America's Prophet: How the Story of Moses Shaped America

Bruce Feiler’s New York Times bestsellers Abraham, Walking the Bible, and Where God Was Born brilliantly explored the roots of faith. With America’s Prophet, Feiler looks at Moses and the essential role the prophet has played in our nation’s history and development. Bruce Feiler’s most fascinating and thought-provoking book to date, America’s Prophet delves deeply into how the Exodus story and America’s true “Spiritual Founding Father” have inspired many of the most important figures and defining events in this country’s history—from the Mayflower Pilgrims to the Civil Rights movement—and how Moses can provide meaning in times of national crisis, even today.

What makes this three-thousand-year-old biblical narrative the surprising symbol of the American story?

• America’s Founding Father: Discover why figures from the Mayflower Pilgrims to Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson saw their own struggles in the story of Moses and the Exodus.
• A Narrative of Hope: Trace the surprising thread of this story through the nation's defining moments, from the Revolution and the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement.
• Freedom and Law: Explore the profound tension at the heart of the American experiment, examining how the Liberty Bell's inscription echoes the balance between liberation and covenant.
• A Unifying Figure: Uncover how leaders like Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr., turned to Moses in times of crisis to provide inspiration and a path toward the Promised Land.

Hailed as one of the most original works of history in years, America's Prophet reveals how generations of Americans have been inspired by the story of Moses.

The pilgrims quoted his story. Franklin and Jefferson proposed he appear on the U.S. seal. Washington and Lincoln were called his incarnations. The Statue of Liberty and Superman were molded in his image. Martin Luther King Jr. invoked him the night before he died. Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama cited him as inspiration. For four hundred years, one figure has inspired more Americans than any other. His name is Moses.

Traveling through touchstones in American history, bestselling author Bruce Feiler traces the biblical prophet's influence from the Mayflower through today. Meticulously researched and highly readable, America's Prophet is a thrilling, original work of history that will forever change how we view America, our faith, and our future.

“This is one of the most original, intelligent and endlessly fascinating books I have read in years: it should become a set book for anyone wanting to know what truly makes America tick.” - Simon Winchester

“With a journalist eye and an adventurers spirit, Bruce Feiler brings his prodigious gifts of biblical analysis to a reconsideration of Moses as the essential prophet of the American Experience. This is an accessible and engaging book of indispensible insight.” - Tony Horwitz

“What a smart, original, and deeply intriguing reflection on the role Moses played – yes, Moses – in U.S. history. America’s Prophet is Bruce Feiler at his innovative best: compelling, sweeping and engaging. Highly recommended!” - Douglas Brinkley

“Fascinating and thought provoking.” - Booklist (starred review)

“Astunning collective portrait of an ingrown community with its own history, hierarchy, and traditions.” - The New Yorker on Under the Big Top

“Penetrating and insightful. . . . Bruce Feiler’s Dreaming Out Loud details the ins and outs of Nashville.” - New York Times on Dreaming Out Loud

“In clear, engaging prose, Feiler demonstrates how the figure of Moses appealed to Americans across political and religious spectrums. Puritans and freethinkers, slaves and slave owners, capitalists and communists, Mormons and Jews, gay rights activists and computer moguls have looked to Moses as a leader and to the Exodus narrative as a template for their causes.” - The Forward

“Convincing.” - Dan Gilgoff, God & Country blog, USA Today

“Based on wide-ranging research, America’s Prophet is an informative and accessible, if selective, view of American history as a reënactment of the Exodus....Feiler’s instinct for a compelling story and his promising message—that the story of America, like that of Moses, is an ongoing “narrative of hope”—keep the reader engaged.” - Jewish Book World

“Intriguing.” - Washington Post