Battle for the
American Mind

#1 New York Times Bestseller

It began early in the 20th century, when progressives quietly transformed America’s schools. Their strategy would one day hold the keys to America’s most fundamental political force… The American Paideia. They succeeded beyond their wildest hopes.

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Behind a smokescreen of “preparing students for the new industrial economy,” early progressives had political control in mind. America’s original schools didn’t just make kids memorize facts or learn skills; they taught them to think freely and arrive at wisdom. They assigned the classics, inspired love of God and country, and raised future citizens that changed the world forever.

Today, after 16,000 hours of K-12 indoctrination, our kids come out of government schools hating America. They roll their eyes at religion and disdain our history. We spend more money on education than ever, but kids can barely read and write—let alone reason with discernment. Western culture is on the ropes. Kids are bored and aimless, flailing to find purpose in a system that says racial and gender identity is everything.

But indoctrination was not the progressive master stroke— it was a byproduct. In stealth, they removed an educational component that sustained every free people in history. If it is not restored, America, as we know it, will cease to exist as a republic.

Battle for the American Mind is the untold story of the Progressive plan to neutralize the basis of our Republic – by removing the one ingredient that had sustained Western Civilization for thousands of years. Pete Hegseth and David Goodwin explain why, no matter what political skirmishes conservatives win, progressives are winning the war—and control the “supply lines” of future citizens. Reversing this reality will require parents to radically reorient their children’s education; even most homeschooling and Christian schooling are infused with progressive assumptions. We need to recover a lost philosophy of education – grounded in virtue and excellence – that can arm future generations to fight for freedom. It’s called classical Christian education. Never heard of it? You’re not alone.

~ Includes Synopsis By Harper Collins Publishers

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Onstage at the Reagan Library with Pete Hegseth and David Goodwin

June 28, 2022 | 6:00 PM Program | 7:00 PM Book Signing

“Battle for the American Mind is more than a book; it’s a field guide for remaking school in the United States. According to the authors, we need to recover a lost philosophy of education – grounded in virtue and excellence – that can arm future generations to fight for freedom.”

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FOX Special: Battle for the American Mind

Sunday, June 12 | 10 PM EDT | Twitter Updates

David Goodwin and Pete Hegseth join Carol Swain and several others to discuss education. Learn more about the new episode of the documentary “Miseducation of America” titled “Episode 6: Battle for the American Mind.”

How to watch the “Miseducation of America” documentary.

PETE HEGSETH is the co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend, America’s #1-rated cable morning television show and author of the forthcoming book—”Battle for the American Mind” (June 2022). Pete is also the New York Times best-selling author of “American Crusade,” “Modern Warriors” and “In the Arena.”

Pete is an army veteran of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay who holds two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman’s Badge for his time overseas.

Pete is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Pete and his wife, Jennifer, have seven kids, all future Crusaders.

DAVID GOODWIN was raised on an Idaho farm, earned an M.B.A., traveled the world with a fortune 500 tech company, and quit even though, at the time, he had no school-aged children of his own, so that he could invest in classical Christian education.

He is a founding board member and was headmaster of The Ambrose School in Boise, Idaho for 13 years, and is currently president of the Association of Classical Christian Schools. Over 100,000 copies of his work “Discover Classical Christian Education” are in print. He is the editor of The Classical Difference magazine and has appeared in publications like The Federalist and Townhall. His most recent work is with Pete Hegseth on “Battle for the American Mind.” Dave and his wife, Stormy, have three children, all of whom were classically educated.

Pete Hegseth, along with David Goodwin, argues that a return to classical education alone cannot save American students from a century of ideological pollution and dumbing down of both K–12 and higher education. Instead, they envision “Christian paideia” reuniting Jerusalem with Athens and Rome, thereby restoring rational, empirical training that enhances faith and spirituality. Battle for the American Mind is cogent, occasionally polemical, and always engaging. Let us hope its passionate case for restoring morality and sanity helps to spark an American educational renaissance.

— Victor Davis Hanson

It is time to rethink the importance of education and bring it back under the Lordship of Christ. Much of the compromise we see in the church can be traced to how we educate our children. This work pulls back the veil to reveal the sinister agenda of progressive education and prescribes a little-known antidote that will, with the grace of our Lord, have a real impact on the future of our kids.

— John MacArthur

Forget what you thought you knew about education in America—this book will rock your consciousness. Battle for the American Mind exposes the insidious and hidden Marxist takeover of America’s classrooms, and arms every citizen, parent, and grandparent with a plan to fight back. For the sake of our Republic, read Pete Hegseth’s book.

— Mark Levin

More Testimonials from Our Readers

It has been fabulous! Should be required reading for parents and teachers!

Just read this! It is the best way for us to get America, our youth, and Western Civilization back.

Just finished listening to it and ordered a bunch for our leadership. Great book. Wake up people.

This was the best book I’ve read in years. I am so grateful that God led us to become part of a new classical Christian school startup.

I read this book a few months ago – highly recommend! I loved the big-picture, historical view, leaving me with many “aha” moments. An enjoyable, informative, and ultimately hopeful read.

I have been unsettled and concerned about the state of public school education for some time. I felt like Christian schools were just Christian in name mostly and didn’t feel right about full-time homeschooling. My wife and I started leaning in the homeschool direction for our upcoming 3rd grader, but still were not 100% at peace with it and felt as though God had not yet given us an answer. In June I read “Battle for the American Mind” and knew immediately it was the answer. I did not know that CCE existed and was blown away. I found two schools in our area … and we are sending our son to one of them in the fall.

Are you wondering what a classical education is, why it is important, and perhaps why such strange things are happening in modern American education? … An excellent place to begin is this apologetic for the classical Christian idea of education which has gained a wide contemporary audience in America. Battle for the American Mind… is the popular evidence of a twenty five year movement coming into the public eye. Hegseth writes this book in collaboration with David Goodwin, President of the Association of Classical Christian Schools, in order to give a window of understanding to American parents who are wondering exactly what went wrong in our current project of public education, once seen to be the nursery of good American citizens. In these pages you will encounter Hegseth discovering with dawning alarm the strange events which led to our crisis of public life, a time that pushes religious formation to the margins of life, and increasingly conditions our people to worship a form of democracy that can best be described as chaos. Read a thumbnail of the history of American education and the return of schools that affirm God and Virtue here: ClassicalChristian.org. Hegseth’s book, an easy introduction by a practiced communicator and veteran of our unfortunate wars, is an exposé written for his fellow Americans. Its subtitle, Uprooting a Century of Miseducation reveals the antidote for our cultural cancer. This popular book can be found in Walmart as well as on Amazon, and at Christian bookstores. You will discover that public schools are still the prized incubators of citizens in America, and that they have been captured by those motivated with a strange agenda. – Dan Snyder, Concordia Academy, Wichita, KS

Supporting Classical Christian Education

The Miseducation of America | David Goodwin with Claire McNeill

Trinitas Christian School hosted an evening with David Goodwin, co-author with Pete Hegseth of Battle for the American Mind, the book that inspired the Fox documentary, “The MisEducation of America.” After screening several of the documentary segments David Goodwin shared his research and held a short Q&A MC’d by Trinitas’ very own Senior Claire McNeill.

Mark Levin of “Life, Liberty, & Levin”: Here’s what’s wrong with the US education system

This week on Life, Liberty & Levin, Mark is joined by FOX’s Pete Hegseth to discuss his book Battle for the American Mind, and how the education system has changed in the past several decades.

The ‘Battle For The American Mind’ In An Age Of Secularized Education

On this episode of The Federalist Radio Hour, authors Pete Hegseth and David Goodwin join Federalist Culture Editor Emily Jashinsky to discuss their new book “Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation” and how secularization has changed the way K-12 government schools operate.

You can find Hegseth and Goodwin’s book here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-battle-for-the-american-mind-pete-hegseth/1140521394

C-Span Airs Presentation from the Reagan Library with Fox News Host Pete Hegseth and ACCS President David Goodwin

Battle for the American Mind

Fox News host Pete Hegseth and his co-author, David Goodwin argued that our K-12 school system is teaching children to hate America and its history. They proposed ways to reform the system. This event was held at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.

Pete Hegseth: They don’t want free thinkers

Fox News host Pete Hegseth voices his concerns over public schools …

Battle for the American Mind with Pete Hegseth and David Goodwin

On this episode of Anchored, Jeremy and Tracy are joined by Pete Hegseth and David Goodwin, authors of the book Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation. They discuss the origins of classical education, how Christianity transformed the paideia of the west, and the coordinated takeover of education by progressives. They explain the stages of this takeover, starting with the replacement of the Christian faith with patriotism, and the removal of God from classrooms. Pete and David emphasize the return to Christian classical education as the solution to this takeover.

Newt’s World Episode 424: Battle for the American Mind

An interview with Newt Gingrich: After 16,000 hours of K-12 indoctrination, our kids come out of government schools hating America. They roll their eyes at religion and disdain our history. We spend more money on education than ever, but kids can barely read and write, let alone reason with discernment. Western culture is on the ropes. Kids are bored and aimless, flailing for purpose in a system that says racial and gender identity is everything. Newt is joined by Pete Hegseth and David Goodwin. In their new book, “Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation”, they layout a field guide for remaking schools in the United States.

James and Betty Robison Interview Author and Fox News Host Pete Hegseth

James, Betty, and Pete discuss the situation in our schools today and what we can do about it. Pete also opens up about his Christian walk, and the growth he’s experienced in just the past few years.

“Look at what’s coming home in their homework. Look at what they’re talking about with their friends and what they’re doing on social media and where they’re getting it from. And intervene now as a parent or grandparent,” said Fox News host Pete Hegseth during a fresh and fascinating conversation with James and Betty Robison.

Pete Hegseth and David Goodwin, Authors of Battle for the American Mind, Join Eric in the Studio

Join Eric, Pete, and Dave as they discuss how we went from God-centered learning to state-run indoctrination.

New Documentary from FOX Nation: The Miseducation of America

In 1907, a progressive experiment called the “Gary Plan” was underway in Gary, Indiana, that would forever change education and America. Gary was a newly minted steel town that needed a school. The Progressives took …

How Classical Education Can Rescue America From Progressive Disaster, By Louis Markos, The Federalist

The Battle for the American Mind–Radical progressives’ drive to control the education of our children: Outsourcing learning has stacked the deck against parental influence, By KERI D. INGRAHAM, The Washington Times

Book Review: ‘Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation’, BY Anita L. Sherman, The Epoch Times

Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation, The Thinking Conservative

Battle For the American Mind Questions Country’s Education System, by Jeff Walker, The Holy City Sinner