How to Raise an American: 1776 Fun and Easy Tools, Tips, and Activities to Help Your Child Love This Country [Hardcover]

Myrna Blyth (Author), Chriss Winston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 20, 2007

Do you love America? Are you proud to call this country your home? Now, what about your kids? You want them to love America as much as you do, but when popular culture tells them it’s cooler to bash this country than to love it, how can you teach them to be proud and loyal citizens?

As mothers themselves, bestselling author Myrna Blyth and former presidential speechwriter Chriss Winston have struggled with the same dilemma. Shocked by the growing patriotism gap, they set out to create a real-world resource all parents can use to teach their kids about the greatness of America’s past, the promise of its future, and the important role each of us plays in this democracy. How to Raise an American shows you how to make patriotism a priority without it becoming a chore for you or your kids.

This practical guide offers tips, games, activities, quizzes, and information you can use to make patriotism part of your family’s daily life, including:

- 60-Minute Solutions that easily and seamlessly instill a love of this country
- Dinner Table Debate topics that will have the whole family talking
- Road trip ideas that bring America’s history to life
- Books and movies that exemplify our shared ideals
- Inspiring stories of American courage, honor, and ingenuity
- Fun and educational ways to celebrate American holidays like the Fourth of July and Veterans Day

Blyth and Winston consulted prominent historians, academics, military leaders, politicians, authors, scholars, film critics and parents around the country to bring you a truly useful guide. Part treatise on patriotism, part American history primer, part civics lesson, this book is the antidote to the virulent America bashing our children hear every day.

Inspiring and practical, How to Raise an American is a must for every patriot—parent and child.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Patriotism begins at home, so say the authors of this guide for parents dismayed by the perceived negativity emanating from public schools, Hollywood, the recording industry and the news media. The resulting cynicism separates them from "Americans who believe that we are the most privileged people on earth." Blyth, a former editor-in-chief of Ladies' Home Journal, and Winston, the first woman to head the White House speechwriting office, envision their book as a toolbox that can be used to redress this "Patriotism Gap." Dinner table debates on topics such as "When do you feel most American?" can stimulate discussion, while the "media virus" can be combated by viewing some of the "100 All-American Movies" (war films figure prominently). Although quick to praise examples of national virtue, Blyth and Winston come down hard on individuals and institutions that address the more unsavory aspects of American history and culture. (Textbook authors get notably thumped.) Fostering a heightened sense of civic awareness is a laudable goal. However, as with any other parental advice guide, moms and dads will have to cherry pick the ideas that reflect the values they want to transmit to their children.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Myrna Blyth is the bestselling author of Spin Sisters: How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness—and Liberalism—to the Women of America. The longtime editor in chief of Ladies’ Home Journal and the founding editor of More magazine, she is now a columnist for National Review Online. Blyth also chairs the President’s Commission on White House Fellows and is a member of the Justice Department’s National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women. She is married, has two sons, and lives in New York.

Chriss Winston was the first woman to head the White House Office of Speechwriting, serving in that position under President George H. W. Bush. The author of several books and a longtime Washington political communications professional, she was also deputy assistant secretary of labor under President Reagan and later served as a senior official at the U.S. Information Agency. She now heads her own communications consultancy, CorporateWord, and is also a director of the White House Writers Group. Winston lives near Washington, D.C., with her husband and son.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Crown Forum (March 20, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307339211
• ISBN-13: 978-0307339218
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #993,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Next 50 Years Will Be Hard on American Kids, April 19, 2007

By 

Jack Powers "IN3.ORG" (New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How to Raise an American: 1776 Fun and Easy Tools, Tips, and Activities to Help Your Child Love This Country (Hardcover)

It's important to know where you stand, whose side you're on, and why. In the gathering storm of anti-Western, illiberal and theocratic ideologies asserting themselves in the developing world, our kids will be faced with mounting pressures to give in: to talk politically correct talk, to accommodate medieval fundamentalists, to do business with repressive regimes, to tolerate intolerant people. The decades ahead will test the American spirit as we engage societies that don't share our basic values and understanding of man and his place in the world.

"How to Raise an American" is an indispensable guide to explaining our culture to our kids. The schools won't do it, encumbered as they are by politics, special interests and educrat fads. The media can't do it; they're focused on what's wrong with our society and too often, their self criticism turns into self loathing. Religions don't seem to be helping much, drawing lines of division and dogma in a self-righteousness and insularity that's un-American. The culture does it, in its own way, by promoting individualism, social conscience and the pursuit of happiness, but culture is focused on the new, the innovative, sometimes the weird -- not first principles.

We have to be explicit with our kids. We live in the freest, richest, longest living, most dynamic, most inventive, most diverse society ever built. The 1776 tools, tips and activities in this handbook give parents some great ideas for teaching the history that brought us to this point and the important American values that continue to draw eager immigrants from every nation to our shores. Myrna Blyth and Chriss Winston write in a breathy, accessible style that's easy to read, and the book is a well-organized, carefully-crafted resource. New parents should get started early: "How to Raise an American" provides bullet points for kindergarten through the eight grades. Sullen and rebellious teenagers may not sit still for some of the patriotic exercises, but as the Jesuits say, "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man."

It's easy to be cynical about patriotism, to cast it in merely right wing/left wing terms. But in the history of mankind, America is exceptional, and our children have to know what we believe, why we believe it and how to proudly live as Americans.

51 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for ALL Parents and Teachers, April 4, 2007

By 

J. Winding (El Dorado Hills, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How to Raise an American: 1776 Fun and Easy Tools, Tips, and Activities to Help Your Child Love This Country (Hardcover)

I think this book is a MUST READ for all parents and teachers. It talks about what is good about this country. America isn't perfect but we certainly have a lot to be proud of and this book speaks to that. That's all. It doesn't denigrate other countries. With all the America-bashing around the world (as well as here), I don't think there's anything wrong with positive reinforcement of our country. To that end, the book suggests conversation topics to start discussing our country and the world--discussion of both/all sides of the topic. That's what we do in this country.

I found the projects section to be very creative and would appeal to a broad range of ages of children. All of the teachers I've known would find this section particularly appealing. I also liked the sections on places to visit in every state and organizations to look into depending on the child's areas of interest. It is sometimes hard to come up with vacations and activities that have to compete with Disneyland and the Disney Channel. Mindless activities abound out there and this book provides activities that are educational, creative and fun, all at the same time. The book, movie, and website sections gave me a lot of suggestions that I had not even thought about.

I think a lot of people (who have not read the book) are looking at this as a right wing piece, but it isn't at all. I really don't understand where they are getting that. How is making hard tack during a discussion of the Civil War ideological?? If they had read the book, they would realize what this book is and is not. It's not an ideological book, it encourages discussion (both sides).

In closing, again, I would strongly recommend this book to anyone with kids or any teacher!!

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This may be the most important book published in years, September 30, 2007

By 

R. Tiedemann "Sunnye" (Bellevue, NE USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How to Raise an American: 1776 Fun and Easy Tools, Tips, and Activities to Help Your Child Love This Country (Hardcover)

With a son-in-law still serving in the military after his retirement and a grandson having just graduated from West Point and going to Ranger school, imagine my shock to hear our 15-year-old granddaughter telling her brother that America isn't worth fighting for. I could hear her ancestors (who have fought in every war the USA has faced, beginning with the Revolution and French/Indian Wars) rolling in their collective graves. However, I'm smart enough to know not to argue with her. I have, though, been looking for a way to change her mind.

Then I stumbled on this book at the library. THANK YOU, Ms. Blyth and Ms. Winston. This is exactly what I need. Fortunately I love history, especially American history, and can easily take the projects and ideas in the book and develop them to fit our family.

Furthermore, I am relieved and encouraged to see that others have not only recognized the problem but have studied it and have found solutions to offer. It's always nice to know that one isn't fighting alone.