num_pages: 400
description: Looking at the lives of America's founders-including Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin-scholar and bestselling author Jacob Needleman explores their core of inner beliefs; their religious and spiritual sensibilities; and their individual conception of the purpose of life.  The founders, Needleman argues, conceived of an "inner democracy": a continual pursuit of wisdom and self-improvement that would undergird the outer democracy in which we live today. Any understanding of America as a nation of spiritual values will in the years ahead require Needleman's work as a point of reference.
language: English
title: The American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders
titlecomplete: The American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders
genres: Spirituality, History, Politics, American History, Philosophy, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 188
publisher: TarcherPerigee