If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty

by Eric Metaxas

Overview

#1 New York Times bestselling author Eric Metaxas delivers an extraordinary book that is part history and part rousing call to arms, steeped in a critical analysis of our founding fathers' original intentions for America. 

In 1787, when the Constitution was drafted, a woman asked Ben Franklin what the founders had given the American people. "A republic," he shot back, "if you can keep it." More than two centuries later, Metaxas examines what that means and how we are doing on that score.

If You Can Keep It is at once a thrilling review of America's uniqueness—including our role as a "nation of nations"—and a chilling reminder that America's greatness cannot continue unless we embrace our own crucial role in living out what the founders entrusted to us. Metaxas explains that America is not a nation bounded by ethnic identity or geography, but rather by a radical and unprecedented idea, based on liberty and freedom for all. He cautions us that it's nearly past time we reconnect to that idea, or we may lose the very foundation of what made us exceptional in the first place.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101979983
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/14/2016
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	435,348
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Eric Metaxas is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy; Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery; and Miracles. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The New Yorker, and Metaxas has appeared as a cultural commentator on CNN, the Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. He is the host of The Eric Metaxas Show, a nationally syndicated daily radio show. Metaxas is also the founder and host of Socrates in the City, the acclaimed series of conversations on "life, God, and other small topics," featuring Malcolm Gladwell, Dr. Francis Collins, and N.T. Wright, among many others. He is a senior fellow and lecturer at large at the King's College in New York City, where he lives with his wife and daughter.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Promise 1

1 The Idea of America 17

2 The Golden Triangle of Freedom 51

3 "The Wonder of the Age" 79

4 Venerating Our Heroes 115

5 The Importance of Moral Leaders 149

6 "The Almost Chosen People" 181

7 Loving America 219

Epilogue: This Is America 247

Acknowledgments 257

Notes 259

Editorial Reviews

Praise for If You Can Keep It

"Profound and thoroughly entertaining . . . This book has made me think in ways that I haven’t in years. Metaxas is a major writer. Not to be missed." —Dick Cavett

"If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty—along with such essentials as Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington and The 5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen—must be front and center on every reading list." —The Washington Times

"Everyone in every country, at every socioeconomic level, of every religious and secular persuasion, of every political bent, should read it. . . . It’s the book you must read this year." —Martha Rogers, PhD, coauthor of Extreme Trust: Honesty as a Competitive Advantage
 
"Eric Metaxas [is] one of our nation’s most brilliant and morally serious public intellectuals." —Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University
 
"Irresistible . . . compellingly written . . . important. Not only should every American read it—they should then reread it aloud to their children and grandchildren." —Dennis Prager
 
"Eric Metaxas has done a great service to the country." —Gregory Alan Thornbury, PhD, president of the King’s College, New York City

"A faith-based argument for American exceptionalism . . . that will appeal to Christian readers." —Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Miracles

“Miracles is the sort of book that—once you've read it—you'll wonder where it's been all your life.” —Kathie Lee Gifford, Emmy Award—winning host, The Today Show 

“If you’re a skeptic, read this book with an open mind and you might just discover that miracles are real. If you’re already a believer, be ready to be inspired.” —Kirsten Powers, columnist for USA Today and The Daily Beast

“Take the brilliant mind of Eric Metaxas, add the provocative topic of miracles, and get ready to change the way you see reality forever.” —Erwin Raphael McManus, founder of MOSAIC and author of The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Art 

“Metaxas has done it again. . . . He presents hope for the tone deaf who cannot hear the splendor of the music of the spheres, and he brings in sunlight for modern cave dwellers who have become accustomed to only shadows on the wall of our increasingly windowless world.” —Os Guinness, author of Long Journey Home

“The miracles in Miracles—and Eric's own amazing miraculous experience—bring out the fact that the miraculous gift of eternal life that God provides can be experienced here on earth.” —Luis Palau, international evangelist 
 
Praise for Bonhoeffer

“Eric Metaxas tells Bonhoeffer's story with passion and theological sophistication.” —The Wall Street Journal

“A captivating and inspiring read from start to finish . . . Buy it. This book could change your life.” —James N. Lane, founder of the New Canaan Society and former general partner, Goldman, Sachs & Co.

“Eric Metaxas has written the kind of extraordinary book that not only brings Dietrich Bonhoeffer, his times and his witness vividly alive, but also leaves us yearning to find the same moral character in ourselves.  No biographer can achieve anything higher." —Archbishop Charles Chaput
 
“Metaxas’ Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy is a modern-day classic that should be on ‘best of’ lists for the decade.” —Relevant Magazine
 
“[A]n electrifying account of one man’s stand against tyranny.” —Human Events

From the Publisher

2016-04-06
God blesses America, the author contends.Admitting that "the idea that God had chosen this nation for great things does not sit comfortably with modern sensibilities," Metaxas (Lecturer at Large/The King's Coll.; Seven Women: And the Secret of Their Greatness, 2015, etc.) nevertheless makes a faith-based argument for American exceptionalism. He believes that the Founding Fathers incorporated into the Constitution the Golden Triangle of Freedom: "freedom requires virtue; virtue requires faith; and faith requires freedom," an idea articulated by British social critic Os Guiness. Metaxas exhorts Americans today to revitalize freedom by behaving virtuously, insisting on virtuous leaders, and recognizing the significance of Judeo-Christian religion in the nation's identity and destiny. "There are certain populations in Europe whose unbelief is only equaled by their ignorance and debasement," writes the author, "while in America, one of the freest and most enlightened nations in the world, the people fulfill with fervor all the outward duties of religion." Metaxas is convinced that God has played "a central role" in America's history." "What we have are gifts from God," he writes, "intended for us to steward in such a way as to bless as many people as possible." Americans, therefore, must take up God's mission to share democratic ideals with the whole world. Among the historic events that he believes God influenced was the writing of the Constitution, in which the Fathers conceded, "the finger of the Almighty might indeed have been involved." Acknowledging that the nation has not always acted virtuously, the author encourages citizens to celebrate love of country through the arts (he cites the movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington as both critical and inspiring); rituals (celebrating Flag Day); and memorizing poetry, such as "Paul Revere's Ride." A controversial view of America's past and future that will appeal to Christian readers.

Kirkus Reviews