America's Forgotten History, Part Two: Rupture

America's Forgotten History #2

by Mark David Ledbetter

This is the second book in the series, following on America's Forgotten History Part One: Foundations. It analyzes the not-so-well-known history of America and arrives at some startling conclusions regarding the America of today.

Genres: History, American History, Politics, Nonfiction

471 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 18, 2006

Reviews

[Rexbuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the different slant on many parts of our history. A lot of things make more sense now. I find Ledbetter's writing style a bit difficult to decipher sometimes but in spite of that, a good book that I recommend.

[Justin Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

He provides information that I’ve never learned at any level. His libertarian worldview is also extremely different from what I’ve been taught before.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great follow up to part one of the series. The title tells it all. This is a story about how we as a nation lost our way and drifted so far away from the ideals of the founding fathers. As in the first book, it tells the story of our nation by devoting entire chapters to each president. We start with our 5th President, James Monroe, and end with our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. Ledbetter makes a strong case that our drift from Constitutional principles was a slow evolutionary process. By the end of the book, he makes a strong case that Abraham Lincoln may have been one of our worst presidents because, perhaps more than any other president, he trampled on our basic freedoms as contained in the Bill of Rights.

I will not burden you, the reader, with quotes from the book as I did in my review of Part One. I will simply end with this great tale from Aesops Fables which, I feel, correctly summarizes Ledbetter's book:

The Wolf and the Lamb

Once upon a time a Wolf was lapping at a spring on a hillside, when, looking up, what should he
see but a Lamb just beginning to drink a little lower down. "There's my supper," thought he, "if only I can find some excuse to seize it." Then he called out to the Lamb, "How dare you muddle the water from which I am drinking?" "Nay, master, nay," said Lambikin; "if the water be muddy up there, I cannot be the cause of it, for it runs down from you to me." "Well, then," said the Wolf, "why did you call me bad names this time last year?" "That cannot be," said the Lamb; "I am only six months old." "I don't care," snarled the Wolf; "if it was not you it was your father;" and with that he rushed upon the poor little Lamb and WARRA WARRA WARRA WARRA WARRA ate her all up. But before she died she gasped out, "Any excuse will serve a tyrant."

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book continues with an overall look at the history of the United States and takes you through the end of the Civil War. The author does a wonderful job of helping you see the lesser known side of history. The part that the defeated did not get to write or that was gloss over by the victors. Ledbetter's treatment of the Civil War and his views, as a libertarian, of President Lincoln, helped me come to a better understanding of that period and how the war itself could have been averted and that the reasons given by most historians for the war are inconclusive and could be considered outright lies. It also showed me that the Republican Party that today claims responsibility for Lincoln should truly take a closer look at what his economic stances were. I would highly recommend this book, just for the part on the Civil War, but the chapters leading up to this point also give us a deeper look of how we got to the point where States decided to leave and how the Union decided they could not have that happen. READ THIS BOOK!!!

[Ron Shoemaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like part one, this is a super great history book. If you are at all interested in the truth about the Civil War, its cause, and Abraham Lincoln, you should definitely read this book.

[Frank E.W. Zazanis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A different and interesting perspective

Learned a great deal about America reading this book. Very informative and offers insight into the the complicated political system and government.

[Joe Boudreault · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is also my review for America's Forgotten History book 1.

Mark D. Ledbetter does it again: he has written what is possibly the smartest and most revealing history of his country out there. The primary reason for that is because he has done this in an intelligent and balanced way. When he quotes C S Lewis as being someone who wrote about theology but wasn't a theologian, he follows up by saying that he writes about America's past but that he is only an amateur. I like this amateur; it is much more reasonable, enlightening, and fulfilling than any of the others, including the odd-minded Howard Zinn.

Ledbetter only goes as far as the Civil War under Lincoln, but again he brings up the crucially important fact about American history which he wrote about in Robocop: he demonstrates how when certain presidents stuck with constitutional democracy aka Jefferson, the country prospered. Van Buren, for example, comes across as one of the truly great presidents because he refused war with Canada in 1812, against the British. Jackson, who I had previously thought of as a radical Indian fighter, also defended the republic loyally and obliterated the national debt and created a surplus. Lincoln is still an enigma; although big-hearted and moralistic in some ways, he was not a great emancipator, but rather a dictator and constitution-breaker who dragged the union into an undeclared war. Northern politicians at the time had a better idea to end civil strife from slavocracy and free trade and foreign affairs: leave well enough alone and keep out of other people's business. Slavery would have ended without warfare, as it did everywhere else except in the Caribbean, where uprisings did occur. Free trade would seek it's own balance, as it always does unhindered by federal interference.

Ledbetter reminds us that mainstream history is heavily biased and accepted histories are too popular to be accurate. It is these hidden (ie forgotten) stories that count most. I long for further books by him, and I urge all Amazon buyers to get this one and support it. Ledbetter deserves a lot of recognition for these volumes.