One of the most recognizable patriotic songs in the United States today, "America the Beautiful" started out as a poem inspired by the captivating scenery of the West. Written in 1893 by college professor Katharine Lee Bates, the lyrics evoke images of wheat fields, towering mountains, and skies spanning the vast country. Its melody, however, was added decades after the poem's first publication. Today, the song is used as an unofficial national anthem...

There are key songs that hold significance long after the era in which they were written passes. "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is one such piece. Its history began in the Civil War era. Its words were written when the lyricist, Julia Ward Howe, visited a Union army camp in 1861. While initially the song was intended to rally abolitionists, soldiers, and suffragettes, its meanings are many. This engaging book examines how Howe's words continue to unfold...

In 1862, after being shipwrecked in uncharted seas, Professor Arthur Denison and his twelve-year-old son Will find themselves washed up on a strange island where people and dinosaurs live together peacefully.

Ever since she was a little girl attending three different churches, poet Nikki Giovanni has loved the spirituals. Now, with the passion of a poet and the knowledge of a historian, she paints compelling portraits of the lives of her ancestors through the words of songs such as "Go Down, Moses" and "Ain't Got Time to Die," celebrating a people who overcame enslavement and found a way to survive, to worship, and to build.

Interweaves the history of America's territorial expansion with songs.

Introduces Katharine Bates and Samuel Ward, who wrote America the Beautiful, and explores the meaning of the words, how they relate to American history, and why the song became a favorite patriotic anthem.