The Portable Patriot

(review by Deanna)

I selected this book to receive from the publisher because I thought it would be a great reference to have for my children's school years and because I've been refreshing my own knowledge of history (which is sadly lacking).  The Portable Patriot: Documents, Speeches, and Sermons that Compose the American Soul is a compilation in a small, hardback format.  I like the feel of the book itself - it is less than seven inches tall with a nice texture to the cover, spine and paper.

Given that these are important documents for my own country's history, I'm glad to have a paper copy of them.  However, there are some aspects of the compilation that don't make this very readable.  First, they have printed the documents one right after the other with very little introductory information.  Even the table of contents only lists each section, so if you want to turn to a document you have to search through the section rather than having a page number to turn to.  I know this was done to make the format smaller and more portable, but it also makes it more difficult to use.  There is a short index and I'm very glad they chose to include one.  I hope we'll use this book in the future.  For just reading, I found it torturous to get through.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not encouraged or required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”