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

· Penguin
4.9
15 reviews
Ebook
272
Pages
Eligible
Ratings and reviews aren’t verified  Learn More

About this ebook

#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.

Ratings and reviews

4.9
15 reviews
William Meade
June 22, 2020
"A Google User" stated that the author "stole this title from Benjamin Franklin" yet failed to mention Metaxas clearly opens the book with that anecdote. This book is a clarion call to educate our citizens. Many could use it.
1 person found this review helpful
Did you find this helpful?
Tim Billheimer
January 7, 2018
This is a "must read" for every American Liberal, American Conservative, Independent, Republican, Democrat and anyone else who wants to someday legally immigrate and assimilate into American culture. God is the key.
1 person found this review helpful
Did you find this helpful?
Austin Basel
July 31, 2017
A great reminder of the true identity of America as our forefathers envisioned it and a call to action on the responsibility to keep the gift we've been given.
1 person found this review helpful
Did you find this helpful?

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.

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.