E Pluribus ONE: Reclaiming Our Founders' Vision for a United America

by Sophia A. Nelson

Our Founders understood that America was the greatest experiment on earth. And they sealed it with these words: E pluribus Unum: "Out of Many We Are One."

"America is the story of us. And us isn't doing so great right now." Says award winning journalist and author Sophia A. Nelson. Coming on the heels of the raucous and divisive 2016 general election campaign, Nelson attempts to give the nation an inspirational charge and lift by helping us to reclaim our founders' vision for a united and strong America. Nelson reminds us that "we the people" are charged by our founders' to cherish life, liberty, freedom and equality, as well as to safeguard the nation from intrusive governance. The founders' also charged our leaders to be moral, virtuous, patriotic servants of the people.

In this groundbreaking book, Nelson challenges us to live out the call of our founding:

We are ONE America.

We are ONE People.

We are ONE nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Pulling from our founding fathers' core principles of liberty, citizenship, morals, virtues, civic engagement, equality, self-governance, and, when required, civil disobedience, Nelson calls us to a higher standard. She calls us to purpose. And she calls us to rediscover the things that unite us, not divide us.

One is a book that all Americans, regardless of political party, race, religion, or gender can embrace and share with their children and grandchildren for generations. It is a reminder simply of what makes America great and what makes us the envy of the world. Alexis de Tocqueville said it best: "America is great because America is good. If America ever ceases to be good, it will cease to be great." Nelson takes us on a historical, yet very inspirational journey of not just our founding values, but the men and women who walked them out and brought America to be the great light it is in the world over the past 240 years.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

Audiobook

Published January 17, 2017

Reviews

[Thomas Essel · Rating 1 out of 5]

E Pluribus One tells the familiar tale of American exceptionalism and progress using patriotic buzzwords and the kindergarten version of American history. Nelson demonstrates in this work that she lacks the ability to grasp the complexities of history or form nuanced opinions. She presents as fact common and easily corrected misunderstandings of American history, for example, claiming that "slavery ended in 1863, by presidential proclamation." The Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery, a fact that can be verified by using Google for 9 seconds.

E Pluribus One is a case study in all that is wrong with the study of American history in our public schools. By presenting American exceptionalism and progress as the dominant historical narrative, we leave our citizens unprepared to deal with the realities of cultural identity in modern America. Nelson is particularly tone-deaf when it comes to dealing with the place of slavery in American history, writing, "Slavery is not the only historical narrative of black Americans. Even in slavery, and after slavery ended, black men and women contributed to the building, prosperity, freedom, and patriotism of America" (pg.15) This dismissal - the equivalent of "why can't black people get over slavery?" - is particularly disturbing since Nelson is an black woman. By focusing on aberrations, those few black men and women not left behind by systemic racism, Nelson continues the long, proud tradition of conservatives invalidating and erasing the experiences of American minorities.

In short, this book is trash. It is a reiteration of the narrative presented in grade school history classes - the only thing it's missing is George Washington chopping down a cherry tree.

[Betsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the start, this book came across as simply written and unimpressive. However, I am giving it a 4-Star rating because the author did teach me about the values behind some of the founding documents of the US and about the stories of some significant Americans whom I should have known about but didn’t.

This book is not for you if:

- everything has to sound high-brow in order to matter

- you have already read and are familiar with the Bill of Rights

- you already know the stories of Americans like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Shirley Chisholm, and Jack Kemp


I am grateful to the author for adding to my understanding of US history and the development of our nation’s ideals.

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of a legal brief than history primer. Glossing over details, mixing up dates - such as pin pointing the founding of Jamestown as 1619 instead of 1607. Uses poor examples as references for constitutional law such as the amendments 2 and 14. Otherwise, a well written and positive spiel.

[Bill Morgan · Rating 1 out of 5]

An utter waste of time. Simplistic and juvenile