#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ΓÇó Pulitzer PrizeΓÇôwinning author Jon Meacham helps us understand the present moment in American politics and life by looking back at critical times in our history when hope overcame division and fear. ONE OF OPRAHΓÇÖS ΓÇ£BOOKS THAT HELP ME THROUGHΓÇ¥ ΓÇó NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR ΓÇó The Christian Science Monitor ΓÇó Southern Living Our current climate of partisan fury is not new,and in The Soul of America Meacham shows us how what Abraham Lincoln called the ΓÇ£better angels of our natureΓÇ¥ have repeatedly won the day. Painting surprising portraits of Lincoln and other presidentsincluding Ulysses S. GrantTheodore RooseveltWoodrow WilsonFranklin D. RooseveltHarry S. TrumanDwight Eisenhowerand Lyndon B. Johnsonand illuminating the courage of such influential citizen activists as Martin Luther KingJr.early suffragettes Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Cattcivil rights pioneers Rosa Parks and John LewisFirst Lady Eleanor Rooseveltand Army-McCarthy hearings lawyer Joseph N. WelchMeacham brings vividly to life turning points in American history. He writes about the Civil WarReconstructionand the birth of the Lost Cause; the backlash against immigrants in the First World War and the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s; the fight for womenΓÇÖs rights; the demagoguery of Huey Long and Father Coughlin and the isolationist work of America First in the years before World War II; the anti-Communist witch-hunts led by Senator Joseph McCarthy; and Lyndon JohnsonΓÇÖs crusade against Jim Crow. Each of these dramatic hours in our national life have been shaped by the contest to lead the country to look forward rather than backto assert hope over fearΓÇöa struggle that continues even now. While the American story has not alwaysΓÇöor even oftenΓÇöbeen heroicwe have been sustained by a belief in progress even in the gloomiest of times. In this inspiring bookMeacham reassures usΓÇ£The good news is that we have come through such darkness beforeΓÇ¥ΓÇöastime and againLincolnΓÇÖs better angels have found a way to prevail. Praise for The Soul of America ΓÇ£Brilliantfascinatingtimely . . . With compelling narratives of past eras of strife and disenchantmentMeacham offers wisdom for our own time.ΓÇ¥ΓÇöWalter Isaacson ΓÇ£Gripping and inspiringThe Soul of America is Jon MeachamΓÇÖs declaration of his faith in America.ΓÇ¥ΓÇöNewsday ΓÇ£Meacham gives readers a long-term perspective on American history and a reason to believe the soul of America is ultimately one of kindness and caringnot rancor and paranoia.ΓÇ¥ΓÇöUSA Today