Celebrate Our Nation in Books
There's more to our story than you might think
This year, our nation celebrates 250 years of independence. 250 years! That’s quite a milestone, one even the Founding Fathers may not have expected.
The seeds of our nation were planted in 1607, when the first permanent English colony was established in Jamestown, Virginia. By the 1760s, that number of settlements grew to 13. Settlers were, to put it mildly, unhappy living under British rule and tensions grew, leading to the Revolutionary War. And well, you think you know the rest.
We all learned the basics from dry history books, but there are hundreds of interesting stories you don’t know, and you’d enjoy if you knew where to look. That’s where I come in.
Some History
Let’s start at the beginning. “The American Revolution” by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns examines our beginnings from all sides — not only through the eyes of our founders, but also those of ordinary soldiers and underrepresented people like women, African Americans, Native Americans and American loyalists. This book asks who, exactly, was entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? It’s eye-opening, to say the least, since we’re still asking the same questions today.
Some of those questions are tackled by Joseph J. Ellis, in an astounding look at how the founders handled the issue of slavery as they drafted the documents that would guide the new nation. In “The Great Contradiction: The Tragic Side of the American Founding,” Ellis details what some call America’s two original founding sins: the failure to end slavery and the failure to deal honestly with the Native Americans. In its starred review, Booklist called this “[an] insightful, noteworthy and fresh history of the nation’s founding.”
Historical Fiction
OK. Maybe nonfiction isn’t your jam. There’s plenty to learn about our nation by reading historical fiction. Let’s jump ahead to the early 1800s for “The House Is on Fire” by Rachel Beanland.
This gripping tale reconstructs a deadly theater fire in Richmond, Virginia that shocked a nation and tore apart a community in a single night. Beanland reconstructs the fire, all the while discussing issues that may have led to it — slavery, abuse, the treatment of women and child labor. NPR called it “a stark reminder of how privilege, sexism and racism have been in this country’s DNA since its inception, and that makes it necessary reading.”
Let’s move now to the late 1800s, and meet Captain Jefferson Kidd, a 72-year-old war veteran who makes his living traveling from place to place with a stack of newspapers, sharing the events of the day. In “News of the World” by Paulette Jiles, Kidd is on the road with a 10-year-old white girl, kidnapped by Native Americans when she was just 6. Johanna was recently ransomed, and Kidd is returning her to relatives in Texas. This short western will pull on your heartstrings big time! The Wall Street Journal said, “What stands out amid the gun smoke and the period detail is the moving friendship between a girl with no place to fit in and an old man who has outlived his usefulness. Add them to the list of the Wild West’s great odd couples.” This is an oldie, but goodie. I don’t know a single person who didn’t like it.
Another gripping post-Civil War tale is “Lincoln in the Bardo” by George Saunders. It’s a ghost story about grief and a moving father-and-son saga about our nation’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. The novel has a present-day urgency, featuring a nation at war with itself and a group of ghosts, divided in death as in life, refusing to move on.
For the Kids
Let’s not forget the kids! “Chains” by Laurie Halse Anderson opens at the start of the Revolutionary War and finds 13-year-old Isabel waging her own fight for freedom. Isabel and her sister Ruth are enslaved and promised freedom when their owner died. Instead, they become the property of a couple in New York who care nothing about the American Revolution and even less about Isabel and Ruth.
Younger readers will enjoy “America as It Happened: A Moment-By-Moment Journey Through Time, from Prehistory to the Present Day” from the What on Earth! team and the Washington Post. It’s written in the style of a newspaper and brings history to life, from articles reporting events as they happen to obituaries of famous people, recipes, inventions and more. Reading this book is like living through the events that shaped our nation, including the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Civil Rights movement and the September 11th attacks. It’s perfect for kids grades 5 through 9.
As always, this is just a sampling of what you’ll find at your local independent bookstore. Visit yours, and learn more about the people and places that built America.
Shelley Laurence is a bookseller at Main Point Books, an independent bookstore with a handpicked selection for every member of the family. Check out their events, book groups and children’s activities at MainPointBooks.com or on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Order online for delivery or pickup. 484-580-6978; 116 N. Wayne Ave., Wayne.
