Rise and Decline

Where We Are and What We Can Do About It

Non-Fiction - Gov/Politics
550 Pages
Reviewed on 07/02/2017
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

Author Biography

Bruce D. Thatcher is founder of History Speaks Today, a project dedicated to sharing lessons learned from the past. On his web site he clarifies what we should learn from the handling and mishandling of issues within national security, national solidarity, national continuity, social progress, immigration and other areas of stumbling by nations' leaders.
Early on he recognized that ‘adamant aggressors’ exist, and some of them are in positions of significant power. His first book, Adamant Aggressors, is a collection of historical cases that demonstrate unassailable do’s and don’ts for dealing with today’s international threats.
While researching that book, Thatcher came across cases of mishandled immigration that led to disastrous consequences ... a natural subject for his next book -- Immigration.
Rise and Decline examines the histories of expired nations to validate that rejection of founding values leads to national decline and extinction. Rise and Decline applies those lessons to the United Kingdom and the United States.
Thatcher graduated from Iowa State College and the University of Chicago. He worked for General Electric and The Vendo Company, then founded and led a telecommunications consulting firm until his retirement.
While living in the Chicago area, he became involved in politics and was elected president of a local school board. Later, he served on the national Board of Literacy Volunteers of America and taught classes at Avila University, William Jewel College and the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
Thatcher and his wife, Carol, live near New Braunfels, Texas.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Arya Fomonyuy for Readers' Favorite

Rise and Decline: Where We Are and What We Can Do About It by Bruce D. Thatcher is a timely book that explores the political crisis in the US. As the saying goes, “What goes up must come down,” so every nation that rises must eventually fall, and the United States of America is no exception. One could have thought such a statement would be fallacious or a sophism, but then the author stuns readers with facts and lessons from history. Drawing relevant examples from history, including the rise and fall of Athens, the French Third Republic, the United Kingdom, the Roman Empire, and more, the author shows how America is witnessing a steady decline, and explains how what many think are the obvious causes of the decline are merely symptoms of a deeper problem that is hardly considered. Here is a book that succinctly and brilliantly showcases lessons from history and offers a path that America must walk to retain her place in the world’s political arena.

In this book, the author systematically shows readers how the US has departed from its fundamental values, those values that have made her prosper and gain respect from the entire world. Underlining liberty as one of the fundamental values on which the nation was built, and one that is prominently enshrined in the constitution, Bruce D. Thatcher shows how governments have trampled on this value and the nefarious consequences. He then proposes a path to returning to where the nation once was, and it isn’t an easy one. The prose is beautiful and it features wonderful, insightful arguments, realistic observations, and historical references that leave readers in no doubt that the author knows what he is talking about and that his research has been thorough. Rise and Decline: Where We Are and What We Can Do About It should be the handbook of every responsible American citizen, policy makers, and those who wield political power. The book is as prophetic as it is relevant.