Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am very, very sorry I purchased this book, and am reconsidering my relationship with the organization that recommended it. Throughout the portion I read, Skousen relies heavily on "authority" (mostly obscure, so hard to rely on) in the absence of evidence, to support a very fringe thesis. Also, several of the sources he quotes don't check out - he totally abuses the biblical citations, and several of his other quotes are so out of context or inaccurate as to be irrelevant to the topic "supported." The book was too stroke-inducing to read in its entirety. I read the first 50 pages and the appendices, and checked out as many as possible of his footnotes. This was not difficult, as he relies heavily on the Bible and sources available for free online. I was frankly shocked at how egregiously out of context many of his references were - even the Bible, as noted above. Skousen completely fails to lay any foundation for his thesis and, since he claims his "principles of government" flow from the "natural law" foundation established in the introduction, I stopped reading to preserve my health. What follows is based on the portion I read. In a nutshell, Skousen asserts that the US Constitution is based on ancient Hebrew forms, which came to us via the Anglo-Saxons. In support of this thesis he presents an astonishing image of representative democracy in ancient Israel, evidenced by scriptural references that don't work (I read through all of them - they are either out of context or simply don't support whatever he's asserting). On top of this, he asserts an Anatolian origin for the Anglo-Saxons, suggesting that the Anglo-Saxons may be a lost tribe of Israel. To support this, he references an interesting and rather obscure 19th century "History of the Anglo Saxons" by Sharon Turner. Turner, however, did not claim such an origin - he traced them (indirectly) back to the Cimmerians (relying on Herodotus), and placed the Cimmerians near the Black Sea in reliance on Homer. Skousen then represents Anglo-Saxon government as being very similar to Hebrew government. I must acknowledge I did NOT take the trouble to research the actual structure of Anglo-Saxon government, since everything else so far had been pure fantasy. Let's assume he represented it accurately - it makes no difference, because the sought-after link with Hebrew law was not established. He asserts that Thomas Jefferson was a great admirer of ancient Anglo-Saxon legal forms. This may have been true; Jefferson was a great Anglo-Saxon enthusiast and I found one letter by him indicating he believed the English Constitution to have its roots in Anglo-Saxon common law. But since Skousen's objective was clearly to link our constitution back to the Old Testament, all of that is irrelevant. Especially since Thomas Jefferson was in France in 1787 when the constitution was written, mostly by James Madison. In addition to everything else, Skousen does not seem to understand that the Declaration of Independence is not part of the Constitution and did not establish the structure of our government. The rest of the book covers 28 "principles of government" that are evidently based on "Natural Law." I read the first chapter, on Natural Law, and found it as deeply flawed as the Introductory material (Skousen discusses Cicero in detail, but skips Locke and Hume, and fails to establish a link with anybody who was present at the drafting of the Constitution). Having rejected his thesis, I rejected his book, and skipped to the appendices. I have to add here that the book concludes with a list of "101 Constitutional Questions to Ask Candidates," to which Skousen helpfully furnishes "correct" responses. I prefer to let my students come up with their own answers. Don't bother to read this book - it's not nearly funny enough to justify the irritation it causes. Some better choices: "The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution" by Bernard Bailyn; "Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution" by Forrest McDonald; or "The Origins of the American Constitution: A Documentary History" edited by Michael Kammen.