Bakersfield HS social studies teacher offers ‘Lessons in Liberty’ to a nation in need of inspiration
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Jeremy Adams has been teaching Bakersfield High School students for more than a quarter of a century. Now, with his latest book, he has demonstrated the willingness to teach the rest of us some lessons.
“Lessons in Liberty.”
That’s the title of the latest nonfiction book from the adjunct professor and occasional political pundit whose BHS government classes have entertained and enlightened a generation of local students.
“Lessons in Liberty,” published by a HarperCollins Imprint, profiles 10 extraordinary Americans, but in a unique way, with a unique purpose. It reveals some of the rules for living that these 10 men and women brought to the fore through their words and especially their deeds.
The book’s featured patriots are George Washington, Daniel Inouye, Clara Barton, Thomas Jefferson, Arthur Ashe, Abraham Lincoln, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, James Madison, and Theodore Roosevelt.
Why is this lesson necessary? Because, Adams said, we need it right now.
“This country really is the exception to the rule in human history,” Adams said. “Democracy is not the rule. Prosperity is not the rule. Individual rights, free market, private property, the Bill of Rights — these things are anomalies in human history. And if we’re going to have a country, if we’re going to renew these things, then we have to follow the habits and the behaviors of the people who created these institutions in the first place.”
Habits and behaviors like that of the late Daniel Inouye, U.S. senator from Hawaii. A Democrat admired and respected by Republican colleagues because he was, first and foremost, a patriot and an American.
“Here is a man who watched Pearl Harbor happen, he was a second generation Japanese-American, wanted to fight for his country and was told no,” Adams said.
“And he wanted to do that at a time when, if you had a reason to be mad at your country — literally Japanese-Americans were being rounded up and put in concentration camps. And this is the lesson I wish young people would understand. A country doesn’t have to be perfect to be loved. A patriot doesn’t wait for perfection. They do it themselves. They use their liberty to make it better and Daniel Inouye did that his whole life.”
“Lessons in Liberty” is available at Russo’s Books and through most of the usual booksellers.
If Adams sells 3,000 books in the first week, he said, he makes the New York Times bestseller list.
“Lessons in Liberty” might feature some important historical figures but it’s not a history book, according to Adams. “It’s a life lesson book,” he said.
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