“I thought
I appreciated the role of religion in the American founding, but I was
unprepared for the massive documentation and powerful reasoning of Michael
Novak’s On Two Wings. The book is an original and indispensable contribution
not only to the history of our country but to an understanding of its essential
character.”
Gertrude
Himmelfarb
“I can’t
remember the last time I had such a rush of enthusiasm upon reading a book
manuscript. It’s sensationally good, and terribly important. I am only one of
many who will be grateful to Michael Novak for having written it.”
Irving
Kristol
Editor, The Public Interest
“In his
engaging new book, Michael Novak explains why Americans of the founding era
thought themselves favored, and consequently tested, by God—and argues that,
without such faith, the fledgling Republic would never have gotten off the
ground… In this important book… he proves the point convincingly.”
Charles
R. Kesler
National Review
“A lively,
marvelously accessible, and infectiously enthusiastic book, packed with
unforgettable quotations from the leaders of the American Revolution and the
founders of the American republic, On Two Wings is both a restorative and a
touchstone. It should be required reading for every American who wants to grasp
the whole truth about the nation’s neglected religious heritage…”
Wilfred
M. McClay
First Things
“Michael
Novak has performed a great public service in this masterful work, a piece of
elegant writing filled with sudden, surprising insights. Must reading for all
who treasure America, and especially touching for Jews and Christians.”
Chuck
Colson
Prison Fellowship Ministries
“No one
who reads Michael Novak’s On Two Wings will ever think of the founding fathers
and their religious beliefs the same way… It should lead to a substantial
rewriting of American history and political science textbooks.”
Newt
Gingrich
“On Two
Wings is a forceful and often beautifully written affirmation of something
Tocqueville observed long ago: American civilization is ‘the product of two
perfectly distinct elements which elsewhere have often been at war with one
another but which in America it was somehow possible to incorporate into each
other, forming a marvelous combination. I mean the spirit of religion and the
spirit of freedom.’”
Lee
Bockhorn
The Wall Street Journal
“Jews have
always felt particularly at home in America. But not until I read the first
chapter of Michael Novak’s new book, on ‘Jewish Metaphysics at the Founding,’
did I fully understand why. Rich in its insight and analysis, Michael Novak’s
discussion brilliantly illuminates the Hebrew influence upon the American
founding, the ways in which the Jewish vision of the world outlined in the
Hebrew Bible shaped the political thought of the Founding Fathers. It is more
than coincidence that the political writings of the Founders were replete with
references to the Hebrew Bible. As Novak reminds us, the idiom of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob was a religious lingua franca for the founding generation.”
Rabbi
David Dalin
co-author of The Presidents of the United States and the Jews and
Religion and State in the American Jewish Experience