Why Freedom Matters: Celebrating the Declaration of Independence in Two Centuries of Prose, Poetry and Song

by Daniel R. Katz

Freedom. It's an idea worth pledging a life for, in the words of Thomas Jefferson. A gift outright to the poet Robert Frost. A difficult responsibility, writes Frederick Douglass. Defiant and enduring, for Maya Angelou. Quarrelsome, to Kurt Vonnegut. Open-armed and welcoming-Emma Lazarus.

Why Freedom Matters celebrates freedom in over 100 speeches, letters, essays, poems, and songs, all infused with the spirit of democracy. Here are the voices of presidents and slaves, founding fathers and hip-hop artists, suffragettes, civil rights workers, preachers, labor leaders, and baseball players. Inspired by the Declaration of Independence, the book is published in conjunction with The Declaration of Independence Road Trip, a 31/2-year cross-country educational tour of an extremely rare, original hand-printed copy of the Declaration, bought at auction by Norman Lear. The DOI Road Trip's mission is to energize Americans by bringing our founding document to towns small and large across the country; in 2003, for example, the Declaration and its accompanying exhibit will visit 27 cities from Birmingham to Billings, New Orleans to New York. Like the document itself, this compelling anthology reveals America's soul as it wrestles with questions of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and strives to fulfill the ideals of Thomas Jefferson's words.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

400 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 2003

Reviews

[Phillip · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a diverse and interesting collection of America speeches, songs, and other literature. There were some that I skimmed, I'll admit, but other than obvious patriotic speeches that are always included in these collections, there were a host of other selections that lead me to listen to songs or look up people I did not know a lot about. So I think this is a good way to introduce someone to an American collection of documents.

[Seth Steinman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book deserves more attention- a collection of uniquely American documents, poems, stories and ideas.

[Christa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic documentary of American freedom, Republican democracy, and a wide assortment of freedoms we have the people have struggled so hard for. As far as American history goes, it is my firm belief that vignettes like those presented in this book are the best way to educate oneself or to entice a young one into studying and enjoying American history.

[Rishabh Shukla · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a great collection of various speeches, poems, essays and stories written/given around the idea of liberty, freedom and pursuit of happiness (the ethos immortalized in the Declaration of American independence). It gives a nice survey of various writings and public speeches made throughout the human history in various parts of world by various intellectuals.