Far from comprehensive but, from “We the People” to “And women’s rights are human rights,” a serviceable highlights reel.
Forty-one speeches, letters, and other documents deemed significant in this country’s history, wrapped in succinct explanatory notes and glosses.
This revised and expanded collection updates the 1999 edition with three entries: George W. Bush’s saber-rattling response to the 9/11 attacks; Barack Obama’s answer to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s inflammatory sermon; and portions of the Supreme Court’s decision regarding marriage equality in Obergefell v. Hodges. The editors also (pointedly?) add Alexander Hamilton’s views on an independent judiciary from the Federalist Papers and (along with swapping in Ronald Reagan’s “Tear down the wall” speech for his homiletic farewell address) give a roster of contributors that already included Shirley Chisholm, Red Cloud, and César Chávez even more diversity by switching out a passage from Uncle Tom’s Cabin for Frederick Douglass’ blunt, unsparing “Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro.” The period illustrations and historical commentary that accompany each primary text have likewise been added to or reworked to include, for instance, references to Black Lives Matter, President Donald Trump’s immigration orders, and the fact that, like women and servants, Native Americans were also excluded from the Mayflower Compact. But in general the arc here does bend toward justice, and though the contents offer at best piecemeal glimpses of this country’s complicated history and character, they do illuminate its tapestry of divisive issues and unifying ideals.
Far from comprehensive but, from “We the People” to “And women’s rights are human rights,” a serviceable highlights reel. (afterword, index) (Nonfiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-63565-188-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Rodale Kids
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
Intrepid explorer Lourie tackles the “Father of Waters,” the Mighty Mississippi, traveling by canoe, bicycle, foot, and car, 2,340 miles from the headwaters of the great river at the Canadian border to the river’s end in the Gulf of Mexico. As with his other “river titles” (Rio Grande, 1999, etc.), he intertwines history, quotes, and period photographs, interviews with people living on and around the river, personal observations, and contemporary photographs of his journey. He touches on the Native Americans—who still harvest wild rice on the Mississippi, and named the river—loggers, steamboats, Civil War battles, and sunken treasure. He stops to talk with a contemporary barge pilot, who tows jumbo-sized tank barges, or 30 barges carrying 45,000 tons of goods up and down and comments: “You think ‘river river river’ night and day for weeks on end.” Lourie describes the working waterway of locks and barges, oil refineries and diesel engines, and the more tranquil areas with heron and alligators, and cypress swamps. A personal travelogue, historical geography, and welcome introduction to the majestic river, past and present. (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 1-56397-756-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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