The 5000 Year Leap

See larger image The Five Thousand Year Leap - w/CD-Rom eBook and MP3 Audio - Foreword by Glenn Beck (Paperback) By (author) W. Cleon Skousen List Price: $29.95 USD New From: $24.95 In Stock Used from: $24.95 In Stock

What is this 5000-year leap?  The story of how after 5000 years of recorded history the American Founders made a leap in the creation of government never before attained. This is an important book for anyone beginning their study of the Constitution or the founding of our nation.  Skousen provides a brief overview of the issues that shaped the founding of American government.

More informed students of the Founders will likely find this book a little spotty.  While the content is very good it is also unrealistically focused on the rosey picture of the founding while not giving all the details.  When Skousen wants to depict the Founders’ belief in a strong military he quotes Washington – but ignores Jefferson’s rather pacivist, anti-military perspectives.  When he wants to depict advocacy for strong central government he quotes Hamilton and Washington, but leaves out any discussion of the blistering opposition they faced on issues of central government from their fellow founders.

Skousens’ explanation of Jefferson’s love of Anglo-Saxon England here is very informative and is much better understood than modern writings on the subject by Ellis and other contemporaries who could never understand Jefferson there.

There is a current in this book that the Founders are untouchable as to criticism.  He defends Franklin’s womanizing and attempts to show such claims as unfounded.  He never mentions the terrific egos of the founders or their fierce quarrels.  His purpose is to explain how this group of individuals founded our republic on solid political theory.