An optimistic picture of our progress toward promoting a more perfect union, with an essential tool kit for every current or...
An immigrant’s-eye view of the Constitution’s importance, featuring a transcription of the document into simpler, modern language.
Addressing young readers with a reference to the preamble—“You are the posterity for whom they gathered in Philadelphia”—the Pakistan-born author opens with eloquent praise for the mix of idealism and practicality that permeates both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and has made the Constitution “America’s beating heart.” Along with including the complete texts of both (the Declaration’s “merciless Indian Savages” and all), he goes on to describe the former’s composition, including the “shameful compromise” on slavery, and to explain the resulting structure of our federal government (including the press as an unofficial “fourth branch”). He also offers a less-formal rendition of the Constitution’s articles and amendments (“ensure domestic tranquility” becomes “ensure peace within our borders”) and highlights 13 landmark Supreme Court decisions related to federal powers and personal rights. If he neglects to mention that among the Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson too was a slaveholder or gives short shrift to American immigration law’s checkered (to say the least) history, still he makes a sturdy case for understanding those powers and rights and appreciating their value. Frequent personal asides underline the message, as do his closing suggestions for becoming and remaining politically active and aware.
An optimistic picture of our progress toward promoting a more perfect union, with an essential tool kit for every current or prospective citizen. (index) (Nonfiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5247-7091-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
If Freedman wrote the history textbooks, we would have many more historians. Beginning with an engrossing description of the Boston Tea Party in 1773, he brings the reader the lives of the American colonists and the events leading up to the break with England. The narrative approach to history reads like a good story, yet Freedman tucks in the data that give depth to it. The inclusion of all the people who lived during those times and the roles they played, whether small or large are acknowledged with dignity. The story moves backwards from the Boston Tea Party to the beginning of the European settlement of what they called the New World, and then proceeds chronologically to the signing of the Declaration. “Your Rights and Mine” traces the influence of the document from its inception to the present ending with Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. The full text of the Declaration and a reproduction of the original are included. A chronology of events and an index are helpful to the young researcher. Another interesting feature is “Visiting the Declaration of Independence.” It contains a short review of what happened to the document in the years after it was written, a useful Web site, and a description of how it is displayed and protected today at the National Archives building in Washington, D.C. Illustrations from the period add interest and detail. An excellent addition to the American history collection and an engrossing read. (Nonfiction. 9-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-8234-1448-5
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2000
Logically pointing out that the American cowboy archetype didn’t spring up from nowhere, Sandler, author of Cowboys (1994) and other volumes in the superficial, if luxuriously illustrated, “Library of Congress Book” series, looks back over 400 years of cattle tending in North America. His coverage ranges from the livestock carried on Columbus’s second voyage to today’s herding-by-helicopter operations. Here, too, the generous array of dramatic early prints, paintings, and photos are more likely to capture readers’ imaginations than the generality-ridden text. But among his vague comments about the characters, values, and culture passed by Mexican vaqueros to later arrivals from the Eastern US, Sadler intersperses nods to the gauchos, llaneros, and other South American “cowmen,” plus the paniolos of Hawaii, and the renowned African-American cowboys. He also decries the role film and popular literature have played in suppressing the vaqueros’ place in the history of the American West. He tackles an uncommon topic, and will broaden the historical perspective of many young cowboy fans, but his glance at modern vaqueros seems to stop at this country’s borders. Young readers will get a far more detailed, vivid picture of vaquero life and work from the cowboy classics in his annotated bibliography. (Notes, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2001
ISBN: 0-8050-6019-7
Page Count: 116
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
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