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Flag

An American Biography

Marc Leepson; Foreword by Nelson DeMille

St. Martin's Griffin

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ISBN10: 0312323093
ISBN13: 9780312323097

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352 Pages

$23.99

CA$26.99

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The thirteen-stripe, fifty-star flag is as familiar an American icon as any that has existed in the nation's history. Yet the history of the flag, especially its origins, is cloaked in myth and misinformation. Flag: An American Biography rectifies that situation by presenting a lively, comprehensive, illuminating look at the history of the American flag from its beginnings to today.

Journalist and historian Marc Leepson uncovers scores of little-known, fascinating facts as he traces the evolution of the American flag from the colonial period to the twenty-first century. Flag sifts through the historical evidence to—among other things—uncover the truth behind the Betsy Ross myth and to discover the true designer of the Stars and Stripes. It details the many colorful and influential Americans who shaped the history of the flag.

"Flag," as the novelist Nelson DeMille says in his foreword, "is not a book with an agenda or a subjective point of view. It is an objective history of the American flag, well researched, well presented, easy to read and understand, and very informative and entertaining."

Reviews

Praise for Flag

"Scrupulously evenhanded . . . The many different meanings Americans have attached to their flag are conscientiously explored in Marc Leepson's new 'biography' of the American flag . . . Leepson's narrative of the development of Americans' flag fetish includes a number of tales well worth telling."—Richard J. Ellis, The Washington Post

"Our love for the flag may be incomprehensible to others, but at least we now have a comprehensive guide to its unfolding."—The Wall Street Journal

"The fascination of history is in its details, and the author of Flag: An American Biography knows how to find them and turn them into compelling reading . . . This book brings out the irony, humor, myth, and behind-the-scenes happenings that make our flag's [229-year] history so fascinating."—The Saturday Evening Post

"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, Booklist

"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 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."—Publishers Weekly

Reviews from Goodreads

BOOK EXCERPTS

Read an Excerpt

Flag

CHAPTER ONE
Antecedents




The flag of today represents many centuries of development. Probably no other inanimate object has excited so great an influence over the actions of the human race. It has existed...

About the author

Marc Leepson; Foreword by Nelson DeMille

MARC LEEPSON has written for many publications, among them The New York Times, Smithsonian, Preservation, the Encyclopedia Americana, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and USA Today. He is the author of several books, including Saving Monticello, and lives with his family in Middleburg, Virginia.