In We The People, Juan Williams tackles the history of the 20th century through the lens of some keys figures and tries to pin those societal changes back to the original thoughts of the founding fathers.
At first glance, it looks like Mr. Williams might use the ‘great man theory‘ of history. The people he picks are people who make important contributions to the United States in 20th-century America. But he does not deify them. Nor does he deify the Founding Fathers.
He uses each as a lens to elucidate some aspect of American life and how it has changed from the time of the Founding Fathers. In many respects, the US of 1900 was more like the US of the Founding Fathers than the US of 2000. In 1900, broad swaths of citizens could not vote because of the color of their skin or their gender because of the Founding Fathers’ stance on these issues. There was blatant discrimination on the basis of race, country of origin, gender, and religion. Those issues have not gone away, but are less blatant than in the past. Transportation and long distance communication were rudimentary at best. Now we can be halfway around the world in less than a day and immediately talk with anyone near a phone or internet connection.
We The People uses key figures to show the changes in particular areas of US society. In some cases, Mr. Wiliams does so brilliantly and in others, less so. Some of the up and downs of the book depend on the people selected and topic that involves them in each chapter. Given the vast number of topics Mr. Williams tries to cover, each chapter is a mere vignette. Many times it leaves you wanting more.
Juan Williams is a thoughtful journalist. There are not many who can work NPR and for Fox News. When the publisher offered me a copy in exchange for a review, I took the offer.