The introduction of Self Evident Truth says, "This is a book about the self evident truth contained in the Bible, the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution and how that self evident truth gave birth to individual liberty in the United States of America." The introduction also gives an overview of each of these three written documents and the implications for Americans in light of our freedom and the American Dream.

Mr. Gordon proposes ten self-evident truths that are given in all three of the above-mentioned written works. Some of the author's main points are that God gives us liberty, government's sole purpose is to protect this liberty, and the hierarchy of government should be that of God over man and man over government.

The author is very concerned about the state of America. He notes that "the loss of liberty that we have experienced during the last four years has been nothing short of horrific. We the people ignorantly elected representatives to the central government who openly despise the American Dream. They openly demonstrate nothing but contempt for those of us who revere the American Dream. They have declared the American Dream to be obsolete and have declared war on that dream, hoping to utterly destroy it. We have never lived through a time in all of American history where the American Dream was in as much danger of dying as we are today."

There are sections on the Bible, "A Puritan Catechism" (revised) with proofs by C. H. Spurgeon, and an introduction to The Declaration of Independence (including an excerpt from a speech by Calvin Coolidge given on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration). The latter is followed by a line-by-line study guide that explains and interprets the meaning of each line of the Declaration. Then there is "A Short History of the United States" by Edward Channing (1908), The Constitution of the United States, and a Constitution Catechism that follows the same question/answer format of the previous catechism. The book ends with an Afterword, a sort of charge or call to action to share the information you have learned through reading and studying this book.

The book provides no indication of what ages it is designed for or how exactly it is to be used. I think it is appropriate for high school age children. This book could have been improved with the inclusion of guidelines for how exactly it is to be used, assignments and written work for the student to complete, and quizzes or tests to ensure learning. In the absence of those helps, I think this book would best be used by a student who is a self-starter and an independent learner or else with the help of a parent/teacher who has the skills to take this book and design a semester-long class (or a year-long class by supplementing it with other materials).

This book is unabashedly Christian and also supports the Providential American History view. I think Self Evident Truth is an important book worthy of study during the high school years as part of a U.S. government class.

Product review by Kathy Gelzer, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, August 2011