Official Review: Exposed by Chuck McAlister
Posted: 26 May 2016, 22:19
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Exposed" by Chuck McAlister.]
3 out of 4 stars
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America faces a slew of problems. Some blame the politicians, others blame each new generation or foreign nations "forcing us" into war. Chuck McAlister points out what he considers the most pervasive issue in his book Exposed - our nation turning its collective back on God. After reading the book, I'm quite inclined to agree!
Exposed is a nonfiction account of what happens when a nation turns its back on God. It begins by showing the cycle a nation repeats when following God, and then showing what happens to those that turn away. It does this through events that occurred in the bible concerning Israel (primarily using Isaiah 5 as reference), then links those events with things that happened here in America throughout history. Spoiler alert: there are some frightening facts and statistics in here, things that should wake every reader up to the mess we're in currently. There are also some things I never learned in school, such as over 99% of America believing in Jesus at the beginning of the American Revolution!
The book does a fantastic job of lining events up with the clear-cut series of events that inevitably lead to the downfall of a nation. Even the ones I thought would be impossible, like natural disasters, are shown within the book. The downward spiral is made crystal clear, and again I'll say it's rather frightening to see. Finally, the book concludes with a chapter on how to be counted along with those close to God.
Along with the statistics and facts within, the book has well over 200 footnotes. These hyperlink to the back of the book with references of all sorts of external books, papers and websites. They then link back to the original text for easy reading. Unfortunately, only 10 out of the 224 footnote hyperlinks work - the others require manually flipping back and forth. In fact, out of my two issues with the book, formatting is one of them. There are squares throughout the book that are used to bring attention to particular words, but the boxes often cut off the last word(s). The table of contents also suffers slightly from the formatting issues, as they don't link to the chapters and the lines are askew when read vertically on my iPhone using the Kindle app. When held horizontally, however, they're fine.
My only other real issue with the book is that it's quite repetitive at times. For a typical reader this isn't major - it's only at the end of sections and it's done to drive home the main points of the book. As a reviewer, however, I sometimes found myself skipping parts and then forcing myself to go back and actually read it.
Overall, though, the book is incredibly well researched and the information is just as well presented. Even Mike Huckabee, Governor of Arkansas from 1996-2007 agrees and says so in the book's forward. It's information absolutely everyone should read, including those who aren't Christian. As such, I give the book 3 out of 4 stars, but I'd give it 3.5 out of 4 if possible!
******
Exposed
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
America faces a slew of problems. Some blame the politicians, others blame each new generation or foreign nations "forcing us" into war. Chuck McAlister points out what he considers the most pervasive issue in his book Exposed - our nation turning its collective back on God. After reading the book, I'm quite inclined to agree!
Exposed is a nonfiction account of what happens when a nation turns its back on God. It begins by showing the cycle a nation repeats when following God, and then showing what happens to those that turn away. It does this through events that occurred in the bible concerning Israel (primarily using Isaiah 5 as reference), then links those events with things that happened here in America throughout history. Spoiler alert: there are some frightening facts and statistics in here, things that should wake every reader up to the mess we're in currently. There are also some things I never learned in school, such as over 99% of America believing in Jesus at the beginning of the American Revolution!
The book does a fantastic job of lining events up with the clear-cut series of events that inevitably lead to the downfall of a nation. Even the ones I thought would be impossible, like natural disasters, are shown within the book. The downward spiral is made crystal clear, and again I'll say it's rather frightening to see. Finally, the book concludes with a chapter on how to be counted along with those close to God.
Along with the statistics and facts within, the book has well over 200 footnotes. These hyperlink to the back of the book with references of all sorts of external books, papers and websites. They then link back to the original text for easy reading. Unfortunately, only 10 out of the 224 footnote hyperlinks work - the others require manually flipping back and forth. In fact, out of my two issues with the book, formatting is one of them. There are squares throughout the book that are used to bring attention to particular words, but the boxes often cut off the last word(s). The table of contents also suffers slightly from the formatting issues, as they don't link to the chapters and the lines are askew when read vertically on my iPhone using the Kindle app. When held horizontally, however, they're fine.
My only other real issue with the book is that it's quite repetitive at times. For a typical reader this isn't major - it's only at the end of sections and it's done to drive home the main points of the book. As a reviewer, however, I sometimes found myself skipping parts and then forcing myself to go back and actually read it.
Overall, though, the book is incredibly well researched and the information is just as well presented. Even Mike Huckabee, Governor of Arkansas from 1996-2007 agrees and says so in the book's forward. It's information absolutely everyone should read, including those who aren't Christian. As such, I give the book 3 out of 4 stars, but I'd give it 3.5 out of 4 if possible!
******
Exposed
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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