April 20, 2006, 6:05 a.m.
Author Confessional: Bill Bennett
Spring authors tell tales out of the publisher’s office.

Hey, We're Not That Old
In writing my new book, I was trying to capture the lasting and vast effects our country has had not only for her own people but for the rest of the world as well. While documenting this, I was struck by the irony that for a country that has done so much, she is awfully young. Here's a way to capture that: One American man has shaken hands with both ends and extremes of American history. As a child, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. met veterans of the American Revolution, and as an old man he employed Alger Hiss as a law clerk. So one American guy knew both those who, commanded by George Washington, helped found this country in the 18th century — and someone who would betray its ideals in the 20th, a someone who died only ten years ago.

— William J. Bennett is author of the upcoming The Last Best Hope (Volume I: From The Age of Discovery to a World At War), which will be released by Nelson Current on May 23.