Paul Johnson is one of the world’s greatest living historians. His monumental works like Modern Times, A History of Christianity, A History of the Jews, and his shorter Intellectuals, are all essential reading for informed conservatives. His History of the American People, published in 1997, is indispensable for truly understanding the exceptionalism of this great nation.

Johnson’s books have several distinctive characteristics that help them transcend other histories.

First, he has an eye for revealing details that bring his characters and movements to life. Johnson describes the Puritans as “’communalists’ who saw individuals as dangerous loners, meat for the devil to feed upon.” Therefore, when Roger Williams (1603-83) came to the Bay Colony in 1631, he provoked a conflict.

"Whereas Winthrop stood for the authority-principle, Williams represented the liberty-principle, though curiously enough the two men liked and respected each other... [Williams] did not believe, as Winthrop’s Anglicans held, and even the Pilgrim Fathers had accepted, that God covenanted with a congregation or an entire society. God, he held, covenanted with each individual...In religion, Williams was saying, every man had the right to his individual conscience, guided by the inner light of his faith. In secular matters, however, he must submit to the will of the majority, determined through institutions shorn of any religious content."

Second is Johnson’s invaluable ability and willingness to set the subjects he writes about in the context of global history. In this book, it begins with his dedication:

"This book is dedicated to the people of America—strong, outspoken, intense in their convictions, sometimes wrong-headed but always generous and brave, with a passion for justice no nation has ever matched."

When he describes the settling of America, Johnson says, “For the first time in human history, cheap, good land was available to the multitude.” Later he observes, “Colonial America was the least-taxed country in recorded history, the closest the world has ever come to a no-tax society.” And he describes the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 as “probably the outstanding example of a human artifact creating wealth rapidly in the whole of history.”

The third characteristic that sets Paul Johnson’s histories apart is the, wise and insightful commentary he shares along the way. He doesn’t just tell us what happened, but notices what didn’t, and what that meant.

He points out, for example, a fateful oversight by the Constitutional Convention.

"It is a serious criticism of the Founding Fathers that they devoted insufficient attention to the role judges might play in interpreting a written constitution, and took no steps either to encourage or to inhibit judicial review. The truth is, they were brought up in the English tradition of the common law, which the judges were constantly modifying as a matter of course, to solve new problems as they arose. They did not appreciate that, with a written constitution, which had never existed in England, judge-made law assumed far greater significance, with almost limitless possibilities of expansion, and should have been dealt with in the Constitution. As it was, and is, the American federal judiciary have always been, in a sense, a law unto themselves, evolving organically as, in their wisdom, they saw fit."

In describing the conflict over the source of wealth in the new republic, Johnson explains,

"The Founders, particularly the Virginians, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, et al, equated property, as a moral force, with land. Their views were articulated by John Taylor (1753-1824), like them a Virginia landowner...Taylor’s theory was an early version of what was to become known as the ‘physical fallacy,’ a belief that only those who worked with their hands and brains to raise food or make goods were creating ‘real’ wealth and that all other forms of economic activity were essentially parasitical. It was commonly held in the early 19th century, and Marx and his followers fell victim to it."

In a later comment, Johnson demonstrates how this early fallacy was disproved and dispatched by the success of the new republic.

"The ability of America, led by New York, to transform immigrant millions, most of whom arrived penniless and frightened, into self-confident citizens, wealth-creators and social and cultural assets, was the essential strength of the republic, which had now been doing the same for its own people for the best part of three centuries."

In his comments, Johnson’s fearless and substantive refutation of political correctness sets a high standard for other historians to strive for. In his discussion of the seemingly intractable problem of indigenous peoples, Johnson observes,

"In material and moral terms, assimilation was always the best option for indigenous peoples confronted with the fact of white dominance. That is the conclusion reached by the historian who studies the fate not only of the American Indians, but of the aborigines in Australia and the Maoris in New Zealand. To be preserved in amber as tribal societies with special ‘rights’ and ‘claims’ is merely a formula for continuing friction, extravagant expectations, and new forms of exploitation by white racial intellectuals."

Paul Johnson’s writing style is smooth and easy to read. But his content is so thought-provoking that it’s much better absorbed from printed books that allow passages to be marked and compared across the centuries he covers, rather than in electronic formats.

A History of the American People is a monumental gift to America from one of her most eloquent admirers. It is a gift that should be accepted with appreciation and then heeded.