America : The Last Best Hope VIII - William J Bennett

The third installment to this series, Bennett continues the colorful, often strained but very patriotic history of America from 1989 to present day. He discusses momentous times in world history including the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of Communism and the death of Princess Diana and their affects on America and its politics. After the close of the Cold War, America was in some sort of calm, but as Bennett explores the next twenty years, he shows a tumultuous America. A country faced with many internal and external wars - drugs, race, economic shifts and of course September 11 leading to the war on terrorism.

But he also shows an America that will carry on in the face of adversity. The millions raised for Katrina victims and electing its first African American president.

An extremely well written book, I learned so much from this narrative. Bennett's language and seamless flow of so many political arguments and theories was excellent, making this a very easy to read and understood book. It came across on occasions as a slightly biased account of America's history, but he's writing it from both factual and a personal point of view, so understandable. His time in the Reagan administration as well as working closely with Bush senior serves him well and despite his affiliations he makes valid points on issues from both parties and on topics such as the near impeachment of Clinton.

As a British person reading this, I was fascinated at how complicated American politics can be and I was very interested to read about Bush junior's stance and reasoning for going to war in Iraq, especially as British premier Tony Blair was severely criticized by the UK public for entering the war with America.

I'm certainly not a fan of the history genre, but this is so superbly written that you don't realize that you're reading 'history' - it's perfect for anyone wishing to understand American politics and I'm keen to read volumes 1 and 2.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson publishing through their Booksneeze program. The opinions expressed here are my own.