[AlexBleier]

A few years ago, my friend and fellow Objectivist, Kevin Osborne (CUNY Ph.D., Philosophy), wrote an insightful book that parallels the myth of Prometheus and the founding of America. You will gain new historical insights from this concise and essentialized history. I set it up as an Amazon print-on-demand and Kindle book. My book review is below:

The Prometheus Connection America’s Original Spirit: Rise, Demise, Recovery

Who are Prometheus and Zeus? What role did they have in the Golden Age of Greece and the Greek Enlightenment? What role did they play in the thinking of America’s founders?

These questions and more are answered by Kevin Osborne in The Prometheus Connection.

In the tradition of Rand’s For the New Intellectual, Osborne’s The Prometheus Connection highlights key factors in the rise, demise, and resurrection of America’s fundamental ideals – history at its best. Knowing how we got here–how we lost our freedom–informs our understanding of what is needed to recapture it.

Osborne’s theme, “America’s Original Spirit,” centers on reason-based defiance.  He connects the American Revolution to Prometheus, that world-famous “icon of defiance” in the face of tyrannical authority. 

Most people are familiar with the history of America’s founding and with the Ancient Greek myth of Prometheus, the “fire-bringer.”  Osborne gives us a new perspective on each subject and integrates key elements of each. True to the title, he provides “connections” in the form of a number of vivid parallels and key ideas: 

• Torch of Reason: the flaming torch by which Prometheus brought the god-like fire of reason and thought to mankind, reminds us of the fire of Enlightenment philosophy that inspired  America’s Founders to defy the tyrannical authority of King and God.  
• Religious and Government Tyranny: Zeus, the great icon of tyrannical authority, parallels the contemporary tyranny of Big Government and God.
• Chains: Zeus’ chains that bound Prometheus call to mind the programmed subjugation today in the form of coercive government regulation and religious doctrine.
• Heracles: Heracles breaks the chains that bound Prometheus, just as the champion of human reason, Ayn Rand, showed us how to sever the coercive chains of Big Government and God.  
• Intellectual Property Rights: Osborne also offers valuable insights into the key role intellectual property rights played in the rise of America.  

Osborne makes good on his implied promise to project the “recovery” of America’s original spirit.  He takes the reader on an excursion into America’s Second Age of Reason, an age in which coercion has been banned from human affairs, be it from private or government sources.

Unfortunately, current generations of schoolchildren are widely exposed to outright distortion of America’s history, if they are exposed to history at all.  For them, The Prometheus Connection can provide an invaluable primer for the actual history of America and an introduction to fighting for their freedom.   

The Prometheus Connection, a relatively short book, will return you to the spirit and intent of America’s Founding Fathers. With deft and compelling strokes, Osborne reminds us of America’s noble story, which is our own.  

Click to order the Kindle ($2.99) or print  ($6.99) version
(click the book cover in Amazon to “Look Inside” and read the Introduction to The Prometheus Connection).

/sb

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