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From Publishers Weekly: The rich and sometimes discordant strains of American self-scrutiny fill this wide-ranging anthology. Kennedy (The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis) arranges the more than 200 selections according to themes like "The Flag," "Freedom of Speech," "Work, Opportunity and Invention" and "The Individual," and devotes equal space to the official, the devotional and the oppositional. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are reprinted in full, along with a large selection of presidential inaugurals and farewells and excerpts from landmark Supreme Court decisions. Popular songs include "Yankee Doodle," "This Land Is Your Land" and "Surfin' U.S.A." Poems and fiction from such luminaries as Whitman, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Stephen Crane, Alice Walker and Annie Proulx explore the variegated textures of American life. The dissident voices of Thoreau, Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass hold America to account for its injustice; H.L. Mencken castigates it as "a commonwealth of third-rate men"; and Oscar Wilde raises a sardonic eyebrow at the whole dubious enterprise. Combining traditional touchstones of Americanism with many insightful surprises, Kennedy's thoughtful arrangement of works of historical significance and literary quality will reward both casual browsers and those conducting a more focused investigation of the nation's patriotic literature.… (meer)
A Patriot’s Handbook: Songs, Poems, Stories and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love, selected and introduced by Caroline Kennedy. ELC library section 7 C: The Church in the World: Society/Human Rights/Justice. This thick book is a patriotic literary and photographic look at America. Its many chapters include The Flag, Portraits of Americans, Freedom, The Rule of Law, The Right to Be Let Alone, The Individual, War and Peace, Work, Opportunity and Invention, and Freedom of Religion. Think of something quintessentially American, from Lewis Hine’s photograph of a Young Child Mill Worker, to Longfellow’s poem, “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere”; from a reading from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird to the old cowboy song, “Chisholm Trail,” and you will realize why American culture is so endearing to us, and also so evocative of freedom and democracy – a beacon of light – to people living all over the world. Liberally sprinkled with photos both familiar and unusual, and speeches, important Supreme Court decisions, beloved poems and song lyrics, each item is introduced with a short note by Kennedy. Share the photos and poems with your children! Photographs make a huge impact on visual learners (like me). Teens and adults will find the speeches and court decisions more challenging reading – The Gettysburg Address, FDR’s Declaration of War speech (“December 7th....a date which will live in infamy...”), and Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision that struck down segregation. I found this handbook at last spring’s rummage sale and snapped it up for the library. ( )
(Alistair) And now a non-fiction booklogging. Part of what I think of as my "naturalization reading", actually.
The subtitle of A Patriot's Handbook is "Songs, Poems, Stories, and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love", which is perfectly true as far as it goes, but doesn't go quite far enough. A considerable effort appears to have been made to pack a wide variety of material into the book's contents, both from the point of view of variety - as the book's subtitle says, but including our founding documents, a number of significant court decisions, etc. - and from the point of view of balanced selection, politically speaking.
Recommended in general for anyone interested in this great nation and its history, and some very fine examples of American writing and rhetoric, although be advised that your reading list will probably grow considerably by the time you're done reading it; and as a convenient reference into the future.
Especially recommended, of course, for my fellow immigrants.
From Publishers Weekly: The rich and sometimes discordant strains of American self-scrutiny fill this wide-ranging anthology. Kennedy (The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis) arranges the more than 200 selections according to themes like "The Flag," "Freedom of Speech," "Work, Opportunity and Invention" and "The Individual," and devotes equal space to the official, the devotional and the oppositional. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are reprinted in full, along with a large selection of presidential inaugurals and farewells and excerpts from landmark Supreme Court decisions. Popular songs include "Yankee Doodle," "This Land Is Your Land" and "Surfin' U.S.A." Poems and fiction from such luminaries as Whitman, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Stephen Crane, Alice Walker and Annie Proulx explore the variegated textures of American life. The dissident voices of Thoreau, Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass hold America to account for its injustice; H.L. Mencken castigates it as "a commonwealth of third-rate men"; and Oscar Wilde raises a sardonic eyebrow at the whole dubious enterprise. Combining traditional touchstones of Americanism with many insightful surprises, Kennedy's thoughtful arrangement of works of historical significance and literary quality will reward both casual browsers and those conducting a more focused investigation of the nation's patriotic literature.
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Share the photos and poems with your children! Photographs make a huge impact on visual learners (like me). Teens and adults will find the speeches and court decisions more challenging reading – The Gettysburg Address, FDR’s Declaration of War speech (“December 7th....a date which will live in infamy...”), and Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision that struck down segregation.
I found this handbook at last spring’s rummage sale and snapped it up for the library. (