... a work so encyclopedic, its chapters can be read per your inclination ... When Congress proclaimed the song America’s official national anthem in 1931, almost 120 years after its composition, it was acknowledging a battle that had been won long before. The question, which this immensely interesting and readable history sets out to answer, is how that victory was earned ... Clague even creates a detailed military map of the engagement to demonstrate how 'perilous' that fight really was.
Clague writes a historical and cultural account of the United States national anthem, which through wars and peace, civil and cultural unrest, and on battlefields and ballfields, has played an (ahem) key role in the national consciousness since Francis Scott Key penned his four (yes, four) verses after experiencing the Siege of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812...Clague does an excellent job tracing the tune back to its origin while detailing the way it entered the nation’s consciousness and has been used as a societal bellwether ever since, having both united people and created divisions...It’s a fascinating and enlightening story, well told here...An excellent and comprehensive history of the music and lyrics of the United States’ national anthem, Clague’s book should be in every library.
