Legends and Stories for a Compassionate America

Book excerpt: Legends & Stories for a Compassionate America The American dream has been abused, neglected, and nearly completely discredited. It is now turning into a nightmare: witness the extreme and still-growing social disparity, and the aspirations to world empire that consume precious resources in war efforts around the world. Yet this is the nature of a dreamto hover between potential and reality, advance and retreat. The legends and stories in this book begin with our Native American heritage and continue with historical turning points and biographies of important individuals at the time of the American Revolution and up to modern times. The first part of the book concerns the birth of the nation; the second records periodic efforts to revive the original founding impulses. Through the biographies of important individuals, the role of national holidays and determining events, the book allows the American soul to reveal itself. When these phenomena appear in their fullest light, the American dream appears as a whole that is more than the sum of its parts (the stories and legends); moreover, it is a whole that is universal. The book speaks with relevance and urgency to all who want to renew hope in the future of our nation and of the world. Luigi Morelli is also the author of A Revolution of Hope: Spirituality, Culture and Social Change