Book Review- The American Patriot's Almanac

The American Patriot’s Almanac by William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb is the first book I recently chose to review for Thomas Nelson. It actually would make a great book to have on your coffee table when friends come over because it would encourage some interesting conversation. The title fits it well; it is absolutely full of patriotic stories, dates, facts, and heroes. There are several well-known facts, but there were also things I had no idea about, such as the story of the astronauts who read from Genesis 1 as they orbited the moon in 1968, or the story of General MacArthur and how at first, he had refused to leave his men behind on the Bataan Peninsula, until the order came from the President for him to go. It brought out the stories of so many heroes down through our history. For example, there was a more recent story of Marine Corporal Jason Dunham, who essentially gave his own life for those of his comrades in arms. The stories both inspired me and gave me a hunger to learn more, to read more about our history.

The setup of the book is different, in that it’s similar to a devotional. There is a page for each day of the year, and that page starts out with a story from American history, and the bottom of the page ends with several well-known to little-known facts from different years for that day. The facts were fun to actually skim through, and certain ones would catch my eye. There were serious facts, but there were also fun facts, such as when Teflon was invented in 1938 or the Taco Bell prank of April 1, 1996.

All in all, I loved this book and won’t be getting bored of it anytime soon. Even if you aren’t a history buff but would love a great read, read more here.