As our country goes through trying times, the author put together the best of his op-ed columns, published in his local newspaper, The Tuscaloosa News, which deals with the issues facing our nation today. Clayton ranges all the way from the issues very close to home and family, such as what is being taught in our schools, colleges, and universities, to issues straddling the incredibly complex and often rancorous events in public life, from the presidency of the nation all the way down to local school boards. He not only identifies and analyzes issues we are all, more or less, familiar with, like Project 1619, critical race theory, the programs of diversity, equity, and inclusion in virtually all colleges and universities across the country, but the reader will also find suggestions and remedies for a world that has become almost dysfunctional or dystopic in today’s language. These suggestions range all the way from establishing new programs of study that emphasize our traditional values, like liberty, equality, the right to vote, personal responsibility, and furthermore, call for a restoration of the home and religion to fashionably modern concerns with sexism, racism, and other expressions leaving young people at loose ends on who they are and what is it that made the nation so prosperous and generous until this day. As a historian, he does not ignore what went wrong over the years in the making of our people but deals with them honestly and explores many answers suggested by a close reading of both natural law and Christian Scripture.
Lawrence Clayton taught Latin American history and the history of the Christian church at the University of Alabama where he is a Professor Emeritus of History. He is the author of Work and Wealth in Scripture, Bartolomé de las Casas: A Biography, The De Soto Chronicles, Grace: W. R. Grace & Co. and the Modernization of Peru, 1850-1930, A History of Modern Latin America and other titles. He was born in New Jersey and grew up in Lima, Peru. He served in the U. S. Navy, 1964-1966, as Weapons Officer aboard the USS Donner (LSD 20). He lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. His blog is laclayton.com and his web page is lanthonyclayton.com.
