Friday, March 16, 2012

Book Review - The Founder's Key: The Divine and Natural Connection Between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and What We Risk by Losing It



This is a long title for what turned out to be a rather short book. Halfway through this otherwise excellent treatise on the contemporary value of these founding documents we find none other than the full text of the documents themselves. This was a major disappointment as I found the author's positions and arguments compelling and worth reading. His credentials at first rendered the book too academic sounding. But the stories provided a more genuine argument. I wanted the book to go on. But suddenly it was over. It felt incomplete and quite frankly I felt robbed. If I wanted to read the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Federalist papers, I can do so for free on-line. I'm not sure whether this was the author's idea or the publisher's. Either way, it reduced my otherwise high ranking of this book as a result. Had the author or publisher provided a reference section of the author's other supporting work, I would have gone there just to get the rest of the story. I'm sure Mr. Arnn has much more to say. As it is, the Suggested Further Reading section provides many other authors, but not Mr. Arnn. I am also curious how Thomas Nelson gained the copyright to our founding documents, as the copyright page clearly states, "No portion of this book may be reproduced...except for brief quotations...without the prior written permission of the publisher."

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”