America at War: Poems Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins

by Lee Bennett Hopkins (Editor)

In this ever-timely collection of more than fifty poems and paintings divided into eight sections, one of America's most distinguished poets and anthologists, Lee Bennett Hopkins, and internationally acclaimed painter and printmaker Stephen Alcorn trace emotions of warfare from the American Revolution to the Iraq War.

Warfare has taken -- continues to take -- a tremendous toll on every man, woman, and child in our society as war weaves itself into the fabric of our shared past, present, and future. Raw emotions and results of warfare are expressed here through voices of beloved poets such as Langston Hughes, Carl Sandburg, Walt Whitman, Denise Levertov, and e. e. cummings -- and are movingly combined with voices of newer poets, including several soldiers who had courage to write poetry from front lines.

America at War exposes effects of war through hearts of poets and eyes of the artist, paying fitting tribute to those who have served, those now serving, and those who have given their lives so we all may live in peace.

Genres: Poetry, War, Childrens, American Revolutionary War, Anthologies

96 pages, Hardcover

First published March 4, 2008

About the author

Lee Bennett Hopkins was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2017. He holds a Guinness Book of Records citation for compiling the most anthologies for children. He has also received the Christopher Award, the Regina Medal, and the National Council of Teachers of English Excellence in Poetry for Children Award. He lives in Florida.

For more information, please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Ben...

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Large books with stylized illustrations -- I'm thinking art deco-ish but honestly my knowledge of art is very poor so who knows if that's what I mean. Reading it in the fall of 2020 I was wishing it had more stuff showing the diversity of America; even in the Civil War section there was a poem about Harriet Tubman but nothing showing Black soldiers or complex feelings about racism throughout America, and I don't remember anything from an American Indian point of view. The poems didn't get cynical about the reasons for war until modern times but from Korea and Vietnam on it was palpable.

I can see reading this with my family (until their dislike of poetry shut us down) but there wasn't a lot of new things I want to keep, especially around the wars I was alive for (Vietnam and later).

[Catherine Woodman]

The thing I liked about this was that it includes the most current conflicts--the thing I didn't like is that it excludes some of the older ones and overall, the poems don't necessarily date to the time of the war--which would have been very cool. The book does have the history of the war itself,and the poems are more about the sad things of was than of heroism.
It ends with a poem about who we are today, or at least who we have been recently--maybe Obama can change a little of that.
Vocabulary Lesson, by Ann Wagner
We don't have wars.
We have
conflicts
campaigns
escalations
missions
offensives
preemeptive strikes.
We don't have soldiers.
We have
peace keepers
troops
servicemen
servicewomen
forces
coalitions
units.
We don't have mistakes in combat.
We have
incidents
accidents
friendly fire
flawed intelligence.
We don't have seath.
we have
casualties
loss of life
collateral damage.
What we do have is
a careful vocabulary.

[Paul Hankins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Looking for poems/poetry of the time to enhance your unit on any one of the wars within which American soldiers have been engaged? Lee Bennett Hopkins collects these poems and Stephen Alcorn's (Odetta: Queen of Folk) illustrations bring a sense of patriotism and home to each piece.

The gift to children's poetry that is Lee Bennett Hopkins is his ability to draw from the past to make connections to the subject at present. In addition, new emerging voices in children's poetry are given a chance to shine among the more familiar.

America at War would be very much at home in an American History class no matter the level. Some of Alcorn's illustrations may be disturbing to the very, very young. Remember, these are images rendered in response to the reality of war. Some of the images are absolutely breathtaking.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

5th grade - high school

I thought this book was beautiful. There are about sixty to seventy poems in this book that are written during and about each American war from the Revolution to the most recent Iraq War. Each page has a poem and an illustration. The illustration are stylized interpretations of the poems. The artwork and the poems really drive the point, war is painful, to the reader.

Language Arts/U.S. History

Lesson Plan: Use the poetry of the different wars to interpret history. I always believed that the poetry, and artwork of the day will give a more in-depth picture of history than solely reading recounts of the events.

[Tamora Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of poems for children arranged around each major American war. There are about four really good poems here, the rest middling. I wish this had been more powerful, since I spent a long time trying to find it. I realize that since this is a book for kids there is only so far the authors may go, but given how far they do go in this collection, I wish it had been overall more powerful. A book can't include anything worse than they see on television every night.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended for gr. 4-8. Poems are organized by their relevance to a particular war, beginning with the Revolutionary War and ending with the Iraq War. They are all good selections, although in some cases I did not think that the accompanying illustration was completely relevant to the poem.

[Jonathan 11-12 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that it was good.Because it had touching poems about wars. They were inspirering, the fact is that war is cruel, heartless, harsh, horrible. The soidiers are brave, strong, fearless,and devotedto the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

[Virginia Walter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A moving selection of poems about American wars, from the Revolution through the current Iraq War. Be sure to read the Prologue, "Wish for Peace" by Joan Bransfield Graham.

[Chris Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poems written during all of America's wars. Some are patriotic, some full of love, loss and confusion. A fascinating and intimate way to study the history of United States military engagements.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing collection of US war poetry, organized by war/conflict.