A Patriot's Handbook: Songs, Poems, Stories, and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love

by Caroline Kennedy

Overview

Caroline Kennedy shares an inspiring collection of patriotic poems, song lyrics, historical documents, and speeches.

The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was a blockbuster success, remaining on the New York Times bestseller list for 15 weeks with more than 500,000 copies in print. Now, Caroline Kennedy shares with readers an assortment of her own favorite American writings. The works collected here—which span centuries and styles—have one thing in common: all are emblematic of our country's patriotism and pride.

Caroline Kennedy researched all of the selections included in A Patriot's Handbook, wrote the introduction, and added personal commentary to each section. This elegantly packaged collection is the perfect gift for anyone in search of a reminder of what our country's spirit is made of.

"Over the past year we have all thought about what it means to be an American. I realized that I want my own children to know more about the ideals upon which this country was founded and the sacrifices that have been made to pass them on to us. This book is intended to help families explore the foundations of our freedom and to celebrate our heritage." (Caroline Kennedy)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786869183
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	05/07/2003
Edition description:	1ST
Pages:	688
Sales rank:	681,620
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Caroline Kennedy is the author and editor of twelve New York Times bestselling books on American history, politics and poetry. She is also an attorney and diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Japan from 2013 to 2017, and the only surviving child of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. A graduate of Harvard University and Columbia Law School, Kennedy is active in the efforts to improve New York City public schools and serves as President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

Editorial Reviews

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' USA." 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. (May) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

"Exactly what we need these days to remind us of who we are and who we hope to be." (O Magazine)