Steven M. Gillon's Ten Days That Unexpectedly Changed America

In Ten Days That Unexpectedly Changed America, Steven M. Gillon is called on to define the impact ten days in history had on America. Each day was chosen for a variety of reasons, and each, no matter how obscure, helps define the course one of the world’s greatest countries took. Gillon had no control over the days chosen but his thesis, his equation for change, and the way the days reinforce his thesis, all create an excellent learning experience that seem like he chose each day personally.
Gillon’s thesis is intriguing in the way it prepares the reader for the days he analyzes. He calls the days ‘undervalued’, an obvious reference to the obscurity many of them fallen into, and refers to America as a ‘democratic experiment’. Both of these begin our understanding of how he sees these days and their impact: America as the fledgling fumblings of the newly free and the days in question as the unsung models on which the country was built. He then mentions the diversity of the national experience and references the ‘American Creed’, both things Americans are quite proud of. The American Creed is something that is reflected in the policies and political decisions of America. It is the belief in freedom

This is the day Albert Einstein signed the letter that prompted the U.S.’s exploration into nuclear weaponry. Frankly put, he messed up. That letter led to the laughter of civilians at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. America is an experimental country - the first wholly democratic country – and it backfires sometimes. The Creed is warped to fit a definition of a moment and the wrong course of action is pursued. Einstein didn’t sign that latter with the intention of giving the world heartache and terror. He signed it to preserves the peace and it was hopelessly misconstrued. The only peace he can make with that decision is that it is one of those undervalued days in