Almost a decade ago, author and educator William J. Bennett and John T. E. Cribb published a 365-day almanac of our nation’s history. Now, in this new two-volume series compiled from The American Patriot’s Almanac, Bennett and Cribb’s masterful grasp of our history offers 150 examples of fascinating details of great American events.

A two-volume series compiled from William J. Bennett’s bestselling book, revised and updated.

150 Great American Events includes:

• American drama and interesting facts about American figures
• Obscure details about American history
• Patriotic facts to broaden one’s sense of the past
• Bold personalities and internal conflicts
• Discoveries, ideas, and more

In these easy-to-read entries, historical American events reemerge not as cold facts or boring details in a textbook, but as authentic events experienced by full-blooded, heroic pioneers whose far-reaching vision forged our nation. Great for history buffs, homeschoolers, teachers, and people who are interested in American history.

Almost a decade ago, author and educator William J. Bennett and John T. E. Cribb published a 365-day almanac of our nation’s history. Now, in this updated and expanded series compiled from The American Patriot’s Almanac, Bennett and Cribb’s masterful grasp of our history offers 150 more great Americans.

Our history is a heritage we Americans all share. It ties us together, like a common language or currency. Knowing that heritage helps us understand the central principles underlying American democracy and our responsibilities in passing them on to the next generation.

At a time when so many seem to be losing sight of our identity as a nation, it’s more important than ever to remember our heritage, not only so we can know who we are today, but to set us on the right path for the future.

From the letters of Abigail Adams to the adventures of William Penn, 150 Great Americans sheds light on:

• Incredible stories
• Larger-than-life personalities
• Fun facts, discoveries, and new perspectives

In these easy-to-digest entries, historical Americans reemerge not as marble icons or names in a textbook, but as full-blooded, heroic pioneers whose far-reaching vision forged our nation, connecting you to this great nation’s heritage.

To rescue the future, we must remember our past.

With command and wit, William J. Bennett reacquaints Americans with their heritage in an engaging narrative that cuts through the cobwebs of time, memory, and prevailing cynicism. Washington, Franklin, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and others reemerge not as marble icons or dust-dry names in a textbook, but as full-blooded, heroic pioneers whose far-reaching vision forged a nation that attracted?that still attracts?millions yearning to breathe free. In this, the first volume of a “reasoned, balanced presentation of the American story,” Bennett tells our nation’s story, with all its triumphs and tragedies. He summons us to embrace America’s cause once again as “the last best hope of earth.”

What others are saying:

“William J. Bennett artfully and subtly makes connections between our past and current events, reminding us … that we are intimately and immediately connected to the extraordinary Americans who have bestowed upon us our great heritage…. [T]he importance of America: The Last Best Hope probably exceeds anything Dr. Bennett has ever written, and it is more elegantly crafted and eminently readable than any comprehensive work of history I’ve read in a very long time. It’s silly to compare great works of history to great novels, but this book truly is a page-turner…. Prepare to have your faith in, hope for, and love of America renewed.”
-Brad Miner, American Compass

“The Role of history is to inform, inspire, and sometimes provoke us, which is why Bill Bennett’s wonderfully readable book is so important. He puts our nation’s triumphs, along with its lapses, into the context of a narrative about the progress of freedom. Every now and then it’s useful to be reminded that we are a fortunate people, blessed with generations of leaders who repeatedly renewed the meaning of America.”
-Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

“For too long Americans have been looking for a history of our country that tells the story of America’s triumphs as well as its tragedies. Now Bill Bennett has come forward with America: The Last Best Hope, which tells the story-fairly and fully-from 1492 to 1914. Americans who have been reading recent biographies of the Founding Fathers will love this book.”
-Michael Barone, US News & World Report

“Bill Bennett’s book will stand as perhaps the most important addition to American scholarship at this, the start of the new century. For the past fifty years American historians have either distorted American history or reduced it to a mess of boring indictments of our cultural and political heritage. With this book Bennett offers to Americans young and old an exciting and enjoyable history of what makes America the greatest nation on earth.
-Brian Kennedy, president, The Claremont Institute

Respected scholar William Bennett reacquaints America with its heritage in the second volume of America: The Last Best Hope (Volume II). This engaging narrative slices through the cobwebs of time, memory, and prevailing cynicism to reinvigorate America with an informed patriotism.

Like the previous volume of America: The Last Best Hope, Volume II responds to Reagan’s heartfelt call for an informed patriotism, telling the riveting story of the last century’s great wars, the rise of world Communism, the struggle of freedom at home and abroad, and the triumph of liberty.

America began to breathe easy at the close of the Cold War and loosened its grip on the fear of nuclear confrontation for the first time since World War Two. Peace was palpable, but in retrospect the years between 1988 and 2008 were as rocky as they were uncertain. Turbulence, not tranquility, marked the turn of the century: the war on drugs, race riots, values debates, deep economic shifts, and the growing threat of terrorism on U.S. soil that would tragically play out on September 11, 2001.

 In this, the third volume of America: The Last Best Hope, William J. Bennett explores America’s recent and momentous history: the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of global Communism; sweeping changes in political and popular culture; the war on terror and the election of America’s first African American president. Surveying the players, personalities, and pivotal moments, Bennett captures this recent chapter in the American story with piercing insight and unrelenting optimism. 

For many students, a bachelor’s degree is considered the golden ticket to a more financially and intellectually fulfilling life. But the disturbing reality is that debt, unemployment, and politically charged pseudo learning are more likely outcomes for many college students today than full-time employment and time-honored knowledge.

This raises the question: is college still worth it? Who is responsible for debt-saddled, undereducated students, and how do future generations of students avoid the same problems? In a time of economic uncertainty, what majors and schools will produce competitive graduates? Is College Worth It? uses personal experience, statistical analysis, and real-world interviews to provide answers to some of the most troubling social and economic problems of our time.

Millions of American families have turned to The Book of Virtues and The Moral Compass by William J. Bennett for moral guidance in troubled times. Our Sacred Honor offers inspiration and instruction as well — this time of a particularly American sort.
In Our Sacred Honor, Bennett has collected the best that has been thought and said by and about the men and women who founded America. The stories, songs, letters and speeches collected in Our Sacred Honor are an inspiring celebration of American exceptionalism.

Discover 365 reasons to love America as you read the storied history of the United States.

The fife and drum of history mark the time of each passing day. And within their cadence, personalities, conflicts, discoveries, ideas, and nations peal and fade. American history is no different. Best-selling author and educator Dr. William J. Bennett is a master of the story that is the United States.

In The American Patriot’s Almanac, Bennett distills the American drama into three hundred sixty-five entries-one for each day of the year, with stories including:

• the starving time of Jamestown during the Winter of 1609
• the bloody argument of the Civil War
• the invention of items such as Teflon

The stories in this book are part of what Abraham Lincoln called the “mystic chords of memory.” They are the symbols that define the essence of the United States, that mark its historic course, and connect its people.

The American Patriot’s Almanac is a daily source of inspiration and information about the history, heroes, and achievements that sum up what this nation is all about.

Images, tables, and reference material are included in the audiobook companion PDF download.

New York Times best-selling author William J. Bennett uses stories, essays, historical vignettes, and contemporary profiles to explore and explain what it means to be a man. Fashioning men has never been easy, but today it seems particularly tough. Boys need heroes to embody the everlasting qualities of manhood: honor, duty, valor, and integrity. Without such role models, boys will naturally choose perpetual childhood over the rigors of becoming a man-as many women, teachers, coaches, employers, and adults in authority can quickly attest. Too many boys and men waste time in pointless and soulless activities, unmindful of their responsibilities, uncaring in their pursuits. Have we forgotten how to raise men, how to lead our boys into manhood?
In The Book of Man, Bennett charts a clearer course, offering a positive, encouraging, uplifting, realizable idea of manhood, redolent of history and human nature, and practical for contemporary life. Like his classic, The Book of Virtues, Bennett uses profiles, stories, letters, poems, and myths to bring his subject to life, defining what a man should be, how he should live, and to what he should aspire in several key areas of life.

From the author of The Moral Compass and The Death of Outrage, William J. Bennett’s bestselling The Book of Virtues is an inspiring anthology that helps children understand and develop moral character‚Äîand helps parents teach it to them.

Responsibility. Courage. Compassion. Honesty. Friendship. Persistence. Faith. Everyone recognizes these traits as essentials of good character. In order for our children to develop such traits, we have to offer them examples of good and bad, right and wrong. And the best places to find them are in great works of literature and exemplary stories from history.

William J. Bennett has collected hundreds of stories in The Book of Virtues. From the Bible to American history, from Greek mythology to English poetry, from fairy tales to modern fiction, these stories are a rich mine of moral literacy, a reliable moral reference point that will help anchor our children and ourselves in our culture, our history, and our traditions—the sources of the ideals by which we wish to live our lives. Complete with instructive introductions and notes, The Book of Virtues is a book the whole family can read and enjoy—and learn from—together.

The second audio volume of William Bennett’s Book of Virtues, an inspiring anthology that helps children understand and develop moral character‚Äîand helps parents teach it to them.

Responsibility. Courage. Compassion. Honesty. Friendship. Persistence. Faith. Everyone recognizes these traits as essentials of good character. In order for our children to develop such traits, we have to offer them examples of good and bad, right and wrong. And the best places to find them are in great works of literature and exemplary stories from history.

William J. Bennett has collected hundreds of stories in The Book of Virtues. From the Bible to American history, from Greek mythology to English poetry, from fairy tales to modern fiction, these stories are a rich mine of moral literacy, a reliable moral reference point that will help anchor our children and ourselves in our culture, our history, and our traditions—the sources of the ideals by which we wish to live our lives. Complete with instructive introductions and notes, The Book of Virtues is a book the whole family can read and enjoy—and learn from—together.

Help your children develop moral character with this updated, 30th anniversary edition of the perennial classic The Book of Virtues.

Almost 3 million copies of the Book of Virtues have been sold since it was published in 1993. It is one of the most popular moral primers ever written, an inspiring anthology that helps children understand and develop character–and helps parents teach it to them. Thirty years ago, readers thought that the times were right for a book about moral literacy. Back then, Americans worried that schools were no longer parents’ allies in teaching good character. As the book’s original introduction noted, “moral anchors and moorings have never been more necessary.” If that was true in the 1990s, it is even more true today. The explosion of information with the Internet has left many unsure of what is valuable and what is not.

Responsibility. Courage. Compassion. Loyalty. Honesty. Friendship. Persistence. Hard work. Self-discipline. Faith. These remain the essentials of good character. The Book of Virtues contains hundreds of exemplary stories offering children examples of good and bad, right and wrong. Drawing on the Bible, American history, Greek mythology, English poetry, fairy tales, and modern fiction, William J. and Elayne Bennett show children the many virtuous paths they can follow–and the ones they ought to avoid. For the 30th anniversary edition, the Bennetts have slimmed down the book’s contents, while also finding room to introduce such figures as Mother Teresa, Colin Powell, and heroes of 9/11 and the War in Afghanistan. Here is a rich mine of moral literacy to teach a new generation of children about American culture, history, and traditions–ultimately, the ideals by which we wish to live our lives. The updated edition of The Book of Virtues will continue a legacy of raising moral children far into a new century.

Bestselling author William Bennett addresses the central social issue of our time—the deline of the family—in a book as intellectually provocative and politically controversial as his landmark The Death of Outrage.

Our recent economic prosperity has masked the devastation of the American family, which is now under seige as never before. From the dramatic rise in illegitimacy, divorce, and single parenthood to the call for the recognition of gay marriages, the traditional nuclear family is being radically challenged and undermined, along with the moral and legal consensus that once supported it.

Now in The Broken Hearth, William Bennett, America’s foremost conservative spokesperson on matters of family values, presents a strong, well-reasoned, and informed defense of the traditional family. Interweaving history, anthropology, law, social science, and the teachings of Western religions, he argues that marriage between a man and a woman and the creation of a permanent, loving, and nurturing environment for children is a great historical achievement, one that should not be lightly abandoned in favor of more “progressive” arrangements. Bennett displays his ability to combine fearless conviction, acute insight, and respect for his adversaries in thorough, balanced, and enlightening discussions of single parenthood, cohabitation, gay marriage, and other trends that are undercuttingthe ideal of the family as the essential foundation of society.

Looking closely at the concerns and questions that divide America, Bennett provides a powerful affirmation of family life and the values and benefits it bestows on individuals and on society as a whole.

From the author of the bestselling book The Educated Child comes a compelling and inspiring book that answers any question a young child may have about America.

Where did America come from? What does it mean to be an American? What makes America great? No volume will provide more compelling and inspiring answers to our children’s questions than William Bennett’s marvelous new treasury, The Children’s Book of America. Filled with history and folktales, songs and poems, heroes and everyday Americans, this indispensable audiobook is a classic collection of great Americana.

This lasting testament to our beloved country features performances by Elayne Bennett, Hinton Battle, John McMartin, Phylicia Rashad, and more. The Children’s Book of America is a marvelous celebration of our nation’s history and spirit for the youngest Americans.

William Bennett and Michael Hague, the team that brought us the national bestseller The Children’s Book of Virtues, have once again collaborated to create The Children’s Book of Heroes, a beautifully illustrated celebration of heroic deeds, both real and fictional, that will delight and inspire millions of young children and their parents.

“We all need a hero or two to help us stand fast and think right,” says William J. Bennett, author of The Book of Virtues, the bestseller that millions of American families turn to for moral inspiration. With excerpts chosen for young children, this new treasury presents splendid tales of the valor and indomitable spirit that are a lasting testament to our cherished values.

Jackie Robinson stands fast on the playing field and his strength of character inspires a nation. David slays Goliath and his faith and bravery give hope to underdogs everywhere. A little boy goes in search of an angel and finds one who guards him day and night: his own mother. From Abraham Lincoln and Mother Teresa to warriors on the battlefield, real moms and dads, and even young girls and boys, here are worthy and heroic figures all kids can look up to and emulate.

The Children’s Book of Heroes is a celebration of the endurance, sacrifice, courage, and compassion that characterize truly heroic deeds.

From the #1 national bestseller comes the definitive audio treasury of great moral takes for young children and their parents, including ten postcard-sized reproductions of Michael Hague’s beautiful illustrations and featuring performances by:

The Bennett Family
(William, Elayne, John and Joseph)

Barbara Bush

Dorian Harewood

Charlton Heston

Dava Ivey

Andrea Martin

Howard McGillin

Kate Nelligan

Faith Prince

Tom Selleck

Betty White

In this new, updated edition of a book heralded as a clarion call to the nation’s conscience, William Bennett asks why we see so little public outrage in the fade of the evidence of deep corruption within Bill Clinton’s administration.

The Death of Outrage examines the Monica Lewinsky scandal as it unfolded, from Clinton’s denials that he had had sex with a young White House intern, to his testimony before the grand jury, to the nation’s decision not to remove Clinton from office. Brick by brick, Bennett dismantles the wall of defenses offered by Clinton and his apologists, and casts the clear light of moral reason and common sense on a shameful chapter in American history.

The Educated Child defines a good education and offers parents a plan of action for ensuring that their children achieve it.

The Educated Child defines a good education and offers parents a plan of action for ensuring that their children achieve it. Combining the goals that William Bennett enumerated as Secretary of Education, key excerpts from E. D. Hirsch’s Core Knowledge Sequence, and the latest research, it sets forth clear curricula and specific objectives for children from kindergarten through the eighth grade, including:

-What children should be studying and the kind of work they should be doing

-Important facts to learn and essential reading lists

-When children should master specific math skills, spelling and grammar basics, and scientific facts

-Test preparation, homework, and other areas that require parental involvement

The Educated Child also examines timely issues such as school choice, sex education, character education, and the phonics/whole language debate. Perhaps most important, it encourages parents to become advocates for their children by learning what to look for in a good school, how to talk to educators, and how, when necessary, to push for needed changes. For parents concerned about their children’s current education and future lives, it is the ultimate handbook.

The Moral Compass is the inspiring and instructive companion volume to William J. Bennett’s bestselling work, The Book of Virtues, offering many more examples of good and bad, right and wrong, in great works from literature and in exemplary stories from history.

Organized by the stages along life’s journey, these stories and poems serve as reference points on a moral compass, guiding the reader through the ethical and spiritual challenges along the pathway of life: leaving home, entering into marriage, easing the burdens of others, nurturing one’s children, and fulfilling the obligations of citizenship and leadership.

Drawn from familiar Western history and mythology as well as a wide selection of tales and folklore from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, the stories in The Moral Compass are literary and evocative, designed to inspire as well as instruct. Complete with informative introductions and notes, The Moral Compass is an indispensable guide that will help family members meet the challenges of life at any age.

Former secretary of education and New York Times bestselling author William Bennett blends his historical expertise with his gift for storytelling into a heartwarming book about the man who ultimately became known as Santa Claus.

Beloved writer and speaker William Bennett brings the legendary Saint Nicholas to life in this fascinating and faith-affirming book that will change the way you think about Santa Claus and the meaning of Christmas. Bennett reflects on Saint Nicholas’s storied life, which has spanned seventeen centuries across Europe, Asia, and Africa, and reveals an inspiring tale of devotion to God and an example of eternal goodness.

The True Saint Nicholas: Why He Matters to Christmas focuses on three aspects of Saint Nicholas—historical facts from his life, his legacy in the centuries following his death, and the legendary status that transformed his likeness into the present-day jolly, toy-bearing Santa Claus. The book vividly captures the heart and life of someone who lived long ago—and yet whose life remains an inspiration for everyone to aspire to a higher order of generosity, giving, and devotion to others.

An instant classic by one of America’s most respected thinkers, The True Saint Nicholas is a memorable keepsake to be shared with family and friends every year to evoke the true spirit of Christmas.

Full of larger-than-life characters, stunning acts of bravery, and heart-rending sacrifice, Tried by Fire narrates the rise and expansion of Christianity from an obscure regional sect to the established faith of the world’s greatest empire with influence extending from India to Ireland, Scandinavia to Ethiopia, and all points in between. William J. Bennett explores the riveting lives of saints and sinners, paupers and kings, merchants and monks who together—and against all odds—changed the world forever. To tell their story, Bennett follows them through the controversies and trials of their time. Challenged by official persecution, heresy, and schism, they held steadfast to the truth of Christ. Strengthened by poets, preachers, and theologians, they advanced in devotion and love. In this moving and accessible narrative, Tried by Fire speaks across centuries to offer insight into the people and events that shaped the faith that continues to shape our lives today.

The perfect companion to William J. Bennett’s bestseller The Book of Virtues, The Children’s Book of Virtues Audio Treasury is the ideal storybook for parents and children to enjoy together.

With selections from The Book of Virtues, from Aesop and Robert Frost to George Washington’s life as well as Native American and African folklore, The Children’s Book of Virtues Audio Treasury brings together timeless stories and poems from around the world.

The stories have been chosen especially for a young audience to help parents introduce to their children the essentials of good character: courage, perseverance, responsibility, work, self-discipline, compassion, faith, honesty, loyalty, and friendship.

The Children’s Book of Virtues Audio Treasury is an enduring treasury of literature and art that will help lead young minds toward what is noble and gentle and fine.