Flag: An American Biography
Author: Marc Leepson
The nation turns to it as an emotional, political, and patriotic symbol in good times and bad. Americans fly it everywhere we live and everywhere we go, from front porches in Florida to pickup trucks in Alaska. We display the red-white-and-blue American flag at festive events to celebrate and, at times of national tragedy, to grieve and show our resolve. We wrap ourselves in it in displays of patriotism, politics, nationalism, and jingoism.
The thirteen-stripe, fifty-star flag is as familiar an American icon as any that has existed in the nation’s history. It stirs something in the hearts of Americans like no other symbol. Yet the history of the flag, especially its origins, is cloaked in myth and misinformation. Flag: An American Biography rectifies that situation by presenting a lively, comprehensive, illuminating look at the history of the American flag from its beginnings to today.
Journalist, historian, and author of the highly acclaimed Saving Monticello, Leepson uncovers scores of little-known, fascinating facts as he traces the evolution of the American flag from the Colonial period to its prominent role as a symbol of American resolve in today’s war against terrorism.
Flag sifts through the historical evidence to---among many other things---uncover the truth behind the Betsy Ross myth and to discover the true designer of the stars and stripes. The book also shinesinforming light on a string of colorful and influential Americans who shaped the history of the American flag.
Leepson analyzes the influence and impact of the maker of the star-spangled banner, Mary Pickersgill; the author of the national anthem, Francis Scott Key; the coiner of the phrase “Old Glory,” U.S. Navy Capt. Samuel Driver; the first officer killed in the Civil War, Union Col. Elmer Ellsworth, who died defending the flag; the first African-American Medal of Honor recipient, William Carney, who carried the flag and led troops through a viciously bloody Civil War battle; the creator of Flag Day, Wisconsin schoolteacher B. J. Cigrand; the father of the pledge of allegiance, Francis Bellamy; and Joe Rosenthal, the AP photographer who took the most reproduced image of the twentieth century, the marines raising the American flag at Iwo Jima.
The American flag was seen as a symbol of a “divine plan” for the American ideal during the Civil War; as a symbol of the nation’s historical heritage at the 1876 centennial celebrations; as a symbol conveying respect for the government and our social institutions---the so-called “cult of the flag”---in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. During the Vietnam War, the flag was a divisive emblem in a bitterly divided nation. In the wake of the events of September 11, 2001, the flag became an instant and widely used symbol of a nation united against terrorism.
“Flag,” as the novelist Nelson DeMille says in his preface, “is not a book with an agenda or a subjective point of view. It is an objective history of the American flag, well researched, well presented, easy to read and understand, and very informative and entertaining.”
Publishers Weekly
Leepson notes that "no country in the world can match the intensity of the American citizenry's attachment to the... Stars and Stripes." He goes on to chart the evolution of the flag and Americans' relationship with it in its detail-packed history. Despite the famous image in George Washington Crossing the Delaware, Leepson (Saving Monticello) says, the general's boat did not display the Stars and Stripes; the Continental Congress hadn't yet determined what the American flag would be. And "flagmania," as a 19th-century newspaper termed it, began only with the start of the Civil War. Embraced by the Ku Klux Klan, burned by Vietnam War protestors, the Stars and Stripes was again embraced in the wake of 9/11 as a ubiquitous symbol of American solidarity. Such was the revived flagmania, Leepson relates, that the flag was used to sell everything from contact lenses to disposable diapers. From reverence to kitsch, Americans' attitudes to their flag and its mythology have changed over the years, and Leepson does a creditable job of recounting those changes just in time for July 4. Agent, Joseph Brendan Vallely. (June) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Gilbert Taylor - Booklist
Chronicling the two-centuries-plus history of the U. S. flag, Leepson considers the abundant stories that purport to be the truth about Old Glory. That moniker, like Francis Scott Key's naming the flag the "star-spangled banner," arose from reliable historical sources. But other commonly accepted views of the flag are more dubious, such as its depiction in historical paintings of the Revolutionary War--impossible, rules Leepson, since the Continental Army marched under regimental flags, not the drapery Betsy Ross stitched together under George Washington's approving eye, a legend almost certainly made from whole cloth. In truth, explains the author, interest in the flag's orgins dates from the Civil War and its aftermath, when nationalistic feeling about the flag first welled up, and ever since, in times of crisis, has been a distinctive American trait. Previously, the Stars and Stripes simply identified government installations. Its evolution into a symbol of popular affection, though one invested with divergent emotions, as laws and lawsuits concerning its proper display evince, animate Leepson's evenhanded, myth-sifting account.
Kirkus
Comprehensive, dispassionate chronicle of the potent banner that stirs up passions of every stripe.
Leepson (Saving Monticello, 2001) compiles the curious history of Old Glory and the special veneration it often evokes. Few readers will be shocked by his revelation that the legend of Betsy Ross and her little shop may not be entirely factual. We're reminded that in early American history the flag was used principally as a military or naval ensign and rarely flown by individual citizens. It is within living memory that Flag Day, the Flag Code, the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance received official recognition. After the strife of the Civil War, the Confederate Stars and Bars battle flag became part of history, along with the yarn about old Barbara Frietschie, and in efforts to display national unity the Starts and Stripes appeared all over, becoming a part of everyday commercial and political battles. The Union veterans' organization promoted dsiplay of the Red, White and Blue in every schoolroom. The flag achieves apotheosis in wartime, and such times hav always been banner years for manufactureres of the country's symbol. The image fo the flag-raising on Iwo Jima remains a national icon, and the colors have been proudly planted at the North Pole and on the Moon. But there have been periods when the flag was not saluted with pride by all, for example, during the discord over the Vietnam War. A mighty resurgance of popular display followed 9/11, when flags became ubiquitous in every medium and on every surface, from lapel to football field. Despite Flag Code strictures and the rules of flag etiquette, the Grand Old Flag is displayed day and night at used car lots,behind star performers and on varied consumer products--including politicians of every stripe.
Unflaggingly straightforward vexillary law, lore and legend, agreeably presented. (25 b&w photos)
Library Journal
Journalist Leepson (Saving Monticello) aims at general audiences with this celebratory biography (or "complete history") of the American national flag, which he describes as "in the social, political, and emotional hearts and minds of millions of Americans." He includes familiar stories, such as Betsy Ross and Francis Scott Key, but also covers such recent initiatives as the campaign to promote the flag as a central symbol of patriotism and the move to outlaw flag desecration. Bringing his discussion into the post-9/11 era, he builds on books published several years ago, such as Boleslaw and Marie-Louise Mastai's The Stars and the Stripes and Scot Guenter's The American Flag, 1777-1924. Leepson would have greatly enhanced his book had he followed through on his reference to the "nation's great experiment in democracy" by discussing Native American views of the flag and by expanding his narrative on African Americans who made enormous contributions to notions of freedom and citizenship. He supplies endnotes, a bibliography, and an appendix listing the dates when the stars for individual states were added to the flag, but unfortunately there is no index. Recommended for public libraries.-Charles L. Lumpkins, Pennsylvania State Univ., State College Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Lehane's sleuthing bartender faces labor troubles, woman troubles, gangster troubles and even those ancient and terrible Troubles imported from the old country. Brian McNulty has a new gig working the stick at the Savoy, a once elegant New York City hostelry. Though the hotel's best days are long gone, a veteran staff has managed to maintain professional standards. Among these dedicated, hardworking people are Brian's fellow bartender Barney Saunders and his particular friend and cocktail waitress Betsy Tierney-lovely, sweet-natured and married to a cop whose blue uniform camouflages a black heart. All three are members of the "rank and file insurgency," increasingly active as the Savoy staff chafes under intensifying exploitation. The exploiters-a Simon Legree of a hotel manager allied with a shamelessly crooked union boss-confront legitimate complaints with an iron fist. Inevitably, there's an unjust firing, a sympathy strike and finally bloodletting. Barney is badly hurt, Brian is threatened by mobsters, Betsy by her bully of a husband. In behalf of his friends, Brian (What Goes Around Comes Around, 2005, etc.) is forced once more to turn sleuth, not very efficiently this time. But how's a detective to manage when those very friends hide the deepest secrets and tell the darkest lies?The Brian who once was amiably feckless has become multi-faced and fully engaged in a world he never made, adding substance to a series that keeps getting better.
Interesting book: 7 Color Cuisine or The Worcester Lunch Car Company Massachusetts
George H. W. Bush: The American Presidents Series: The 41st President, 1989-1993
Author: Timothy Naftali
The judicious statesman who won victories abroad but suffered defeat at home, whose wisdom and demeanor served America well at a critical time
George Bush was a throwback to a different era. A patrician figure not known for eloquence, Bush dismissed ideology as “the vision thing.” Yet, as Timothy Naftali argues, no one of his generation was better prepared for the challenges facing the United States as the Cold War ended. Bush wisely encouraged the liberalization of the Soviet system and skillfully orchestrated the reunification of Germany. And following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, he united the global community to defeat Saddam Hussein. At home, Bush reasserted fiscal discipline after the excesses of the Reagan years.
It was ultimately his political awkwardness that cost Bush a second term. His toughest decisions widened fractures in the Republican Party, and with his party divided, Bush lost his bid for reelection in 1992. In a final irony, the conservatives who scorned him would return to power eight years later, under his son and namesake, with the result that the elder George Bush would see his reputation soar.
Publishers Weekly
The 41st president's political persona was the stuff of greatness, argues this entry in the American Presidents series. Historian Naftali (Khrushchev's Cold War) credits Bush less with principles than with "tendencies" toward flexibility, realism and a moderate Republican version of decency. In his foreign policy, these qualities helped him nudge communism toward a soft collapse and build an international alliance to eject Saddam Hussein from Kuwait; domestically they led him to a budget compromise with Democrats, in which he acquiesced to unpopular tax hikes for the good of the nation. Bush's flexibility had a dark side, the author notes, that came out in his repeated tactical embrace of racial politics, from his opposition to civil rights legislation during his 1964 Senate run to the 1988 Willie Horton ads, and in his public support for Reaganomics despite deep private misgivings. Naftali forthrightly dissects Bush's misdeeds-especially his role in the Iran-Contra scandal-but he's less skeptical about the substance of Bush's policies, which he pointedly contrasts with Bush Jr.'s failures; he credits Bush's wars in Panama and Kuwait with helping America "overcome the burden of Vietnam," without wondering whether this paved the way for the son's misadventure in Iraq. Naftali's is a brisk, useful, but not always penetrating overview of a pivotal presidency. (Dec.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationThomas J. Baldino - Library Journal
Naftali (director, Nixon Presidential Lib.; Blind Spot: The Secret History of American Counterterrorism) focuses specifically on Bush senior's time in the Oval Office, covering his earlier life and career in only about 60 pages. He argues that the 41st president deserves credit for successfully navigating U.S. foreign policy through the difficult times of the Soviet Union's collapse, the reunification of Germany, and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, which led to the Gulf War. On the domestic front, however, Bush inherited problems that led to his being denied a second term, viz. the cost of repairing the savings and loan debacle, which contributed to the economic downturn of the early 1990s and the divisions that were forming in his Republican Party over issues like abortion. While informative, this book does not offer new insights or provide as satisfying an explanation for what motivated Bush as did Tom Wicker's George Herbert Walker Bush. Also, those needing a more traditional biography should consider Peter Schweizer and Rochelle Schweizer's The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty.Public libraries owning Wicker's book need not add this one to their collections unless a large budget or high demand calls for it.
Kirkus Reviews
Latest title in the American Presidents Series spotlights the elder Bush's uneven one-term presidency, riding Reagan's coattails and navigating the "new world order."Son of a Republican senator from Connecticut, educated at Phillips Academy and Yale, a naval aviator during World War II, George Herbert Walker Bush forged a path unique from his father's by moving to West Texas with wife Barbara to grow rich as an oil man. He lost Senate runs in 1964 and 1970, his mixture of social liberalism and economic conservatism doomed by compromises on key issues. Expedient and tactical, pragmatic and emotional, Bush won a congressional election in 1966 thanks to his friend James A. Baker III. Briefly considered as Nixon's running mate, he was instead offered a job as United Nations representative, then chairman of the Republican National Committee. After a stint as UN representative to China and head of the CIA under Gerald Ford, Bush ran for president against Ronald Reagan and was again sidelined as an understudy. Vice President Bush was Reagan's loyal soldier and crisis manager, a key participant in the controversial Iran-Contra scandal and coverup. His political adaptability was often taken as a sign of weakness. "Fighting the Wimp Factor" became his presidential campaign's rallying cry against Bob Dole and Michael Dukakis. Cleaning up Reagan's mess marked the beginning of his presidency, which was plagued by the budget deficit, the savings-and-loan debacle, the intransigence of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. However, the unraveling of the Soviet bloc allowed Bush moments of greatness. These did not protect him from becoming an object of public scornand being roundly defeated in 1992 by Democrat Bill Clinton. Naftali (Blind Spot: The Secret History of American Counterterrorism, 2005, etc.) offers a soft-pedaling, well-paced glimpse at the career highlights of a man whose presidency still remains murky and out-of-focus.
Table of Contents:
Editor's Note xvIntroduction 1
Poppy 5
The Understudy 34
Cleaning Up Reagan's Mess 65
Unexpected Greatness 84
Commander in Chief 101
The Collapse 130
Paterfamilias 150
Milestones 177
Selected Bibliography 181
Acknowledgments 187
Index 191
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