About the Book
— George F. Will, author of One Man’s America
“What a wonderful collection of American songs, speeches, and stories. It should be valuable for teachers, students, parents, and readers of all kinds.”
— Diane Ravitch, editor of The American Reader
“The nation with the soul of a church owes a great debt of gratitude to the editors for giving readers a well-guided tour of the many layers of that soul.”
— George Weigel, the Ethics and Public Policy Center
“All hail the editors of What So Proudly We Hail! They’ve put together an anthology worthy of study by free men and brave citizens, from the dawn’s early light to the twilight’s last gleaming.”
— William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard
This wonderfully rich anthology uses the soul-shaping power of story, speech, and song to help Americans realize more deeply — and appreciate more fully — who they are as citizens of the United States.
At once inspiring and thought-provoking, What So Proudly We Hail features dozens of selections on American identity, character, and civic life by our country’s greatest writers and leaders — from Mark Twain to John Updike, from George Washington to Theodore Roosevelt, from Willa Cather to Flannery O’Connor, from Benjamin Franklin to Martin Luther King Jr., from Francis Scott Key to Irving Berlin.
Developing robust American citizens involves educating the heart as well as the mind. It is not enough to understand our nation’s lofty principles or know our history; thoughtful and engaged citizens require cultivated moral imaginations and fitting sentiments and attitudes — matters both displayed in and nurtured by our great works of imaginative literature and rhetoric.
Featuring the editors’ insightful and instructive commentary, What So Proudly We Hail illuminates our national identity, the American creed, the American character, and the virtues and aspirations of active citizenship. This marvelous book will not only be a fixture on bedside tables; it will also spark conversations in homes, schools, colleges, and reading groups everywhere.
See what people are saying about What So Proudly We Hail
“A high-grade, gentle, but firm goad to the kind of patriotism a country intent on greatness needs.” — Joseph Epstein, Commentary
“What So Proudly We Hail is a welcome achievement — rich and multilayered in ways that a treatise on patriotism could not be.” — Gilbert Meilander, First Things
“An indispensable new book…which should become The Book of Virtues for patriots.” — Mona Charen, Creators Syndicate
“What’s great about What So Proudly We Hail is that you can open it to any page and immediately begin exploring timeless questions of American creed and culture. And there are no better guides to the material than the Professors Kass and Schaub.” — The Weekly Standard
“The complexity of the outsider coming to terms with being American, and the equal complexity of the insider coming to terms with the meaning of that identity, are both sufficiently present in this collection to require and arouse clarifying reflection.” — Fred Baumann, The American Interest
“Astonishingly good…” — Charlotte Hays, Independent Women’s Forum