PositiveThe New RepublicAn entertaining history ... Will no doubt help many readers understand the Revolution more completely than they had before. Yet it’s hard not to think that most will also close the book feeling a bit dissatisfied, as if Bell starts his narrative too late and ends it too early ... People should read Bell’s book, certainly, but it also wouldn’t hurt to watch a little Schoolhouse Rock too.
Patrick J Deneen
PanThe New RepublicThe theme throughout the book is that things were simply better before liberalism reared its ugly head ... Particularly frustrating here is Deneen’s praise for the Puritan leader John Winthrop ... Despite Deneen’s claims to be proposing a \"new\" regime, there is little in his work that offers a genuine departure—though its reminder that the Enlightenment was not so neutral as it seems is salutary enough.
