Stars & Stripes Forever: The History, Stories, and Memories of Our American Flag

by Richard H. Schneider

Traces the cultural fascination with the American flag from its inception through today's continued celebration of its lore, providing a host of historical facts, celebrity memories of Old Glory, and other personal accounts about the the flag's place in their hearts.

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2003

Reviews

[Susan Draper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book that makes me proud to be a flag-flying American. Plenty of cool facts and interesting side stories submitted by various contributors. Rekindle your patriotism by reading this well-written and humbling work.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about the US flag. Touching stories from POW and war time to historical facts about the flag, the anthem, etc. I really enjoyed it.

[Kbord · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a little book of devotion to the United States flag. It has history about the flag, dispels some of its popular myths, shows that not all of American history is rosy. An appendix at the back shows the Federal Flag Code. There are also instructions with diagrams of how to fold the flag properly.

I was surprised at how much of U.S. flag lore is unofficial tradition.

A couple criticisms: The author obviously loves his country. His patriotic zeal may have biased some of his descriptions of the early American Revolution characters. A quote from page 10 by way of example:
'One unknown redcoat, probably scared out of his wits by the relentless faces of the oncoming ragtag group of men who showed no fear, fired the first shot--"the shot heard round the world."'
Other depictions of this event I have heard or read say that no one knows which side gave the first shot. And surely, not every single man among the Americans 'showed no fear'.

A design criticism: Several sidebars are placed awkwardly. Some take up a full spread and interrupt the middle of a sentence, thought, or paragraph. Others are 2 half-pages on the same spread. And usually (but not always), the content of the sidebars was unrelated to the content of the page or chapter--usually about a famous personality's thoughts or feelings about the flag. I think many of the sidebars could have fit better as their own chapter about specific people's feelings about seeing the U.S. flag. The small dimensions of the pages accounts for some of the awkwardness of the sidebars.

All in all, an interesting little history book about the U.S. flag and American patriotism.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interestingly informative book and an easy-read. It covers the basic knowledge that Americans should know about the symbol of our country - the American flag (i.e. how the flag came about, myths behind the flag, how it should be folded, when it should be flown, and even little tidbits like the biggest and smallest American flags.) I definitely recommend this book - it's worth enriching your knowledge about our flag.