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BOOK REVIEW

This fantastic book, marketed erroneously to mainly young adults and teens, should be required reading in every high school U.S. history class and for every candidate taking the U.S. citizenship test. It’s so interesting and unique because it tells of this battle from both the American and British perspectives and includes the author’s notes, a timeline, glossary, endnotes, bibliography, index, attractive archival illustrations, full-color photography and original artwork. Author, Tim Grove, knows well about what he writes because he was formerly chief of museum learning at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. He has also written numerous books for young readers (and even old ones like me) like “First Flight Around the World,” which won a YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction finalist award. When the British attempted to invade Baltimore while the over-sized American flag that hung over Ft. McHenry, it was Frank (the name by which his friends knew him) Scott Key who witnessed the event while on the deck of one of the invading British ships. He scribbled his awe at seeing the star-spangled banner through the rockets’ “red glare by the dawn’s early light.” Grove has researched this event meticulously and accurately. The details included are staggering, such as the receipt for the U.S. flag that Mary Pickersgill made, a Baltimore city directory showing her address, and a secret letter between two Admirals regarding potential future attacks on Baltimore and Annapolis. Grove even includes myths versus reality, including the competing claims that Betsy Ross vs. Rebecca Young created the first flag for the American Revolution, although no written evidence exists for either. I was so enthused over this book upon completion of reading it that I wanted nothing more than to buy enough copies to distribute at every July 4th picnic, ballgame and parade to everyone singing the Star-Spangled Banner on that holiday. But instead, to dash my desire, on June 20, 2020, the statue of Key was toppled by protesters in San Francisco during demonstrations against racial injustice following the death of George Floyd because Key was a slaveholder. The book is still worthy of ownership and study if only to understand the song we all sing on July 4th, the flag we still pledge allegiance to, and the song’s author, whose life needs to be put in context and examined by all Americans.

“Star-Spangled: The Story of a Flag, a Battle and the American Anthem” by Kathy A. Megyeri

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