Indigo Suggestions for the Fourth
Over the past several weeks, our attention has been drawn to the history of the Civil War and its aftermath. As we celebrate Fourth of July, you might pause and give some thought to that crucial time in the foundation of the country we are still striving to perfect. If you haven’t read the Declaration of Independence in a while, this is a great time to remind yourself of its tenets. You can find numerous websites that have the text, including https://declaration.fas.harvard.edu/resources/text.
Indigo stocks a number of titles that would be good choices to read within the context of this celebration. Here are just a few.
Signing Their Lives Away: The Fame and Misfortune of the Men Who Signed the Declaration of Independence, by Denise Kiernan and Joseph D’Agnese. Short three- to four-page narratives introduce the varied group of fifty-six men who risked their lives to sign the Declaration of Independence. We certainly know some of them, but who remembers George Taylor or William Paca? Informative and entertaining. There is a companion volume, Signing Their Rights Away, that does the same for the Constitution. (paperback)
Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, by Jon Meacham. Meacham, the foremost historian and scholar of Jefferson and his times, presents Jefferson, the man, and Jefferson, the most notable political figure of the early Republic. Drawn from public and private sources, heavily noted, and illustrated, this is the quintessential biography of the author of the Declaration and third President. (paperback)
Revolution Song, by Russell Shorto. Shorto looks at the Revolution though a different lens, but totally in keeping with the ideals set forth in the Declaration. Through the story of six people, including an African-American man and a woman, he presents the Revolution as a struggle for individual freedom.
Rise to Rebellion and The Glorious Cause by Jeff Shaara. These two linked novels, while they are fiction, draw heavily on historical fact and archives to present a story of the American Revolution. Like his father, Michael Shaara (Killer Angels), the uses words and ideas from contemporaneous written sources—diaries and letters—to construct dialogue and plot. Rise to Rebellion covers the time period from the Boston Massacre through the signing of the Declaration and the second volume focuses on Washington’s (and others’) conduct of the war. (paperback)
Some kids’ titles, too.
John, Paul, George & Ben by Lane Smith. A picture book looks at five (yes, Tom’s in here, too!) young boys before they became Founding Fathers.
Judy Moody Declares Independence by Megan McDonald. (paperback)
Who Was… series
George Washington
Ben Franklin
Betsy Ross
What Is the Declaration of Independence?