From the great thinkers of Ancient Greece to the illustrious forebears of America's founding to the fearless leaders of free peoples who inspired the twentieth-century world through the disturbing turmoil and despair of two global wars-wars that resulted in genocide, mass destruction, and cultural decay-all of history seems to direct us, respectively, toward the light of truth, the sound of liberty, and the resolve of democracy. Encapsulating this and more with a sweeping series of essays, the exciting new author Evan Lanning takes us up to today's disturbing world of critical un-thinking, historical illiteracy, unrelenting group-think, and agenda-driven "truth-telling." In this world of unconstructive, ineffective, and ultimately destructive passions of party spirit, Lanning asks us to consider the limits of our knowledge and to surrender our respective feelings in exchange for the nobler pursuit of truth rooted in fact. Only when we recognize how much we do not know will we be able to find our way through this darkened world. Only when we realize how much humanity cannot know will we understand our need for a deeper source of meaning. In The Global and American Spirit, Lanning attempts to pierce through the darkness of political acquiescence by asserting that we must lift our eyes to the light of Truth and stand upon the shoulders of the greats in order to see the American spirit reborn. Lanning appeals to the American people to take heart once again that "the energy, the faith, [and] the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it." In short, he asks Americans to rekindle Faith, in order that "the glow from that fire can truly light the world!"