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Hardcover Why Freedom Matters: Celebrating the Declaration of Independence in Two Centuries of Prose, Poetry and Song Book

ISBN: 0761132686

ISBN13: 9780761132684

Why Freedom Matters: The Spirit of the Declaration of Independence in Prose, Poetry, and Song from 1776 to the Present

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Format: Hardcover

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Book Overview

Freedom. It's an idea worth pledging a life for, in the words of Thomas Jefferson. A gift outright to the poet Robert Frost. A difficult responsibility, writes Frederick Douglass. Defiant and enduring, for Maya Angelou. Quarrelsome, to Kurt Vonnegut. Open-armed and welcoming-Emma Lazarus. Why Freedom Matters celebrates freedom in over 100 speeches, letters, essays, poems, and songs, all infused with the spirit of democracy. Here are the voices of presidents and slaves, founding fathers and hip-hop artists, suffragettes, civil rights workers, preachers, labor leaders, and baseball players. Inspired by the Declaration of Independence, the book is published in conjunction with The Declaration of Independence Road Trip, a 31/2-year cross-country educational tour of an extremely rare, original hand-printed copy of the Declaration, bought at auction by Norman Lear. The DOI Road Trip's mission is to energize Americans by bringing our founding document to towns small and large across the country; in 2003, for example, the Declaration and its accompanying exhibit will visit 27 cities from Birmingham to Billings, New Orleans to New York. Like the document itself, this compelling anthology reveals America's soul as it wrestles with questions of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and strives to fulfill the ideals of Thomas Jefferson's words.

Customer Reviews

2 ratings

A wonderful treasury

"Why Freedom Matters" is a magnificent digest of American political and social thought based upon the arguments presented in the Declaration of Independence. It presents a series of documents that share in common certain themes taken by the editor from Thomas Jefferson's words. Included are incisive introductions to the selections (the dichotomy between Robert Frost's 'The Gift Outright' and the speech of Chief Seattle is fascinating) as well as the complete texts of the Declaration and the Constitution of the United States. An excellent resource for all American citizens, "Why Freedom Matters" contains our most important national documents--and the words and thoughts of the generations who have sought to fulfill the promises contained therein.

An Important Eclectic Collection

Buy this book for your family, it is truly remarkable. Using everything from famous speeches to modern day slam poetry, "Why Freedom Matters" explains how important the concept of freedom is. The book is broken into five major sections with the various writings set into the theme of each section. The writings reflect different parts of american history from both an American perspective as well as a foreign perspective. D.H. Lawrence wrote a poem about censors that both makes you laugh and shiver at the same time. One of my personal favorites in this book is the letter from Kurt Vonnegut to a chairman of a school board for burning his book. It is his reaction that still gives me hope for our future as a country. This book also contains many women from the annuals of history who are mostly forgotten. This book accomplishes what many school texts do not, giving an appreciation for history without booring the subject to death. There is something here for everybody. This is one that should be added to the personal libraries of every household.
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