A military trail transforms into a highway of American progress.

There's never been another country like America. That's not mere patriotic hyperbole for our 250th anniversary. It's historical fact. But many of us have never really understood it. Or maybe we forgot what we heard in school on the subject a long time ago. Or did we ever hear it? Today most schools wouldn't dare say anything along such lines, which is precisely why I wrote my book "REVOLUTION: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World."

The American Revolution unleashed what one prominent historian has called a "contagion of liberty." Ideas for change went viral, as revolutionaries saw independence as an opportunity to establish a truly different sort of nation. Some even saw the possibility of creating a more equitable society.