Perspective

"The Real American Dream" is written in the third-person narrative. It is a historical account that traces the beginnings of a culture that was established based on a life-changing and all-encompassing concept of freedom. The first freedom was that from religious oppression and from that foundation sprung the concept of democracy or a nation of free men who obeyed laws not other men.

In the "Acknowledgments" section of the book, author Andrew Delbanco explains that much of the material contained in the book was taken from lectures he delivered during his participation in the William E. Massey Sr. Lectures at Cambridge.

There is probably no one more qualified than the author, who is a scholar of history and literature, to take on the challenge of writing about and analyzing the nation's history from a cultural aspect. Delbanco is an expert in the history of the Puritans. And he...