REVISED FROM NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER (3/24/06):

books:


	• Prayer in America: A Spiritual History of Our Nation James P. Jr Moore Image, 2007 - 544 pages average customer review:based on 46 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

"The Family That Reads This BookTogether ..."

I have two teenage sons. They are good boys, but my wife and I have realized for the past couple of years that they have taken on more and more into their own activites. We have been trying to figure out family activities in the normal course of the day where we can do things together, but up until recently it has been tough.

Incredibly and quite surprisingly, "One Nation Under God" brought our family together in untold ways. My wife bought the book before Christmas, read it, and gave it to me to read. She was absolutely over the moon after she read it in three sittings. Both of us had digested it by New Year's.

Both of us talked about it over the dinner table one evening in front of our boys. Soon I discovered that Thomas, the older of the two, had taken it and had read it cover to cover during his break from school. Soon Patrick had devoured it as well, finishing it in short order as all of us had done.

We then came back from church one Sunday and had one of those memorable dinners that we know we will remember well into old age. It came as we all began discussing the book and the prayer life of Americans throughout history. The boys focused on the explorers, sports heroes, and entertainers they had read about. My wife and I talked about the great writers and our presidents. Never since we have raised those boys has my entire family been engaged in that kind of animated discussion over the dinner table. And over a BOOK of all things!

You have no idea how proud that moment was for my wife and me. There was something in this book for all of us, and it was something that we could share together.

Needless to say I am "nuts" over "One Nation Under God." I subsequnetly read one review that called it a "tour de force." That it is. But more than even that, it became a catalyst for bringing my family together in a special way. You can't put a price on that.

Bravo to the author on behalf of lots of Americans today and I suspect for lots of Americans to come.

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My "All Nighter" with One Nation Under God

It is almost 6:00 a.m. in Chicago, and I had to sit down and write a review before going off to bed. I just finished One Nation Under God and was blown away. I literaly could not put it down from the moment I began reading it yesterday evening. I loved it from start to finish. The author has an incredibly intimate and pleasing way of conveying history. With the war in Iraq, problems on the domestic front, and so much more, I often wonder where we are going and where it will lead. Honestly, I thought this book helped unlock the hope for me that always springs eternal given the spiritual roots of our country. Who would have thought that you could find deep spirituality in such figures as Jack Kerouac, Jim Morrison, and Tupac Shakur? I am about to take off for an overseas assignment, a bit homesick already before I do. One Nation Under God will be packed with me. Whenever I get a little lonely, I will have it handy. This has become a special book for me, and I thank the author profusely for giving me and thousands of others the benefit of his hard work and loving treatment of our history.

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REVISED FROM NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER (3/24/06):

"America is a nation with the soul of a church," said G.K. Chesterton. Churches pray. So does America, argues James Moore, former Assistant Secretary of Commerce and now an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University. His book is a masterful tour de force discussing the role of prayer in American life, carrying readers from the first Native Americans and Columbus to the Iraq War and second Bush Administration. America never had a "naked public square." Prayer has always profoundly shaped this society, its government and leaders, its history and its culture.
That doesn't mean Americans wear their prayer lives on their sleeves. "The great irony in the United States today is that while prayer has long played a critical role in the life of America, it too often has become a subject best publicly avoided. Even though prayer has pervaded American life consciously and unconsciously throughout history, many people have difficulty discussing it. . . . [W]e will know we have become a mature nation when we can speak freely about the importance of prayer without fear of adolescent embarrassment" (p. 466). 2005's counter-reaction to efforts at taking Christ out of Christmas indicates that those who think America's discreet religiosity means ours is a secular society just do not understand this land. Moore shows us that those who pray are no vanishing breed: lots of our neighbors, ordinary Americans past and present, pray.
But what is prayer for Moore? The author wisely recognizes that no one-size-fits-all definition embraces the prayers of people mentioned in this book as diverse as Black Elk, George Washington, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Weldon Johnson, and Aretha Franklin. All of them, however, recognize "prayer as the elevated communication of human beings with their God. . . . Like grains of sand . . . no two individuals pray or perceive God exactly alike" (p. xv).
The positive reception One Nation under God has enjoyed proves Moore's addressed a real need. This volume is the product of Moore's search for a book that comprehensively addressed prayer as a fact of American life. Finding none, he filled the gap! The book is neither about religious history nor some dry, academic tome. Moore instead tells us about how Americans, steeped in prayer, have always shaped their society, history and culture. He writes for average Americans, in an engaging and entertaining way. His synthesis of so many details into a coherent whole makes for pleasant reading, while seasoning his book with trivia that never becomes trivial. He always maintains an ecumenical and upbeat tone. Indeed, if I had any reservation, it's Moore's proclivity invariably to accentuate the positive. Is every presidential proclamation of thanksgiving necessarily suggestive of the personal pieties of each of America's presidents? Could some of them have just been paying their dues to American civil religion?
Moore showcases the spiritual lives of Americans. How many people know that J.C. Penney (of chain store fame) ran a philantropy to care for retired ministers? That one of Bill Cosby's early repartees, back when he was starting out as a comic, involved a dialogue between God and Noah? That the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" emerged from a carriage ride Julia Ward Howe took with her minister one afternoon in 1861 to see Union troops drilling in northern Virginia?
Telling U.S. history against the backdrop of prayer is a wonderful reminder to every American about the soul of his country. It also reminds us of the powerful force prayer has played in American life.

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A Wonderful Way to Prepare for Easter

I just wanted to say that I have enjoyed One Nation Under God immensely. From beginning to end the book has made me think a great deal about my own prayer life in so many wonderful ways. I am a mother of five and have particularly enjoyed the prayers of mothers and children throughout the book from famous personalities throughout our history and some not so famous. I have bought a book for our pastor and his wife (She has three little ones), and I know they will enjoy it every bit as much as I did.

A Stunner ...

"One Nation Under God" is a stunning book in every way. Its breadth, depth, and sheer magnitude, incredibly written, brings American spirituality alive. This is not a religious book or a tome about the history of churches ni America. It is far more simple. It is about American spiritual valuse that have carried it long before the republic came into existence.

Unlike some people, I had to read this book one chapter at a time. What I mean is that I wanted to read it in a few sittings. it turned out to be so good, that I decided I should only read one chapter a day. It was like eating chocolate. I had to go at it one chapter at a time and savor each one as though I were savoring the finest truffles.

My faith resonnated from page to page. I loved the prayers of little children and those of their parents. While the prayers and prayer lives of famous Americans were certainly of interest, I really was taken by the ordinary men and women that this book covered.

Bravo James Moore! You have done the country a good deed. One Nation Under God is a feast for the eyes and the imagination.
finest truffle

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reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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