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Sep 09, 2008

Jodi Z rated it:

Should be required reading for every American. A great place to start your study of the ideas of our nation's founders.

This was an eye-opening introduction to what went into creating our government system. I am all the more convinced that those who think the founders' ideas are quaint and outdated have not done nearly the research that the founders' themselves did. It has been said that we should not try to do what great men did but instead strive to see what they saw. The 5000 More...

3 comments like (12 people liked it)

Mar 09, 2010

Scott rated it:

For such a small and plainly written book, readers will take away very different messages from The 5,000 Year Leap depending on their already-held beliefs. The author, Cleon Skousen, was an extremely conservative Mormon and a highly vocal critic of communism, as well as a cyclically successful author.

My best guess for why this particular book has found success above all of his other books is that he hides his views in the background, creating the illusion of an objective historica More...

0 comments like (13 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2008

Shannon rated it:

This book is soooo good! It's awesome because it gives you insights on many of the founding fathers opinions while at the same time answering so many questions that arise today. Such as, is the Constitution outdated? In the back of my mind I knew it wasn't, but I couldn't have explained why until I read this book. The Constitution deals with principles, wich are timeless. It also deals with human nature, and though our way of living may have changed, our nature never will.

Anot More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Feb 15, 2010

Temple rated it:

worst book ever. seriously. academically and logically flawed from cover to cover, miserably written, and extra creepy when you realize it's just mormonism for the masses. sorry, mormons...don't get me wrong: I loathe and resent all religions...but joseph smith was flippin whacked. And so is this book.

9 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 11, 2011

Robbie rated it:

The 5000 Year Leap is a profound piece of work on the 28 principles on which this nation was founded. Skousen uses the direct words of the founders and others of that time to lay out how the founders structured the constitution and this country. He does not use quotes to back up his ideas but lets these quotes from the great men of our nation's beginning state their own ideas and backs them up with brief explanations of his own.

I was astounded by the prophetic nature of their words More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 13, 2008

Autumn rated it:

I believe this book is fundamental. We should all be involved in the community and in our country. This book lays out basic true principals believed in by the founding fathers on which we should base our decisions in government.

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Mar 12, 2010

Suzanne rated it:

If you believe in the principles of freedom that America stands for than you will appreciate this book. I know that because of human nature there is no perfect society and that men are fallible. That is exactly what the founders believed also. So they did their best to set up a system of laws and government to try to put in check the evil designs of men and the weakness’s of human nature. We have faltered much along the way, not because of the weakness of the constitution but because of the weak More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 16, 2009

Margie rated it:

I'm half way through this and wish that we had used this as a text in my Junior history class in high school. Everyone should read this and become reacquainted with the principles of the Republic and why we were so forutnate that our Founders established the government this way. Benjamin Franklin, when asked what type of Government they had set up responded, "We have given you a Republic madam - if you can keep it." I hope many more people will educate themselves on the genius of th More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Dec 09, 2008

Nicole rated it:

The Center for Constitutional Studies has really been pushing for every American to read this book. It's been kind of a controversial book--some people really pushing for it to be included in public school curriculum, others pushing hard to have it banned. Anyway, it explores the fundamental principles that our nation was founded on, and how those principles let to more advancement in 150 years than had been accomplished in the 5000 years previously. I thought it was wonderful--so clear and c More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 05, 2009

Rand rated it:

A must read - especially politicians! They need a refresher course on what made the USA great.

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 05, 2009

Lindy rated it:

Wow! I want to sent this book to every elected official - and every citizen for that matter- in the country. (And I'm only on page 20!) This book discusses what it takes for a people to stay free. We have strayed so far from where the Founding Fathers started. I can't wait to wade deeper in.

I returned to library about 1/2 read. It has a lot of great information, but there is a lot to assimilate. I need to buy it so I can take my time to digest each of the principles of freedom and m More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 24, 2011

Frank rated it:

The 5,000 Year Leap
By W. Cleon Skousen

This remarkable book covers much forgotten or neglected history of our nation's founding, including the Godly and moral principles on which America began.

Some of these principles trace back to the ancient Anglo Saxons, who considered themselves a commonwealth of free men and had a tradition of being highly involved in local government. Our Founders realized the similarities between Anglo Saxon laws and those governi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 07, 2009

Eve rated it:

a great beginners education of a political ignoramus like me.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 10, 2011

Randy rated it:

Everyone should be required to read this book at some point throughout the educational process. Understanding the Constitution of the United States of America has lost its necessity from some perspectives and proposed views. Whether intentionally or not educational systems nationally have failed to educate the purpose and reasoning involved in the development of the constitution. The 5000 Year Leap serves to explore these ideas and validate each method of integration with sound logical deducti More...

0 comments like

Mar 27, 2010

Bigmg rated it:

Absolutely essential reading.

With all the rewriting of history that has been going on since the Social Gospel of the late 1800's became the Progressive movement, a clear outline of the principles that the founders used in the formation of our government has been needed. This book shines a light on the path that we are on now and how lost we have become. All the sophomoric doublespeak that has become the language of the MSM and political hacks is now exposed for what it is: a lie.
More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 19, 2009

Dick rated it:

This is a book that is not Republican or Democrat. Rather is it about how our Found Fathers incorporated what they did into our formation as a country and into our constitution. It goes back to Cicero and others of that philosopical genre. Those who founded this nation were not kings or men of great wealth for the most part. They had worked hard to achieve whatever they had and rejected the entitlement mentality of royalty totally. These men believed in God and in HIS gift to us of not only More...

5 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 17, 2009

Dan rated it:

This is another hard book to rate. It's well written and really easy to read, which is saying a lot for a book on government. Quite honestly, when Skousen was talking about the absurdity of our partisan concept of the left-right divide and the problem solving vs. the conservation wing of government, this was going high three, maybe even low four for me. The difficulty arose when he actually started teaching history. He clearly had done his homework and knew a lot of things that I knew nothin More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Oct 29, 2009

Nickie rated it:

Just read this book again. October 2009. This time I presented principles 11-28 over 6 hours with a youth group. Great learning experience for me.
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This is a book all Americans need to read. And I hope would appreciate.

For me, this is the planting of a seed and the swelling of that seed which will grow, with proper nourishment into a patriotic tree with fruit of freedom and liberty.

These 28 points ring true to me. Can you tell? I hope they

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 21, 2010

Melanie rated it:

Have you ever wondered the true definition of "Separation of Church and State"? What about wondering what the Founding Fathers thought about the role of the Creator and what Man's Unalienable Rights are? This book does a wonderful job in explaining the remarkable origins and ideas that helped forge this great nation.

Last Christmas, I was doing some last minute shopping and saw this book in an art gallery. It looked very interesting to me so I picked it up to give to my More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 03, 2010

Rhonda rated it:

Subtitled Principles of Freedom 101

One of the best books I have ever read on our Founding Fathers, exactly which basic principles and ideas our country was originally intended to be formed around. It discusses the Founder's task of structuring a government with all the power in the people, People's Law and Ruler's Law.

The 28 basic principles include Natural Law, the role of religion and the role of the Creator, equal rights, not equal things, unalienable rights, property More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Sep 19, 2011

Chad rated it:

It is hard to remember, from our vantage point, that at the founding of America, it wasn't inevitable that the principles we take for granted would be adopted by the fledgling government. It really is a miracle in many ways. This book makes that very clear. It seems on the surface to be a great primer for understanding the issues of creating a government, but I was disappointed in many aspects of it. I won't fault it for its length, since it was very short and easy to read, but I personally wou More...

2 comments like

Dec 10, 2008

Jacqueline rated it:

Every American that wants to understand our freedom and liberty should read this book. Can be understood easily by a young person as early as 8th grade, but deep enough to ponder for years. I memorized the 28 principles of liberty once, and I still fall back on them from time to time.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 17, 2011

Drew rated it:

I was disappointed with this book, but some of that was my fault. If I had researched this book a bit,I would have learned that it was not what I was after. I also would have learned that instead of an unbiased treatment of the subject (the origins of the constitution), I was going to read a slanted interpretation by an author who is ultra conservative which is OK as long as you let me know where you are coming from. This author did not do that.

There is much to learn from this book, More...

0 comments like

Jul 29, 2009

Michele rated it:

I'm sick I didn't sell this for my book group. It would have been an amazing discussion. I felt like this was a very important book. Glenn Beck said every American should read this book and I completely agree. Being a novice with all things governmental, I felt like I got a great overview to the constitution and its overall importance. The principles discussed are losing ground and it is scary! I think I like John Adams more and more as I learn about his vision for our country. He really More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jul 08, 2011

Nicole rated it:

It sounds like a long book, doesn't it? It's actually a fast, easy read.

You have to remember that it was published by the National Center for Constitutional Studies. That said, it's an informative book that provides a conservative perspective on the intent and ideology of the Founders of the United States of America.

Some things the book addresses that I found thought-provoking:
-What the Founders intended to be the relationship between church and state
-The us More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Aug 01, 2010

Justin rated it:

A must read for every American. The book describes 28 of our founding principles and how they helped our forbears create the most prosperous and free civilization in the history of the world. The book perfectly illustrates the efficacy of the American philosophy by illustrating how little science, technology, and industry had changed in the 5,000 years prior to America's discovery, and how virtually every facet of human ingenuity and creativity exploded exponentially once the founding principa More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 03, 2008

Diane rated it:

Love, Love, Love this book. This is about the history of the founding fathers and the writing of the constitution. It is so interesting to read about the history of America from the point of view of the founding fathers and what they were trying to create and WHY they were trying to create it. These are things I did not learn in school and think every American should know. I highly recommend this to every American.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 23, 2010

Steve rated it:

I picked up this book because I've seen it on the Amazon bestseller list for months, and was just wondering what Glenn Beck and the Tea Party like about it. It was written in 1981 by Cleon Skousen and at first glance seems rather commonsensical. The premise is that America has been a very successful and prosperous country for its first 200 years; so much so that it has achieved as much in those 200 years as humankind had achieved in the previous 5000 years. A 5000 year leap! A bit hyperbolic More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 15, 2010

Tamra rated it:

A male friend of mine did a book group at a local library on this book, which intrigued me because 1- he's male and that's usually female territory, and 2- this friend doesn't read a lot.

I liked the opening part of the book, before he got to the 28 Great Ideas. More of the history. Which was cool. "The 28 Great Ideas behind the Constitution," though, are sort of just his cover for teaching about God and how we need to make sure He's the center of our politics. I'm relig More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 13, 2008

Mark rated it:

We live in a day with few real leaders. In studying the reasons for the creation of the United States of America, one can find hope for America. Though many might find the current lack of knowledge of the principles taught in the book frightening, knowing that with each new discovery of these principles, they can be slowly and carefully restored, thus providing the hope we so desperately need.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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