“Sometimes a book is published with just the right message at just the right time.  David Bobb and Tony Williams are bringing us that book now. They are masters of the brilliance of our founding documents. The principles not only withstand the test of time, but bind us together whenever we foolishly try and pull apart at the seams. I know their message will resonate with both academics and the average citizen alike.”
—Colonel Robert Naething, U.S. Army (retired)

“Offers readers compelling evidence of the importance of the Declaration’s promise of equality and liberty in our national history. In each chapter, the authors bring to life the debates over the meaning of this promise and introduce us to the women and men who shaped those debates. The civic conversation they focus on is as critical today as it was in preceding centuries—and the authors make their case for our participation in that conversation today.”
—Carol Berkin, author of A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution

“This important and insightful analysis of Americans’ longstanding relationship with the Declaration of Independence focuses on that document’s enduring power to both unite and divide. As Bobb and Williams demonstrate, for 250 years Americans have debated how best to interpret and apply the Declaration. The ongoing struggle to make good on its promises and live up to its principles has yielded revolutionary results.”
—Robert M. S. McDonald, United States Military Academy, author of Confounding Father: Thomas Jefferson’s Image in His Own Time

“Getting Americans interested about America has become both a major challenge and a grave national need. Divided by the Declaration offers an engaging path for citizens… to appreciate our common ground by embracing our tradition of profound argument about our founding document. Bobb and Williams invite us to join the debate so we can discover, or renew, our civic commitment to a country that quite amazingly protects and respects civil disagreement about its core ideals. This is a feast for learners of all ages and backgrounds.”
—Paul Carrese, Director, Center for American Civics, Arizona State University, author of Teaching America: Reflective Patriotism in Schools, College, and Culture

“A timely book for the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and a bold invitation to discuss the meaning of the timeless principles of America’s defining document.”
—Shilo Brooks, President and CEO, George W. Bush Presidential Center

“Divided Over the Declaration provides a whirlwind tour of American history, driven forcefully forward by its focus on our nation’s founding. . . . This is history as it should be learned, and enjoyed: the push and pull, give and take, over competing conceptions of human flourishing and political community. The word ‘divided’ has come to have overwhelmingly negative connotations, but Bobb and Williams show that being forever divided over the Declaration is in fact a quintessentially American tradition and one that unites us as citizens of our republic.”
—Oren Cass, chief economist, American Compass

“Bobb and Williams demonstrate that the Declaration of Independence has not only served as a moral touchstone, but a “corrective mechanism” throughout America’s history. Highly readable and peppered with riveting anecdotes, Divided takes the reader on a journey that begins with Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, continues through Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and women’s suffrage in the 19th century, and culminates in the 1963 March on Washington and Martin Luther King and John Lewis. An engrossing history lesson in itself, Divided makes a strong argument for better civics and history education, so that the Declaration’s relevance never fades.”
—Joseph Wheelan, author of Mr. Adams’s Last Crusade: John Quincy Adams's Extraordinary Post-Presidential Life In Congress