Why Eric Metaxas Believes America’s Story is More Important Than Ever

0:00 Hello everyone, I'm Stephen Strang and welcome to this very special edition of the Strang Report podcast. You know, I'm a big history buff. You may not know that about me and I do a lot of reading. And recently I read Eric Metaxas book called Revolution, The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World. I've had the privilege of knowing Eric for a number of years. I've read many of his books. I intend to read all of them. And I asked him if he would come on my podcast to talk about this book. I believe this is a very important book. So here is my interview with Eric Metaxas, and then I have a special closing at the end. Eric Metaxas, I'm so happy to have you on my podcast. I appreciate it. And I want to talk about how excited I am about this book. Now, full disclosure, I am a huge Eric Metaxas. fan. I have read most of your books and I will get around to reading all of them. And this was my favorite book that I've read in 2026. It's 600 pages. I enjoyed every single paragraph. And so I'm happy to talk about it. I think every American should read this book.

1:15 And I wanted to just ask you, you've written about Bonhoeffer, which I read, Martin Luther, which I read, you've written about Will Wilberforce, you've written books about like seven, what did you call it? Seven great men or something like that? Seven men and the secret of their greatness and seven women and the secret of their greatness and seven more men. I've written a lot of books and I'm so honored for you to say such kind things about my writing and particularly about this book because I am with you. I wish every single American could read this book because I... I feel it's very, very important. What can I tell you? I feel God called me to write it. Well, that was going to be my next question because it's a huge undertaking and 600 pages. I mean, I'm in publishing and I know what it's like to write a book much shorter and to edit it and everything else. How did you find the time with your schedule with TV and podcasts? You can tell from my writing that I did not use AI, right?

2:16 You could tell from my style of writing. That it's very personal the way i write and weird and quirky and sometimes funny and so. I write every word myself i research everything myself one hundred percent. I don't know how else to do it but honestly steven i. You have to count the cost when you say i want to write a book about the american revolution what does that mean to write a book about the revolution and so maybe i can talk about how that all happened because it was. You know, if somebody said to me three years ago, do you think Eric, you'll ever write a book on the American Revolution? I would say probably not. No, I never even occurred to me. But what happened is a friend of mine, a brother in Christ who's very close friend said he read my chapter in the book you mentioned, Seven Men. The first chapter is about George Washington. He said he was so moved by the story that he said, Eric, I think you need to write.

3:16 the whole story, the story of the revolution. And it had never occurred to me ever to write the story of the revolution, but it kind of hit me in a way that in retrospect, I can say it was the Lord because I don't, you know, I don't want to waste my time doing something that's just some idea, but it kind of hit me funny. Like this is a big assignment and do I want to do this? Is this what God wants me to do? And I thought about it and I thought, what even, what is the revolution? What, who, you know, what's the assignment to write a book about some part of the revolution? No, the assignment felt like, no, the whole story of the revolution. What happened 250 years ago? If somebody says, Hey, it's the 250th anniversary of, you know, 1776. What happened back in 1776? What's the story? Well, this book is the answer to that.

4:09 And what it means is you have to go before the revolution. John Adams said there was a revolution. Before the revolution so the war that we call the American Revolution starts Lexington and Concord 1775 ends 1783 when they signed the Treaty of Paris, is that what I'm gonna write about? Well, yes But then I got to write about the revolution before the revolution what leads to Lexington and Concord they didn't it's not just like oh it just happened What led to it? So I have to go back really to when King George gets on the throne 1761 to the end of the French and Indian War, 1763, that was when Great Britain says, we're going to tax the colonies. That's when the conflict happens. So this was a big assignment to tell this sweeping epic narrative. Now you've read it and you know it's an extraordinary story.

4:59 I didn't make it up. It's not a novel. It's all true. And there are stories within the story. And so when you say, when did I have time to write it? Honestly, Truly I didn't have time and I basically blocked out everything. I basically had to be like a madman researching and writing and researching writing like an absolute madman for a long time because I knew that to get it done for the summer of 2026 for the 250th anniversary. There was no way that that was possible unless I just did almost nothing else. So I was working like a madman and praying because I knew that in my own strength, I couldn't get it done. And that's not just the thing that you say as a Christian, it's true. I knew if you do the math, this is not going to be something that I can get done.

5:46 So it was a huge assignment that I felt, you know, from God to tell the story of the birth of America. And in the course of it, which I won't. say now, but I will get into it as we get our conversation. People kept saying to me, what's your angle on the revolution? I said, I have no angle. I just want to tell the story. America needs to know the story. America needs to know our story. But in the course of doing the research, I saw a whole bunch of things that come out in the book, which I had not anticipated seeing. And obviously you read the book, so you know what I'm talking about. Well, I've had the privilege of reading several books on Washington, several books on the revolution. But to me, this book made it come alive. George Washington came alive in a way that I hadn't seen him before.

6:31 And also how hopeless things were and how many things went against him. And so that fascinated me. What gave you that insight? Was it your research? Was it inspiration? Was it other authors that you had read? Well, I mean, I think it's many things. I think first of all, I mean, I have to say, because I've written so many books, I can say in retrospect, that the Lord has given me a gift, which I didn't really recognize until in latter years, I realized I have a gift to sort of see to the heart of something in a way, and to see like, this is the exciting part. This is what I have to tell people. This stuff is extraneous. This stuff is boring. This is the story. And I see in retrospect in most of my books, because many people say to me, oh, it's very readable. It was a page turner. I couldn't put it down. And that's, of course, an author's dream to hear people say that. But in retrospect, I realized that God gives me an instinct in a sense for this is what's important. These are the details that make something come to life.

7:33 I really, I can only say that what excites me, what I find funny, what I find quirky, that's what I put in the book. So anytime in all the research, I mean, I read scores of books. I mean, it's gotta be over a hundred books that I, you know. read to, to find all this information and then tons of information on the internet that you can find documents and all kinds of stuff. Anytime something kind of spoke to me, I go, that's fascinating. I got to put that in. That's funny. I got to put that in this story of Benjamin Franklin and John Adams spending a night together in a bed in, uh, in New Jersey. It's just like something you'd make up, right? It's a funny story, right? John. Adams and Ben Franklin in a small bed together, arguing whether they should close the window or open the window to get air in. I mean, you can't make this stuff up and you don't have to because it's true. So anytime I found something like that, that's particularly telling. So I'm thrilled that you think that I. brought the characters to life because of course that's the goal. But, you know, until the reader says it, you know, you don't know if you've succeeded. So I'm glad you think I have. You know, we all know Washington. I mean, our nation's capital is named after him. He's a great hero. But what struck me about the book is how many battles he lost. He, I don't remember, you probably said it in the book, but maybe half the battles at least he lost. You know, this is what led to it being hopeless. The turning point seemed to be the crossing of the Delaware,

9:05 which we all know from the famous painting, but tell us about that scene in the American Revolution. Well, I mean, there's so much to say. And again, this is why I desperately hope people will read the book or you can listen to the audio book. People say, Oh, I didn't read it. I listened to the audio, but that's no different. It's the same thing. The information is important. And I keep saying every American It's just going to be on the test. I didn't write this book for history buffs. I wrote it for Americans. If you're an American, you must know this stuff. This is as central as it gets. So that story of the Delaware, I mean, my goodness. It is basically what you're saying is right. That it's defeat after defeat after defeat. And in a funny way, Washington's goal was to not lose. It wasn't so much to win.

9:53 It's to not lose because if you don't lose. you win because the British are 3000 miles away. And if we can just keep hope alive, but that was very difficult. And the story of, you know, basically, you know, people know everything starts in 1775, Lexington and Concord. Then we have the Battle of Bunker Hill. Then the British are bottled up in Boston for the better part of a year. All kinds of stuff goes on. Finally, Washington moves the army. down to New York and everybody in Congress says you must defend New York. New York is the key to the continent because the, you know, every waterway, that was the way the world worked. So the Hudson River going all the way up and then Lake George and Lake Champlain all the way up to the St. Lawrence waterway into Canada. This is the key. This is the strategic key to the continent. So Washington goes to New York. Of course, the Battle of Brooklyn, which is there's an out and out miracle, which I write about in the book. But after that, It's just miserable. It is so miserable. What happens in the fall of 1776, defeat after defeat. It's just so depressing. And so I was, I was thinking Washington is, is a monumental human being that he could withstand what the hell that he had to go through.

11:12 We forget what they had to go through. So he's basically retreating from New York all the way down through New Jersey, down, down, down, retreating, retreating, retreating toward Philadelphia. retreating and retreating and retreating until you get to the border of New Jersey with Pennsylvania. And that border is called the Delaware river. Even I didn't know that, that if you wonder why does New Jersey have that irregular Western border, that's called the Delaware river. That's the border. And so they cross the Delaware in order to be within, you know, some distance of Philadelphia, because Congress is in Philadelphia. And so there they are. And in a way, the way people would fight wars in those days, they would kind of retire for the winter. So the British kind of retired for the winter. They set up a thin string of, you know, sentries or whatever along the Delaware. And Washington gets this idea, and this is where you see the heart of Washington.

12:08 He's such a fascinating character that if he could just, I guess he keeps calling it a bold stroke. If he could make one bold stroke. to change the momentum because it's miserable. They're losing, losing, losing. And he gets this idea that if we could surprise the British and it's the Hessians, these are the mercenaries, the German mercenaries that the British have hired. If we could cross the Delaware at night, back over to the New Jersey side and march nine miles and surprise the Hessians in Trenton. This is a crazy idea, but Washington is kind of crazy in a way. He's like this genius. He comes up with this wild idea. And, you know, I write it in detail. You obviously read it. It's a fascinating story, how they had to do this and how it went wrong and whatever. But when they surprised the Hessians in the middle of this snowstorm. Everything changes. I mean, the Hessians never dreamt that what lunatics are going to be marching through a snowstorm. This is the day after Christmas.

13:16 Also would have been all through Christmas night. Who's going to do that? Nobody's going to do that. Washington did it. And it is one of these things that just shatters the morale of the British. It bolsters the morale of the Americans. I mean, it's one of these heroic moments in the history of the world. And so to me, it's, it's one of the favorite parts that, and Washington knew that if you could change the momentum there, it certainly doesn't solve the problems. They have lots of problems after that, but it keeps hope alive. And that is at that point, absolutely everything. If he had not done that, I think it would have been over. I mean, I'm not. speculating, Washington himself says, we're about done here.

13:58 This is it. He knew this was like a Hail Mary and by the grace of God at work. Well, there's all kinds of miracles in the book and many, many stories that most Americans don't know. One of which is Henry Knox. I've heard his name. I didn't know much about him. I knew that some cannon showed up in Boston, but I mean, I could not even imagine as you're writing about it, what it took to move those huge cannons without any modern equipment, up mountains, down mountains, through forest, across rivers and everything else. And Henry Knox, I actually did a little research on him on the internet and he was quite young. He was an assistant to George Washington and he became quite a hero because of this. And they made the British turn around and leave Boston.

14:53 Isn't that what happened? Well, it's, it's such a crazy story. And I have to tell you at the end of the book, if you read the acknowledgments page, I talk about my fifth grade. American history teacher fifth grade. I was nine years old. So I skipped the grades. I'm a little nine year old. And I have been haunted for over 50 years by Mr. Robert McDevitt teaching us after lunch. Every day we'd go to Mr. McDevitt's class to hear about American history and the story he told about Henry Knox getting the guns, 120 ,000 pounds of cannon from Fort Ticonderoga through the ice and the snow and the madness of it. That so struck me in 1972, 73 as a kid that it haunted me all these years. And so when I decided I'm going to write the book about the revolution, I want to tell these heroic stories. I knew I've got to tell that story. There's no way. And so there are plenty of books you can read on the revolution. They cover everything and they give it a paragraph. They give you a pair of go, yeah, Henry Knox, blah, blah, blah. You think, wait a minute. This is an insane accomplishment. Every single American needs to know the story of Henry Knox getting the guns from Ticonderoga. It's one of the greatest feats of military engineering in the world ever. It's like Hannibal crossing the Alps on elephants. Everybody should know this story. And so I said, I've got to tell this story. And the more I... I looked into it, the more I thought it's, it's, it's almost unbelievable.

16:17 Some of the stuff that happened to whatever. So it's because of Mr. McDevitt, my fifth grade teacher, that I said, this is a chapter. And so I tell the story and he brings the guns from Taikai. They had no cannon in Boston. So Washington realizes, how can we win? We have no cannon. The British have everything. They've got ships in the Harbor with cannon and, and we're, we can't win. So he says, Henry Knox on this wild goose chase, an insane trip, almost 300 miles. to the heights of Ticonderoga to get the cannon that were just sitting there to bring them with oxen. And it's almost unbelievable. So he eventually succeeds, brings them back to Boston. And the British, when they see these cannon aiming at them in Boston and aiming at the ships in the harbor, they think, how did this happen? We are sitting ducks. We cannot withstand this. We have to leave. So the British decide, okay, We will leave Boston. So this is a wild victory. They are literally out gunned and they realize we can't win. So they leave, they got on their ships and they go, they make a deal with Washington.

17:26 Basically, like if you don't attack us as we leave, we won't burn the city. And he's like, okay, but That is a wild victory. And that's because of the 25 year old bookseller named Henry Knox. So that's one of my favorite stories in the whole thing. And I said, I've got to put it in there. And another one is the story of Nathan Hale. I don't need to go into that, but there are certain stories. Every single American has to know that story has to know the name of these heroes, Nathan Hale, amazing hero. So I really, you know, I feel honored that I got to, to write this history. And I, again, I hope every American will. will come to love this country as I do when they read how it happened 250 years ago. And that story about your fifth grade teacher is amazing. I don't think it was in the book, but to think of the influence that teachers have, there's probably teachers watching this now that don't think that some little kid in their classroom is going to be impacted. No, it is. It's the last page of the book. It's the acknowledgments page. You know, most people would not maybe bother reading it. Yeah, you're right. I admit it. I didn't read it. You will see that I, I honor Mr. McDevitt on that page. And I basically say that, you know, this man was simply faithful all those years ago. Did he dream that some nice sought off nine year olds sitting there 50 years in the future is going to write a 600 page book on the revolution. No, he's just being faithful and he was a great man and I could get choked up even thinking about him. And, and to me, it's what gave me a love. for some of these stories

18:57 that again, it was dormant most of my life. But when I started to write this book, it all came back and I thought, wow, how extraordinary that I remember this and that I kind of light up at the story of Henry Knox 50 plus years after I heard it. Tell us a story about Nathan Hale. Nathan Hale is one of the greatest heroes in American history. I have to say that, you know, if you want, if people want to know why they should read my book, I'll tell you, I saw PBS and Ken Burns did a 12 hour documentary on the American Revolution. So I watched it with my wife. They mentioned Nathan Hale 10 seconds. They give him 10 seconds. They don't say what a great hero he was. They say almost nothing.

19:39 I was so scandalized. I thought that's how sick things are in America today, that you could tell a whole story of the revolution and make the whole thing seem not heroic, not beautiful, not inspiring. And to leave out one of the greatest, most inspiring stories of Nathan Hale. Nathan Hale was an incredibly serious believer. They called him the praying man. He was a 21 year old, godly graduate of Yale University, brilliant, beloved, one of these people that you just, everybody thought. What an amazing human being. And he was so committed to the cause that he volunteers to George Washington to go on a spy mission, a dangerous, mission because of his love of the country. And I won't tell the story now, but there's a whole chapter in the book that tells the story and he's captured by the British. He's hanged as a spy and his last words were, my only regret is that I have but one life to give for my country. It's so beautiful. This 21 year old saying this, that every American should know his name. He should be, you know, His praises should be sung until the end of time. Every American should know his story. So I thought I have to put that in there and shame on PBS and Ken Burns.

20:58 I mean, the whole, the whole 12 hours is a little depressing, but that fact that they would not even tell the story of Nathan. I was so scandalized. I said, I can't believe it. So I, I thank God that I was able to write my book and put that in there. Yet his last words are so famous. I learned them as a child. I thought everybody knew it, but we didn't necessarily know a lot about the man. And you bring a lot of these people alive. You've already mentioned John Adams. I read his biography a few years ago. He was a great man, but also Israel Putnam. I want you to tell us about him. He's one of my favorites and it's kind of funny because he's the Connecticut hero. I'm in Connecticut right now as we speak.

21:39 I grew up in Danbury, Connecticut and I... I have to say that, um, you know, he was, how do I put this? Israel Putnam was kind of like a lunatic in a good way. Like he's somebody like you'd say, what a character, what a character this guy was. He was older. He was 58 or something when the revolution starts. So he was a grizzled veteran from Connecticut. When he was in his twenties, he killed the last wolf. in Connecticut. That's one of my favorite stories in the book of how he goes with a torch into a den. I mean, it's crazy to kill the last wolf in Connecticut in the 1740s that was killing all of their sheep and everything. So he's this character. He fights in the French and Indian War. And when the revolution comes, there he is. And he is one of the main figures at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He's just a character. I mean, there's so much stuff that I enjoyed. writing about him because you could tell he was a living legend at the time that people thought, Hey, that guy, that's Israel Putnam. See that guy. So he is a character and a half. And I, and I just, uh, you know, I, I just have to say that's what brings history to life. For me is some of these characters. He realized these are, these are real people. These are not ciphers or these are not, you know, cutouts.

22:53 These are living people with, with personalities. And he really is. As I say, a character, a real character. And let's talk about John Adams. He was, of course, the second president, first vice president, second president. He got into some really nasty fights with Thomas Jefferson and others. In fact, people who think it gets nasty on the internet, they ought to read some of the things from that era. You know, they just had letters and newspapers back then. But he was... Largely responsible for getting the thing going in Boston, wasn't he? Along with Samuel Adams and a few others. To tell you, whenever I talk about this book, I almost always say John Adams should be a hundred times more famous than Thomas Jefferson. I didn't set out to prove that. I didn't even know that. But the more research I did, the more I thought this is as seminal a figure as it gets. He's at the center of it.

23:47 from the beginning in Boston, which is it all starts in Boston. He's in the middle of it. He's in the room in 1761 before anything starts. And he sees what he calls the opening scene of the American Revolution, which was in a courtroom. I won't get into it now, but with James Otis Jr. He's there and he sees this and he's there all the way through it. He ought to be. far more famous than Thomas Jefferson. He writes an essay in 1765, I wrote a whole chapter and you saw it on that essay, where he kind of says everything that needs to be said. And he is profoundly Christian. I mean, almost everybody back then is a Christian, but he is just a Boston Puritan. His cousin is the great Samuel Adams, who also is one of the most important figures. Without Samuel Adams, there's no American Revolution. I mean, he makes the American Revolution happen. Samuel Adams, the second cousin of John Adams. So it's really the Boston Puritans that make this whole thing happen. These are the, these are men of God who say our rights come from God. We will serve God and not man. If the King tells us to do something that's not right, we're going to follow our King, which is God. You know, it really, it is amazing to me as I did the research, how clear this becomes.

25:05 And one of the things that I talk about wherever I go is that. They saw what they were doing as a reprise of the Sinai Covenant. In other words, they said we are getting rid of an earthly king and replacing an earthly king with God as our king. This was the transaction. That did not happen in the French Revolution, and that's why my book is titled Revolution, because you can't even compare the American Revolution to the French Revolution. The American Revolution is the Revolution it is the revolution that succeeds for the first time in the history of the world since the Israelites leave Egypt since the Israelites are delivered by God from Egypt into the Sinai wilderness and they look to God as their king We have never had self -government. How do you govern yourself?

25:53 They're looking back to Sinai to the Israelites in the wilderness saying God is our king So no, we don't have an earthly king, but God is our king That is what the men of the revolution were doing And they say this, it's obvious that Samuel Adams writes about it and talks about it. John Adams, they all understood this is actually what we're doing. So to create a nation where we govern ourselves. There's only one way that could work is if we look to God as our king. They understood that, they were explicit about it, and obviously I write about that in the book because most Americans don't know that, most Christian Americans don't know that, and we are obliged to understand that's the only way you get liberty and self -government. It doesn't work any other way. Now we've been talking about these great heroes, great men, great Christians, as you say. Let's talk about some of the other side, the most famous being Benedict Arnold, whose name has become synonymous with the idea of being a traitor. But he was, he was a great general to start with. He was an important ally of General Washington. What went wrong with Benedict Arnold that he became the traitor that he did? Well, it's a fascinating, it's about as fascinating a story as there is.

27:06 And that's why I write so much about him in the book because it's almost heart, it is heartbreaking and it's almost unbelievable that somebody who is as great as he was. He was a great hero, a genuinely great hero, a genuinely great American hero who then somehow goes over to the dark side. And it's like Judas or Lucifer falling from heaven. I mean, Lucifer was great. He was amazing. And it's only if you're really amazing and you know you're amazing that that temptation to pride can creep in. And it is horrifying. actually. And that's why I go into such depth telling the story of what happened to Benedict Arnold, because you really have to say, how could it happen?

27:50 How could it happen that somebody who is such a hero on the American side could actually go over to the dark side and betray Washington? It's, it really is almost unbelievable. So I had to really understand it myself in order to write about it. And it is, it is really an astonishing story from our history. But I think to sum it up, your character, has to be more than your gifting. And he had outrageous gifting, but his character did not match his gifting. So he was tempted and he fell. And I think I say in the book that any man of lesser character than Washington, you needed an amazing character to withstand some of what Washington went through. But by the grace of God, Washington had that character.

28:39 He had that virtue. He was really a man of character and virtue. That's why he ends up being the great George Washington, not because of his military skills or whatever. It was his character. And that's why everybody else failed. All the people who tried to, you know, take his job or who were thinking I should be the one in charge of everything. Washington's character shines. And the opposite of that is Benedict Arnold. And there's two other generals that I write about, General Charles Lee and Horatio Gates, both of whom It's not at the level of Benedict Arnold, but both of them thought, you know what? We're better than Washington. We should have his job. And they were kind of gunning for his, not kind of, they were gunning for his job. They were undermining him. They were hoping he would fail so they could succeed. So they were all about themselves and their reputation more than the great cause. Washington was given over to the sacred cause. And that's, I think, why God gave him the job. It's why Congress gave him the job. It's it's it's a true study in character and virtue when you when you read the stories of the revolution You just think there it is for all to see At the end of the book you have an epilogue titled. What is the meaning of America? How would you answer the question for Americans living in 2026 especially in the light of what's happening? Politically in the last week. Well, I mean that's exactly why I think the book is important. I think we must understand God created this nation for his

30:11 purposes in history. This is not just some other nation. The men of the revolution, they saw it that way. They said, this is God's providential dispensation. He has allowed us to be alive at a time when we can create a nation that will do what hasn't been done in 3000 years. We will govern ourselves by looking to God as our King. This is a new kind of nation. It's not just a new nation. It is a new kind of nation. It's never existed before. So the meaning of America is that God says, want to raise up a people who can be genuinely free. The only way you can be free and have liberty, the only way you can govern yourself is if you look to God. They understood that. So this is a new way of governing. Now, this doesn't mean that it's mandatory for everybody to be a Christian. You can't legislate that.

30:56 They understand freedom is freedom. You're free to reject God. You're free to whatever. But if we don't have a central culture where the people have virtue and when we're Christians have virtue and most people recognize that's at the heart of who we are. If you don't have that, you can't have liberty. And so we need to appreciate the wildness of What america is this is not a normal okay we know we rebelled king george we started our own country no no no we and thomas pain writes about this so beautifully this is a new kind of nation in the world and and thomas pain says not since the days of noah have we been able to start a new it is it becomes breathtaking and i think that. We need to have that sense of what God did in creating America because you cannot fix what's broken unless you know what does it look like when it's fixed. The reason I want every American to know the story of the revolution is when you see it as it was meant to be, you can say, okay, we've drifted from that. We've drifted from those ideas. The men of the revolution understood this stuff and we have drifted away and we are in an existential crisis just as they were. If we don't get it right, it all goes away. This is not guaranteed.

32:12 But I think it's the Lord's will that we return to that just as I think it was the Lord's will that Washington prevailed despite all the odds. So I do think it's a particularly timely thing right now. This is not just, oh, I wrote a book on American Revolution. I think right now we're in the third existential crisis of our history, the revolution, the civil war. This is the third. And the only way we can get through it is by looking to God and understanding what the American Revolution was. Well, that's very well said. And I want people to read this book or full disclosure, I'd listen to it every time I was in my car for a long time. And when the book was finished, I was actually disappointed. But I went out and bought a copy too. Whenever I listen to a book, I always buy a copy to put on my own bookshelf.

33:02 So as we close this short podcast, tell people again why They need to invest the time. I mean, you invest time, you listen, although I listened at 1 .5 times, which makes it go a little faster, but 600 pages is a serious investment of time. Why should people bother to read? I mean, I think, first of all, I think you can vouch for this because you said it here and you said it to me privately. I mean, it's a fun story. This is not a slog. I mean, there are certain books that are no fun to read. This is a fun story because... It's, it's, I mean, it just is a fun story. These characters are fun characters. I didn't make it up. I'm not like adding to it. It's an amazing story in history. The characters are amazing characters. There's some funny stuff. I would just say, you know, when you have an entertaining book or a good book, it's not a chore. And that's, that's why I think that God called me to write this because Americans need to know this stuff.

34:00 This is not like, you know, oh, it's. You know i've got to learn it is the federalist papers and it's boring right now this is. This is beautiful i think we need to be inspired to love our country to understand what it is that we're fighting for and i think that you know we're at a moment as i said a moment ago. We're at a moment in history where we must. Fight to get the country back where we're not. You know we're not home free we are in the midst of an existential crisis and if we the people don't get it especially people of faith if we don't understand this. We will lose everything with this is not guaranteed to us so i think it's the Lord's will that we understand it that we fight for it i think it's part of why god called me to write the book is that we've got to get on this page as a people we got understand this is. God's idea of how men and women govern themselves. This is God's idea. The people of the revolution understood this is God's idea and it only works if we look to God. So we need to know, we need to know how that works. You know, and I, and I think that, I mean, I say to everybody, by the way, if you're going to get it, get it on Amazon because it's way cheaper. It's like $29. It's a $45 huge book with colored prints and all this stuff. But thank God Amazon has reduced the price dramatically.

35:16 But I kind of feel that, you know, It can be our joy to know American history. And you know that some of these stories, they're joyous stories. And I feel like we've lost that. You know, I think that as a nation, we know we need to celebrate this stuff. We need to know who these people are and know their stories. And I really do think that's the only way back. That if we're going to fight our way back, which we're in the middle of doing right now, part of it is being inspired to say, this is beautiful. How do I get to be a part of this story? Like what a gift from God that I get to live in this country and that this is my story. So I'm, you know, I'm more inspired than ever having written this book to love this country. And, you know, you could tell my zeal.

35:56 I want everybody to rejoice in America. There's something to be that we should rejoice about. It's not just, oh, we've got to preserve. No, no, no. This is an amazing gift that God has given us and that we've got work to do in a sense to keep it and to spread the idea. Everybody in the world is capable of this. I would like to think that people in other countries would say, hey, what is that that you have there in America? Can we get that? How does that work? Well, this is how it works. This is how it happened. You know, I've interviewed over a thousand people on my podcast and to me, this was one of the very, very best. I genuinely believe this is a good book and you need to read it or as I did to listen to it. Thank you for watching my podcast.

36:41 If you like what you hear, why don't you subscribe? Hit the little bell that helps us. And also, I have just gone on Substack. For the first time last week, I went on Substack and I invite you to check it out. It's easy to remember. It's my name .substack. So it's S -T -E -P -H -E -N -S -T -R -A -N -G. dot sub stack dot com Stephen string sub stack comm you can go on there. It's free. There's a lot of resources and all 1100 of my podcasts are even there and of course, I'll be posting a lot of new information and new things I'll put something of course about Eric the taxes as well. So thank you for watching and check out my sub stack