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Flag: An American Biography (Hardcover)

by Marc Leepson (Author), Nelson DeMille (Foreword) (Author) "AMERICANS HAVE a unique and special feeling for our flag..." (more)
Key Phrases: United States, Betsy Ross, New York (more...)
4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Leepson notes that "no country in the world can match the intensity of the American citizenry's attachment to the... Stars and Stripes." He goes on to chart the evolution of the flag and Americans' relationship with it in its detail-packed history. Despite the famous image in George Washington Crossing the Delaware, Leepson (Saving Monticello) says, the general's boat did not display the Stars and Stripes; the Continental Congress hadn't yet determined what the American flag would be. And "flagmania," as a 19th-century newspaper termed it, began only with the start of the Civil War. Embraced by the Ku Klux Klan, burned by Vietnam War protestors, the Stars and Stripes was again embraced in the wake of 9/11 as a ubiquitous symbol of American solidarity. Such was the revived flagmania, Leepson relates, that the flag was used to sell everything from contact lenses to disposable diapers. From reverence to kitsch, Americans' attitudes to their flag and its mythology have changed over the years, and Leepson does a creditable job of recounting those changes just in time for July 4.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Chronicling the two-centuries-plus history of the U.S. flag, Leepson considers the abundant stories that purport to be the truth about Old Glory. That moniker, like Francis Scott Key's naming the flag the "star-spangled banner," arose from reliable historical sources. But other commonly accepted views of the flag are more dubious, such as its depiction in historical paintings of the Revolutionary War--impossible, rules Leepson, since the Continental Army marched under regimental flags, not the drapery Betsy Ross stitched together under George Washington's approving eye, a legend almost certainly made from whole cloth. In truth, explains the author, interest in the flag's origins dates from the Civil War and its aftermath, when nationalistic feeling about the flag first welled up, and ever since, in times of crisis, has been a distinctive American trait. Previously, the Stars and Stripes simply identified government installations. Its evolution into a symbol of popular affection, though one invested with divergent emotions, as laws and lawsuits concerning its proper display evince, animate Leepson's evenhanded, myth-sifting account. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1st edition (May 26, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312323085
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312323080
  • Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #679,142 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
AMERICANS HAVE a unique and special feeling for our flag. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Betsy Ross, New York, Flag Day, George Washington, Continental Colors, Revolutionary War, Fort Sumter, Continental Congress, Flag Resolution, Old Glory, Supreme Court, White House, Union Jack, American Legion, National Anthem, New Jersey, American Revolution, South Carolina, Declaration of Independence, Iwo Jima, Marine Corps, Vietnam War, Flag Code, House of Representatives
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Crisp Salute, August 29, 2005
Flag: An American Biography (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2005)

In his latest work of popular historiography, Marc Leepson - author of Saving Monticello - takes on the daunting challenges of writing a concise, comprehensive and objective "biography" of the flag of the Untied States of America. His special attention is directed to the symbolic value which the flag has held for Americans since it was first authorized by Congress on 14 June 1777.

In terms of concision, comprehensiveness and objectivity, Mr. Leepson has done remarkably well and has produced a readable, entertaining volume which contains within its 266 pages a small ocean of educational information about the American flag. With a view specifically towards objectivity, the author does not air-brush from his narrative incidents which show lovers of the American flag in a less than favorable light. The hanging of William Mumford (1862) or of Paul Prager (1918) for flag desecration would not have made it into a less well-balanced book.

Mr. Leepson, a Vietnam War veteran, also exhibits considerable empathy with the anti-war movement of those days, going so far as to include a John Prine lyric as one of the book's two epigraphs: "Your flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore". He is aware, too, of the jingoism and commercialism - crass or otherwise - which have frequently attended the American flag and duly records their place in the "life" of the flag. Flag, it might be noted, is, in its own quiet way, another all-American commercial product, exploiting the enduringly popular, quintessential symbol of the USA.

Mr. Leepson is aware that he is an American writing for Americans about an American icon, but he maintains, for the most part, a third-person approach to his material. He is a journalist and an historian, a recorder of fact and a debunker of myth - not a cheerleader. He writes, almost always, about "the flag" not "our flag". He is conscious that his book might, perhaps, be read by non-Americans. The pride of place, however, the first of the book's two epigraphs, belongs to Harriet Ward Beecher. Its highly charged rhetoric, from 1861, is the one that resonates more strongly with the author: "our flag carries American ideas, American history and American feelings. It is not a painted rag. It is a whole national history. It is the Constitution. It is the Government. It is the emblem of the sovereignty of the people. It is the NATION."

Mr. Leepson's hope in writing this book was, he says, "to throw an informing light on what has become an object of veneration for so many Americans and the very visible symbol of this amazing nation". He diligently records the various changes made to the actual flag over the years to accommodate the accession of new states into the union. He also diligently records the changing meanings attached to the flag over the years. One detects, however, an understated sense of awe beneath the entire narrative.

Mr. Leepson has chosen for the end-papers of his book an 18-point diagram which illustrates how to fold the flag into a triangle, as is done at U.S. military funerals today. This diagram is an analogue to the 18 chapters into which Mr. Leepson has folded the story of the flag's "life" to date. The diagram is also a testament to his sense of propriety and reverence. One imagines that he has attended a number of U.S. military funerals and seen "Old Glory" folded, tight as swallowed tears.

His excellent, compact volume of U.S. vexillogical lore strongly suggests that for Mr. Leepson, the "Stars and Stripes", the "Star-Spangled Banner" is, primarily, the Battle Flag of the Republic. His book's one word title is sharp as a surname at roll-call or a summons to attention. The book itself is a crisp salute to that demanding national emblem.





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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "Flag" - a review, November 28, 2005
"Flag" is the kind of book serious students of American history will love. Marc Leepson has written an account of our nation's most enduring symbol that includes all the scholarly elements but still brings a popular history to those of us that wouldn't know a monograph from a monorail. The book begins with the initial uses of flags in our nation's history through the controversey surrounding its creation up through its modern day use as a statement of patriotism and politics. The book hits all the highlights and some of the abuses without being overly pedantic or preachy. Leepson has accomplished a rare feat - bringing scholarship to the masses and doing so in a delightfully entertaining way. It is exactly the kind of history that should be read by everyone who has an interest in our nation's history - and that should be all of us.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars I was captivated and fascinated by this book, July 30, 2005
I picked this book up because I was curious about how the author would handle the history of the flag. I was happily surprised that he did so objectively, even when dealing with the most politically charged issues such as flag desecration laws. Plus, the book was readable and told many fascinating stories--and ones I hadn't known.

I now know why, for example, Francis Scott Key was in Baltimore harbor during the British bombardment of Ft. McHenry. I know that Francis Hopkinson likely designed the American flag. I know that Betsy Ross more than likely did not make the first one. I know the origins and the strange history of the Pledge of Allegiance. Plus a whole lot more.

I'd highly recommend this to anyone interested in our nation's history and in the history of the Stars and Stripes.

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4.0 out of 5 stars If you liked this...
This is a good book -- there was a recent book by Michael Corcoran (also for sale here) titled: For Which It Stands -- very good writing, very interesting book. Read more
Published on July 12, 2006 by Anthony Reidy

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific book
This is a history of the American flag--the Stars and Stripes. It's not about the Confederate flag or the Lone Star or Bear Republic flags, although the author does mention them... Read more
Published on October 13, 2005 by Jan Murphy

3.0 out of 5 stars The Grand Old Flag Waves Proudly in the Breeze.
This 'flag' book sifts throughthe historical evidence to uncover the truth behind the Betsy Ross myth; she did sew the original flag with cloth she had for her friend, George... Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars Flag: Setting the facts right.
Dear Marc, I just finished reading your book 'Flag'. It was 'Great'. I was fascinated with all the information about the flag that I did not know. Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars The Whole Story about the Flag
I've always been interested in the flag and I've read several books about it. But this book is different than any of the others. Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and engaging- strongly recommend
When I began Flag: An American Biography, I was not sure the author would be able to sustain my interest in this topic for over 200 pages. Read more
Published on June 3, 2005 by Huntington Lyman

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