Celebrate Flag Day by checking out some of our resources! We have:
- Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley with Ron Powers: eBook Clint Eastwood film based on book “In February 1945, American Marines plunged into the surf at Iwo Jima–and into history. Through a hail of machine-gun and mortar fire that left the beaches strewn with comrades, they battled to the island’s highest peak. And after climbing through a landscape of hell itself, they raised a flag. Now the son of one of the flagraisers has written a powerful account of six very different young men who came together in a moment that will live forever. To his family, John Bradley never spoke of the photograph or the war. But after his death at age seventy, his family discovered closed boxes of letters and photos. In Flags of Our Fathers, James Bradley draws on those documents to retrace the lives of his father and the men of Easy Company. Following these men’s paths to Iwo Jima, James Bradley has written a classic story of the heroic battle for the Pacific’s most crucial island–an island riddled with Japanese tunnels and 22,000 fanatic defenders who would fight to the last man. But perhaps the most interesting part of the story is what happened after the victory. The men in the photo–three were killed during the battle–were proclaimed heroes and flown home, to become reluctant symbols. For two of them, the adulation was shattering. Only James Bradley’s father truly survived, displaying no copy of the famous photograph in his home, telling his son only: ‘The real heroes of Iwo Jima were the guys who didn’t come back.’ Few books ever have captured the complexity and furor of war and its aftermath as well as Flags of Our Fathers. A penetrating, epic look at a generation at war, this is history told with keen insight, enormous honesty, and the passion of a son paying homage to his father. It is the story of the difference between truth and myth, the meaning of being a hero, and the essence of the human experience of war.”–Publisher description.
- A Flag Worth Dying For: The Power and Politics of National Symbols by Tim Marshall: “A nation’s flag fluttering in the wind is a sign of power, hope, history, and often war. However, we rarely stop to consider the complex meaning and strong sentiments flags evoke and embody today. From the renewed nationalism of China, to political conflicts in Europe and America, to the terrifying rise of ISIS, the world is a confusing place place right now, and we need to understand the symbols, old and new, that people are rallying around and fighting over. Forthousands of years flags have stood for our identities and ideals. We wave them, burn them, and march under their colors. And still, in the twenty-first century, we die for them. Flags fly at the UN, on the Arab street, from front porches in Texas. They represent the politics of high power as well as the passions of the mob. In ‘A Flag Worth Dying For,’ Tim Marshall–author of the New York Times bestseller ‘Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World’, called ‘quite simply, one of the best books about geopoliticies you could imagine’ (London Evening Standard)–returns to the arena of global affairs, combining keen analysis of current events with world history to reveal the power and politics of the symbols that both unite and divide us. In nine chapters covering America, the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America, international banners, and flags of terror, Marshall offers insights into the flags of more than eighty-five countries, among them key global superpowers as well as dozens of smaller nations, and shows how their hidden histories figure in the diplomatic relations and political movements of today’s urgent headlines.”–Book jacket
We also have some nice resources for kids in our Juvenile Collection:
- Exploring our nation. American symbols of freedom – DVD “What’s the story behind some of America’s symbols of liberty? Some of the icons discussed include: the American Flag, the Pledge of Allegiance, the Great Seal of the United States, and the origins of ‘The Star Spangled Banner.’ Students also learn the story of the Statue of Liberty and the importance of Independence Hall in Philadelphia in establishing the country. A new symbol of American freedom is Freedom Tower in New York which was built after the Twin Towers were attacked on September 11, 2001. Part of the series Exploring Our Nation.”–Publisher description
- Why are there stripes on the American flag? by Martha E. H. Rustad – eBook “Children learn about the American flag, discussing the history of the flag, what the stars, stripes, and colors represent and what the pledge of allegiance means.”–eReadIllinois.
- We love our flag by Jean Feldman and Holly Karapetkova – eBook “Introduces the American flag and what it stands for through a song sung to the tune of ‘The Farmer in the Dell.'”–eReadIllinois.