says "Forward by Glenn Beck," but what they really had him do was rewrite the book's introduction. I would have much, much preferred that Glenn Beck simply discuss the grand impact of the book and its author in his foreward and leave the original introduction as it was authored by Skousen. One last thing: The editors' inclusion of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" in the Appendix seemed to lack relevance to the purpose of the book. I would have much preferred selected quotes from The Federalist Papers or something along those lines.
Interesting: 4.4/5
Must Read: 4.9/5
Overall: 4.5/5