Book description
Our national anthem celebrates it.
Patriots wave it. Politicians of all kinds try to wrap themselves in
it. It is saluted at baseball games, in parades, and on the most solemn
of commemorative occasions. It was salvaged in the first hours following
the dreadful events of September 11, and it stands outstretched just
above the surface of the moon.
It is, of course, the American flag,
and there are few symbols as potent. With all the reverence and
sacrifice and emotion it inspires, it is easy to lose sight of the
fact that it is ultimately just a symbol. Why is it so powerful? Why
does a piece of cloth resonate so loudly for so many? Why a flag, and
why this flag, these stripes, those stars?
In For Which It Stands, his timely, comprehensive, and
engaging "biography" of the American flag, Michael Corcoran
examines those questions and more as he explores the evolution of our
most cherished emblem, from the days preceding the Revolution through
the nationwide resurgence of patriotism in the aftermath of September
11. Corcoran traces the entire life of the colors, holding forth on a
number of engrossing topics, including:
The fluid design of the flag, the subject of much contentious
debate on the part of the founding fathers, and until fairly recently,
not officially codified.
The various alternative flags ingrained in the national
consciousness, among them the defiant, rattlesnake-adorned "Don't
Tread on Me" banner and the "Stars and Bars" of the
Confederacy.
The role of the colors in war, from how to start a fight with
England (raising a flag declaring indepen-dence, high enough for the
British Army in Boston to see it, ought to do the trick) to the
question of whether to remove from the banner the stars emblematic of
the states that seceded during the Civil War, to the giddy ubiquity of
the flag following World War II.
Corcoran addresses all these matters and more (including the
particularly vexing questions raised by flag burning: Is it such an
affront that it warrants a constitutional amendment outlawing that
method of protest, or is it perhaps the single most potent expression
of our right to free speech, and therefore profoundly American?) as he
delves into the wind-tangled history of "Old Glory," an
entertaining jumble of much-loved myth and obscure facts. Thoughtful,
droll, and fast-paced, For Which It Stands definitively tells
the story of America's most recognizable icon, from Bunker Hill to Iwo
Jima to Tranquillity Base -- and beyond.
Michael Corcoran has written seven previous books,
including Duel in the Sun, an account of the 1977 British Open,
and For Which It Stands: An Anecdotal Biography of the American
Flag. He's written for numerous magazines and been the editor of a
few. He lives with his wife and their children in Springtown,
Pennsylvania.
